Kiss the Sky (33 page)

He groans. “If this is about your friend,
Ryke
, you can save it. I’ve had to deal with a lot of
bullshit being with Daisy, but that was ridiculous. She’s
my
girlfriend, and I had to put up with him grabbing at her.”

I can’t defend
Ryke
right now even
though I want so much to do so. He grabbed Daisy
once
to keep her safe from him, at
her
wish.

I blink. “I thought she wasn’t your girlfriend.”

He runs a hand through his messy hair. “Friends with
benefits, whatever. We’re dating.”

“Exclusively?”

He glares. “Yeah, that’s what I said.”
No it’s not, you
asshat
.

I hold up my hands. “I’m just trying to get things straight
here.”

“Well get this straight,” he says. “Your friend isn’t going
to be with her. He needs to go find another girl and stop staring at mine.”

“Okay,” I say. “Did you text him last night though? He said
you did…”

Julian frowns. “What are you talking about?”

“At four this morning—”

“I was asleep.”

I hand him
Ryke’s
phone so he can
verify.

“What the hell is this?” He shakes his head and pushes the
phone into my chest. “I didn’t send this.”

I want to believe him because he appears confused. But if
all models are like Daisy, then they’re really good actors.

“Right,” I say, pocketing
Ryke’s
phone. “I’ll let him know. It must have been a prank.”

Julian just shakes his head again. “Everyone here is fucking
crazy.” He nudges my arm. “At least we’re the two normal ones.”

“Yeah, man.” I nod with a smile and he heads to the shower
without another word. I rub my jaw that hurts after concealing a scowl. I don’t
know who to believe, but I think we all want Daisy far away from Julian until
her photo shoot—when she can actually break up with him without fearing being
fired and subsequently her mother’s disappointment.

I head downstairs to make breakfast. Ben follows me. Before
I go to the kitchen, I peek out the living room window.

Daisy runs through the snow. Barefoot. Without a jacket.

Ryke
catches up to her easily, and
he wraps his large coat around her body. He picks her up before she can
protest, holding her beneath her legs and her back. Her feet are reddened and
frostbitten, and she buries her head into
Ryke’s
bare
chest while he talks to her, to calm her down.

I back away.

For as much as I give
Ryke
a hard
time, I can’t imagine another person with a kinder soul.

[ 28 ]

CONNOR COBALT

Rose and I spend three days teaching Loren and
Lily how to ski. They admitted to never learning during family trips. They’d
ditch lessons to goof around, and when they reached a certain age, they
replaced normal adolescent behavior with more dangerous activities. Lo would
stay at a bar all day, drinking until he passed out, while Lily would sleep
with anyone willing.

Daisy opted to snowboard, and even when she chose the black
diamond slopes, both
Ryke
and Julian went with her.
Savannah was the only one skilled enough to film them. I can only imagine
Ryke
and Julian at each other’s throats. That episode is
going to draw millions of viewers.
 

Scott’s the only one who stayed back at the cabin. A rarity.
He usually loves tagging along, which means his tactics are changing. I don’t
know what he plans to do yet, but I’m constantly on guard.
 

Everyone changes out of their wet and puffy clothes by the
front door. I make it into the living room first to start a fire. Lily is by my
side next. I glance back and notice Rose removing her third sweater and
brushing her hair off her reddened cheeks. Lo bickers by her side as he
stumbles to take off his boots.

Lily clears her throat.

Obviously she wants to talk. “Yes?” I ask.

She raises her hands to the stone fireplace to warm
them.
 

“You really don’t love her?” Lily blurts out.

I let out a breath. This is why I don’t tell anyone my
beliefs. I have to explain myself for weeks and months just to be understood.

“It’s complicated, Lily,” I try.

She opens her mouth to refute, but her phone jingles in her
pocket. I squat and turn over a log in the flames with an iron poker.

She answers her phone after checking the caller ID. “This is
Lily.” She frowns and then taps my shoulder quickly. “Can you talk to my
lawyer?”

I stand, and she hands me the phone, a more distressed look
coating her face.

Brett’s boots thud against the floor, now changed out of his
winter gear to film us from the corner.

I press Lily’s phone to my ear. “Hello?”

“Hi, this is Mark Cole from Red Hot Films. We want to make
Lily Calloway an offer to star in one of our productions.”

Porn.

This isn’t the first time she’s been offered a role, but
it’s the first time someone has called her personal phone. Usually they go
through her father’s lawyers and managers.

“How did you get this number, Mark?”

“We had a contact,” he says, “we’re prepared to offer two
million if she stars. One million if she directs, and that would be behind the
scenes business. She doesn’t even have to appear on screen.” But her name would
be.

“She’s not interested,” I say calmly.

Lily gives me a thumbs-up and an encouraging smile.

“She’s the daughter of a multi-billion dollar mogul. No
amount of money or exposure will sway her. Stop calling.” I hang up at that.

“Thanks,” she says as I hand her the phone. “Whenever I try
to say
no
people usually cut me off.”

“They shouldn’t be calling you anyway.”

She nods like she knows this too. “I think my number was
leaked. I might get a new one and give it to only…” She counts in her head.
“Six people.”

“Lo, your sisters, and your parents?” I ask.

She shakes her head “Not my parents. You and
Ryke
. If that’s okay. I just don’t really trust my parents
to keep the number to themselves.”

It’s strange to be included in someone’s close personal
contacts. I’m used to being on the outskirts of a network, a connection that
people use if they really need one. To be so closely tied to Lily and the
Calloways
makes me truly realize what I’ve gained by being
with Rose.

I have a family. A
real
family. It’s not something you can win. I didn’t manipulate a soul to get here.
I have it because they like me for me.

Each day, I’m more thankful for them. And I’m more aware of
how much I can lose.

“Perfect,” I tell her, “so I can call and remind you to
study for your tests.”

Her eyes grow big. “When is my next test?” Studying, school
(even online school) seems to be last on Lily Calloway’s priority list, whereas
academics have always ranked high on mine.

“Two weeks,” I say, having memorized her schedule when she
showed it to me. I admit, it’s not completely selfless, even though I do care
about Lily. I know the way to Rose’s heart is through her sisters.

Her shoulders slacken, probably glad it’s not in a couple of
days.

“Lily!” Scott calls as he enters the living room. “I have
something for you.”

Brett rotates the camera to catch Scott on film.

He holds a manila envelope in his hands, large enough to
contain a paperback book.

Lily frowns, as confused as me.

“I wanted to get you a little thank you gift,” Scott
explains. “The ratings for the show these past months have been off the charts,
and we all know the success is from you.”

After he hands her the package, she unwraps it quickly to
find a DVD of
Magic Mike.
Unfiltered
anger surges through me. Loren has expressed
multiple
times on camera that he doesn’t want Lily watching the
movie, afraid it may trigger her cravings for porn, which is a major compulsion
of hers.

The fact that Scott went behind his wishes is low.

By the front door, Rose and Loren continue to argue, slowly
peeling off their wet outdoor clothes, not noticing what Scott has just given Lily.

To make matters even worse, Scott leans into Lily’s ear, his
hand on her arm as he whispers to her. She turns bright red, obviously
uncomfortable by his closeness and maybe even his words.

I step in. “Scott, leave her alone.” I add, “And take your inappropriate
gift with you.” My insides twist in unmanageable knots. All I can think about
is Lo. He’s right there, by the doorway, a couch and a chair apart from us. And
I know how much this is going to hurt him.

Our friendship means something to me, despite what he said
at the screening party. And I have to stick up for him and for Lily.

Scott pulls back from her ear, but Lily remains flushed and
motionless. A statue solidified in the middle of the fucking room. He turns to
me. “It’s the perfect gift for her, actually. She’s been saying how much she
wants to watch the movie.”

Lily stares at the movie, tight in her grip. And after a
long moment of contemplation, she pops it open and inspects the disc inside.

Scott has crossed a line. Maybe he sees this as a
drama-inducing ploy, but this is beyond that. It’s beyond just giving Lily a
movie. He might as well be passing a drug addict a joint. I’ve seen the amount
of porn she’s had to trash. I’ve seen her cry at the foot of her bed until Rose
consoled her. There were three months when Lo was in rehab, when she was
struggling to recover from her addiction, and she had no one but me and her
sister. And we were trying the best we could to get her to stay sane, to get
better.

And shit like this—it’s how something bad starts. One
small
moment can change everything.

“We need to talk,” I say to Scott. “Alone.”

He obligingly follows me to his bedroom on the main floor,
Brett close behind, but as soon as Scott slips inside, I shut the door. The
wood almost hits the camera. I lock it, and I ignore Brett’s disgruntled look.

Two computers are sprawled on his bed. I scan everything
quickly. The papers that splay on his pillow, a camera opened and on pause. I
can barely make out the image on the tiny screen, but it looks like footage
from the drinking game.

“What is it?” he snaps. “I don’t have all day.” He glowers
like I fucked with his show.

He fucked with my friends.

But we’re not even. I’ll never be even with him.

“Say whatever you want,” I refute, my complacency slowly and
painfully leaving me. “Call me a prick, call Rose a man-hating prude. Call Lily
a slut and Loren a bastard. But don’t fuck with their addictions.”

“I gave her a movie, Connor,” he says like I’m being
ridiculous. If Rose was here, she’d spit in his face. “Not a dildo.”

“You don’t understand sex addiction. And that’s fine. Not
everyone does. But you know
exactly
what
you’re doing. I’m asking you nicely to stop. The next time, I won’t be as
kind.”

Scott laughs a bitter dry laugh that spikes my irritation.
“It’s funny,” he says, “this is the first time you’ve been in my face in a
while, and it’s not even for Rose…” He eyes me up and down. “Does she know
you’re attracted to her sister?”

I near him, gritting my teeth. “You are
grasping
for drama. Literally pulling at anything ridiculous you
can latch onto. Shall I educate you then?” He opens his mouth but I don’t give
him the chance to refute. “I’m secure enough in
my
relationship with Rose that I don’t bite off the cocks of men
who wrong her or call her a bitch. She’s more than capable of biting them off
herself. I’m here, now, in your face because that girl in the living room has
no teeth.”

Brett knocks on the door, and I hear a muffled angry yell
against the wood.

I don’t take my eyes off Scott. “They’re addicts, Scott. You
kick Rose and me down, we’re going to feel like shit but we’ll get back up. You
kick Loren and Lily, and they may not. This isn’t drama for television. It’s
real and painful, and if you put them in those places, you don’t need to be scared
of anyone but me. I will kill you myself.”

And I mean it.

Not because Lily is Rose’s sister. Not because Loren is my
friend.

But because there are some things in this world that are
just wrong.

Scott nods, whether it’s sincere or not, I don’t know. “I’ll
take that into consideration.”
Not.

I can’t stay here. I might punch him. And hitting people is
something I consider stupid. It solves nothing.

I turn around and leave, passing an infuriated, pudgy
cameraman as I do so.

In the living room, Lily is talking to Lo. “Please. Just
once. It’s not porn, Lo. We can even fast-forward all the dancing. I just want
to watch a movie like a normal person again.”

“We can watch movies,” Lo retorts. “Just not ones that might
trigger your
compul
—”

“
Might!
Keyword. And
I won’t! I promise!”

His face twists in pain. Lo has told me how much he hates
saying no to her, but it’s tough love he’s slowly sunk into. “Lil, if I asked
you for beer, what would you do?”

“It isn’t the same thing!”

“It is!” he yells back. “And the fact that you don’t get
that worries me.”

Silence lingers between them for a long moment before she
says, “Okay…” She hands over the DVD. “Lo…I just want to be normal.”

He pulls her into his chest and kisses the top of her head.
“I know, love.”

I step farther into the living room until Lo sees me. His
eyes meet mine. “Where is he?” he growls, referring to Scott. He detaches from
Lily and charges forward. I put a hand on his chest.