“I’m sorry. I didn’t want to lie to you. But there was a situation here I needed to take care of—” He abruptly stops as Michael strides by on his way to the bar. Peter gives him a nod, a pseudo smile plastered on his face.
Vivian frowns. Isn’t Michael a close friend? If so, then why is Peter being so careful around him?
Michael returns the nod, then gives Vivian a curious glance and continues on his way. “We can talk more about this later, when we’re alone,” Peter murmurs, his eyes roaming the room.
Is he looking for the girl?
“Fine,” she says, rather curtly.
“What about you?”
“What about me?”
“Do you have anything you want to share with me?” he asks, staring hard.
She feels a flush wrap around her throat like a turtleneck.Her friendship with Xavier. Her family’s Knox lineage. The missing schedule of beneficiaries. Xavier’s warnings. Her deep financial shithole.“No.”
“No?” He tilts his head.
“No.”
“Do you not trust me, Vivian? I don’t know about you, but I’m serious about this. About us. I’m too old to play games.”
It should be music to her ears, but it’s not. Clearly, he knows something about her, one of her secrets. Which one is it?
She wishes they weren’t in Canton’s Restaurant, with so many people around them. Maybe, if it were just the two of them, naked beneath the sheets, they could be more vulnerable with each other. More honest.
Right now, it feels like they’re in a chess match.
“So what’s it gonna take?” he asks, drumming his fingers against the table.
It’s a fair question. Whatisit going to take? She searches his eyes, two deceptively calm blue oceans. Is this the point in their relationship where they both come completely clean? She’s never really gotten to this point in a relationship before. She’s never cared enough; she’s never wanted to.
But what if she doesn’t want to know his secrets? What if they’re too much to bear? How could that scene she witnessed between him and the blue-haired girl be anything other than what it appeared: him checking out of a hotel with her?
“I need to use the bathroom,” Vivian says, rising.
Peter also rises, ever the gentleman, at least by outward appearances. “It’s down the hall, on the left side.”
Taylor
As quickly as the members appeared at the Knox, they are gone again. When Taylor arrives to work on Tuesday, the place is empty.
She trudges into the parlor, where Rose has instructed her to go unpack some shipping boxes that have arrived. Taylor’s annoyed she spent time curling her hair this morning and adding a black flower embellishment to her black skirt when no one’s there to see it.No onemeaning Peter.
Liam is already in the parlor, bent over a box and pulling out long black silks. Other boxes are pushed against the wall, some opened, some still secured with shipping tape.
“Morning,” she offers.
He glances up, wipes the sweat from his forehead. “Hey, New Girl.”
“What’s going on here?”
“Initiation is coming up.”
“I’m aware.”
“No, likereallycoming up. Saturday night.” Liam juts hischin toward the boxes. “These are things for it. Today’s all about preparing. All week will be about preparing.”
