The King’s mansion falls on a large piece of land, it’s impossible to see the end of it.
Three-storeys high, the house stretches horizontally like a palace. There are even two towers on each side and the entire structure appears old. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was a noble’s estate before. There must’ve been renovations, though, because all floors are filled with huge glass windows. Sometimes, glass takes more space than walls. It’s like a glasshouse.
A fountain rests not far from the entrance. A sad angel ceramic statue pours water from a jar. A woman dressed like the Virgin Mary holds him with a tear sliding down her cheek.
What a strange image to have at the entrance of a house.
Aiden doesn’t wait for me and disappears inside. Ronan, however, falls behind. At least someone has the decency to not leave me alone on my first visit here.
I pull my phone and text Kim.
Elsa: Are you here yet?
Kim: Coming. Just finishing up orgasming.
My lips hang open and I cast a glance at Ronan, hoping he didn’t see.
A shit-eating grin greets me.
“Tell her to take all the time she needs.” He waggles his eyebrows. “I’m available if she needs a hand.”
“Eww.”
“What?” He jokes. “If she’s texting while finishing up her orgasm then she’s not doing a good job. I can teach.”
“Keep your teachings to your horde of admirers, Ronan.”
“Just trying to be a good sport.” He grins and I can see why the girls at RES melt for him faster than cheese on pizza. His ruffled handsome looks are primary reasons, but it’s his charming nature and outgoing personality that makes him so desirable.
Ronan and Xander are more approachable than Aiden and Cole.
And more playful, too.
My phone vibrates again.
Kim: Shit! ORGANISING, not ORGASMING. Stupid autocorrect.
I laugh and thrust the text in Ronan’s face. “Happy now?”
“No.” He genuinely appears disappointed and I laugh harder.
He opens the door for me. “My offer still stands, though.”
“You’re an animal.”
We continue bickering on the way inside. A butler who appears as old as Bruce Wayne’s bows in greeting upon seeing us. He’s wearing a butler outfit all complete with white gloves and a white napkin dangling from his arm.
I bow back while Ronan nods in acknowledgement. He doesn’t seem the least bit phased, but then again, he has butlers in his house, too.
These people are on a whole different level with all their butlers and mansion-sized houses. RES is only a stop in a long chain of places they’ll rule in the future. Be it politics or economics or even sports, these guys have it in their DNA to be leaders.
Everything probably starts at school and builds up from there. After all, they’re more inclined to do business or politics with someone they studied with. It’s all about connections.
I was so stupid to think I could belong when I first joined RES. Outsiders like me will always be that. Outsiders.
But then again, I never wanted the connections they offer. RES was and will always be my stop for Cambridge.
Or at least it was until Aiden barged into my life at the beginning of this year.
All my cards are being shuffled without my permission.
My heart caves as I recall my quarrel with Aiden. I can’t believe I allowed Silver to get under my skin.
I look over at Ronan as he guides me down endless halls while texting away at his phone. “Do you guys hang out here a lot?”
“Not really. We usually go to the Meet Up.”
“The Meet Up?”
“Yeah. Our secret hideout.”
Oh. I wonder why Aiden never mentioned it before.
“Then why are we here today?” I ask.
“We come over when Uncle Jonathan isn’t around.”
“Do you bring girls, too?”
“Just Astrid and Silver.”
I come to a halt, my fingers digging into the straps of my backpack. So she’s been coming to Aiden’s house the entire time.
Of course, she does.
“Shit.” Ronan lifts his head from his phone. “Silver doesn’t come anymore, so forget I mentioned her, okay?”
“Why doesn’t she come anymore?”
He shrugs. “King doesn’t want her around.”
That’s supposed to make me feel better, but it doesn’t. My pessimistic brain conjures a different type of theory. If Aiden threw her out after he got tired of using her, then he’ll throw me out any time, too.
Ronan smiles. “We all grew up together. It sticks, you know.”
I knew he meant to reassure me, but his words only tie the noose tighter around my heart.
If Aiden discarded his childhood friend, what’s stopping him from throwing me out when he only knew me yesterday?
I’m being dramatic. After all, I’m the one who asked him to stay away from her.
“Margo!” Ronan all but yells.
My attention snaps back to the present. Ronan has led us into a spacious, sparkly kitchen. The decor is spotless grey and white like in those cooking TV shows. A petite woman stands behind the counter, closing the stove.
At Ronan’s shout, she turns around and comes out from around the corner. She appears in her mid to late forties. Her brown hair is pulled into a bun and covered by a disposable cap. She’s wearing a black skirt and white shirt all complete with an apron.
“You startled me, boy.” She scolds in a motherly tone.
“Sorry.” Ronan doesn’t appear sorry at all.
“Who’s this?” She asks as her kind blue eyes fall on me.
Ronan clasps an arm around my shoulder. “This is Elsa. You know, like the princess in Frozen.”
I elbow him and he winces. “Ouch. What was that for?”
Margo smiles. “I’m Margot, you can call me Margo like the boys. It’s rare to see a new face here.”
Interesting. So Aiden limits access to his house. Except for Silver, of course.
What? I’m not salty about that.
Not at all.
Ronan waggles his eyebrows. “She’s the one that got King all worked up.”
I elbow him again and this time, he lets me go. “And will break my ribs. Damn, Ellie. I didn’t know you were so strong. Are you open for threesomes?”
Margot is the one who hits him this time.
“On second thought, don’t tell King I mentioned that.” He looks around before whispering to Margot. “Are there listening devices here?”
“I wish there were.” Margot has a bit of an Irish accent.
When she faces me, it’s with a renewed type of interest. “I’m glad to finally meet you, Elsa. Do you want anything to drink or eat?”
“I’m fine, thanks.”
“I do!” Ronan’s eyes glint like a kid waiting for his Christmas present. “Have you prepared the chips?”
She motions at the counter behind her where there are a few bowls of homemade chips. “They’re cooling.”
“You’re the best, Margo!” Ronan slaps a noisy kiss on her cheek.
“Don’t you have your own cook?” She sounds resigned as if she asked this a thousand times.
“They’re not as good as you.” Ronan snatches a chip and must’ve been burnt because he winces and drops it back down. “My offer to come over still stands. We’ll pay you double what King does.”
“Stop trying to take Margo away.” Comes Aiden’s familiar voice before he strolls inside with Xander on his toll.
Aiden changed into black trousers and a plain grey T-shirt that brings out the smouldering colour of his eyes. It doesn’t help that the cloth tightens around his chest muscles highlighting his agile, sculpted physique.
My cheeks heat no matter how much I try to control my reaction. Why does he have to be so hot?
Aiden spares me an unreadable glance before he focuses back on Ronan who still hasn’t given up on the burning chips.
Did I mention that I hate the tension between us?
No. Not the tension. I hate that he ignores me.
I’ve been his main focus since the beginning of the year, it stings to be reduced to nothing.
“I made an offer first, Ro. Get in line.” Xander tosses a ball in the air and catches it with his head.
“No balls in my kitchen. You broke the dishes the other time.” Margo scolds.
Xander tucks the ball under his arm. He’s also in casual jeans and a denim jacket. “It was a one time only, Margo, come on.”
“Yeah, Margo.” Ronan quips. “Don’t be a dictator.”
“You have no right to talk. You almost burnt my kitchen over the weekend. I can’t believe I take one day off and all hell breaks loose.”
Ronan smiles sheepishly and Aiden says, “That’s it. No one is allowed in Margot’s kitchen anymore.”
“That’s my boy.” She smiles warmly at him. That motherly feel returns in full force even more than the look she gave Ronan earlier.
When Aiden smiles back, I’m struck by how beautiful his genuine smile is. I look for signs that he’s putting on a mask, but right here, in his home with the closest thing he has to family, he appears carefree.
“And no one is taking Margot away.” He gives pointed glares to Xander and Ronan.
The latter huffs. “I won’t stop trying.”
Xander lifts a shoulder. “Me neither.”
“Stop it, boys.” Margo gets between them. Her petite size is almost comical compared to their ridiculous height. “Don’t fight in front of Elsa. It’s not every day Aiden brings his girlfriend.”
Girlfriend.
I don’t know why my cheeks heat at that word. Aiden and I never talked about what we call each other. We didn’t even make it official yet.
I look over at Aiden, but he has that infuriating poker face on.
Xander wraps an arm around my shoulder and brings me to his side. He’s so close that my nostrils fill with his expensive perfume. “She was my girlfriend first, weren’t you, love?”
One moment, Xander is standing beside me, the next, he’s shoved back and my shoulder is free of his arm. Aiden has him by the collar of his jacket and is dragging him away.
With a chip in hand, Ronan lowers his head to whisper in a teasing tone, “Don’t say a word about the threesome suggestion. My life depends on it.”
Still clutching Xander, Aiden grabs Ronan by the back of his nape.
“My chips!” Ronan hugs a bowl to his chest as Aiden drags them both away.
“Tell everyone I was a good person!” Ronan shouts over his shoulder at me. “I want this line on my tombstone, He had a 7 inch dick and used it well.”
Xander and I burst into laughter as they all disappear around the corner.
“Boys.” Margo shakes her head and places the remaining bowls of chips on the tray.
“Let me help,” I offer, setting my backpack on a stool.
“It’s all right, sweetie. I can do it.”
“Please let me. I do everything on my own at home.” And I’m not used to people serving me.
“It’s so rare to find reliable teens these days.” She steps aside and motions at another tray.
After she adds a few other snacks and mayonnaise to the mix, we carry the trays out of the kitchen.
“Have you been living here for long?” I ask.
“I’ve been here since Aiden was born.” A look of nostalgia covers her features. “He was my boy since then.”
“You raised him?”
“I did,” she says with pride.
“Then you knew his mother?” I’m being nosy, but I hope she doesn’t mind.
“Poor woman died too soon.”
I’m like a cat who caught a fish and would do anything to keep it. “Aiden doesn’t talk much about her.”
“There’s nothing to talk about.” Margo’s warm tone turns biting. “Alicia was messed up and took all sorts of pills.”
I don’t miss the note of dismay in Margo’s tone as if she either hates Alicia or hates what she did. It’s probably the latter since Alicia’s suicide must’ve wounded Aiden and Margo seems to care about his wellbeing.
I’m about to probe some more and ask if it was suicide or an accident, but Margo stops. “I forgot the salt.”
“I’ll go back with you.”
“No, go ahead. The game is about to start and the boys would flip without their chips.” She points down the hall. “The theatre room is around the corner.”
Of course they have a theatre room. Why did I think we’d watch the game in the lounge area like normal people?
When Margo trudges back from where we came from, I sigh and continue my path. I stop down the hall. Margo forgot to mention whether I should turn left or right. There are equally long hallways on both sides.
Footsteps sound down the hall. Maybe the butler or one of the boys returned and I can ask them.
As the footsteps approach, they’re more measured and confident like what I’d imagine a prime minister or a president’s footsteps to sound like.
A tall man appears from the right. He’s wearing a tailored navy blue suit that screams wealth and status. It’s not until I meet his gaze that I’m stuck staring at the older version of Aiden.
Jonathan King.
I saw him on TV and in newspapers and a few times at school, but this is the first time I’m this close to him.
He has the same jet black hair as Aiden, although Jonathan is more styled and streaked with a few white strands. His jaw is more defined than Aiden’s. His eyes appear a darker grey than his son’s. If I thought Aiden’s gaze is intimidating, then his father’s is a killer.
His attention falls on me with pure aggressiveness.
