Bastards and Scapegoats (Twisted Legacy Duet #1) - CoraLee June Page 0,42
again, Lilah. How are you? Congratulations on the move. You’re going to love DC. It’s a great place to raise kids, too.”
My mother glared at Hamilton. The open hostility was unexpected and out of the ordinary. What did Joseph tell her that was so bad? “I’m very proud of my husband,” she said in a pleasant tone that felt forced. “He’s worked hard to follow in Jack’s footsteps. He’s got that Beauregard ambition.”
“That’s such a picky gene. I hear it skips younger siblings,” Hamilton replied with a wicked smirk.
“Well, what a coincidence. I heard the very same thing. In fact, I’ve heard lots of things recently,” Mom snapped.
“I’m sure only ninety-nine percent of them are true. Did my brother tell you about the time I bought him strippers for his thirtieth birthday? What a wild time that was,” Hamilton replied while cocking his head to the side and looking my mom up and down.
Mom frowned and rolled her eyes. “Vera, let’s go stand with Joseph. This is a party celebrating his accomplishments, and you haven’t even spoken to him. It looks bad.”
I ground my teeth together. If she was worried about appearances, then she was going to be pissed when she heard I let Hamilton eat me out in a storage closet. “Of course.” I didn’t want to go stand with Joseph. I didn’t even want to be at this stupid party, and for the first time in my life, I wanted to get the hell away from my mother. She was like a complete stranger to me.
Hamilton cleared his throat before speaking directly to me. “I’ll stop by tomorrow, then.”
“I’m leaving for the oil rig. They asked me to come early, and I needed a dog sitter. Vera so graciously volunteered.” Hamilton squeezed me tighter to his side. I forgot he was still holding me close. I shrugged out of his grasp.
“I see,” Mom replied while tilting her chin up. “And you’ll be gone for how long?”
“Two weeks. But I’ll be back. I always come back,” Hamilton promised. There was something ominous about the way he emphasized always.
I looked between them and decided that this was too dramatic for my tastes. “Come on. Let’s go see Joseph,” I told my mother before grabbing her slender arm and pulling her toward her husband at the head table in the front of the room.
“See you tomorrow, Vera,” Hamilton called, loud enough for the neighboring tables to hear. It was like he wanted people to know.
I nodded politely, my lips fixed in a tight smile.
Just before we got to the front table where a positively political Joseph was politely smiling, Mom pulled me off to the side. “Are you trying to punish me? Is that what’s going on, Vera?” she asked in a hysterical whisper while side-eyeing the room. “I know that I hurt your delicate feelings last weekend, but I thought you were going to stay away from Hamilton, not disappear with him for forty-five minutes doing God knows what. I raised you better than this. You start college next week. Now is not the time to start going crazy and sleeping around. You cannot seriously be this selfish.”
She didn’t look at me as she spoke, her gaze too busy watching the room to make sure that no one was eavesdropping on us. “I was doing nothing. I seriously don’t understand why you’re upset,” I lied.
Mom exhaled and parted her mouth, giving me a determined, speculative glare. She then reached up and spun one of my fallen strands of hair on her finger, her expression turning scarily calm. “I wasn’t going to tell you this. I know how sensitive you are, dear, but you must know. Hamilton has been trying to ruin this family ever since his mother died.” Her voice was a gossipy whisper.
“What?” I sputtered.
“You heard me. He planted drugs in Joseph’s locker in high school and got him suspended. He also tries to ruin every public event with some sort of scandal. I mean, he had an orgy at our wedding, Vera.” She looked around. “He’s got some sort of vendetta. Joseph thinks he’s just jealous. Jack’s always been close to Joseph. They have more in common, you know? Hamilton is a selfish, self-absorbed asshole. You need to be careful.”
“Why would he try to ruin his family? What did Joseph and Jack do?” I asked.
Mom tilted her chin up and inhaled. “My husband and Jack have done nothing to deserve this behavior.” Her