Page 9 of Hush, Hush

My mother leans toward the phone screen, gaze narrowed. “I think you need to take a minute to calm down, Delilah Astor. Think about what you’re doing and proceed ahead with all the knowledge you’ve received in that ridiculously expensive university you’re attending.”

Her finger moves toward the screen, and before I can come up with a cutting reply, she ends the video chat.

I blink at my phone, surprise still ricocheting through me. I have to hand it to Keegan, he knew how that would play out. He’s no doubt laughing his ass off right at this moment. He knows me so well, it’s easy for him to push every button that will set me off. My mother calling to ask about my sex life? Definitely a phone call to make me seethe.

Sure enough, as soon as my phone returns to the home screen, I find another text from Keegan waiting.Two can play dirty.

ChapterFive

The bad thing about Carnegie is that everyone knows everyone.

I’ve been forced to play with the same kids my entire life. Growing up, we were all at the same vacation spots, and then in prep school, there we were again, all together. After all, there are only so many fancy places to send your children to school.

When I walk into the Campus Café the next morning, I almost wish I’d followed Eden to the West Coast. Forget about this following in my father’s footsteps nonsense. If it means creating space between me and my intended, maybe I should pack my bags right now.

Keegan Forbes, in all his Carnegie University glory, sits on a leather couch. His cousin Devon, along with Anne-Marie Kennedy, are lounging with him in the comfortable seating area every classic coffee shop has. These velvet couches are flanked by house plants, leaves streaming down the front of black iron shelves in deep green waterfalls.

I nearly turn around and forget about the French vanilla cappuccino I’ve been craving, but he catches my eye before I can. He smirks, and I retaliate with one of my own before marching up to the counter to order my drink despite my skin crawling with the knowledge of what he tried to do last night.

He didn’t send me another text after the one from yesterday, and I sure as hell didn’t send him a response either. He thinks he’s so clever going to our parents, like they can pry my legs open for him, but all I see is a whining, self-obsessed jerk.

After giving the barista my name, I breathe the deep-seated coffee aroma in and let it out before spinning on my heel and facing the problem head on. If I don’t go over there, he’ll just crow from his delusional perch of superiority. Since I can’t let that happen, I make my way toward him. The café is full, a usual sight on Monday mornings at Carnegie. I smile at a few of my friends along the way, wondering if he expected me to drop my panties the next time I saw him. That’s definitely not what’s going to happen.

“Delilah, hi,” Devon greets me. He stands, all six foot of him, and gives me a kiss on the cheek. Now here’s a Forbes I like. Too bad his dad is the black sheep of the family. Devon’s only attending CU because of the good graces of Keegan’s father, proving that the Forbes men can actually be decent guys—when they want to be.

I reach up on my tiptoes to return the kiss. He’s got the Forbes good looks and none of the pompous ways. Plus, he always smells good. Today, he could be a caramel apple sitting on a shelf at a bakery. I inhale on the sly and then step back. “So good to see you.” I don’t ask him how his break was. He only ever goes somewhere fun if Keegan’s father decides to take pity on him, and since I know he wasn’t on the Forbes’ yacht, I keep my mouth shut, so he doesn’t feel awkward. I take a seat next to him on the couch and smile at the girl next to Keegan. “Hi, Anne-Marie.”

“Hey,” she says breezily. Anne-Marie isn’t my biggest fan, and I’m not hers either. She’s hooked up with Keegan in the past. A fact she thinks I care about, but I don’t. Her huge sunglasses are perched on top of her loose, raven black curls. Her tan is to die for. Even with the weather turning chilly, she’s sporting a tank top with an off-the-shoulder cardigan, no doubt to show off her perfectly bronzed skin.

It takes me a while to gather the courage to look at Keegan. His golden-brown hair glints against the early morning sun streaming in through the window behind him. Blue eyes spark with mischief as he lets his gaze consume me. Before I can get swept away in remembering how he touched me, I turn my attention somewhere else,anywhereelse.

Devon nearly spits out his coffee. “Frosty,” he mumbles under his breath.

Devon and I have always been co-conspirators when it comes to Keegan. We both know he can be so much better than he is. We’ve seen it in him, it’s just drawing it out that is proving to be the difficult part. Honestly, out of the entire Forbes family, Devon will be my favorite relative. Just to piss off Leon, I’ll probably ask him to be in the wedding party. Won’t he love seeing the black sheep of the Forbes clan in his precious son’s nuptials?

It makes me grin just to think about it.

“How’s Eden?”

Devon must envy her for going off and forging her own path. He’s truly appreciative of CU and the other things the Forbes have deigned to give him, but he’s always been more free-spirited than the rest of us here. He’s more like Eden than me. Maybe that’s why I like him so much. “She’s—”

“She’s going downhill,” Keegan interjects. He sits forward, placing his elbows on his knees. “She’s far too conceited.”

I nearly snort. “Her? Conceited? I don’t think you understand the meaning of the word, Keegan Forbes.”

He prods me with a death glare. “When she thinks she’s better than the best...that’s conceited.” I can only assume he’s the best in this scenario. I turn to talk to Devon but Keegan can’t keep quiet. “Here’s another word I know the definition of.” In true Forbes fashion, he leaves a pregnant pause, waiting until all of our eyes are on him. He scowls at me. “Prude. Prig. Goody two-shoes. Boring.”

My back straightens. I meet his hard glare and then swing it to the other two. They’re listening raptly, of course. Whatever problems Keegan and I have had in the past, we’ve kept it to ourselves. He must be past that now, bringing our parents into it and now this. “Good boy,” I snark back. “I’ll get you a thesaurus for Christmas so you can keep going.”

“Excellent. I’ll need synonyms for lesbian since my future wife swings that way.”

“Keegan,” I chastise, face heating. It’s not about him erroneously calling me a lesbian, it’s about him airing our dirty laundry in public.

“Dude,” Devon interjects in my favor. “That’s not cool.” Anne-Marie just sits back and grins. I can practically see the wheels in her head turning. Keegan Forbes is a highly sought-after bachelor. That’s why girls are always throwing themselves at him. He’ll make any wife extremely happy in the monetary department, but it’s never been about that for me.

“What’s not cool…” Keegan continues. “…is Delilah Astor holding out on me. Still.”

My heart races, and my throat starts to close, blocking any rebuttals that might spring to mind. I don’t have confrontations, especially not with Keegan, especially not in front of other people. In our world, people remember shit. They lock it away for future use. One day, I might be in the same boardroom as Anne-Marie, and she’s going to remember this very moment and wonder how she can use it to exploit me. I take in a deep breath, making sure my voice is calm when I speak. “I’m sure you can find someone else to scratch your itch, as you happily informed me of. Was it you, Anne-Marie?” It would make sense, actually, due to her amazing tan.

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