“Consider it done,” the person with her responds, this voice even softer, yet somehow has a chill sweeping through my body. “When do I get paid?”
“When you come through with the goods,” she says. “Now get out of here. It’s too risky.”
My brows furrow as King stands impossibly still, and then all too soon, the voices fade away, leaving us with questions that we didn’t know we wanted to ask. I capture his gaze, and after a beat, he deems it safe to step out of the bushes, but he leads me straight back to Carver’s front door, deciding that our midnight stroll has already been exciting enough.
CHAPTER 14
The sun burns against my skin and I let out a deep sigh. It’s been far too long since I’ve been able to relax by the pool with a friend by myself. It's early April, and while the weather is usually a cold and unpredictable pain in the ass this time of year, today the sun decided to shine. There's still a chill in the air, but when the breeze slows, the glorious warmth of the sun gets to do its thing.
Ember moans beside me, soaking it up just as much as I am. “So, this is really your parents’ place?” she asks me, glancing across at me as she lays on the sunbed in her tiny black bikini with her head tilted up toward the sky.
“Apparently,” I say with an awkward shrug of my shoulders. When the sun decided to come out and play, I couldn’t resist inviting her over, but when the questions came about why I was still hanging out at this place and not at Carver’s, a few minor truths had to come out. I figured telling her that this was my parents’ home was the easiest one to go with.
“You’re telling me that Ravenwood Manor, the house that the whole town was named after, was your parents’ place?”
“Yep,” I say, refusing to look her way in fear that she’ll be able to tell that I’m only just touching the surface. “At least, that’s the story the boys told me.”
“The boys?” she scoffs. “And how the hell would they know?”
“Beats me,” I say, my shoulders bouncing with a quick shrug. “It’s probably all bullshit, but I haven’t seen anyone else coming to claim the place, so why not reap all the rewards while I wait for the truth to come out?”
Ember laughs and slides down further on the sunbed. “Damn girl, I like the way you think, but seriously, what if they’re not lying? Don’t get me wrong, I don’t know these guys as well as you do, but they don’t strike me as the kind to keep a pet if she didn’t belong.”
“I’ve never heard truer words,” I tell her. “They’re really not. They’re super intense, and while they can be complete assholes, they’re not liars and … I don’t know. Maybe I need to take their word for it. Maybe this place really did belong to my parents.”
“But they’re dead?”
“Yup.”
“Sooooo,” she says, her brows raising as she draws out her conclusion. “Technically this place is yours?”
I shrug my shoulders, hating how blasé I have to be with her. “I mean, I haven’t exactly read a copy of the will, but that’s generally how this shit works, right?”
“Fuck,” Ember laughs, sitting up on the sunbed and letting her feet fall to either side as she gapes at me. “Then you’re fucking rich. Why the hell aren’t we partying yet? Hold up. Rewind. Why the hell am I only hearing about this now? When did you first find out?”
Ahh, crap.
My face twists into a cringe. “The weekend.”
Ember’s face drops and she gapes at me as though she can hardly believe what she’s hearing. “You’ve known about this for like … a week and you’re only just telling me now? Holy shit, Winter. We could have been partying it up all week. Just imagine the awesome movie nights and keggers we could have here. Oh, OH,” her eyes bug out of her head. “Can we do something like that party you had at King’s cabin in the woods? That would be fucking awesome.”
“Hell to the freakin’ no,” I say. I don’t think I’ve ever heard such an awful idea. “This is the only home I’ve got, the only thing that’s ever truly been mine, and I’m not about to let a whole bunch of drunk high school bitches come in and destroy it. Besides, this is the only thing I have of my parents. I need to take care of it. I can’t imagine what they’d think of me if I destroyed the home they built.”
“Weeeeeeeak,” she groans, falling back to her sunbed with a loud huff.
I laugh to myself. She can hate on my plan all she wants because she’ll never truly understand. Ember grew up in a fancy neighborhood with the biggest house on her street. She’s never wanted for anything, so things like furniture and sentimental crap are all replaceable, but not to me. It all means something so much more to me.