Ever want to know a person’s real character?
Give them anonymity. Let them show themselves.
Unfortunately, once we have our drinks, I discover a new problem. Cursing under my breath, I’m hoping the din of conversation covers my slip, but ever vigilant, Ivy catches it.
“What is it? Is he here?” she asks, looking past me.
“No,” I say, pressing my hand to her waist to keep her back to him. “It’s Kyle. He’s a cousin on my mother’s side.” A Bradbury through and through, and thus, utterly awful. There’s only one reason Kyle does anything, so for him to be here… “He must be after something.”
Chauvinistic and opportunistic (an unfortunately common combination), Kyle has only ever spoken in declarative sentences while holding neither intelligence nor wit. It leaves arrogance in its wake, which he has in abundance, along with the mildly greasy residue of having been slobbered all over.
Ivy darts her eyes across the crowd, searching eagerly. “How can you tell it’s him?”
“I’d recognize the twat anywhere.” Hard not to, since he’s doing little to hide his appearance tonight. Kyle’s calling card is his surname. It’s the only connection to greatness he’s ever achieved, and it wasn’t due to any effort on his part (his favorite way to achieve anything, in my experience). “The last time I saw him, he tried to pry a cool fifty thousand from me.”
“What did he want with fifty G’s?”
“With him, it’s as much about what he can get as it is about proving what he can take from you.”
It’s only mostly his fault; entitlement is as much a part of Deacon’s legacy as the business is.
I will never understand why Reed looked up to our grandfather. He spent every summer soaking up Deacon’s lessons like sermons and nodding along like he knew he’d be quizzed on it someday.
Deacon naming Reed as his successor wasn’t a surprise to me, but apparently it hit the rest of the family like a ton of bricks. Kyle’s dad, Richard, as the eldest, threw a shit fit of epic proportions according to Darcy, huffing and puffing and threatening to blow the whole empire down.
Three decades spent as Deacon’s head of operations, and it wasn’t enough. But that’s Deacon for you. Reed had been smart enough to fire our uncle before he could follow through, but it’s been icy cold around that side of the family since.
Ivy’s eyes burn bright, lit up from within. “Point him out to me. I want to talk to this guy.”
I pause.I’m not used to anyone wanting to fight my battles with me.
“Please?” she whispers, and like magic, I know I’ll give her anything she wants. “It’s a night of mischief; you said so yourself. I’m only taking your direction.” Before the night ends, she’ll take more than that, and I’m looking forward to it.
I raise my hand to her shoulder, tracing the outline of her tattoo. Every piece of her speaks, sings, moves me. She’s art itself. “Ivy, you are as delightfully surprising as you are beautiful. We’re going to have a lot of fun together.”
“Is that a promise?”
I smile. It’s a guarantee.
Kyle has made it his personal mission to extract as many dividends as our lingering guilt might provide. If Ivy wants to have a go at him, he deserves it. I’ll enjoy watching him get eaten alive.
“All right. See the jackass in the bright red smoking jacket and transparent mask?”
She zeroes in on him immediately. I’ll wager she’s cocking a brow under that mask. “The one that defeats the entire purpose of a masquerade?”
“The very same.”
She hums, staring after him as he struts out of the room, her lips pursed to one side. “You’re right. He is a twat.”
Christ, I want to kiss her.
He’s also a complication. Getting my brother alone is looking like an impossibility now. Time to refocus.
“See all these people?” I ask Ivy after we’ve settled in the darkest corner with drinks in hand. “They’re going to be your audience tonight. They don’t know who you are, and you’re never going to see them again. All the versions of yourself that you sometimes wish you could be? Try them on. See how they feel.”
Low stakes, no consequences. A few white lies here and there, but no one will get hurt.
“You’re giving me permission to lie to everyone here, including your family. Isn’t that a little weird?”
