Elite (Empire High, #2)(19)

I looked down at my bare feet. I could see that maybe it seemed a little silly to be wearing such a fancy dress and no shoes. But I had my reasons. One being the fact that my black flats I’d worn to the funeral pinched my heels and I’d been enduring their wrath for the past two days. I also hadn’t unpacked my Keds yet, but I had a feeling that Isabella’s parents would appreciate them about as much as she did. And my uncle wasn’t here to fix them if they threw food on them. Oh, and then there was the most obvious reason. “But we’re inside.” The only other thing I’d consider wearing were slippers. And I had a feeling the Pruitts would frown upon that too.

“Right. I’m just letting you know that they usually wear shoes to dinner.”

Who wears shoes to dinner? The first answer that popped into my head was Nazis. I’d bet the zero dollars I had that Nazis did in fact wear shoes to dinner. “I think I’ll take my chances,” I said. I wasn’t a Nazi or a Pruitt, and I wanted to keep it that way.

“As you wish,” he said and stepped to the side.

I padded across the plush carpet as Miller pointed out a hall bath.

“Is this the one I’m supposed to use?” I figured humoring this arrangement was better than letting anyone know I’d be fleeing to Felix’s tonight.

Miller gave me a weird look. “No, you have your own bathroom. In your room,” he added when I didn’t respond. “Didn’t you see it?”

There was another door in my room. It looked just like the one for the closet and I just assumed it was more room for all the garments the stylist was shipping me. “Oh,” I said. “Yeah, right. Sorry.”

He smiled and continued down the upstairs hallway. He pointed out a few guest rooms. An office. Some locked door that he skipped entirely. He frowned when I tried to open it.

“Just ignore that room,” he said.

Okay. Why was Mr. Pruitt obsessed with creepy locked rooms? There was even one in his other apartment. Or rented apartment. Or whatever it was. We’d reached the top of the stairs.

“Isabella’s suite and the master suite are on the other side of the hall.” He gestured toward the hall that stretched out to the right of the staircase.

It was fitting that I was on the side of the hall with the guestrooms. And not just on that side, but at the very end of it. Like if I was far enough away maybe they could forget I existed.

I realized Miller was already walking down the stairs. I quickly followed and tried to remember every turn that took me from the dining room, kitchen, and the staff kitchen where a few people were busy preparing dinner. And then we made another turn into some kind of sunroom, a small library, a living room, a family room, a second more grand office, a room that just had a piano in it, and a few rooms that I’m pretty sure were just to show off more antiques? Even though the interior design was the opposite of Mr. Pruitt’s other apartment, it was the same in that it looked like no one ever touched anything. Did they all just stay in their bedrooms when they were home? Or maybe there was a separate family room reserved for purebred Pruitts or something.

“And that leads to the lower floor where the staff stays,” Miller said and nodded to a door.

“Wait, you live here?”

“I’m on duty 24 hours a day. So if anyone ever needs something in the middle of the night, I’m around.”

“Don’t you…have a family or something?”

He shoved his hands into his suit pockets. “I’m not supposed to discuss that kind of stuff with you.”

“Just like you’re not supposed to tell me your first name?”

“Yeah.” He gave me a small smile. “Like that.”

“You know I’m not one of them, right? You can tell me your first name.”

He shook his head even though that smile remained on his face.

A bell sounded from somewhere behind me. I was so turned around that I had no idea where we were.

“Dinner is ready,” Miller said. “Do you need me to show you the way back?”

I laughed. “Yeah, I have no idea where the dining room is.”

“Follow me.”

“Do you eat with us too?” I asked as we made our way backward through the tour. This time I didn’t try to pay attention. It wasn’t like I was going to actually have to stay here.

“No.”

“Where do you eat?”

“In the staff kitchen with the rest of the staff.”

“How many staff members are there?”

“Well, you met the chef and his assistant in the kitchen. And you know one of the other security guards from yesterday.”

Mhm. How could I forget? He was the one that had knocked Matt down on the steps of the church. Although I wouldn’t say I knew him.

“There’s one more guard. One for each family member, but sometimes we have different assignments. And then there’s…”

“Wait, so who are you usually assigned to?”

“Mr. Pruitt.”

“Oh, I’m sorry.”

He laughed.

I hadn’t even realized I’d said the words out loud. And he didn’t get the chance to tell me about the rest of the staff because we’d wound our way right back to the entrance of the dining room.

I was pretty sure I was wearing the most expensive dress I’d ever worn in my entire life, but the whole family was staring at me like I was a barbarian. I looked down at my bare feet. I should have just worn the stupid shoes. The way they were staring, I might as well have been butt naked.