Page 19 of Crown Jewels
Not another word was spoken on our ride to the third floor, where she got off and left me alone with the elevator musicversion of Beethoven’s fifth. At least she managed to lift my mood a little. I didn’t feel like punching anyone anymore.
Unfortunately, that didn’t last long. When the elevator dinged on the top floor and the doors slid open, it wasn’t the manager I saw waiting for me. It was my father. He was standing in the kitchen leaning on the island, looking as serious and professional as ever in his three piece suit.
Fuck.
His dark eyes locked on mine before I could push the close door button. “Vahn.”
“Dad.” I sighed and stepped off the elevator. “I thought we were meeting after school?”
That was the plan. Every month on the fifteenth, I would meet my dad for dinner and tell him about school. That was his way of keeping an eye on me.
“My meeting finished early, so I thought I’d come here and freshen up. Imagine my surprise when I found someone else sleeping in your bed.”
That was hard to explain, but not impossible.
“Yeah, Brian got a little drunk last night and crashed here.” I said while heading into the penthouse as if I was there every day.
“His name is Ben.”
Fuck, I knew it started with a B. “Ben then. I didn’t ask his name when he was stumbling around.”
I thought it was believable. My father did not.
“Cut the shit Vahn, why is someone else living in your apartment? And where the fuck are you living?”
“I live here.” I argued. “Do you see any of my shit missing? Go look in the closet. You’ll find all my clothes in there.”
They were designer and wouldn’t fit in with the poor lifestyle I was faking, so I left them here.
A normal father would’ve dropped it at that, but not mine. He narrowed his eyes and began scouring the apartment for something out of place.
I didn’t say anything while I grabbed a bottle of water out of the fridge and took a drink. He wouldn’t find anything. I covered my tracks. That, and I had a deal with my current tenant. As long as nothing was moved out or in, then Ben would remain the only burger flipper to live in a penthouse. I was fine.
At least that’s what I thought until he came out from one of the back rooms and dropped a piece of mail on the counter.
“Care to explain that.”
I looked down at the name displayed on the envelope. Benjamin Thatcher. Looks like good old Ben wasn’t going to have cheap rent anymore.
“What the fuck is going on Vahn?”
There was no getting out of this now. “It’s not a big deal, I’ve been staying with some friends. It’s closer to campus.”
“Campus is a block away Vahn.” He waved his hand at the window. “I can see it from here.”
Yeah, that was a bad lie. “It’s also full of rich assholes.”
My father’s brow arched. “You’re a rich asshole, or did you forget about your trust fund?”
“The other kids on campus don’t need to know that.”
Now he was getting suspicious. His eyes narrowed in that I know you’re hiding something look. “Why would it matter?”
“It doesn’t. But it’s a pain in the ass when people are fawning all over you because you have money.”
That wasn’t a lie.
My dad’s eyes narrowed further. “Is this about a girl?”
