The Insiders

And me—no one said a word to me.

Not my brother. Certainly not the girl he was making out with. Not his friends. And the only thing I got were cold snubs from the other three.

So it was me and my drink. An hour passed that way.

“Francis.”

One of the friends gestured past the walkway. He spoke in a slight break between the beats, so Matt heard, his head lifting from the girl’s neck.

Three more girls were walking up to where we sat. The girl in the lead had rich, dark auburn hair that fell past her shoulders, grazing the tops of her arms and chest. Doe-like almond eyes. This girl was stunning. Tall. Slender. She had the height and frame to be a model.

One of the other two was shorter, around five four, with dark hair that had a small bounce to it. She had a heart-shaped face but a little more filled out. Her eyes, though … they stood out the most. They were hazel, a green tint to them. The third girl was blond. She was the same height as the first but wasn’t as slender. She had a few more pounds, enough to actually have curves, and I knew, by glancing at the guys, that she was the one they liked the most.

They stopped, paused, and waited for their presence to be announced. These girls weren’t acting like the other girls. These three were different.

They expected attention.

And they got it, as Matt sat farther back from the girl on his lap, a name escaping him like a frustrated sigh. “Victoria.”

Victoria?

As in the Victoria who hung over Kash, who was mentoring Seraphina? That Victoria?

She swung those eyes to me and raised her nose up a fraction of an inch. “This is the houseguest Ser was talking about the other day?”

Fuck. It was her.

Double fuck.

She wasn’t stunning anymore. She was gorgeous on another level. There was no way anyone could compete against her.

I mean, not that I was. But anyone else, no way. Anyone who was trying.

Matt skimmed me with a look, a coldness in there that I was surprised to see. “Back off on this one, Vic.” He guided the girl off his lap, and as she stood next to him, a pout on her face, he leaned forward to rest his arms on the table. His gaze was solely locked on Victoria now, and he lifted his top lip in a half sneer. “No fucking with her.” He raised one eyebrow. “You got me?”

No one spoke.

No one moved.

No one breathed.

Her friends’ mouths opened an inch. Their own eyebrows rose at a slower pace, but they waited until Victoria’s mouth mashed together and a glare was directed toward me. If she’d had superpowers, I would’ve been incinerated right then and there, but she turned as a strangled growl left her. She stalked right back down the walkway before turning toward another booth of guys. Seeing them, Chester nodded. “Mattson and Atchins are over there.” He scanned them. “Don’t know the rest.”

Tony grunted. “Do we care? Mattson can suck my dick.”

Just like that, the matter was settled. What the matter had been, I had no clue, but it was decided. The guys went back to the girls in front of them. Tony stood, his hands finding one of the girls’ hips. He raised his chin up toward Matt. “We’re going to move more private.” His eyes flicked to me, back to my brother. “You want to come?” They landed on the girl Matt had been making out with, still standing next to the booth. Matt’s arm had wound around her waist, pulling her against his side.

Chester scooted to the edge of the booth, but he didn’t stand.

Victoria’s two friends were still standing at our table. It was clear they were waiting to be addressed by the guys.

Matt glanced to me, his eyebrows up in a question.

I didn’t know what “private” meant, so I just shrugged and reached for the drink Matt had had a waitress refill ten minutes before.

“Nah.” Matt tugged his girl back to his lap. “We’re good here.”

“Gotcha. See you around, then.”

Tony tapped the girl on the hip and she led the way, moving off in a seductive sway. Her two friends gazed at Chester a second, but he only shook his head and flicked his fingers at them. “I’m not interested. You all can go and make sure my boy’s taken care of, hmm?”

They flushed, getting what he was saying, and hurried off.

One muttered, “Asshole,” under her breath, searing him with a glower.

He didn’t care, rolling his eyes before addressing Victoria’s friends. “You still here?” He paused a beat. “Why?”

The blonde sucked in her breath. “You’re such a dick, Chester.”

He lifted up a shoulder, lounging back against the booth so his head rested against the cushion and his feet were stretched out past the table. He idly scratched at his neck. “That seemed to turn you on last night, Fleur.”

She shook her head, pointedly turning away from him. “Matt.”

My brother had gone back to nuzzling the neck of the girl on his lap. He didn’t lift his head, but he did stop in his ministrations.

“Matt.”

He groaned, looking up now. His eyebrows moved together. He wasn’t happy. “What?”

She tried to act impassive under the heat of his annoyance, but shifting on her feet, she dropped her gaze. “Where’s Kash? Victoria’s worried about him. He’s not been gone this long, not for a while.”

That got Chester’s attention.

He sat forward, leaning, resting his arms on the table as Matt had been when the three girls first approached. “That’s why you stayed back? To ask about Colello?”

Matt grinned, a dark amusement lining that smile. He rested his head back against the booth, watching this play out and enjoying it in an almost cruel way. “She stayed back to do Victoria’s dirty work. Didn’t you, Fleur?” Then it was as if he grew bored with this new toy. His eyes flashed his annoyance and he sat forward, reaching for his girl again. “Go away. Stop being Vic’s bitch and asking about Kash. If Kash wanted her to know, he would tell her. Says enough right there.”

“Matt.”

His head snapped up again, his nostrils flaring. “Fuck. Off. What don’t you understand about that?”

Chester stood, almost lazily. “Come on.” He hooked his finger around her hand and tugged her behind him, heading down the walkway. “Let’s go get some shots.”

Glaring one more time at Matt, she followed behind, her other hand resting over his.