The Insiders (The Insiders Trilogy 1)

Matt came to stand in the doorway, his phone pressed to his ear. Seeing the screen off, he lowered his hand and took all of us in.

He swallowed stiffly, his eyes finding mine. I saw the worry, and my chest started to grow tight.

He murmured, his mouth curving down, “Yeah.… Yeah. I will.… Thank you. Yeah.”

Ending the call, he scrolled through something on his screen before his eyes darkened and he put his phone back in his pocket.

Then the fakest thing I’ve witnessed in a long time happened.

He plastered a huge bright smile on his face. “Guess what, guys?”

Seraphina scrambled to her knees. “What?”

Cyclone was hanging off the end of the couch. He thrust his arm in the air. “Dude, just tell us!”

“Dad’s coming home.” Matt looked at me. “Tonight.”

“What?” Seraphina jumped to her feet, lighting up.

“When?” Cyclone was right with her, shooting up to start jumping on the couch.

“Uh…” Matt checked the time on his phone again. “In like an hour. You guys are supposed to hurry and get ready for bed.”

“What?”

“Why?” Seraphina asked right after Cyclone’s whine.

“Because your mom’s planning a whole night of movies. So if you wash up, clean your teeth, get in your pajamas, you pick the first movie to watch with Dad.”

“Yeah?”

“Really?” Seraphina asked

Matt was tense as he clipped his head up and down. “Yep. Go and get ready, then come back in here with your blankets. Your mom said something about a sleepover even.”

Cyclone jumped off from the couch. “Yes!” And he took off running down the hall.

Seraphina hurried after him, but stopped, turned, and came back to give me a tight hug around my neck. “Thanks for tonight. It was a lot of fun.” Before I could reply, she hurried from the room, yelling over her shoulder, “Bye, Matt! Love you.”

“And then there’s the two of us, until Kash gets back also.” Matt regarded me, a deep sigh leaving him. He slid his hands in his front pockets. “How’s it going?”

He was coming back.

Not that I cared.

Not that I’d been waiting.

Not that I’d been looking forward to seeing him again.

I had done as he asked, called him once I got my phone again. That set the precedent. We talked the next day. We texted in the morning, in the afternoon, in the evening. Good times. And there were also the good night texts and good morning texts.

I disliked those the most.

Yep. Detested them. Loathed them.

Why hadn’t he told me good morning today?

I didn’t care. Not one bit.

I was lying. I was a caring fool.

Then I noticed Matt’s silence and began looking on the floor.

“What are you doing?”

“Looking for the shoe you’re about to drop.”

“Ha ha.” He rubbed at his forehead, ignoring my lame grin. “I’m sorry. I actually took two calls just now. One was Kash, letting me know about Dad, but the other was Quinn. She…” His hand dropped. “She asked me to make sure you weren’t on the property when my—when Dad gets home.”

I reeled from that one.

“He’s been in DC working on a big project, and I guess it was a tense time for him. Something happened. She thinks it’ll be better if he doesn’t add anything extra on his plate.”

Right. Extra. I was the extra.

Backward.

I was feeling shoved out of the house. One by one, all the doors were closing in my face until I was so far out that I was outside the gates. That’s what Quinn just did.

I was getting kicked out.

“I see.” I looked down at my lap. There was a slight tremor with my hands, so I stuffed them between my legs, stopping it.

It was fine.

I mean, it’s not like I expected to see him again.

Or hoped to see him again.

He hurt Chrissy. I drew that in, remembering, hardening. He hurt my mom.

“She doesn’t even want me in Kash’s villa?”

He hesitated, before slumping down on the couch next to me. “No. Not even there. Look, it’ll be fine. I tend to have a whole security team on me when I leave, and since Quinn would rather both of us”—he nudged me with his shoulder—“not be here … I can’t help but go at her sometimes, so I was thinking we can head downtown to my place. I have a place. You’ll be safe. Kash has given me the safety approval before.”

“Francois Nova?”

He nodded. “It’s where I normally stay. I moved out of this house years ago. We could go there. A few of my friends are heading to a new nightclub, if you wanted to go there too?”

“Friends?”

Another nod. “I could go for a night of debauchery, to tell you the truth.”

It sounded wrong somehow. “I don’t know, Matt.”

“Come on. It’ll just be one or two friends. I told you, Kash is good with it. I’ve got the whole security team and everything. And it won’t be anything big. These guys are cool. Might do you good to meet a few of the girls, if they’re there.” He stopped, rolling his eyes. “What am I saying? If there’s a new club opening, they’ll be there.” His shoulder bumped mine playfully. “Maybe it’s time to meet a few of the gang.”