The Insiders (The Insiders Trilogy 1)

Well then.

Consider me yanked up by the bootstraps, a firm pat on the ass, and sent on my way.

I went to the bathroom, then saw my newly washed clothes folded and waiting for me on the counter, alongside a cup of coffee, and some of that annoyance dissipated.

Only some of it.

I didn’t know why Kash even told me what he had, if he was telling the truth about Matt, or how what we did together would play out, but this was the Kash from earlier. Or maybe this was the Kash he had to be when he was in work mode? Maybe? I didn’t know. I just knew I liked the Kash from last night. That Kash—my gaze paused on the coffee—was the kind to bring me a cup of coffee before I even asked.

Who was I kidding?

I was in way over my head.

TWENTY-NINE

We found Matt in a similar state as the night before, surrounded by his friends, in a tent set apart from the rest of the party. Instead of a nightclub, it was a day party.

Matt’s eyes were glazed over and his head flipped up when he saw us. “Hey. Look. It’s my family.”

Kash frowned. “You vomited for a full hour last night.”

“Yeah.” Matt hiccupped, smiling wide. His eyes were dilated. “Thanks for the IV drip. Your nurse hooked me up and it made me feel good enough, I thought, Why not?” He started laughing, Chester and another friend joining in. “Am I right? Right, Nuts?”

Chester stopped laughing. “Shut up, dickhead.”

Matt just laughed harder. So did the other guy friend.

Chester shot him a dark look. The friend didn’t care. Even the girl laughed.

I was trying to remember her name. Fleur! It was Fleur.

How’d I forget that name?

Chester shot her a look too. “Shut it, PussyPedal.”

She gasped. “Ass!”

He lifted a shoulder, smirking. “Karma, honey. Karma.”

“Kash! Kash!” Matt was ignoring his friends, stumbling over to Kash. Slapping a hand on his shoulder, Matt didn’t notice the look that Kash gave the hand. He was waving a tequila bottle in the air again. “Guys. You all have no idea what Kash does for our family. No idea.”

“And they won’t, because you’re done.”

Kash nodded to the guards, and like last night, they went into motion. The girls were herded out of there. Nuts, PussyPedal, and the friend were next. Kash plucked the bottle from Matt’s hand and tossed it outside the tent. It fell, spilling on the ground, but then was snatched up right away. A guard was walking away with it.

“That’s the second time in eighteen hours that you’ve threatened to spill secrets.”

It took a second for me to register the quiet warning from Kash, but once I heard it, chills traveled over my spine. I snapped my gaze to him, and there it was. It wasn’t prominent, but it was simmering and it was deep.

Kash was furious.

Matt scoffed, his eyes still wild. “Whatever. What secrets? I don’t know anything. Dear old Dad doesn’t share shit with me. You don’t, either. I don’t have a clue what’s going on.” His head was swinging around, swinging, swinging, and it caught on me. His eyes narrowed.

It was then that I saw it. The mean streak in Matt, the one Kash had warned me about last night.

“Except her.”

His eyes were calculating now, a bitter hint just underneath.

“I know her secret. Quinn hates that I know.” He took another unsteady step toward me, and as I moved back, the hairs on the back of my neck standing up, Kash moved an inch so he was between us. His movement was slight, but it was there.

Matt kept on. “And Dad.” He threw his head back, a shrill laugh ripping from him. “God. It’s the best. Dad hates that she’s here. Hates it.” He looked back and his eyes narrowed once more, a cruel giddiness showing. “You think you had it bad, Bailey? You didn’t. You had it good. A loving mom. None of the bullshit we deal with. Yeah, yeah, poor little girl whose daddy abandoned her. Right? That’s what you think in your head, but you’re so wrong. Wrong.” His nostrils flared. “You had it good. Like you won’t be secured for life with that brain of yours. Fuck. I bet you could write a program that’ll make millions in just a day. Not me.”

He leaned toward me, but Kash had inserted himself almost completely between Matt and me. His arm went up. My brother still leaned forward, hate flooding his gaze, the drunkenness and wildness dissipating. “I’m the dumb one. I had the dumb mom. Not this one.” He clamped a hand on Kash’s shoulder, who stiffened underneath it.

Matt wasn’t done. “Not Seraphina or Cyclone. Shit. Quinn might be a cold prude, but she’s still smart. You know?” He paused again, thinking, and laughed to himself. “No, no. You wouldn’t know, would you? You don’t know anything about us. Nothing. You know our name. You know your daddy, what the magazines and websites and shows tell you about him, but you don’t really know him. There’s so much you have no clue about. No clue.”