Page 60 of Unwritten Rules

My hand went to my hip, knowing I wouldn’t be keeping things from her anyway. “Whatever you tell me will immediately be relayed to her, but with a more dramatic flair. If you want to save me the time of re-explanations, just spit it out.”

He sized me up to gauge my level of seriousness. We had a close friendship. We were sisters in every way but blood, and I made sure people knew that loud and clear. There was nothing kept secret between us, and I didn’t expect it to start now.

Before he could explain anything, I realized he mentioned my love life. What an asshole. He always poked his head where it didn’t belong. “Wait. Garrett? What are you doing coming around my house in the middle of the night telling me it’s life or deathandthat it’s about my boy– Garrett?”

Of course, I almost said boyfriend.Good going.

His nostrils flared and he took a deep breath. Annoyed with me. “There’s word going around on campus. I wastryingto mind my business, but I couldn’t help but overhear the many,manywhispers about the text that went out.Yourname caught my ear, and it was all about you and him. FallonMontgomeryand GarrettBradford.”

He paused, waiting for me to say something. He had the nerve totap his footat me.

“So?” I threw my hands up and gestured to saywhat’s your point?

“As inTheMontgomery Group. As in, you conveniently left out that you’re the heir to Maria’s throne, and I had to find out from a third party.” He crossed his arms, waiting for me to answer his interrogation-style questions.

While it was true I didn’t boast my name and legacy, it’s not like I kept it a secret from everyone. People had every opportunity to look me up or check into who I was. My mother kept a lot of it a secret from me most of my life; I never wanted to have that same level of secrecy. That didn’t mean I had to flaunt myself everywhere like it made a difference.

Sometimes people didn’t make the connection. If they found out my last name, it was common enough that they may not make the connection, but among the hyper wealthy and elite groups...it made forinterestingconversation.

Last semester I kept my head down well enough, but being seen with Garrett meant I was due to be found out–ifyou could call it being found out.

I countered him. “How do you know my mother well enough to use her first name so casually?”

“Because your company and my company are good,goodfriends.”

I gritted my teeth. There wasnoway that I would end up working with him in the future. No. Way. “What doesthatmean?”

“My grandfather, Augustus Vaughn of Chamberlain Industries, knew your mother, worked with her, and spoke very highly of her.” He sighed and rubbed his face. “Look, Blondie. This isn’t the point of why I’m here. You may get dragged into some shit that one, you’re not even aware of and two, that you don’tneedto be dragged into.”

I shook my head and looked over at Kelly, who was looking ready to start back up with a fresh bowl of popcorn to watch us go back and forth. “What I’m asking is this: why doyoucare? You and me? We’ve hung out in very clandestine ways, and you seem to care more about being full of yourself than caring about other people. Is the point of all this to make me feel like you care about anything other than yourself in some weird way to get me to sleep with you?” I backed up to sit on the couch ledge. “Unless it’s just a way to keep things contained in your family’s business. If we’re as connected as you say, it could be you trying to cover your ass.”

Sometimes I wondered how much of my mother I had in me. If I had some of the business savvy mindset she did. Or, if I had some of the discerning powers that led her to become wildly successful. If I did, honing them would be on the docket to make it in the world I was oblivious to.

“The rumors have already started, and things like this take a swift turn to ugly if you’re not careful. I can’t tell you what to do, but these people around you are cut-throat and will aim straight for your jugular. Look at me,” he raised his arms and turned in a circle. “I appear harmless, don’t I?”

I shared a look with Kelly. What did he mean byharmless?

“Okay...humor me. What did they say?”

He sat himself at my dining table, daring more entry into my house. I followed him over out of pure curiosity about this interaction. Part of me wondered if his grandfather sent him over to size me up, seeing if I was capable like my mother.

“No one could believe thatyouwere Fallon Montgomery.” He set his elbows onto the table and steepled his fingers.

Kelly cut in; her mouth full of candy. “Thatwasthe point of her keeping her head down.”

“Sure. That’s fine to not cause a scene, but what I’m hearing is that he’s using her as a meat shield for the upcoming legal issues facing his family. Did you not know that he’s one of thesixfamilies being targeted?”

Kelly sat at the table with us, fully ready to enter the drama herself. “Ididtell Fallon that when we talked with him that he mentioned a lot more than what that text said.”

I sighed. “Since you’re offering up information, I’ll fill you in on my end. We went to the field today to watch the boys practice when that text was sent to everyone. You showed up shortly after and you know what happened there while you were there, but when you left, we went to go talk to Garrett since the guys practicing looked done after the scandal hit everyone. All the guys were acting suspicious and Garrett said that ‘money laundering, embezzlement, and organized crime’ was involved when the textneversaid that.”

I needed something to eat if this was how the evening was going to go. Leftovers were in the fridge and were calling my name while my stomach grumbled. I just snatched a pack of sour gummy worms I left on the table instead.

“Then we left,” I continued. “We had a moment of ‘that was weird as hell’ before theorizing that he, or someone there, might be hiding something. Whatever it was, he knew more than we did and wasn’t forthcoming with the information. It was just generallyodd.”

He let my words sink in with him for a moment, looking around my house like he’d never seen it before. Like he didn’t force his way in not that long ago. “Do you know his family at all? The Bradfords?”

“No. Why would it matter?”

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