Society Girls: Matisse (9 page)

“Not done yet. Now, while you were waiting,
you saw the good doctor here showing off his muscles and decided to
hit on him. You couldn’t know he’s showing the skin for his lady,
but I’m guessing you also didn’t back off when he declined whatever
offers you made. Matisse came out, and saw what was going down, so
she made sure you knew he wasn’t available, and then—for obvious
reasons—she declined to work on you.”

“She’s insubordinate!”

“She hasn’t done a damn thing to me.”

“Refusing to bring money into your shop is
damaging to you.”

“Sweetheart, what part of ‘two-year waiting
list’ did you not understand?”

“You don’t want extra money? You could buy
your mom a house or something.”

He laughs out loud at that, and frankly, so
do I. Helen Wilson is one of the wealthiest women in the country,
and she built her businesses—and helped found the Society—while
being a single mother.

“My mom would no sooner let me buy her a
house than she’d give up her string of boy toys. Now, why don’t you
go on and walk out of here while you still have some dignity
left.”

“You’re throwing me out?”

“I am.”

“You’ll be sorry.”

“Do I need to call the police?”

“Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” she says,
storming out.

“Never a dull moment around here,” Zane
says, shaking his head.

“I wasn’t trying to start anything,” Matisse
says, weakly.

“Really? You just greet Kendrick by climbing
on his lap every time you see him?”

“Well, not
every
time, but that’s
because sometimes he’s standing.”

“You have your hands full, man. You know
that, right?” he asks me.

“Wouldn’t have it any other way.”

“I feel the same way about Quinn,” he says,
and then looks at the box from Drago. “Is there an éclair in that
box?”

“For you, boss, there just might be,”
Matisse tells him, opening it up, and handing one over.

“Go take your break. I’ll clean up your
station.”

She hugs him, and then leads me upstairs to
the large employee space. Zane is insistent on his employees having
a good time, so there’s a large living room like space with
multiple couches, chairs and loveseats. That’s bordered by a few
bathrooms and rooms where they can nap, study, and just be
alone.

Matisse starts to lead me to one of the
rooms, but I remind her that the rooms have been used by lots of
people. She tells me anyone who uses the rooms for anything
involving body fluids has to wash all the bedding, so I let her
take me inside. Like I’m going to ever turn her down.

Matisse

I don’t realize how much I needed this
girls’ night, until I’m having the first sip of my whiskey and
Coke. “So good,” I say, looking around The Griffin bar.

Yes, we’re here because it’s somewhat
ironic, with the Griffin family being such a big part of the
Society, but also because the drinks are good and the vibe is
chill. Rose got here early and snagged us benches around a fire
pit, and we’re getting our drink on before we go in the back and
dance. Just the thing to top of an above-average day.

“How was your afternoon snack?” Harlow asks
me with a smirk.

“Crazy, but good.”

I tell them all what happened, and how Zane
threw the girl out. I don’t tell them what went on upstairs, but I
let them know Kendrick made me very happy with his visit. So happy
that I slipped on this sleeveless, and short, red dress and
heels.

“I can’t believe the way some women act.
They make the rest of us look bad,” Camari says.

“She’s young,” I tell her with a shrug. “She
still has time to learn.”

“You’re being very forgiving,” Sierra
says.

“Kendrick and Zane both stood with me, so
why should I be upset. My guy is hella hot, especially in that tank
top he had on.”

“Can we not talk about my best friend like
that, please?” Waverly asks, looking pained.

“You had to have heard about how fit—I mean,
fine—he is before us,” Jen tells her.

“Yes, but I wasn’t friends
with any of those people, and Ken wasn’t
with
any of them.”

“I’ll try and censor myself for you, Wave. I
hated hearing my friends talk about my brother, so believe me, I
get it.”

“You never talk much about your brother,”
Kalila says.

“He’s awesome, runs a roller derby rink in
D.C. Women think he’s hot, he’s one of Aiden’s best friends, and I
miss him. There you go.”

“When do we get to meet him?”

“He’s planning to come to Vegas to visit in
the next couple of months. There’s a Roller Derby convention here
every year, too. So, you’ll eventually meet him.”

“Are you trying to keep him from us?” Rhieve
asks.

“Not at all. Like I said, he’s awesome. I
just don’t like to talk a lot about him, because while I love it
here, I miss him. I’m glad Aiden’s here, because he’s like my
second older brother, but it’s not the same as having Haring here
with me.”

“Haring and Matisse? Your parents must have
loved art,” Camari says with a laugh.

“They did,” I tell her with a smile.

“You should go visit him. I know Reina would
give you an extra day off,” Sierra tells me.

I sit up straighter. “That’s a great idea! I
could go next week, maybe. We have the anatomy test, and that could
be my celebration if I pass.”

“You are totally going to pass, but don’t
you want to celebrate with your man? Oops, sorry Wave,” Nev
says.

“I should just bring earplugs with me from
now on,” Waverly says, admitting defeat.

“I
do
want to celebrate with him, but
don’t worry Wave, I’m not going to be giving any details. I can do
that first, and then get on a plane.”

I can’t wait to ask Reina tomorrow for the
time off. I think she’ll be okay with it, since she lets Sierra go,
and I haven’t asked for anything extra since I started. Now that
things are going so well with Kendrick, seeing Haring will be the
icing on the cake of my life right now. Plus, I need to tell him
about my boyfriend and make plans for them to meet.

* * *

Kendrick

Every time I walk into the Laundry Room, I
feel like I’m part of a second secret society. This bar is a “not
so-secret” part of Downtown Las Vegas, and only seats twenty people
at a time. You have to text ahead, see what dates are available,
and then you go through the secret door to get in. Matt reserves it
at least once a month because it’s got great drinks, a low-key
vibe, and it’s heavy on the privacy—no phone calls or pictures are
allowed inside. Sometimes our group takes the whole room, but other
nights, like tonight, there are only a handful of us. We make sure
to spend enough to make up for reserving more space than we need,
but I’m pretty sure the other people here appreciate us for it.

“Spill,” Matt says, after I grab my drink at
the bar and head over to the table where Aiden, Nate, and Theo are
already sitting.

“I’m not talking about my sex life with
you.”

“It better not be all about sex,” Aiden
tells me, fixing me with a glare that would make most men shrink
back. I’m not most men, so I hold his gaze until Nate waves a hand
between us, forcing us both to look at him.

“We don’t expect to hear about you and
Matisse having sex, but we are interested in you finally giving in
to her. She’s been chasing you hard for a few months now,” he
says.

“I’ve been wanting to be caught,” I
admit.

“She’s like a sister to me,” Aiden reminds
me. “If you’re even thinking this isn’t going to last, you need to
back off. She has some history that’s not mine to tell, but I mean
it. Don’t mess with her.”

His comment has piqued my
interest, but since I’m not at a point where I can tell her my
past, I can’t ask Matisse about hers. I
can
re-assure Aiden, though. “She’s
amazing, and I know it. I tried to fight my feelings because I have
a past, too, but I decided I wanted her more than I wanted to keep
hiding.”

“What past are we talking about, Kenny? Your
background check was pretty cut and dry,” Matt tells me.

“We all have a past, Matt.”

“Are you telling me you hid things from us?
Because Ainsley and her team are pretty damn thorough, so if you
did something like that, it has to be bad. My wife is pregnant, but
hell, even if she wasn’t I’d be saying this. If you have a past
that can come back to haunt us all, you need to come clean, and do
it now.”

“My past is where it belongs—in the past.
There is no reason for me to believe it will come for any of
us.”

I’m not going to tell him that I’m afraid
every day that Waverly and I are going to be found, because I still
have the irrational fear that they’ll send us away. Despite what
I’ve witnessed, that’s my biggest fear. Or at least it used to be.
Now I don’t just fear losing the protection we have within the
Society—I fear losing Matisse.

“Enough with the somber talk. I thought we
were here to get away from work,” Theo says.

“You wanna talk about something else?” Nate
asks him. “Then talk to us about Kali.”

“There’s nothing to talk about.”

“At least tell us more about your past with
her. She almost didn’t go into the recruit program because she saw
you when she came in to talk to Reina,” Aiden reminds him.

“Let it go,” Matt says, making it obvious to
everyone that he knows exactly what went on, or at least what Theo
told him happened. Because, let’s face it, there’s never just one
side to a story.

Theo leans forward and makes eye contact
with each of us before speaking. “She was my first and only love.
We were blissfully happy together, and then we weren’t. That’s all
I’m going to say.”

“You’ve been hooking up, though,” Nate
reminds him. We’ve all seen them leave parties and dinners
together.

“I said what I’m going to say.”

Like I told Matt, we all have secrets, and
no one at this table is immune from that, which is why we all let
Theo off the hook. The rest of the night is spent drinking, talking
about their next fishing trip, which I agreed to go on, and just
having a good time.

I resisted friendship with these guys for
almost as long as I resisted Matisse, but I’m glad I gave in to
both. They’ve kept me relatively sane these last few years, even if
they have no idea they were doing it. Good friends, and an even
better woman, make life much easier. Well, at least on the outside.
Nothing can completely calm the storm that rages inside of me for
very long, not even the woman I’ve come to crave like an
addict.

Kendrick

It was a long night with two multi-victim
car accidents, and a victim of domestic violence being brought into
the E.R. during my shift. I was able to help the other doctors save
all of the lives, and I introduced Reina to the woman who was
brought in, so I’m feeling pretty good even though I’m dead on my
feet.

I’m showered and changed in less than
fifteen minutes, and heading for the door when I’m paged to the
Chief of Staff’s office. What the hell? I haven’t been to his
office since I started here three years ago. I’ve seen the man at
parties and Corrigan galas, but we don’t really interact.

As soon as I’m ushered into his office, I
see the reason I’ve been summoned. The young girl from Zane’s shop
is sitting in one of the chairs with a smirk on her face. And then
I see the pictures behind her on the table behind my boss’ desk.
Pictures with her in them. This is definitely not going to go
well.

“Have a seat, Kendrick,” he tells me.

I sit down, linking my
hands on my lap, and trying to appear calm. I cannot lose this
placement. The Society can’t
afford
for me to lose it.

“I’m not sure why I’m here, sir.”

“You don’t recognize my daughter?”

“I didn’t know she was your daughter, but
yes, I saw her in a tattoo shop a couple of days ago.”

“You had her thrown out of that tattoo
shop,” he bellows at me.

“No, sir, I did not.” I may need this job,
but I’m not ever going to be one to roll over and play dead when
I’m being attacked.

“Your plaything and her boss embarrassed
me,” the girl whines.

“My
girlfriend
felt disrespected by you,
and Zane was within his rights to ask you to leave the shop he
owns.”

“You’re fired.”

I expected it, but hearing him say it
incenses me. “On what grounds?”

“Insubordination.”

“Since we’ve had almost no interaction in
three years, that’s going to be a little hard to prove.”

“I don’t have to prove anything.”

“You can’t just fire me because your
daughter got her feelings hurt when I turned her down.”

“I can, and I just did. Security will meet
you at your locker.”

I stand up and walk out of
the office. I want to punch something—I want to punch
him
—but it won’t do any
good. I hate people who use their power for their own enjoyment,
because I know that bastard enjoyed what just went down. He can
look like the hero to his daughter, who basically called Matisse a
slut. Real fucking classy, that one.

I turn the corner and lean my head back
against the wall, knowing I need to go and get my stuff, but also
knowing I should calm down first. “Kenny, what’s wrong?”

I turn to find Reina practically running to
me. She places her hands on my shoulders as she looks at me. I was
hoping to put this off a little longer, but I know I can’t. “I just
got fired.”

“What? You just helped save those people,
and brought that woman to me.”