“It was taken from behind us, at the same level, like whoever took it was following us,” I say, my voice quieter as my thoughts get louder. “Clay, can you pull up the security roster? Who was working Starling’s security on the day of the baby shower?” I ask.
“James, obviously. Then, Tom, Josh, and Luke,” Clay says, reading names from his cell.
“Are they the ones who were here the day I was supposed to go back to school?” Starling asks me, turning in my lap so we’re face-to-face.
“Only James and Tom. The others are from a rotating staff of eight that work in shifts so that you’re always covered.”
“But James works all the time?” she questions.
“I assigned him a house in the grounds when he started acting as your full-time bodyguard and driver,” I tell her.
“It was Tom,” Clay announces, spinning his tablet screen around to show us a series of emails from him to the email [email protected]. The emails are surprisingly short, with no real interaction or anything that gives us a hint of why either decided to do this in the first place.
“Now, we’re planning the murder,” Evan says with a crazed laugh.
“No. We’re not killing anyone,” Starling yells.
“We can’t just fire him. This—” I start, but Starling interrupts me.
“I never said we should fire him.”
Evan, Clay, Hunter, and I all start to talk at once, but Starling slips off my lap and pushes to her feet to silence us.
“Clay, can you hack into his cell or his computer or something? We need to know more about his and Courtney’s relationship and find real proof that he’s the one who took the picture of us on the golf cart. Then…are there cameras in the security room? Can you get proof of him accessing the footage?” Turning to look at me, she arches her brow. “I’m assuming we make our staff sign an NDA?”
I nod. “Of course.”
“Good. Then we need to know everything about both of them.”
“What do you have planned, Little Bird?” I ask, my dick hardening at the malicious gleam in my wife’s beautiful eyes.
“We’re going to do what we do,” she says, slowly turning to look at all of our friends before lowering her gaze to me. “We’re going to embrace our psycho club natures, and we’re going to ruin them.”
ELEVEN
STARLING
Pure,ferocious rage is still burning inside of me even hours later. Someone we employ, someone who has been following me around, protecting me for years, took photos of us and sent them to my ex-best friend. The acidic taste of her betrayal still stings, even though it’s been years since Courtney dumped me and chose popularity and a shot at claiming Sebastian, or one of the others, over taking my side and believing that I didn’t want to be in a relationship with Sebastian.
I know I should be over it, and honestly, I thought I was. Hers isn’t the most upsetting or life-changing betrayal I’ve experienced in my life. My mom picking Sebastian and his rich parents over me hit a lot harder.
But the fact that now, years later, she’s still betraying me has brought all of the hurt and pain back to the surface, like the wound is fresh, not an old scar.
“Did you fuck her?” I snap, turning to Sebastian, who is silently watching me.
“I already told you I didn’t,” he says calmly.
“No one would still be invested in hurting us years later, over one date,” I hiss, crossing my arms over my chest.
“We used her to force you to sit with us at lunch,” he says, standing and prowling a step closer to me. “We used her to bring you into our group.”
Wrapping my arms around myself a little tighter, I lift my chin and plant my feet, not willing to take a step back, no matter how much I want to.
“We used her to try to bring you home.” Eyes going hooded, he moves closer again. “And after you left me, I used her to try to make you jealous. Once I realized that you didn’t care, I kicked her to the curb and forgot she existed.”
“She obviously thought it was more. You took her on a date. You must have led her on,” I protest weakly, feeling my anger starting to morph into fearful lust the closer Sebastian comes.
“I had Clay, Evan, and Hunter take her to a couple of parties. We let her sit with us at lunch. I sent a car to pick her up for the wedding, and the only time I touched her or spoke to her was when you were looking at us. I didn’t lead her on. I’d treat a dog better than I treated her. There hasn’t ever been anyone for me, but you.”
