One Condition (The Lust List: Kaidan Stone #1) (10 page)

But then Devon’s eyes go dark, and he stands taller, staring Kaidan down. “You really shouldn’t fuck with me tonight.”

I press up against the column, certain they’re about to start a brawl, right here on the veranda, but Devon shakes his head and throws a look of disgust in my direction. He looks back at Kaidan, and a slow, nasty smile appears on his face. “I thought you’d like to know. Peyton’s here. She’s been asking for you.”

Then Devon stalks back into the ballroom.

My stomach drops. Peyton’s here. Of course she is. Did Kaidan invite her, too? The few people out here are staring at us, and they look away, but I feel frozen where I stand, clutching my purse to my chest.

Kaidan’s working his jaw, not looking at me.

I take a deep breath, straighten my gown, and step toward him. He still won’t meet my eyes.

“What?” His voice is cold now, and it hurts. Every fiber of my being is telling me to go inside and let him cool off, but I can’t help it. I need to know.

“Did you go home with Peyton the other night… after the club?”

His nostrils flare, and he looks at me. His eyes are dark, in anger this time, dark in a way that scares me. I smell the rum on his breath… He’s as drunk as his brother. As drunk as I probably am. I take a clumsy step back.

“And what if I did take her home? You and me? We don’t have a thing. We’re not together,” Kaidan says, and his voice rises. “You don’t get to question me. Or control what I do.”

His words are a kick in my chest, but I somehow manage to keep breathing, to answer him. “I’m not going to be your Peyton rebound girl of the week.”

Kaidan’s face twists then, some combination of pain and anger. “Maybe you’re lucky to even be a rebound girl.” He says each word carefully, as if to maximize the damage each one does to my heart.

“Why’d you even invite me tonight?” I say, and my voice cracks.

“You invited yourself, didn’t you?”

“Don’t worry.” I swallow hard. “I’m leaving now.” I make to go, but he grabs my wrist, and it hurts. “Let go of me.”

“Wait.”

I hear regret in his voice, and it makes me pause.

He steps closer, loosening the grip on my wrist. “I shouldn’t have said—”

“But you did.” I know I have tears in my eyes, but I don’t care. “And it’s fine. Because you and me? We don’t have a thing. And trust me—we never will.”

I rip my hand away and hurry through the double doors, putting as much space between us as I can. I rush through the party guests and out the ballroom, trying to keep my head down so they can’t see my tears. I glance toward where I last saw Char, but she’s not there anymore, and neither are Bia and her friends. I head out to the foyer, and when I see a bathroom, I duck into it to fix my makeup.

I stare at my splotchy face in the mirror and try to fix my eyes, but it’s hard when they have tears in them. I guess I dodged a real bullet with Kaidan. I might have done something regrettable. Like sleep with him. I could have done something even worse, like fallen for him.

I sniff, fixing my hair in the mirror, facing the truth. He’s a playboy, a user, and a jerk. I’m going home. I can try to talk to Serena some other time. It’s not worth staying here another minute.

But when I leave the bathroom to go look for Char, I stop dead.

I thought this night couldn’t possibly get any worse. But it just did.

Peyton’s standing in the center of the foyer, surrounded by her entourage, including Jessa the Witch.

Peyton’s wearing the exact same emerald green dress as me.

I’m a doppleganger.

She looks amazing in our dress. She’s not any taller than me, but she has a slimmer, less curvy body than I do, so she’s looking like a supermodel in it. What the actual fuck? Can this night get any worse? No, no I don’t think it can.

But then it does. Peyton sees me. Her mouth drops into a little ‘o’ of surprise, and a look of rage passes over her face. She grabs Jessa’s arm, squeezing hard. Jessa winces, then sees me, too. Her eyebrows go up, but then a small smile appears on her lips. She whispers something in Peyton’s ear.

And the whole time, I’m just standing next to a decorative plant like an idiot, trying to figure out what to do. I open my clutch to grab my phone so I can text Char and tell her I want the hell out of here, but before I get it out, Peyton and her entourage are crossing the foyer. Heading straight for me.

I can’t just run away like I want to, so I straighten my shoulders and lift my chin.

They stop just in front of me. Peyton, Jessa, and two more girls I don’t know.

Jessa crosses her arms over her chest, and Peyton steps closer to me, her hands balled into fists.

“You’re trying a little too hard to be
me
, don’t you think?"

My heart speeds up, and I can feel my face going red. I glance at Jessa. She looks amused, and the other two girls are politely pretending not to be listening to this. “It’s not like I—”

“Just so we’re clear,” Peyton says. “The only reason Kaidan even went
near
you, is because
I
dumped him.”

Heat expands in my chest at this bully bitch. “Just so we’re clear, I don’t want your cast-offs.”

“Not the story the pictures on
ScandalLust
tell.” Her tone is filled with venom, and I’m starting to wonder if she’s trashy enough to start a catfight right here in this foyer.

I lift my hands, palms out. “I don’t want Kaidan. Got it? I told him that. You don’t need to worry about me.”

Peyton blinks slowly at me, and a smug smile of satisfaction spreads across her face. “I’m not worried. I’m just being a friend to you. Sharing a little
friendly
warning about him. He has a history of doing… what he’s doing to you.”

Her face brightens, and I feel myself inching away, closer to the plant. This bitch is crazy.

She puts her hands on her hips and surveys my gown… Her gown. Ugh.

“My second act as your new friend? Giving you some style advice.” She points at me. “I guess your other friends didn’t tell you this, but a slim-fitting, silk gown is just wrong for your… figure. Stuffed sausage isn’t a good look.”

Jessa and the other girls laugh. My mind races, trying to come up with a suitable come-back, but Peyton tosses her head and walks off, her entourage trailing her into the ballroom.

I stand there, shaking, and I swear I’m not going to cry again. I look down at my dress. Maybe I am too curvy for it. It did look better on her. Now I want to rip it off and burn it. And it’s not even paid for yet. And might never be. I head for the ballroom, looking for Char.

As I enter the ball room, I notice the crowd is flowing in the direction of the stage.

“Time for the speech,” a male voice calls out.

That’s when I see them, standing right inside the ballroom. My whole world slows down.

Calvin Stone is openly fondling a young, blond, busty woman. She turns toward him, laughing. Serena Lynn. And she’s
not
wearing the necklace.

She’s not wearing the necklace.

She’s not wearing the diamond my dad gave her.

Which means…

The diamond must be upstairs. Right now. In this house.

Adrenaline shoots through me, and I know, like that, that I’m going to try to steal it.

I pull my eyes from Calvin and Serena and scan the ball room, butterflies dancing in my stomach. I locate Char sitting at a table near the stage with Bia and her friends. They’re all laughing. So. She’s occupied, unlikely to come looking for me. I keep scanning, and I find Kaidan near the stage, a few feet from Devon. He looks like he’s deep in thought, a new drink in his hand. Another knife tears through my heart, twisting harder as I see my doppleganger walk up to him and say something.

Fuck them. Fuck them all.

I push out of the ballroom, against the flow of the crowd and pick a staircase to walk up. I try to take steady, measured steps, even though my excitement is making me want to run up the stairs.

The thrill coursing through me makes my palms sweaty, and I’m having a hard time keeping my breathing even. But when a few people walk past me on the stairs, one of the guys smiles at me, and I give him a genuine smile back.

La la la. Just heading upstairs to meet my friends. Not planning to steal a giant diamond or anything.

How can this even possibly work? The diamond’s probably in a safe anyway. I’ll get up there and won’t be able to access it. I also need to check for security cameras. My dad had some on his second floor.

There’s a little voice in my head shouting at me to
Stop. Right. Now.
I should have a plan. I should at least try to do this sober, right? But the warning comes out slurred, buried beneath three glasses of wine. Easy to dismiss.

Oh, well. This might be the only chance I ever get. Maybe I can just borrow the necklace and then… mail it back? I giggle into my hand. If I pull this off, gold digger bitch is never getting that shit back.

I reach the top of the stairs and find myself in a party room. There’s a completely different scene up here. More people, white couches, a full bar, black lights. Two corridors, on the left and right, meet up at this recessed space. Each of the two halls is blocked by velvet rope. A couple pushes past me, leaving the party room.

It’s Ender Varrone with a brunette I don’t recognize. He doesn’t even notice me as he pulls her past. They sneak around one of the velvet ropes and disappear into the dark hall beyond, no doubt looking for a private, unused room. This house is going to see a lot of drunk sex tonight.

I glide into the party room, past the couches filled with couples making out. Someone lays out a line of coke and snorts it. Right there in front of me.

Anger lights up within me, but not at this fool. Seeing someone snort coke isn’t a novelty. Plenty of people did it at my college. I’m just pissed at my asshole dad, who essentially killed himself and then put me in the position where I’m about to steal a diamond necklace in the first place.

I pretend to be looking for someone as I casually check out both hallways. Which do I choose? There’s no way to know where Serena stays, let alone where she keeps her jewelry. Really, I’m just going to have to pick a hall.

The sound of clapping travels up the staircase from downstairs. Is that the speech ending, or did it just begin? Dammit. I’m wasting too much time. Heart thudding, I make my decision. I head for the hallway that’s further away, the one Ender didn’t go down, and stop a few feet away from the rope. I cast a glance around the room, but the bartender up here’s busy, and everyone else is drunk or getting high.

I sneak past the rope and hurry down the dim corridor, hopefully disappearing from casual view as Ender did.

The lights are super low here, so much so, that I almost stumble into a table placed up against one wall.

Maybe this was dumb. I don’t even know where I’m going. Another hallway opens up to my right, and this one is just as dim as the first. I head carefully down it, running my hand along the wall so I don’t stumble. Maybe these halls form a big square. That would put the ballroom below at the center of the square.

If the hallways all connect, I’ll end up reaching the one where Ender and his girl disappeared. Which means I’ll get to check every room up here. If I have enough time.

I stop at a random door, and heart pounding, open it a crack. I seek the light switch with one hand, and when I flick it on, I see I’ve found a bathroom.

Not it.

I check another two rooms, but both look like unused guest rooms. Not the master suite I’m searching for.

I make another turn, but the hall dead-ends here. I sigh. It doesn’t go all the way around. Maybe—

A heavy hand falls on my shoulder, and I stiffen.

“What are you doing up here?”

A shock runs through me as I’m harshly shoved against the wall. My cheek presses against it, and a flicker of fear ripples through my stomach.

Then a woodsy, musky scent, mingled with rum, reaches me.
Kaidan.

“I thought you were leaving.” His deep voice sends shivers through me, and my legs go weak. I should be scared, but the thrill I felt at the prospect of stealing that diamond only reaches new heights.