made of this newcomer and the splash she’d just made—literally and metaphorically. But I could tell you I was grinning like crazy because for the first time in what felt like forever, I wasn’t the only one who stuck out.
This girl here? She might as well have come from another planet.
And I loved it.
Six
Lila
The water felt amazing. Or maybe that was the rush of adrenaline that came from knowing my time here in Podunk was nearly at an end.
In less than twenty-four hours, no less. I’m not gonna lie, sometimes I impressed myself. The way Brandon watched me frolicking in the water?
I’d be willing to bet I could have him, me, and Tess on a plane out of here before I even had a chance to shout I told you so in my sister’s smug face.
She’d thank me for it. Much as she might kiss up to our dad, she didn’t want to be here any more than I did. She didn’t tell me exactly what he was holding over her head, but my best guess was college on the East Coast.
Keep tabs on your sister, help her seal this deal, and I’ll pay for you to go to any college of your choosing.
I could practically hear my father’s voice, that’s how well I knew him. Like I’d said before, no one did anything for free in my family. Maybe he’d even sweetened the pot with something ludicrously lame that Tess would get all hot and bothered about. Like an internship at a Fortune 500 company or something.
The girl was pathetic.
But she was my sister, and if I won the part, she’d win too. Maybe if she went off to the East Coast, she’d get some much-needed freedom.
My father had her under his thumb at all times. Me too, I supposed, but in exchange I got his money and his power and his name.
It was worth it.
Tess? She’d never wanted any of that.
She was such a weirdo.
Brandon swam alongside me, splashing and teasing. Some of his friends joined us, and for the first time since we’d arrived in my version of Hell on Earth, I was actually having fun.
Sort of. I mean, as much fun as one could have in Little House on the Prairie land. Still, Brandon was just as hot as his father had been, and I hadn’t been lying about how much I’d loved his dad as a kid. He’d been my hero on screen and off.
On screen because, duh, he was a fab actor. But off, that was where he’d really earned my love. He’d come to our house on occasion. I’d seen enough of Frank MacMillan—or rather him and my father together—to know that he was one of the very few people I’d ever seen stand up to the old man.
Maybe the only one. I mean, my father’s wives didn’t really count because one glare from Daddy Dearest and they were begging for mercy. One foul word and he’d leave them, and they all knew it. All four of them, including the current one.
No one got into bed with the devil without knowing what the deal was. And no one worked for him without learning the truth of the matter either.
But Frank MacMillan? He’d never cowered. He’d never begged. Most of all, he’d never kissed my father’s butt.
For that, he would always be my hero.
And for that, he died. Oh, I’m not saying my father killed him or anything. He might’ve been corrupt and maybe even cruel, but he wasn’t a killer.
I didn’t think.
But I didn’t doubt that he’d go out of his way to make any enemy’s world a living nightmare if challenged, and no one who’d seen them together could deny that Frank had been a thorn in my father’s side.
Did he shove the pills down his throat? No. Probably not. But he’d likely pushed them into his hand.
And that brings us to the main reason that I was here under the name Lila Baker.
I wasn’t sure how much Brandon knew about me, about my father. Or how much his mother had told him. I’d tell him who I was eventually, of course. We couldn’t arrive in L.A. as Hollywood’s new “it” couple and star of the newly rebooted series without him knowing exactly who I was.
But all in good time. I had a plan. And step one? Well, it was going swimmingly.
Pun intended.
On the shore, some of the guys unloaded a grill from the back of a truck, and that prompted Brandon