his tone. When he didn’t answer, I moved even closer, placing a hand lightly on his arm. “James?”
He spoke low and quickly. “When I kissed you, I was feeling pissed off—I’d heard about Cavendish’s little display claiming you in the cafeteria, and it made me…I don’t know, jealous, in a way, I guess. He’s never been interested enough in any girl before to do anything like that, and it had to be the one that I had first, the one I’d been friends with. It didn’t take much persuading to kiss you, and when you reacted so angrily, it made me angry in turn, and at that point I was glad I’d done it.”
My head was spinning, as I tried to process what he was telling me. “Okay. I understand all that, I suppose, not that I agree with your reasons. At all. But why, James? Why didn’t you have a choice? Who’s behind all this?”
“I can’t tell you. I wish I could stay out of it, and I’m sorry you got caught up in everything.”
That told me nothing. I needed answers. “Joseph’s involved, though, right?”
He stiffened at the mention of his cousin. “You’re a nice girl, Winter. But you being here, being related to the Cavendish family…” He sighed. “Whether you wanted to or not, you’ve chosen your side. You wouldn’t be willing to go against your family, would you?”
“What do you mean by ‘side’?” I tried to keep the impatience from my voice, so fed up with all this secrecy. Why couldn’t anyone speak like normal people, instead of being all cryptic and shit?
“I’m telling you this because I like you, and you’ve been nothing but nice to me, and despite what you might think of me right now, I’m not the bad guy here.”
Beckoning me closer, he bent down to speak into my ear, and I held my breath. “Understand this. Alstone has rivalries dating back for generations, in some cases. When you first turned up, I honestly didn’t know who you were. If I had, I would’ve kept my distance. To begin with, it seemed okay—the Four clearly didn’t want you around, and I thought that you and I could be friends. When it became obvious that Cavendish had a thing for you, and especially after he threatened me, I backed right off.”
His voice lowered even further. “My cousin’s family, and my family, to a lesser extent, are bitter rivals with all the founding members of Alstone Holdings. Sometimes, you have to do things for your family that you may not want to do, because they’re your blood.”
Drawing back, I peered at him, trying to see his eyes behind his mask. “I get that, but no. You don’t have to. If it goes against your beliefs and morals, you say no. And you know what?” I waved my arm in the direction of the dance floor. “Those four boys? They’re my family. Yeah, we’re not related by blood, but the fact remains that we’re a family. And while I’d do almost anything for them, I wouldn’t blindly follow orders that went against my instincts, and not only that, I know they’d never ask me to compromise my beliefs or standards.”
He shook his head. “Count yourself lucky, then, but you wouldn’t be saying that if you were in my position.” Straightening up and moving away from the wall, he stared at me again. “That’s all I can tell you. I’m sorry, but I want to stay out of it as much as possible. Just…try and do the same, okay? Stay away from trouble.”
I couldn’t help laughing, a low, bitter laugh. “Trouble seems to follow me around, ever since I came to Alstone.”
“Be careful. Goodbye, Winter.” With that warning lingering in the air, he strode away, beckoning to Bea, who returned to his side, and they were swallowed by the crowd.
Cassius was in front of me in an instant, and I gave him a rundown of the situation.
“As I thought,” he muttered. “Another fucking complication we could do without.”
“Do you think there could be any connection between this shit with James and Joseph, and my mother?” I voiced the question that had been bugging me since the boys had alluded to past issues with them.
Cassius paused for a moment, thinking, then shook his head slowly. “No. there’s no way. It wouldn’t make any sense.”
“Okay.” He was right. It didn’t make sense, not really. I was just grasping at straws, sick of not having any answers.
“Come on. I’ve had