Shell
rock crunched under the tires as Jon pulled through the gate onto the
semi-circular driveway of the summer house. The woman at his side had been silent under
Jesse’s business chatter during the short drive from the airfield. She’d done nothing more than take in the scenery
and chase errant tendrils as they escaped the twist that was magazine perfect
at the start of their trip.
Jon was probably an asshole for not asking if she minded riding
with the top down, but it wasn’t intentional, and he hoped the oversight didn’t
offend her sense of propriety. She
didn’t look irritated but looks could be deceiving with
the woman he’d taken as his companion. Patrician features were
schooled into the mask of polite acceptance that he’d spent weeks thinking was
her natural expression, but now he knew it was just a
veneer. Beneath it, she could be nervous, anxious, pissed, or
tragedy-stricken without anybody being able to guess – including him much of
the time.
That’s why, while his son clambered out of the car with the cookie
box in hand, Jon nodded toward the luggage and requested, “Grab that, too,
would ya, Jess?”
“Sure. Guest house?”
That wasn’t the end plan, but there was no point making waves
yet.
“Yeah,” Jon confirmed when circling around to open the passenger
door. “How we doin’ so far? Alright?”
Rising from the vehicle with the help of his offered hand, Teddi
traded in the polite façade for a genuine smile up into his
face. “Has this turned into a performance? Because,
unless I’m mistaken, that’s been spoken from nearly every stage you’ve taken.”
It was the proof he needed to know she wasn’t on the verge of
becoming a basket case. The first hurdle had been cleared, and it
invited him to do his own share of teasing while pushing the Chevelle door shut
behind her.
“I thought you’d never been to a show?”
“I haven’t, but your fans are faithful in posting footage to
YouTube, of which I am an aficionado. It’s just like being there.”
“The hell it is,” he scoffed with a light snort. “Live
music is best experienced live. Someday, you’ll see.”
The smile went tight and flattened for an instant before being
replaced with one fueled by sheer etiquette. “Yes, well let’s first
see if I survive your family without going catatonic, shall we?”
“You will. It’s only Jess and Steph, and they’re both
leaving before dinner.”
Her sunglasses came off, and she fiddled with arms on them,
folding them in and out as cornflower irises inspected the length of privacy
hedges before ultimately flicking back to find his. “I’m not only
spared your teenagers, but you’re sending the older ones away as
well? This information may have made the trip a little less
traumatic for me.”
“Might’ve,” he agreed. “But you still got through it,
even believing you were wading into a nest of Bongiovis for the week. Oh, and
for the record, I’m not sending anybody anyplace. They have shit to
do for a couple days. The fact that you get the chance to acclimate
in peace is a bonus.”
“One that I am exceptionally grateful...” Her
appreciation trailed away as Jon registered the approaching purr of a luxury
engine. They were positioned in such a way that she was able to
watch the vehicle’s arrival over his shoulder, and as she did, all pretense of
good manners disappeared like the sun behind an angry storm
cloud. Her jaw was tight when grinding out, “Damnation.”
Snapping a sharp glance over his shoulder didn’t provide any
insight as to who the visitor was, so Jon removed his own sunglasses and
pivoted on one foot to get a better look. It took only a split
second for him to register the driver’s eerily similar expression and understand
Teddi’s reaction.
“What the fuck is Deidre doing here?”
His girlfriend’s cold gaze didn’t melt, but he caught a spark of
relief in it before sunglasses were shoved back onto her face. “I’m incredibly
grateful you don’t know the answer to that question.”
Deidre shifted the Mercedes into park to do the opposite, removing
her Jackie Onassis lenses and revealing another eerily similar expression –
Teddi’s veneer of politeness. The two women resembled one another
more strongly in person than in his mind, with the exception that Teddi was
softer. Even her blueblood demeanor wasn’t as frigid as that of the
woman swinging bare legs out of the car. She smoothed one hand over a
short white dress and waggled the fingers of the other as glacial eyes cut
Teddi to ribbons.
This bitch didn’t like her sister – at all. Her stroll
was predatory, if that made any sense, and instinct had Jon placing himself in
the path between them. Teddi, however, showed no
fear. She might be intimidated by strangers and the public at large,
but the socialite who propped a hip against his Chevelle’s rear fender exuded
nothing but disdain.
Disdain that was mirrored in Deidre’s piercing gaze, although she
tried to neutralize it when shifting to him.
“Hello, Jon,” she drawled familiarly, without verbally
acknowledging Teddi’s presence. “I hope you don’t mind my dropping by
again.”
“Deidre,” he acknowledged, being neither rude nor
friendly. “Did you forget something in the guest house?”
“Oh, no. Nothing like that. I just had such
a nice time...” She delicately cleared her throat to make room for
the innuendo. “...visiting you this past week
that I couldn’t bear going back to Boston. A friend agreed to sublet
her cottage to me for the rest of the summer, so I’m staying just down the
road.”
How fucking spectacular. It wasn’t enough to spend a
week dodging her unwanted advances; now he had to watch his ass – or
watch her watching his ass – for the rest of the
summer. At least he wasn’t obligated to be sociable to her
anymore.
“Nice. Hope you enjoy it. Sorry to cut this
short, but they’re waiting for us inside.”
That fake smile tightened at the corners, and her left eye
twitched, but those were Deidre’s only obvious signs of displeasure. She
was perfectly amicable when assuring, “Of course. We’ll have plenty
of opportunity to chat in the coming days. I thought perhaps we
could go to Ron’s party together next weekend.”
What the fuck was this woman thinking? Was she truly
that delusional or simply building a fantasy smokescreen for her sister’s
benefit? He was sorely tempted to say Teddi would be his date, but
that required forcing the two to interact, which could get ugly. Did
he feign ignorance about their relationship, or address it head-on? Which
would sit better with Teddi?
Taking her anxiety into consideration wasn’t something he could do
without effort yet, but it turned out that he didn’t need to.
“Hello, Deidre,” she said, stepping around him so that no part of
her was shielded. “I’ll assume you didn’t see me standing here since
your manners are too impeccable to snub me in front of witnesses.”
On cue, the taller and colder of the two brought a hand to her
throat, covering the jewelry there in a gesture of phony surprise.
“Aunt Theodosia, is that you? Oh my, it’s been so long! Of
course I wouldn’t snub you! I didn’t recognize you behind those
sunglasses.”
Aunt Theodosia? Either
they really did stick to the script of Teddi only being family as Randolph’s
adoptive sister, or Deidre was trying to emphasize her younger age.
“Jon, how in the world did you meet our family
recluse? Poor thing been cloistered inside her home since Uncle
Truman died, and to be honest...” She lifted the hand from her neck
to place it along one side of her mouth and speak to Jon in an
aside. “...I’m surprised the poor thing hasn’t wet her
pants. She’s so excitable, and always had an unhealthy obsession
with you, if you know what I mean.”
“Stop it, Deidre,” Teddi ordered. “He knows more about
me than you do. What I want to know is where
you got that necklace.”
Well, that escalated quickly, not that Jon was
complaining. As long as this unscheduled confrontation didn’t turn
his companion into a quivering ball of nerves, he was content to cross his arms
and watch the drama unfold. They may not need Pierce’s brother to
solve this mystery, after all.
“My necklace?” Oddly enough, that bit of drama seemed
genuine. She was legitimately caught off guard, with instinctive
fingers reaching up to clasp the locket. “It was a gift.”
“From whom?”
It didn’t take long to gather her wits and drop the locket,
throwing both shoulders back and tilting her chin upward. “Why is it
of so much interest to you?”
“Because it was my mother’s and hasn’t been seen since her death.”
Deidre’s bluster faltered. Badly. The blood
drained from her cheeks, and she took an involuntary step backward that made
Jon willing to bet his Grammy she hadn’t known before this very
minute. She had believed the “recently inherited family heirloom”
was inherited from her family and not Teddi’s.
Drawing a deep breath, she purposely redirected her attention from
Teddi to Jon. “I feel it only fair to warn you... she’s not only the
family recluse; she’s mentally ill. My brother and I have discussed
having her committed. For her own good, of course.”
“If you plan to try it, please remember my condition hasn’t changed
since I signed legal contracts two weeks ago. I’m no lawyer, but I
presume that mental incompetence might affect the legality of selling my
Peabody share to Endicott.”
Jon tired not to smirk in Deidre’s face, but the corner of his
mouth had different ideas and was determined to dig into his right
cheek. Not only was Teddi showing no symptoms of anxiety, she was
motherfucking brilliant without missing a beat.
“You may find this amusing now, Mr. Bon Jovi, but rest assured
that she will be nothing but an embarrassment to you, just as she is to our family. Do
you remember the humiliation you suffered with that Buffalo football team? I’m
sure she didn’t divulge her part in that, but it’s exactly the type of
situation you can expect you to find yourself in again.”
“Are you threatening me?” Jon asked with deceptive calm, knowing
that he’d take this woman out at the knees if she came near any of his business
holdings.
“Threatening?” Her innocent
act wasn’t to be believed, but she still sought to sell it with a cheerfully
light, “Of course not. I’m just making sure you understand the unpleasant
reality of life with Theodosia. Even her
own husband committed suicide to escape it.”
It didn’t matter that Teddi’s features stayed placidly detached. Her subtle sharp breath was the final straw
for Jon.
Veiled threats? Fine. Womanly
cattiness? Whatever. But bringing Truman’s death into it
was going too far. This family had jabbed enough voodoo pins into Teddi’s psyche
before he arrived on the scene. He sure as hell wasn’t going to
allow it to happen right in front of him.
“Enough,” he declared tersely.
“It’s time for you to get in your car and drive the fuck away. Now.”
All illusion of manners evaporated along with the idea that she
looked anything like Teddi. This bitch was ugly from the inside out,
and it spewed out in a sewage fountain when she informed Jon, “Don’t say you
weren’t warned.”
“Deidre,” Teddi spoke after the arrogantly strutting woman. “Where did you hear such nonsense about
Truman?”
Pausing with her fingertips on the door handle, she turned a
predatory smile their way. “From you, of
course. Enjoy this while you can,
Theodosia, because Jon Bon Jovi will walk away from you just as surely as
everyone else has.”
