Untouched (Bay Falls High, #1)(21)

Then came Claire, in a black dress, looking stunning.

She glided across the floor and smiled right at me. “There you are.”

“I’m so sorry…”

“No need,” Claire said. “Grab a drink and get something to eat. Tell Henry anything you want and he’ll get it made.”

“Oh. Okay. I was just upstairs. I didn’t hear… I didn’t know…”

“Tinsley, meet Mr. and Mrs. Richter,” Claire said.

“Please, call us by our first names,” Mr. Richter said. He offered his hand to me. “I’m Sylvester and this is my wife, Cathy.”

I felt weird shaking his hand.

He was dressed in a fancy suit.

He smelled nice.

And his wife was beautiful.

I shook her hand too.

Something about them seemed familiar.

Very familiar.

Maybe they were old friends of Claire’s. Maybe I had seen them when I was younger.

I couldn’t figure it out but it started to drive me crazy.

“We were just talking real estate,” Claire said. “Sylvester and Cathy own half the state.”

“Wow,” I said.

“A lot of it is developmental stuff,” Sylvester said. “Plus, with our international assets…”

“Oh, stop it,” Cathy said. “She’s a teenager. She doesn’t want to hear this.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t mind. I’m poor.”

Claire laughed. “And that’s Tinsley.”

“What?” I asked. “Want me to pretend to be rich?”

As soon as I said rich I heard the sound of a piano. Slow, soothing classical music.

“Tinsley is staying with me for a little while,” Claire said. “Her mother had to relocate.”

“For work?” Cathy asked me.

I looked up to Claire, wondering what the answer was here.

“Something like that,” Claire said.

“We were just tossing ideas around about some other pieces of land and housing,” Sylvester said. “Relaxing after a long day.”

“You relax by talking about real estate?” I asked.

“They have an idea to buy something down in Hidden,” Cathy said rolling her eyes. “Land that’s untouchable.”

“Nothing is untouchable,” Claire said. “You know that old man will die sooner than later.”

“And everything will go to his family,” Cathy said.

“Not the sons,” Sylvester said. “And the grandson is probably the same age as Tinsley here.” He looked at me. “You know the name Weslee Jackson?”

I shook my head. “Never heard of him.”

“Good for you,” Cathy said. “Plus, you know Rosemary already called me.”

“Angel investors,” Claire said with an eye roll of her own.

I had no freaking clue what they were talking about.

I slowly made my escape, backing up, grabbing some kind of fancy looking wrapped up lettuce thing. I used my other hand as a plate and bit into it. It was delicious. I went back for a second and caught Cathy watching me.

That prompted me to wipe my hand with a towel and get the hell out of the kitchen.

I followed the sound of the piano.

There wasn’t a musical bone in my body.

I couldn’t even sing with a hairbrush in the mirror.

The piano was so relaxing.

I couldn’t believe Claire was rich enough to not only own this house but to pay a chef to cook for her and a couple friends. And to pay someone to play piano.

When I was out of sight, I pretended I was wearing a dress and started to twirl on my toes. Like I was some fucking social elite motherfucker talking all fancy about interest rates and real estate taxes and the new foreign car…

I snorted and stepped into the room that had the piano.

A room just for a piano.

No lie.

The music came to an abrupt stop.

“No need to…”

The top to the piano was open.

So I couldn’t see who was playing.

Until that person stood up.

Standing there with an unlit cigarette in his mouth…

Fucking Barr.





eight





I sucked in a breath and realized my last safe place was no longer safe.

Barr took the cigarette out of his mouth and grinned. “Evening, love.”

“What are you doing here?” I asked.

“Just taking the edge off the day,” he said.

He put the cigarette back between his lips and reached down to the piano.

My eyes went wide as he started to play.

The soft and soothing classical sound played by this guy? This asshole who messed with my locker. This asshole who gave me a lit cigarette and got me in trouble. This asshole who was part of getting me outside to the garden so he, Kip, and Pres could try and scare me.

Barr curled his lip as he played the piano harder and faster. The calm dinner music turning darker by the note. Now it sounded like a scary movie soundtrack.

And as loud as it was, it instantly all stopped when he took his hands away from the keys.

He stepped around the piano and put his fingers along the side as he walked toward me.