Page 16 of Hush, Hush

Devon reaches out, placing his hand on my book so I can’t turn the page. “Since I have the benefit of being a male, may I suggest to you that you’re not doing yourself any favors when it comes to how Keegan acts around other women?”

I follow the line of his hand upward, past his shoulder, until I meet Devon’s gaze. He’s giving me a half-pitiful expression that makes me cock my head. “What?”

“Remember that we’re not dealing with a normal guy here, okay? We’re dealing with a Forbes. I’m excluding myself from what I’m about to say, of course. Forbes men are used to getting anything and everything they want. He sees you not even trying. He sees you not paying him any attention. He sees you not fawning all over him like you’re in heat.Hethinks you don’t care.” Pausing for a moment, he lets that sink in. “Now, you, being the intelligent one, is thinking, ‘Hey, if he doesn’t want me and only me—'”

I sit back in my wooden chair. “—then why would I fawn all over him?”

“Exactly.” Devon grins like he just solved the world’s problems.

I roll my eyes. “He told me yesterday that he can’t be the person I want him to be.”

“Notcan’t,” Devon interjects. “Won’t. He doesn’t realize he can be different right now. You have more faith in him than he does.”

I take a moment to ponder everything he’s just said. I’ve always been the person who saw the best in Keegan, but what he did to me with the Knights is inexcusable. “He did something evil to me yesterday,” I say cryptically. Devon knows about the Knights because he’s a Forbes, but it’s still a secret group. Outsiders aren’t privy to what happens on the inside.

“Does this have something to do with the fact that he returned to his room in the afternoon and spent the next two hours in his room with the radio blaring? That usually only means one thing. Either he’s got a girl in there, or he’s...” He trails off but lifts his hand in the air, wiggling his fingers at me.

My mouth drops. I shouldn’t be surprised that Keegan went back to his room to rub one out but I am. Why hasn’t he even asked me to reciprocate? “There was probably a girl in there,” I tell him, shrugging.

“Except there wasn’t,” Devon shares. “I borrowed one of his shirts, and I just happened to return it a few minutes before he got back. There wasn’t anyone else in the room, and he was a miserable prick for the rest of the night. He said he had an incident at the—” Devon peers around the room and lowers his voice even further. “The Knights.”

My stomach clenches, but Devon understands the need for secrecy as well as I do.

“You can tell me, Delilah,” he urges. “Hell, I was on the Knights shortlist, but since dear old Uncle Leon wanted his son to be exclusive, I never made it.” He shifts his gaze away, jaw ticking.

“It was a self-induced incident,” I tell Devon, hoping to take his mind off how unjust our world can be. “He put in a complaint against me.”

Devon recoils. “Seriously? That’s low.”

“Yeah, I’m serious. He told one of the elders that I wasn’t fitting in. Of course, being the only girl, they expected it, so they didn’t even try to hear both sides. There was nothing I could say.”

Devon leans back and runs his hand through his hair. “That’s shitty, for even him. He knows how much you wanted it.”

“He doesn’t think I should be a Knight either, apparently,” I grouse, still hurt by his words from yesterday. We have two very different visions for our future, that’s for sure. I brush imaginary lint from my pants and sit up straighter. “Now, I have to be on my best behavior, a model Knight, including joining some upcoming planning committee like Devil’s Night or something.”

“Devil’s Night?” Devon’s eyes round.

“Yeah. You ever heard of it?”

“Well, yeah, but you’re asking two different things. Regular Devil’s Night is the night before Halloween where people play pranks on each other. Mischief, that kind of thing. But if you’re talking Devil’s Night for the Knights, that’s a whole different scenario.” He shakes his head. “It’s mischief, alright, but in the debauched kind of way. Honestly, you’re going to hate it. It’s everything about our world that you despise.”

I slump back in my chair.Wonderful.Just what I need.Letting out a breath, I prepare myself for the answer to my next question. “How do you know about it?”

Devon dribbles his fingers over the table between us. “When we were kids, Keegan and I followed his father to the party. We knew he was going to Dark Island, so we rowed there and hid in the shadows. The Knights own the castle there. It’s been in the Knights’ possession since it was built, and it’s also where the Devil’s Night Party is always held, but shh, it’s a secret,” Devon reminds me, pursing his lips together. “We were too young to see some of the things going on there. We didn’t stay long because I begged Keegan to return home. The next year, Keegan snuck out by himself to watch from the wings. I’m pretty sure he’s been waiting to go to his own Devil’s Night for a very long time.”

“Wha—What kind of things did you see there?”

“Think naked girls. Overindulgence. Sex.”

The mantra of the old money I grew up around isWork hard, play hard.I’m not sure any of these men ever give that up. They have no stopping point, no moral compass. I can just imagine the things that go on at this so-called party.

By joining the Knights, I’d hoped to change some of that thinking. I suppose I can help by making sure I’m on the Devil’s Night planning committee. Maybe tone the party down. However, I’m already on Keegan’s shit list. If he thinks I’m out to change the night he’s looked forward to for a long time, he’ll retaliate in even more extreme ways.

I groan, and Devon grins. “Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. I’d help you, if you know, I was actually allowed to be a Knight.”

Sympathy swamps over me. I’ve never liked how Devon gets treated just because his dad and Keegan’s don’t get along. “That’s ridiculous, and I’m sorry, Devon. If it were up to me, I’d have put you in the running.”

He gives me a winning smile. “That’s why you’re my favorite rich person, Dee. Okay, wait, you’re my second favorite rich person. You know Eden’s my number one.”

---