Like my words stung.
But that can’t be right. This is Jackson.
I shake it off and walk faster. Rosewood rises ahead, right up the hill, shoulder to shoulder with Ashford House, like a bride and groom perched on top of a wedding cake.
“This little comeback Carrson is staging won’t work,” Jackson says. “He’s already too far behind.”
“Why?” I shoot him a look. “Are you worried?”
“About Carrson?” He snorts. “Of course not. He doesn’t have the leverage he thinks he does.”
“And you do?”
“I don’t need it.”
“That’s convenient.”
He runs his eyes over me again, slower this time. “You’ll figure it out soon enough.”
“Figure what out?”
“Where the real authority sits.” He tips his head toward Ashford House in the distance. “And who it answers to.”
I follow his glance, then look back at him. “You mean you?”
That almost-smile again. “I mean not him.”
“You sound pretty confident.”
“I am.” He puffs out his chest. “It’ll all come to me in the end.” He’s looking at me when he says that last part, like I’m one of the prizes he’s planning on winning.
It ticks me off.
“I wouldn’t be so sure if I were you. Carrson has support from The Order, plus he’s got the right last name.”
Jackson’s eye narrow. “What, exactly, do you know about The Order?”
I inspect my nails, as if this conversation is the farthest thing from my mind. “I know enough. About the drugs. The research. How men bond women.”
I don’t mention that’s about all I know. No reason to tell Jackson the entire truth.
“Carrson’s not supposed to tell you that stuff.” Jackson’s gleeful smile makes my blood run cold. I hope I didn’t just hand him the bullets he needs to shoot Carrson.
“He didn’t,” I backtrack quickly, keeping my expression neutral. “I found out on my own.”
“That proves Carrson’s totally unfit to lead this house,” he says, pointing to Ashford House. “That he let you, an outsider and a woman, sneak past and learn things she shouldn’t.”
He says those words.
Outsider.
Woman.
Like he can’t decide which is worse.
“Becky.” His hand is on my arm again, fingers digging, pulling me to a stop. “You don’t have to waste your time with Carrson.”
I pull myself tall and look him dead in the eye. “I’m not.”
