Page 50 of Between Desire and Denial
“It’s pretentious.”
“Yep. Just like the town you grew up in.” I wouldn’t argue with him there. “You know how to drive stick?”
I snapped my gaze to his. “I learned how to drive using stick shift.”
“If you say so.” He pressed the button to lift the garage door. “And you don’t want company?”
He was leaning against the doorframe in those sweats and combed a hand through his thick dark hair.
“I don’t think so. Although, you sure you want me driving this? I might crash it.” I gripped the steering wheel and twisted my hands over it a few times.
“I trust you, Honeybee.”
“I’ll be gentle with her,” I reassured him.
“What pretty thing with this much power wants to only be treated gently, Honeybee?” he asked and winked at me. “Pushing her to her limit will be when she’s most beautiful. If I were you, I’d take the risk…”
“’And enjoy the dance?’” I took a shaky breath, listening to his words. “We still talking about the car?”
“Maybe,” I heard him murmur. “Maybe not.” Then, I eased off the clutch and gave her some gas quick, backing out of our garage and leaving him behind.
It was only a few winding blocks to get to the local grocery store, Santelli’s. It was another family-owned business that had carpeted grocery aisles, fruits lined up perfectly, and only sold organic produce. My mother used to say it was ostentatious, then she would feed me grapes right there while my father shook his head at us and said we were going to get him in trouble.
She was the logic and light in the family, the one who kept us grounded. I tried not to well up, but my eyes became blurry thinking about it. I swiped a few different frozen meals, some chicken and beef, and some produce before checking out. When I packed up my car, I saw Esme across the street walking into the library and thought I should say hi and maybe ask if she knew anything about my brother doing business outside of town.
Yet, when I got in there, she was nowhere to be found. I went past the sleek oak shelves and finally reached the quirky front desk employee to ask if she’d seen her. The woman in her early twenties wore red glasses and had her brown hair tied in a high ponytail.
“Oh, she’s um…” She glanced at the back wall. “I’m sure she’ll be right back. She went to the bathroom.”
So I went to the bathroom to check but didn’t see her. When I came back out, though, she was standing right there. “Hey. Zen up front said you were looking for me.”
“Hi. Yeah, I saw you come in and just thought I’d, well, say hi and see how things are going.”
“Good. I have a part-time job here, so I’m just about to start my shift.”
“Oh. Well, maybe you’ll be seeing a lot of me in the coming months.” I sighed and looked around. “I’m doing research on the sociology of a small community for my thesis.”
Esme laughed and nodded. “Oh, because of our families? I’m guessing your father told you that you had to keep it anonymous, am I right?”
“He did,” I answered, not knowing why he would say that, but it seemed she was going somewhere with it and I wanted to know where.
“With each of our families having such a rich history here, it’s so interesting. I’ve found that many private, upscale communities have these secret groups embedded in them too. Were you coming to grab a book from the society stacks? Zen was concerned about whether or not you knew about them, but I told her you did, of course.”
“Right.” I had no idea what she was talking about, but this was how Esme was. She shared way too much before she realized she shouldn’t. I knew now I had to know. I pried further, even though I shouldn’t have. “What book do you think has the best information in it?”
“Here.” She turned on her heel. “I’ll show you.”
Esme had never been good at keeping secrets. I knew she was in love with my brother the moment she stepped foot in myhouse, and this was no different. She was blurting out things, totally assuming I knew them all.
“Honestly, I think your brother is barking up the wrong tree with the people your father is having him meet with. My dad too. This was never in the society’s partnerships, you know?”
“I know Knox isn’t doing well, that’s for sure.”
She shrugged as she glanced around, making sure no one was with us, and then she pulled an older-looking book against the wall, and a doorway swung open to a back room. Stacks and stacks of older books lined the walls and there was a table and leather chairs in the center of it all. She walked to another book on the far wall and pulled that to open yet another hallway. She then used her key to unlock the door on the other side.
“So the book I like best is only because my great-great-great grandfather is in it. I haven’t read them all. You’ll probably like it, too, because I’m guessing your great-great-great grandparents are in it, considering they were a huge part of the Diamond Syndicate coming over to the United States and influencing the spread of the society across the nation.”
“The Diamond Syndicate?” I murmured but then I cleared my throat and nodded vigorously. “Yes, of course, the Diamond Syndicate.”
