Paper Princess (The Royals #1)(71)
“Probably didn’t help,” Valerie says cheerfully.
“I’m hanging up now because I’m seriously thinking of vomiting up my lunch over this discussion.” I lay the phone down and try to scrub any thoughts of Callum doing kinky things from my brain.
Fortunately, Durand is available and Valerie is brought to the Royal estate in quick order.
“Wow, this place is so…” She gropes for the right word as she gapes at my bedroom.
I supply several. “Juvenile? Girlie? An homage to Valentine’s Day gone wrong?”
She falls backward on the pink ruffled bedspread. “Interesting.”
“That’s one word for it.” I settle into the white fur-covered vanity chair and watch Valerie bat at the sheer curtains that hang around the four-poster bed. “Want something to drink? I actually have a mini fridge in here.” I open the glass door of the beverage cooler situated under the counter of the vanity.
“Sure. I’ll have diet whatever. Besides the pink, this is a great room. Television, posh bed.” She touches the bedspread. “Is this silk?”
I have my hand in the fridge when she drops that bomb. “I’m sleeping on a silk blanket?”
“Technically you sleep under it. I mean, you don’t have to but you’re supposed to sleep on the sheets and under the coverlet.” Valerie looks all concerned as if my upbringing was so bizarre I might not know about sheets. Sadly, she’s not that far from the truth.
“I know that, smart ass.” I pull out a Diet Coke and shove it in her hand. I pop one open for myself. “It’s just weird. I went from sleeping bag to silk blankets or—excuse me—coverlets,” I correct myself before Valerie can. But enough about bed stuff. I need intel. “Tell me everything you know about the Worthingtons,” I order.
“The telecom Worthingtons or the real estate Worthingtons?” she asks, her mouth still around the opening of the pop can.
“I have no clue. They live close to here and are having a beach party tonight.”
“Oh, then the telecom Worthingtons. They live about five houses down.” She holds up her can. “Do you have a coaster?”
I throw her a notebook, which she uses to set her can on.
“Brent Worthington is a senior. He’s super uptight, although more about name recognition than money. His girlfriend Lindsey’s parents had to declare bankruptcy a couple of years ago and pulled Lindsey from Astor Park because they couldn’t afford the tuition, but Brent never broke up with her because Lindsey is a DAR.”
“What do the Dars do?” I ask.
Valerie laughs and shakes her head. “No, that’s not a last name. Daughters of the American Revolution. She can trace her family tree back to one of the original three boats that came over from England.”
“That’s a thing?” I gape.
“Yup. So what’s going on?”
“The Royals are going there tonight and told me to stay away.”
“Why? Those parties are pretty bland as far as high school events go. They lock all the doors in the house because Brent doesn’t want anyone having sex in the rooms. There’s one bathroom that people are allowed to use and it’s right off the patio. The pool house is locked, too. Brent has it catered and likes for everyone to show up like they’re about to go yachting. He even wears his country club sports coat and all of the girls wear dresses. No exceptions.”
Sounds terrible. If the Royals had given me this rundown, they wouldn’t have even needed to warn me away. But they did, so that means something is happening that they don’t want me to see or be a part of.
“Would Daniel Delacorte be invited?”
She considers it and then nods slowly. “Yeah. His father is a judge. I think Daniel plans to be one, too, and you can’t have too many judges as your BFFs, right?”
It occurs to me then and there that this is why the rich get richer. They form these bonds in high school, maybe even earlier, and when they get older, they just continue to scratch each other’s backs.
“Did something happen between you and Daniel the other night? I know you were hung over but Jordan said you were so trashed Reed had to carry you out of Farris’s house. He didn’t…do something?” She looks worried.
I don’t want to tell Valerie about the awfulness of that night, but if she’s going to be involved, then she deserves something. “He thought I was easy. I’m not. And the Royals don’t like it when their maybe, not really, but kind of sister is messed with. Let’s leave it at that.”
She screws up her face. “God, what a douche. But why am I here if the Royals are already exacting revenge?”
“I don’t know if they are, only that three of them told me I wasn’t to come to the Worthington party tonight no matter what.”
Valerie’s eyes light up. “I love that you don’t care what the Royals think.” She hops off the bed and throws open my closet door. “Let’s see what Worthington-approved dresses you have.”
I drink the rest of my Coke as Valerie rifles through, and discards, item after item.
“You need more clothes. Even the Carringtons stuff my closet full of anything I want. It keeps up appearances, you know. I didn’t realize Callum was that stingy with you.”
“He’s not,” I answer, stung on Callum’s behalf. “I had to go shopping with Brooke and the places she took me were too expensive.”