Cruel Money (Cruel 1)

“I’ll be sure to rent her out to you,” Camden said and then strode away as if his work there was done.

“Ren,” Penn said softly.

“I’m fine,” she said sharply.

“I’ll just leave you two…” I said, backing away. I’d gotten the gist of that conversation. And there was enough to unravel that I felt like I needed a moment alone.

“No, Natalie,” Penn said.

“You two look like you need a minute. I’ll, uh, be in the powder room.”

“I’ll come with you,” Katherine offered.

“No. No, that’s okay. I can find it on my own.”

Then I hurried away from their watchful gazes. From the man I’d thought I was getting to know. And the friend I’d thought I was gaining. And their shared history, a deep well that Camden had pushed us all into.

Natalie

15

I stared at my own unreadable expression in the bathroom mirror. Well, tonight was a failure.

Penn and Katherine.

I didn’t know how I hadn’t seen it before. Now that I knew, it was so obvious. They were close friends. They’d known each other their entire lives. It wasn’t unthinkable that they had been together or something…at some point.

I didn’t know why I cared.

Because I did care.

Whenever I thought about it, I got this sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. Penn and I had just formed some kind of truce. We were living together, roommates, but that was it. I found him attractive. Very attractive. But I had no intention on acting on that. Or I hadn’t until this moment—when jealousy hit me green in the face.

“Are you using this sink?” a short blonde woman asked me.

I hadn’t even realized anyone else was in the restroom.

“Oh, no. Sorry.” I stepped aside for her and tried to get myself back under control.

She washed and dried her hands methodically before turning to face me. “You’re Natalie, right?”

“Yes,” I said cautiously.

“I’m Addison, but my friends call me Addie.”

She held her hand out, and I automatically shook it.

“Um…hi.”

I got a good look at her. The honey-blonde hair, the very straight nose, and easy smile. She looked…familiar. But I couldn’t place her. I didn’t think I’d ever seen her before.

“I’m Rowe’s twin sister.” Her smile brightened. “I’m older by two minutes.”

“Oh, wow!” I gasped. That was the resemblance. Now that I knew, it was uncanny. “I didn’t know that Rowe was a twin.”

“Yeah, we don’t exactly dress alike anymore.”

“Funny. And you call him Rowe?”

“Old habits. It’s only weird when I stop to think about it.” She shrugged. “We both hate our names, but he really got the short end of the stick. Archibald was never sticking, and Addison became Addie so easily.”

“Makes sense,” I said with a smile.

“I don’t like to be the one to do this, but you can’t trust them.”

“What are you talking about? Trust…who?”

“The crew.”

“Oh. We’re just friends.”

“They’re not your friends. They lie and manipulate. It’s like breathing to them. They can’t stop it, and they don’t care about who gets hurt in the crossfire.”

“Where is this all coming from?”

“Look, I feel strange even saying this, but I thought I should warn you. I was part of the crew for years. But I got out. And as someone who has been there, I am telling you that they are not what they seem.”

“Then how do I know that you are what you seem?”

She stuck her hand on her hip. “You don’t have to believe me. But you are being used. Whatever they’ve said or offered, however they make you feel, they are using you for their own purpose. And you would be an idiot to let them.”

I took a step back at the blunt way Addie had phrased that. I didn’t want to believe what she’d said was true. I didn’t know Addie at all. This was coming completely out of left field about people I hardly knew.

“I don’t know you, and you don’t know me or anything about my relationship with them.”

“You’re right,” Addie said with a shrug. “But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“Thanks. I guess.”

Addie pushed open the restroom door ahead of me, as if her work here was done. But then she stopped and glanced back at me. “Just…do your own digging. Do you even know who Katherine’s father is?” My blank expression must have said as much. “Ask around. Their closets are lined with skeletons.”

She breezed out of the restroom in a swirl of yellow chiffon.

Well, I hadn’t expected that. I felt strangely uneasy about Addie’s revelations. I didn’t know if she was telling the truth or if she had some ulterior motive. Nor did I know how much of it was true. If any of it was true.

I’d wanted a breezy fall, stuck on a beach in the Hamptons to finish my book. No distractions. No boys. Nothing but me, my computer, and lots and lots of words.