Unfortunately, I’m kind of serious. “Is he going to be here tonight?” Tess hasn’t mentioned it, but I know she wants her dad to be here for her birthday party.
Maria looks at the doorway, then lowers her voice. “We have not seen Mr. Robert in months. Mrs. Claire was fighting with him on the phone a couple days ago, though.” She shakes her head disapprovingly and bites her lip with worry. “I don’t think he is going to show tonight.”
“Asshole.” Robert has never liked me, so I’m not a fan. In the last year, I think I’ve seen him twice.
The doorbell rings, breaking up our gossiping. Assuming it’s my parents, I allow Jax to let them in.
Putting my arms around Maria and Letty, I squeeze them tight. “I’m going to go find Tess. I’ll see you two later.” When I wink at them, they laugh, then chastise me for stealing another hors d’oeuvre.
“Jesus.” Shaking my head at the gaudy gold hallway, I make my way to Tess’s room.
When I stop at the door, I’m almost scared of what I’m going to find. Not bothering to knock, I open it. I can’t get a good look because Tess, some tattooed girl with pink hair, and Olive Oyl are all screaming at me. I start laughing at the stupidity of it all. Brance appears and shoos me out, shutting the door behind us.
“What the hell has happened to this place?”
He stares at me, arms crossed.
“We need to talk,” I say, motioning with my head for him to follow. This conversation is long overdue. Especially, with his decorating and how it seems he is becoming Claire’s life coach.
He keeps up with me. His dark eyes show no fear. If anything, he seems to be trying to decide if I’m good enough to bother with.
Snorting at his smugness, I enter the library slash billiard room: meaning it is surrounded with books and in the middle of the room is an ornate wooden pool table. This is one of Tess’s and my favorite rooms for numerous reasons. Brance moves to a love seat in the corner. He glances around, taking in the hunter-green walls and dark wooden bookshelves as if he can’t wait to get his hands on it.
“Touch anything in this room and you lose a testicle. I’m serious, Brance. Consider this my room, and I like it the way it is.”
He snickers. “Reed, I can’t wait to hear what you have dragged me in here to tell me, or are you only going to threaten me?”
The guy’s got balls, I’ll give him that. No one talks to me like that except maybe Jax.
Sitting down across from him, I place my elbows on my knees and lean forward. “Look, Tess needs a friend. She has decided that’s you. You fill some void in her life.” Sitting back, I add, “But, I need you to know that I always come first.”
Silence fills the room. Brance maintains eye contact with me. Slowly he smirks. “Of course Tess loves you. I would never dream of coming before you.” He crosses his leg. “Unless you do something where I have to step in and be first.”
I raise an eyebrow. “What does that mean?” My voice is low.
He shrugs. “Nothing, Reed.” He stands. “Now, I need to finish Tess’s hair.”
“Wait, what?” I’m confused at this guy’s gall. “I need to talk to Tess for a second.”
Brance smooths out his jacket with his hand. “Yeah… no. It’s bad luck.”
“What are you talking about? This isn’t our wedding day.”
He sighs dramatically. “Reed, Reed, you can’t rush beauty. Why don’t you go wait in the main room and have some more appetizers? I can smell the bacon on you.”
He shuts the door on me, and I stand there staring at the closed door for a moment, replaying what just happened. Brance may play the flamboyant gay guy, but I’m starting to think the real Brance is somewhat sinister.
Taking my time going back, I try to shake off my unease. Tess is mine, and I have nothing to worry about.
I’m expecting to see my parents, but instead, I see Jax talking to a tall, skinny blond girl in a tight black dress. At first glance, I confuse her with Olive Oyl. As soon as I take a closer look, I realize my mistake. Grabbing a crab tart from the round bistro table, I shove the whole cake into my mouth. God, I love Maria’s cooking. The caviar and crème on top are mind-blowing.
“Hey.”