Page 33 of Hush, Hush

I elbow Keegan. He and I haven’t talked about what he did to Tim, but we will be soon. “See you around,” I call out, turning away before Keegan decides he wants to show the café barista that he can’t have me. When we’re far enough away, I sigh. “You didn’t have to do that. And you really didn’t have to beat him up.”

“He likes you,” he grinds out. “We should have your dad look into him.”

“Tim?” I gasp. “No way. He’s just a local.”

Keegan’s lips thin. “I’m so glad you’re on a first name basis with the barista.”

I smile over at him. “I wouldn’t be if you hadn’t acted like a dick.”

He pushes his tongue against his teeth and peers straight ahead.

“Oh, come on,” I chastise. “You deserved that one.”

Pulling me to a stop, he threads his arm around my hips and tugs me close. “Promise me you’ll forget his name.” Dipping lower, he whispers into my ear. “I can fuck it out of you.”

Butterflies take flight in my chest. “I’m actually quite intelligent. I don’t think I could just forget his name.”

His lips press together, but then he grins, mouth widening as time goes by. The stress, the need to be in control, falters. “You are smart, Dee. I wouldn’t want it any other way.” He reaches up to play with the ends of my hair. “Just remember wolves can come in sheep’s clothing, too. We can’t be too careful.”

I understand where he’s coming from, however, Tim is neither a sheep nor a wolf. He knows nothing about the world I’m in. All he sees is the surface of it, the jerks who bark out their orders callously. However, our world goes much deeper than that.

“Let’s just focus on the meeting,” I tell Keegan. “Dad’s handling the other stuff, and despite how awful this party is going to be, it’s tradition.”

“That’s the spirit,” he cajoles.

When he starts to walk away, I hold back on his arm. “Oh, I just want to say, if you show up to the party with another girl or disappear down a hallway with one of our lovely wet t-shirt contest winners, there will never be an us again. Understand?”

He swallows, all teasing leaving him. “I completely and utterly understand. That’s not going to happen.”

I almost take a step back from the force of his words. Instead, I give him a quick nod, and we continue toward the Knights building.

Stepping inside, we make our way to the meeting room. Everyone else is already there as we take our spots. Cameron rolls his eyes. “Awesome. The destined king and queen are back together.”

I ignore him, and instead of retaliating, Keegan starts the meeting. “I contacted Mrs. Dupont, an event organizer, to plan the party. She’s waiting on our orders. Now, what did we find out?”

We go around the room, discussing what we found out from our fathers and then giving our best ideas to be mulled over and decided on between the committee members. In the end, my theme wins. We’re having a devil/angel party for Devil’s Night, which, surprisingly, we could not find evidence of in the past. Formal attire has always been required, but this party will be more of a theme, even complete with costumes. Face masks were Keegan’s suggestion. He pinched my thigh under the table when he mentioned it, and I was thrown back to the sorority contest for one hot moment.

The winners from the competition were chosen and contacted, except for one girl who wasn’t wearing a number. Keegan bordered on being furious that the secret girl got enough votes, and at the same time, he bursted with pride, a feeling I noted when his heavy gaze slid to mine.

At this point, I may burst from all of our heated glances and lingering stares.

Next, we move on to activities, gifts, games, and prizes. At the end of two hours, we have the basis of our Devil’s Night Party. Even I get into its planning even though I would rather gouge my eyes out with a spoon than attend.

Not attending really isn’t an option for me, though. The amount of money this will cost is obscene. The gifts alone are pricey as hell, even though it’s to be expected. What do you get for people who buy anything and everything they want?

The nude models, who—thanks to me—won’t be winging it in their birthday suit, are also getting gift bags that will probably pay their next year’s tuition in full. I pushed for more, and the guys were willing to concede, most likely for their own nefarious reasons, but I’m choosing not to get spun around in that hamster wheel.

At the conclusion, all of our tasks moving forward are divvied up. I’m not stressing that the other members won’t get their work done because all of our standings as Knights hinge on this. Cameron will come up with the hide and seek treasure hunt trail to get our guests to the island. Reginald Wright’s son will be the liaison between us and the event planner. As for myself, I’m the go-between for the girls. I’m planning their costumes and their goodie bags, and I’ll also be around to make sure no one does anything to them that they don’t want to do.

With just under two weeks left, there is so much yet to be done.

Keegan pulls Wright aside just before we leave, giving him Mrs. Dupont’s information. She’s planned parties for mine and Keegan’s families multiple times. We know she’ll get the job done right and to our specs.

Heavy musk fills my nostrils. I glance up as I make notes, and Cameron smirks down at me. “You made the wrong choice.”

I sigh. “For what, Cabot?”

He shifts his gaze to Keegan. I look that way, too, watching as a focused Keegan gives instructions like he’s standing in front of a line of important people. His shoulders are rigid, his brows move as he listens to Wright respond. I can’t hear what they’re saying, but I’ve been watching Keegan for so long that I know he thinks Wright’s an imbecile. Then again, he thinks a lot of people are imbeciles.

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