“I do, of course,” Kip replies, smiling. “Could the two of you make it up to the house in Santa Barbara next weekend? We’re having a little barbecue, and many of my concerned friends will be there, wallets open.”
“Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” I reply, returning Kip’s warm smile.
“This one’s sharp,” he tells Jared, his eyes resting on my face with what appears to be respect. “Since you’re not smart enough to snap her up, maybe Bent would be.”
“Matchmaking again, Dad?”
The deep voice comes from behind me, but I know it right away, though I haven’t heard it in almost a decade. I look around to find Bent Carter at the entryway to the terrace. He was always the flipside of Jared’s coin. Lighthearted while Jared was intense. Dark where Jared was fair. Entitled when Jared was ambitious. But that awful night, I saw no difference between the two of them. They were the same as Prescott and his pride of hyenas laughing at all my chubby, naked, and exposed flesh. Fresh humiliation chokes me with the visual reminder of Bent standing there, an all-too-familiar smile on his face. The smile dies when his eyes meet mine.
“Banner.” He sobers, his surprise fading. “Mom said Jared had a woman with him, and I just had to see for myself.”
“You make it sound like I don’t like girls,” Jared says easily, dividing a careful glance between his friend and me. “Not the case since apparently I have a type.”
His words draw my attention and irritation, as he knew they would. If he’s trying to distract me from the memory of what he and those assholes did—Bent included—it won’t work. I endure Bent’s presence while he greets his father and then mother when she returns to the terrace. My body is stiff as if tensed for a blow the whole time. My teeth grind together. It’s bad enough Jared is still friends with this cretin, and only convinces me further that he lied when he said he didn’t join The Pride after all. My nerves are drawn tight like the strings of a violin, but there is no music. Just the sound of their laughter from that night. The sound of my tears. The sound of Jared’s lies.
“I’m so sorry, but I really do need to get back,” I interrupt as soon as there’s a natural opening. I turn a genuinely grateful smile on Karen. I can’t blame her for her son’s despicable behavior. “It was so nice meeting you, and thank you for lunch.”
I stand and toss the linen napkin from my lap over the remnants of my salad.
“Please come again soon, Banner.” Karen loops her elbow through mine.
“I’d like that very much.”
Jared studies us over his shoulder from up ahead before returning to the conversation with Kip and Bent. Karen kisses both my cheeks with promises of more time together at the barbecue next weekend. Quick, long strides take Jared across the vast yard to the waiting helicopter. I’m close behind when a gentle tug stops me halfway there. I look up from the long fingers gripping my elbow to Bent’s handsome face. He bends to speak in my ear over the noise of the helicopter.
“There wasn’t time before,” he says loudly. “But I wanted to apologize for . . .”
He stares at the well-manicured grass under our feet for a few seconds before speaking again.
“For what happened senior year, Banner.” He runs an impatient hand through the dark waves all the girls gushed over at Kerrington. “I’m ashamed for going along with it.”
“It was years ago,” I say, tugging on my elbow, but he doesn’t let go.
“It was years ago, which makes it even worse that I’m only now apologizing,” he says. “I gave in to the pressure because I wanted to get in. I needed to. I’m a legacy.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about.” I steal a look at the helicopter. Jared wears a heavy frown and stands at the door, hands jammed into his pockets. “I should go.”
“He had nothing to do with it.” Bent dips his head to capture and hold my gaze. “He was furious that night when Prescott told him to—”
“Fuck the fat girl,” I finish for him, my words stiff.
“Yeah,” Bent admits with a heavy sigh.
“And yet he still reaped the benefits,” I say scornfully.
“What benefits?” Bent asks, a frown gathered over the confusion in his eyes.
“Of The Pride. I’ve seen him with you and your friends at events and vacations and . . . I’m not stupid. Obviously he’s in.”
“You see him with me and my friends and family because we are friends. My parents see Jared like a second son. It took two years for him to speak to me again, and only then because my mother begged him to.”
I take in the new information but can’t make sense of everything.
“So he’s really not in The Pride?” I ask, searching the rugged lines of his face for deceit.
“Look, I can’t talk about this with you,” Bent says. “It’s a secret society, which means secret. Even what I’ve told you could get me tossed out, and unlike Jared, I need the connections. I will tell you that not only is he not a member, but he’s banned for life.”
“For life? Why?”