Page 66 of Reckless
Charlie clapped my shoulder once and went back inside.
I stayed where I was, staring out at the black water and trying, unsuccessfully, to recover some version of the useful distance I’d had at the start of the week.
But standing on my mother’s terrace with the sea below and Kelly’s laughter drifting out from inside the house, it was becoming very clear that whatever else this arrangement did, it was not going to stay simple.
Seven
Couple Gravity
Kelly
The second Roxanne said, “Girls, come with me,” I knew I was about to be emotionally ambushed in diamonds.
Hope looked thrilled.Avril looked curious.Isabel looked resigned, which told me this was not her first trip into whatever insane female wonderland the Norouzi matriarch kept hidden in this house.
Miley muttered, “If I come back wearing a tiara, shoot me.”
Britney, beside me, said under her breath, “You might need one if you ever come back to England with me and meet my in-laws.”
I should have laughed.Instead I was still too aware of the terrace.
Too aware of how close Xerses had gotten.
Too aware of that for one unstable second, with the ocean behind me and his body in front of me and his hand taking my drink out of my fingers like he already knew where my balance lived, I had almost kissed him.
No.I shook my head.I refused to think that through in the middle of the Norouzi foyer.
Roxanne clapped once softly, bangles flashing.“Come, come.I want to show you something.”
Charlie called after us from the terrace, “If this ends in crowns, I want photos.”
“It will not,” Miley said.
“It will,” Hope whispered to me.“Absolutely you get photos.”
The vault was worse than I’d imagined.Or better.Depending on whether you measured horror by wealth or by the likelihood of losing all sense of proportion once faced with color-coded diamonds.
Roxanne led us down a private corridor off the west wing, punched in a code, unlocked a carved door disguised as paneling, and ushered us into a room that looked like royalty had merged with a luxury archive and then hired a madwoman to alphabetize the results.
Hope put both hands over her mouth.
Avril actually took a step back.
Miley said, “No.”
Isabel sighed like a woman who had expected this level of excess and still found it embarrassing.
Roxanne beamed.“You see?It’s important to have options.”
Miley picked up a bracelet that could have funded a small country.“This is not options.This is geopolitical leverage.”
“It’s first pretty,” Roxanne said.
“Maman, this piece alone could buy my apartment building,” I said.
She didn’t blink.“Yes.And?”
“And that doesn’t concern you?”
