Going back to the room, I walk up to the bed. “Who bought me clothes?”
“Dad’s stylist,” Trystan says, his eyes still closed.
“Why’d she buy me clothes?”
“Because yours suck.” His eyes pop open, and he sits up. “All that black New Yorker shit. Don’t you guys ever get tired of that?”
“His stylist bought clothes for someone she doesn’t even know?”
“Dad gave her a photo of you. And he probably told her whatever he knows about you.”
“What did he tell you and your brother about me?”
“Not much.” He gets up and goes over to the mirror to mess with his hair. “We didn’t even know you existed until a few weeks ago.”
“Wait — what?” I rush over to him. “You didn’t know about me?”
“I always knew we had family secrets.” He turns to face me. “I just didn’t think you’d be one of them.”
Chapter 5
“How is that possible?” I ask. “Why wouldn’t your dad tell you about me?”
“Guess he didn’t see any reason to if we were never going to see you.” He turns to face me. “Sounds like Uncle Devon didn’t see you much either.”
“He didn’t, but that’s only because he lived so far away. And because he was either high, drunk, or at rehab.” I pause, stunned that my cousins never knew about me. “I can’t believe they didn’t tell you. I knew about you and Braden. So why didn’t you know about me?”
“Who the hell knows?” He goes and sits on the small, white couch on the other side of the room.
I have a couch in my room. That’s crazy! This room is bigger than all three bedrooms in our old apartment. I wonder what this house had cost — three, four million? More than that?
“You never said how your mom got this house,” I say. “If she doesn’t work, how’d she afford it?”
“Her dad gave her the money. He made a shitload when he was head of the studio. Then when he retired, he got even more.”
“So she met Uncle Brock at the studio?” I ask, seeing if Brock’s earlier story was true. He seems like someone who doesn’t tell the truth, although I’m not sure why he’d lie about how he met his wife.
“Uncle Brock,” Trystan says with a laugh. “I’ve never heard him called that.”
“Is that how he met your mom? At her dad’s studio?”
“Yeah. He was an intern. She said she worked there but she really just collected a paycheck. She’d show up now and then just to hang around the celebrities.”
“I’m surprised she didn’t date one of them instead of your dad.”
“Maybe she saw his potential. Soon after they started dating, he got his first big role. And ever since then he’s been a huge success.”
“How long were they married?”
“Ten years. The divorce took forever. They were always going to court. He really wanted the house so he used my brother and me as a reason why he should get it. He said we needed stability.” He huffs. “Like he gives a shit about us. He’s never even here.”
“And then he got married again?”
“A month after the divorce. The marriage lasted less than a year.” He pauses. “She’s dead now.”
“Dead? What happened?”
“Freak accident. Fell down the stairs at a resort.”
