“Not a problem,” I assure everyone. “I’ll handle it.”
“Look at our boy all grown up,” Uncle Cutter says mockingly to the room. “You’ll handle it, eh? When’s the last time you’ve seen, much less dealt with our Gigi? She’s got a bit of her stubborn mama and her daddy in her.”
“More than a little,” Aunt Sloan mutters under her breath and my mom taps her foot in disapproval under the table.
“Are we good, Cam? Jade?” Dad asks, clearly wanting to be finished with this conversation.
They both offer a terse head nod. “We’re good with this plan for the time being,” Aunt Jade agrees.
“Remember, it’s just a precaution. If they come at us at all, it will most likely be after our assets, not our kids.”
“Right.”
The twitchiness of everyone in the dining room settles, and after I finish an enormous plate of chicken parmesan, I catch up with my brothers for a few minutes, and then I decide it's time to get Gigi’s attention.
In less than twenty-four hours, like it or not, her entire world is about to change and since I’m in a good mood, I’m going to give her a heads up.
I send the little drama queen a text that only she will understand and definitely respond to.
Me: Draw Four.
Queenie: OMG… what do you want?!
Four
Gigi
This feels absolutely wrong.
“Your place is really nice, babe.”
“Thanks.”
I have been living in my own one-bedroom apartment in South Philadelphia for two years and have never invited a man over. I tried once when I first moved in after graduation and it was a big mistake. He was someone I knew from class who assumed that when I invited him up that I wanted to have sex. Wrong. So I politely kicked him out of my house and decided that it’d be a cold day in hell before I invited someone else over.
Well, the devil must be shivering.
My gut is telling me that this might not be the right day for this, but my brain is completely overriding those instincts. So… I’ve invited Matthew inside.
“Is this a take your shoes off at the front door kind of home?” Matthew asks with the goofiest grin across his face. “It’s so clean in here.”
I smile in return.
My guess is that he’s pleased that I’ve finally invited him over and welcomed him inside to what he calls my “inner sanctum”. I just hope he doesn’t think that once he’s in the house, that he’s one step closer to having sex with me. The two of us have known each other for over a year, been dating for three months, and he’s been nothing but a gentleman, but I’m not some easy lay. When I’m ready to have sex with someone, I’ll let them know, and not a moment sooner.
Pressure for sex from Matthew isn’t why I hesitated to invite him over, though. I’ve been putting guys off for so long that I’m a pro at it. The real reason why I’m nervous about this visit is because I’ve been raised to be wary of people who don’t share the last name King or Masterson or who haven’t been vetted by a King or a Masterson. My parents simply have a natural distrust of most human beings, which is so weird considering that they own people-centric businesses: apartments, nightclubs, restaurants.
This “keep your distance” rule was one that I was never comfortable with while growing up. I enjoy socializing. I like people. I’m an actress, for God’s sake. I crave an audience. But like the two little mind benders they are, they have programmed me to fear the unfamiliar. So while I'm friendly with dozens of people, I’m not close to anyone.
I don’t have a best friend or a clique or a crew like most young women my age, because I never believed I could trust one. That’s what years of living under King family rule will get you, doubting yourself and stressed the hell out. They have always preferred to keep our circle of friends and family small and familiar. It makes them feel safe. On the other hand, that kind of life has always made me feel smothered.
God knows that being the only daughter of Camden and Jade King has never been easy, but the worst part of it has been how they used Knox to keep a tight control on who I befriended or dated. I blame them for the fact that I can’t stand the one person who they would have trusted to be my best friend.
“Yes,” I tell Matthew. “Take them off. I just mopped these floors.”
“No problem,” he chuckles.
A text message notification dings from my cell phone and I roll my eyes the moment I see who it is. I’ve assigned him a one word contact name in my phone because that’s what he’s always been to me.
Jackass: Draw Four
Me: OMG… what do you want?!
What could Knox Masterson possibly want? After he basically ruined high school for me, the two of us have had little to do with each other unless we’re forced to be in the same room because of our families. Phone calls between us almost never happen… unless there’s an emergency.
His text message Draw Four is a code we both came up with one Christmas when I was twelve-years-old. It used to mean that no matter what was going on with the other person; it was mandatory that we pick up each other’s call. Sort of like a bat signal. Twelve years later, the words are nothing more than a nostalgic nod to a childhood card game that we both were obsessed with when we were kids called Uno. I can’t believe he even remembered it. Yet when my cell phone rings five-seconds later, I pick it up.
“Are my parents okay?” I answer tersely, without even a hello.
“Fine.”
“Then have you been arrested?”
Matthew looks curiously at me, so I walk further into the kitchen and pretend that I’m getting us some snacks. He doesn’t need to witness this nasty side of my personality. Knox brings out the worst in me.
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“I’m asking if you need me to bail you out of prison or something because why else would you be calling me, of all people?”
“Gigi,” he says plainly, as if we just spoke to each other yesterday. “There was a family meeting at my Grandfather’s house thirty minutes ago.”
“How nice for you.”
“But not so nice for you, and why the hell would I call you of all people for bail money?”
See what I mean?
He’s a total jackass.
“What do you mean it wasn’t so nice for me?”
“It’s been decided.”
My stomach drops.
“What’s been decided?”
“There’s been a recent threat made to the family, so a decision was made that I am to live at your place for your protection.”
“My protection?!” I try not to guffaw.
“Uh, yeah.”
“I don’t need your protection and I don’t want it. You tell the family that I’m a big girl and can take care of myself.”
“If you had bothered to show up for the meeting, you could have told them yourself. Now it’s been decided for you.”
“You keep saying that. Stop saying that! Nothing has been decided regarding my life.”
“We can discuss it further when I get there. I don’t like to argue when I’m driving.”