Chapter 12

Jenna

"Hey. You awake?" My sister's voice usually got on my nerves, but after the long night we'd had, it was a welcome to the silence.

I rolled over and tucked my hands under my cheek and let out a soft sigh. "Yeah. Come on in."

She moved towards the bed and paused beside it, her expression questioning. "You okay with me sitting up here?"

"Of course." I rolled back onto my back and groaned. "I just don't get it. I've been up all night thinking about how messed up this is."

"Don't get what?" She crawled up into my bed and lay down beside me, snuggling up to my side. We slept beside each other until we were juniors in high school, and then everything changed. The warmth of her beside me was a welcomed disruption to my thoughts.

I witnessed the way people revered and respected my mother for no reason other than wealth, and I hated it. No one but my father understood, and I was good with that. Being the black sheep wasn't so bad, at least not in my family.

"Why Darek would take drugs. He's got everything he wants and then some."

"Maybe it was a way to escape."

"Escape what? His slutty wife?" I turned to face my sister and reached up to brush my fingers through her hair as she chuckled.

"I'm glad I'm not alone in that assessment. I thought I was being a cunt." She glanced over at me. "She's a total pole-dancer, isn't she?"

"Whore and a half, and don't use the C-word. So gross." I stuck out my tongue and ran my fingertips across her forehead. "Darek wouldn't have fucked up his life for anything. He was too in love with it."

"Then tell me your theory. You're a lot like Daddy with your detective skills." She sighed contently, and I realized that maybe I'd been too hard on my family. With Darek gone, maybe it was time to come back and take my place in the order of things. I'd always been the strongest sibling, including my brother. My parents would need me, or at least my father would.

My mother seemed to have a heart of stone in her chest, but maybe adoring fans and phonies did that to a person.

"It's gotta be Denise."

"You think that's her real name?" Kayla turned on her side and propped herself up on her elbow.

"It's that or Candy. What's your vote?" I reached up and pressed my palms against my eyes as my brother's voice rose up in my head. Don't be a bitch. She's a good woman. You're pissed that she's young and hot. Get over it.

"Candy seems about right." Kayla sat up and glanced back at me as I pulled my fingers down my face. "You think she had something to do with Darek taking those drugs."

"Absolutely. I'm going to look into it. Daddy can't. They won't let him. Too close to home." I reached up and tugged at the back of her hair. "We need to know what type of drug we're dealing with first."

"Count me out." She lifted her hand and slid off the side of the bed. "You know I leave fingerprints everywhere I go. I can't hide in the shadows if I had to."

I laughed softly. She was right. She was horrible at getting away with anything. Unfortunately, that made her an easy target for me and Darek as kids. She got blamed for anything, but most of it was us framing her. The shit worked - too well.

"Who was the guy with you the other night?" I studied her, realizing that I hadn't spoken to her more than a casual, 'hey' in almost two years.

"He's my boyfriend, Vince." She shrugged and glanced toward the ground.

"And you like him a lot?"

She lifted her eyes slowly. "I think so. He's really sweet, but his family is wealthy too, so he sort of gets me, you know?"

"Yeah. I do get you." I flopped back on the bed. "Close the door on your way out, and good luck with him. He's cute."

"You think so?" Her voice lifted an octave.

"Heck yeah." I closed my eyes and smiled as the sound of the door closing filled the room. My sister was so easy to placate, though the young guy half-wrapped around her the week before was cute.

I tried to relax, but it wasn't going to happen. My brother was dead, and there was no way in hell it was his own doing. He was the most straight-laced, stiff prick of a guy I knew. Finding out that Denise poisoned him for only liking missionary style would have fit my understanding of who my brother was way more than a dope smoking, cocaine hitting addict. No fucking way.

After giving it a few more minutes, I rolled out of bed and dropped to the floor. The stairs that my mother once had for us to get into the Victorian-style four-post bed were gone, and it'd taken me ten minutes the night before to scale the fucker. I'd forgone peeing several times during the night to save myself from having to try and get back into it in the dark.

"What happened to you, Darek?" I paced the floor for a few minutes before grabbing my robe and wrapping it around me. After a quick trip to the bathroom, I stopped in the hallway and studied the pictures of me and my siblings.

It just didn't make sense, but nothing did that morning. Had I really let the hot guy from the coffee shop bend me over his thick thighs and spank me while he finger fucked me until I came?

Embarrassment burned my insides as I covered my mouth and giggled. I couldn't make this wild shit up.

But this morning wasn't fun and giggles, embarrassment and lust. It was death. It was final. Forever. As much as I disagreed with Darek on everything he was still my fucking brother, and someone killed him. It wasn't a suicide, and we all knew it.

The sound of Grace's voice was a comfort as I walked toward the kitchen downstairs.

"Should I go wake her up?" My best friend from childhood would, of course, have come over as soon as she found out. I felt like shit for not telling her myself.

"I'm already up." I moved into the kitchen and reached for her as she turned and crashed into me.

"Oh my God, Jenna. I'm so damn sorry. I feel like we should have been there or something, but-" She started to cry against my shoulder.

"No, there's nothing we could have done."

"You know that Thomas invited him and Denise to come with us, but he refused. He said they had a night planned together."

I glanced up at my father and tilted my head. "Speaking of the corpse bride. Where is she?"

"Jenna. For heaven's sake." Disgust rolled across my father's handsome features, which was rare.

"I'm sorry." I squeezed Grace and moved out of her hold. "I just don't see how everyone can be okay with us thinking this was a suicide. I want to know where Denise was. If that's her name." I gave my father an inquisitive look.

"And what would her name be if it wasn't Denise?"

"I don't know. Candy the stripper who turned part-time killer."

"Enough, young woman." My mother walked into the room looking like an aged Barbie doll. "You'll not be throwing around accusations in an effort to hurt someone else and make yourself feel better for missing the last five years of everyone's life around here. Lock it up." She pointed her finger at me, and that was it. No reason to fight it. She was Queen of the World, and we all knew it.

I moved over to the toaster and whistled the Cinderella theme song as I made myself two pieces of toast. I glanced over my shoulder to find everyone watching me, my mother agitated, my father lost and Grace looking ill.

"Toast?" I lifted a piece and smiled before taking a big bite of it.

"No." Grace shook her head. "You wanna go out on the back patio? It's a beautiful morning."

"Love to." I put the bread back on my plate and walked to the fridge to pinch off a piece of butter from a stick and grab the grape jelly.

"Jenna, really?" My mother scowled as I turned and walked to the exit. Gratefully, Grace had already made her exit. Nothing was more mortifying than being called out by my mother in front of anyone I actually cared about. Especially Grace.

"Yep. Really, mother." I smirked and walked toward the back of the house, whistling the same song. She knew the meaning. As far as I was concerned, she was the wicked stepmother and the only good person in any of our lives was my father. I wasn't sure what any of us would have done without him.

"She's pissed." Grace held the door for me and moved aside to let me out. "I thought she would have been devastated or sad or something, but she's just angry."

"That's her normal stance, Grace. You know this." I sat down at the table that hovered just above the expansive backyard. The fall leaves danced around on the dying grass in front of us and offered me peace.

"I hate that for all of you. You think she's just hiding her pain?"

"Pain? Ice hearts don't feel pain. Silly girl." I lifted my nose in the air and snorted. "Peasant."

Grace smiled and wiped at her face. "You okay?"

"Yeah. You know me and Darek didn't suffer any love loss," I glanced down at my toast and realized I didn't have a knife, "but he's still my older brother, you know?"

"Yeah. If it was Thomas, I don't know what I would do. Probably just lay down and die beside him."

"Yeah, but you guys are close." I dipped my finger into the butter and smeared it on my toast. "My mother would flip her shit if she saw this."

Grace smiled. "What happened last night? With that guy? Anything good?"

"Yeah." I shrugged. "We made out a little in the office. I think things would have gone farther if all of this hadn't happened, but I'm not complaining."

"No?" She lifted her eyebrows as confusion moved across her pretty face.

"No, not at all. I could fall desperately in love and lust with a guy like Nate. It's dangerous, and honestly not something I need on my plate right now."

"So that's it? Just like that?"

I nodded. "Yeah. Just like that. Besides, I'm going to figure out if Denise had anything to do with Darek's death."

"No. She wouldn't do that, Jenna. Come on. I know you don't like the girl, but-"

"But she's vile, Grace. You thought the cute boy in the library would be fun to flirt with and he's the sickest hitman in the whole fucking country." I tilted my head, almost feeling sorry for her. "You're not a great judge of character."

"Asshat." She reached out and snatched my toast from my fingers. "You don't have to be mean about it. I can stay away from Erik if you think that's best."

"I don't think." I let her get in a small bite before yanking it back. "I know it is. My brother died because he married a money-hungry whore. I'm going to find out what part she played in this whole thing."

"And then? You're going to do what with the evidence? Turn it into your father?"

"Nope. I'm going to kill her." I glanced toward the back forty and narrowed my eyes as I took in the beauty. Grace sat quietly for a minute, but I couldn't blame her. "You wanna help me?"

"No, but thank you for the offer." She stood up. "It's obvious you're in shock."

"No. I'm not at all in shock. She took something from my family, and I'm going to repay her for it."

"By taking her life?"

"No, by using my brother's money that she's expecting to get to pay a hitman to take her life." I glanced up at my best friend. "But don't tell anyone. It's too dangerous."

She stared at me a minute before smiling. "You're kidding. Right?"

I shoved the rest of the toast in my mouth and turned to watch the birds scatter across the yard. My silence must have gotten to her.

Grace gripped my shoulder tightly. "Hey. This isn't funny. Look at me."

I glanced up at her. "I'm headed over to the apartment to look through things. Come with me."

"No. We're not doing this. It's not what girls like us do."

"True." I stood up and gathered my stuff, feeling far calmer than I should have. "Girls like us just take what life is offering instead of shoving the same barbed cock back up its ass that it shoved up ours."

"You're angry."

"No, I'm not. I'm completely in control right now, and I'm going to figure out what happened to my brother. Not for me, but for my father. He can't get his hands dirty with this Grace, but I can." I turned and walked to the house, counting to three in my head. She jogged up beside me as I hit three, and it took all I had in me not to give her a knowing smile.

She'd never let me drown alone. Not ever.

"Fine, but we're not killing anyone."

"Right." I glanced over at her and smiled. "Erik's going to do that part for me."