Page 13 of Wicked Titan

Sitting at the kitchen table, I think how perfect of a fit it is to end the day. My crappy day started out at this table with Candace, and here it is ending in the same way with her, again. Lucky me.

Nathan enters the kitchen, greeting everyone—even me. I hate that it makes me happy, but it’s nice that he acknowledges me, something my mother never cared to do in the last eleven years. He sits at the end of the table just as the housekeeper places a plate in front of him. “So, Quinn, I hear you took my advice to heart.”

I’d expect him to be mad if he knows about what happened at school, but he doesn’t seem mad in the least. In fact, amusement dances across his face.

Candace looks between us before speaking to Nathan. “What advice?”

“I told Quinn to give ’em hell at school, and she did that plus a little more.”

Dismay colors Candace’s face, her head whipping in my direction. “What did you do?”

“She didn’t do anything wrong. I bet little Hastings deserved every bit you dished out to him.”

“Hastings? As in Victor’s son?” The look of dismay turns into horror. “Quinn, what did you do?”

“Nothing that he didn’t ask for,” I say, pushing my food around my plate. His parents miss it, but I watch Tanner push a piece of meatloaf off his plate and onto a napkin before covering it up. I bite back a smile. I love having this kid around. I figured I’d be teaching him some tricks and bad habits, but it looks like he will probably be schooling me before it’s over.

“Asher’s fine, Candace. Nothing that a dry cleaner can’t fix,” Nathan winks in my direction.

Candace turns a disapproving look to her husband. “Why are you fully aware and I’m just being informed?”

“I gave the school my cell just in case. So I guess they dialed it first. It made great lunch conversation with Victor.”

Her hands slap the table. “Victor knows? Will you please tell me what’s going on?”

“She pushed him into the lake,” Nathan says with a proud grin before taking a bite of meatloaf.

Wait. “You had lunch with Asher’s dad?”

“Yep,” Nathan answers me, ignoring Candace as she becomes increasingly irritated. “Victor and I grew up together. We were causing hell at Golden Olympus Academy long before either of you were born. Now we give each other hell in the marketing world. We started a business together, but we didn’t see eye to eye on how to run things, so we separated the company and went our separate ways. Now Victor’s company is my company’s biggest rival, but we’ve managed to remain friends, mostly.”

“Fabulous.”

“You sound thrilled.”

“Totally.”

“Then you’ll be even more thrilled to know the Hastings are our neighbors too.”

My arm falls to the table, hitting the side of my plate causing some food to flop on the table. “Please tell me you’re joking.”

“Nope. We tend to be a bit competitive, so buying housing on the best street in Knoxville was a given. They are just two houses down.”

I want to stay as far away from Asher as possible, but he seems to be woven into every part of my new life. At least the houses are enormous, so maybe I’ll be able to avoid seeing him. There’s a good chance since it’s like a fortress with eight-foot brick walls surrounding the acre of land, equipped with its own tennis court. Even the swimming pool takes up more space than my old house, and it wasn’t small by any comparison to a “normal” house, but there’s nothing normal around here.

“Hang on. Is that how Asher knew all those things about me? Did you tell the Hastings about my dad?” I’m not sure what I want Nathan to say. If he gave Asher the leverage to taunt me, then I’ll feel betrayed by Nathan. But if he didn’t say anything, I’m back to guessing how in the hell Asher knows about my dad.

Nathan looks a bit confused, but he answers quickly, “No. Today was the first time I’ve had a chance to catch up with Victor in a few weeks.”

Candace continues to stare daggers at Nathan as he turns a charming smile her way. “I’ll let the school know to give you a call first, and I’ll just be there for backup in case Asher decides to take another dip in the lake.”

She still doesn’t share Nathan’s amusement of the situation, but Candace finally moves on and asks Tanner if he wants more meatloaf.

“No, but can I have dessert now?” His eyes light up as he looks over to the kitchen where the housekeeper is slicing a freshly baked chocolate cake.

Candace informs him to finish his asparagus first, then she resumes another topic of conversation with Nathan.

Out the corner of my eye, I watch Tanner push his asparagus on the same napkin before folding it back over and placing it on his plate. “All done!” He says after a few seconds, jumping up and heading into the kitchen.