Page 7 of Shattered Saint
"Excellent. I'll see you later." Nash cut his eyes over at Easton before he gave me a small nod and walked away, choosing to head toward the back of our house versus leaving through the front door.
It was then that it hit me that I was alone with Easton, but that didn't last for long.
"Bianca! Bianca!" my mother exclaimed as she walked toward me. "I have some people I want you to meet."
Of course she did. I looked at Easton and said, "I'll see you later?"
"Sure,” Easton replied. The finality in his voice made me wonder if he was telling the truth.
My mother looked between Easton and me before she said, "Your parents should be making their way over here right now. I'm sorry to take her away."
My eyes widened, but before I could say something, my mom grabbed my arm and pulled me away, leaving me wishing I could be with Easton for the rest of the night.
3
EASTON
The last thing I wanted to do was be at this party tonight. There were a million things I could be doing, but attending an event at a politician's house wasn't one of them.
It had taken a lot of bribing on my parents’ end to get me to come here tonight. It had gotten to the point where they were almost begging. They didn't give me any insight as to why they were so desperate for me to come, but I couldn't wait to cash in on the favor that they now owed me.
What I also didn’t know was why they were attending this party in the first place.
We were new to Brentson. Heck, we hadn't even officially moved into town yet.My parents had just bought a house here because I would be attending Brentson University in just a few short months. It wasn't much of a shift for me since my acceptance and enrollment into the university had been a done deal months before I graduated from high school, but Mom had decided that she wanted a place where they could come and stay. What made it nicer was that it was only a couple of hours outside of New York City so they wouldn’t be too far from the city but could escape from it when they wanted.
Brentson seemed like the perfect place for them to get some peace and quiet away from the busy life they tended to lead. Next would be furnishing their new home and figuring out where I would be staying during my time here because I had no intention of living with them.
While my parents were in the process of finding their newest home, they'd been introduced to Mayor Van Henson through family friends. After a discussion with him, they’d gotten an invitation to this party tonight. When Dad told me this whole story, I hadn’t been expecting them to accept the invitation, but here we were.
If I had to guess, I would say that my family was one of the few in this room who hadn't donated to Van Henson’s campaign. I was sure his mission was to change that as quickly as possible. Having someone kiss your ass in hopes for money being exchanged wasn't high on my list of things I wanted to deal with even if his main focus was on my parents’ wallets.
However, there was one redeeming factor about my being here tonight.
Bianca.
She'd taken my breath away the moment I saw her, and I could tell that she was into me too. It made wearing this stuffy-ass suit worth it. Talking to her, even with her older brother standing nearby, was the highlight of this evening by a long shot.
Now I had to watch her walk away. Granted, she was only going to the bathroom and would be back in a few minutes, but still, I was mentally counting down the seconds until she returned, even when I shouldn’t.
"Easton," Nash's voice broke through my thoughts, and while I was slightly irritated by the intrusion, I wasn't surprised by it. It would have been awkward for us to be standing here in silence while we waited for Bianca to return. I watched as he crossed his arms over his chest and the friendly expression that had been on his face only moments before was gone. "We need to talk."
Him getting right to the point wasn’t a shock to me either. The few text messages that we exchanged because our fathers wanted us to do so had made that clear. Most people in general, but especially at events like this, loved small talk, so having someone in my presence that wasn't about to talk in circles around what he really wanted to say was more than appreciated.
It was obvious to me that he was trying to be intimidating, but I was more amused than anything. I adjusted my stance to mirror his and said, "Go on."
Before he said another word, Nash glanced in the direction that Bianca had walked in and if I hadn't known what he wanted to talk to me about before, I definitely knew now.
"I don't know you well—"
I cut him off before he could continue. "You don't know me at all."
When I spoke, Nash's eyes shot back to me. The tension between the two of us increased tenfold. If looks could kill, I knew he would have taken the opportunity to do so. Interrupting him did little to help with the situation at hand, but I still did it. It was also my way of letting him know that he, too, should tread lightly.
"Whatever thoughts you're having about my sister? Erase them because nothing is going to happen there. Ever."
A multitude of thoughts collided in my mind, and I couldn't believe he had the audacity to say this. I’d done nothing that would allude to my intentions regarding Bianca outside of being friendly.His accusations did little to simmer the irritation I was experiencing.
"I have no idea what you're talking about." That was a lie. I knew what he was referring to.
