Chapter Thirty - Paxton
The conversation lags through dinner after that. Presumably the group is busy mulling over who this mysterious entity in the center circle might be.
But the name is repeating itself over, and over, and over in my head.
The Silver Society.
I have so many questions for Cindy. They are spilling out of my mind and filling up my head until I feel like just grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the dining room.
But I can’t do that.
No. I can’t do that.
Because everyone will know I know something and then they will start asking questions. And Cindy might let something slip about the silver envelope my mother showed us at the races. And one of the guys—Corporate, probably, because we’ve never exactly been friends and he’s probably still pissed off at me about that whole island mercenary contract I had on his life a few weeks ago—will put two and two together and come up with Mariel Hawthorne. And then I might really have to kill him.
And, and, and. It goes on, and on, and on like that from there.
“How’s the food?” the chef, some fresh-faced thirty-something woman, says, beaming a smile at all of us as she claps her hands together in anticipation.
“Oh, it’s lovely,” Ivy says. I can’t see her, she’s on the other side of Cindy, and I don’t try, anyway. I just look back down at my plate as Nolan tries to convince the woman everything is perfect even though there is nothing about us that says anything is perfect.
I cut a piece of steak and shove it in my mouth.
Cindy turns her head to look at me, just as Ellie, Mac, and Five begin talking on my end of the table. She leans in and kisses me on the cheek, but instead of turning away, she lingers close to my ear and whispers, “I have to tell you something.”
I pull away and look her in the eyes.
Alone, she mouths to me.
After dinner, I mouth back.
Cindy takes a deep breath and nods her head, then goes back to picking at her steak. We have one course left. One more course and then I can get out of this fucking room, get away from all these fucking people, and just clear my head and think.
Think.
I really need to think.
Cindy and I are conspicuously silent after that, and Oliver does not miss this. He’s mostly scowling through the rest of the main course and when our plates are finally taken away, he says, “So…” looking straight at me. Only a few people notice. Cindy, of course. And when I look to my right at Five, he scowls and steeples his fingers under his chin like some kind of epic villain in a superhero movie.
“So,” I say back. Mac and Ellie are engaged in a conversation about their dog, who was herded away with Corporate’s new insta-kid the moment they got here. But Ariel is directly across from me, and she’s paying very close attention.
“Do you love her?” Oliver asks. “Because if you don’t, you need to back. The fuck. Away.”
“Oliver,” Cindy says. “We’re in a new relationship. We like each other enough to take it further. It’s none of your business.”
“Yes,” I say when she stops talking, never taking my eyes off Oliver. “Yes, I love her.” When I look over at Cindy, she’s smiling. Maybe even blushing. “I do,” I say. “You just took over my life and now that you’re here, I can’t imagine I would ever be happy if you left.”
“Awww,” Ariel says. “See, Oli, you’ve got nothing to worry about. Our little baby sister has won the heart of big, bad Mr. Mysterious.”
“What about your job?” he says to that. And he sneers the word job. “You can’t possibly—”
“I’m out,” I say. “I’m partnering up with Cindy in her detective business.”
“I guess that’s why you showed up here in a trench coat and then locked yourself in Nolan’s office?”
Ivy actually laughs on the other side of Cindy. Everyone is listening now.
“Yeah, that was kind of a dick move, Mysterious,” Nolan says.
“Oh, stop about your stupid desk, Nolan,” Ivy chastises him. “It’s no big deal. Three months ago we were sneaking away too. So stop being judge-y.”
“It’s my office,” Nolan says. “And I never fucked you in there.”
“Jesus Christ,” I say. “I’m done here.” I’m about to get up when the chef and servers appear with dessert, and Cindy places a calming hand on my arm to keep me seated.
“Ten minutes,” she says, leaning over to whisper in my ear. “Ten minutes and we can go back to our cabana and be alone.”
“I heard that,” Oliver says, as he is served a plate with a single chocolate-covered strawberry with some kind of filling spilling out the top.
My plate is put in front of me and I look down at it, just as the chef says, “Please enjoy the cheesecake-filled chocolate-covered strawberries. Who would like coffee?”
Fuck that. I pop the whole strawberry in my mouth and stand up before I get roped into twenty more minutes of conversation. “It was great, Elizabeth,” I say to the chef, tossing my napkin down, and chewing through the words before I swallow and continue. “Sorry I wasn’t dressed for the occasion, but I was traveling all day and now I’m pretty tired. So Cindy and I”—she is wrapping her strawberry into a hastily constructed takeaway container made out of her napkin—“are going to bed. See you on the other side, my friends.”
I grab her hand and we flee. I practically drag her through the busy-as-fuck resort—how the hell did Nolan get so many people booked in so short a time, anyway?—as we make our way out of the main building, past the pool, and then off to the left where the private bungalows are.
“What room are we in?” I ask, as we walk along the elaborately landscaped path that leads to the private pool and little huts.
“Eight,” she says. “The last one. But Pax—”
“Shhh,” I say. “Just wait until we’re alone, OK?” Corporate’s kid and Perfect’s dog, along with a nanny, are swimming and splashing in the private pool as we pass it. Cindy waves and smiles at the greeting we receive from the kid, and then she’s got her keycard out and she’s flashing it at the door.
I open it up and we escape inside, closing the door behind us.
I smile at the sight of her bohemian backpack, missing her completely in that moment of recognition, even though she is right next to me and still has hold of my hand.
“Pax—”
“Cindy, look. I’m fucking sorry for dragging you into this. Oliver is right, dammit. It’s really not safe for you.”
“Pax—”
“But I do love you. I have never felt so sure of something in all my life.”
“Pax, listen—”
“We need to be careful, OK? We need to be very careful. I think it’s best if you go home to the farm. Your crazy dad is there, and your mom, who probably shoots better than I do. So they can—”
“Pax!” she yells. “Stop talking and just listen to me!”
“It’s my mother, Cindy!” I shout it and she startles. “Sorry,” I say, pulling her close to me and wrapping my arms around her in a hug. “Sorry.”
“No, listen to me. I know your mother has something to do with this, obviously. The Silver Society—”
“Right. I’m so fucking sorry for dragging—”
“You didn’t drag me into it. Just listen! A silver envelope was delivered to the dating site office today, Pax.”
“What?” I grab my hair with both hands.
“And it was addressed to me.”
“Fuck!” I say. “What the hell was inside?”
“I don’t know,” Cindy says into my chest. “I couldn’t open it in front of the other girls. Victoria called it junk mail and snatched it away. And then it flew onto the floor and I kicked it under the table in the kitchen before Ariel thought too much about it. But she’s—”
“On to us,“ I finish. “That’s why she wanted you to go to the bathroom with her, wasn’t it?”
“Yes,” Cindy says, pulling away from me so she can look up at my face. “But I lied. I said it really was junk mail and told her I threw it away. It was just good luck that the kitchen staff compacted the trash and got rid of it, so I think she bought it.”
“Oh, no,” I say. “I don’t think she bought anything, Cindy. She’s going to tell Oliver and everything is going to point to my mother.”
“It’s not your mother, Pax. I know it. I feel it. She knows… things. She told me, Pax. She told me about The Silver Society and I was supposed to warn all the girls about it, but—”
“The girls?” I ask.
“But I wanted to talk to you first and I didn’t know what to say. I don’t think your mother is the one behind all this bullshit. Or the rape charge, for fuck’s sake. Just… no.”
“Why is she interested in the girls?” I ask. “What the fuck?”
Cindy places her hands on my cheeks, stares into my eyes, and says, “It was never about you guys, Paxton Vance. It never had anything to do with the Misters. The only people who matter in all this twisted shit are the Misses.”