Many people were already sitting down, prepared to enjoy their overpriced meals as they gossiped. I’d completely lost my appetite.
“I am suspicious,” I hissed. “Stop following me.” I didn’t actually want Hamilton to stop following me. Aside from my mother, he was the only familiar face here. But it was for the best. We’d taken things too far. This was exactly the situation I was trying to avoid. If word got out that I was lusting after Joseph’s younger brother, it would be a media shit storm. It was taboo and wrong.
“Who else am I going to talk to? This party is stuffy. Want to leave? I’ve got a couple of steaks marinating at my house. I’ll even break the rules and give you a glass of wine. You really need a fake ID.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and kept walking toward the buffet table. I needed a drink. I needed to go home and wash Hamilton off of my skin.
“You look hot all flustered like that,” Hamilton whispered. “It’s kind of cute how your cheeks turn red. Are you thinking about it, Vera? Are you thinking about how I still have your taste on my tongue?”
“Stop talking,” I pleaded. “It’s like you want to be caught.”
“What’s the worst that could happen? I mean honestly.”
“People could talk,” I forced out. “It could make my mother look bad.”
“I didn’t realize you cared what people thought about you. It’s a shame. Life is so much more fun when you let go of all the expectations the rest of the world puts on you.”
I stared at Hamilton, at his shiny lips, his wild eyes and his ruffled hair. “You don’t care what people think of you?”
“No. I care about having fun, feeling good, and doing whatever the fuck I want to do. Life is too short to live by someone else’s rules, Vera.”
“I feel like I’ve got a flashing neon sign over my head telling everyone what we just did,” I huffed out while fixing the strap of my dress.
“It’s kind of hot. Would you be into people watching us sometime?”
I blushed and avoided looking at him. “This was bad. Really bad.”
“I thought by the way you screamed my name, it was fucking good, Vera,” Hamilton replied in a low voice. “So fucking good that I’m going to be stroking myself to thoughts of you coming in my mouth. You’re so sweet.”
I let out a slow breath. “Why me? I’m sure you could have anyone.”
“Why are you so quick to doubt why someone would want you, hmm?” I thought about his question for a moment. Why was it so difficult for me to wrap my head around the idea of being wanted? Just before I could reply, my mother’s voice stopped me in my tracks.
“Vera, baby, where did you disappear to? You missed the toasts.”
I snapped my attention to my mother and let out a shaky exhale. “I was just taking a walk. I needed some fresh air. You know how crowds make me anxious,” I replied.
She peered at me, and Hamilton being the asshole he was, slung his arm over my shoulders. “Hello again, Lilah. How are you? Congratulations on the move. You’re going to love DC. It’s a great place to raise kids, too.”
My mother glared at Hamilton. The open hostility was unexpected and out of the ordinary. What did Joseph tell her that was so bad? “I’m very proud of my husband,” she said in a pleasant tone that felt forced. “He’s worked hard to follow in Jack’s footsteps. He’s got that Beauregard ambition.”
“That’s such a picky gene. I hear it skips younger siblings,” Hamilton replied with a wicked smirk.
“Well, what a coincidence. I heard the very same thing. In fact, I’ve heard lots of things recently,” Mom snapped.
“I’m sure only ninety-nine percent of them are true. Did my brother tell you about the time I bought him strippers for his thirtieth birthday? What a wild time that was,” Hamilton replied while cocking his head to the side and looking my mom up and down.
Mom frowned and rolled her eyes. “Vera, let’s go stand with Joseph. This is a party celebrating his accomplishments, and you haven’t even spoken to him. It looks bad.”
I ground my teeth together. If she was worried about appearances, then she was going to be pissed when she heard I let Hamilton eat me out in a storage closet. “Of course.” I didn’t want to go stand with Joseph. I didn’t even want to be at this stupid party, and for the first time in my life, I wanted to get the hell away from my mother. She was like a complete stranger to me.
Hamilton cleared his throat before speaking directly to me. “I’ll stop by tomorrow, then.”
Mom’s eyebrows raised. “Tomorrow? What’s tomorrow?”
“I’m leaving for the oil rig. They asked me to come early, and I needed a dog sitter. Vera so graciously volunteered.” Hamilton squeezed me tighter to his side. I forgot he was still holding me close. I shrugged out of his grasp.
“I see,” Mom replied while tilting her chin up. “And you’ll be gone for how long?”
“Two weeks. But I’ll be back. I always come back,” Hamilton promised. There was something ominous about the way he emphasized always.
I looked between them and decided that this was too dramatic for my tastes. “Come on. Let’s go see Joseph,” I told my mother before grabbing her slender arm and pulling her toward her husband at the head table in the front of the room.
“See you tomorrow, Vera,” Hamilton called, loud enough for the neighboring tables to hear. It was like he wanted people to know.
I nodded politely, my lips fixed in a tight smile.
Just before we got to the front table where a positively political Joseph was politely smiling, Mom pulled me off to the side. “Are you trying to punish me? Is that what’s going on, Vera?” she asked in a hysterical whisper while side-eyeing the room. “I know that I hurt your delicate feelings last weekend, but I thought you were going to stay away from Hamilton, not disappear with him for forty-five minutes doing God knows what. I raised you better than this. You start college next week. Now is not the time to start going crazy and sleeping around. You cannot seriously be this selfish.”
She didn’t look at me as she spoke, her gaze too busy watching the room to make sure that no one was eavesdropping on us. “I was doing nothing. I seriously don’t understand why you’re upset,” I lied.
Mom exhaled and parted her mouth, giving me a determined, speculative glare. She then reached up and spun one of my fallen strands of hair on her finger, her expression turning scarily calm. “I wasn’t going to tell you this. I know how sensitive you are, dear, but you must know. Hamilton has been trying to ruin this family ever since his mother died.” Her voice was a gossipy whisper.
“What?” I sputtered.
“You heard me. He planted drugs in Joseph’s locker in high school and got him suspended. He also tries to ruin every public event with some sort of scandal. I mean, he had an orgy at our wedding, Vera.” She looked around. “He’s got some sort of vendetta. Joseph thinks he’s just jealous. Jack’s always been close to Joseph. They have more in common, you know? Hamilton is a selfish, self-absorbed asshole. You need to be careful.”
“Why would he try to ruin his family? What did Joseph and Jack do?” I asked.