Page 77 of Burning Daylight

“What am I, chopped liver?” Tyler asks like I’ve offended him.

I grin, patting his cheek. “Never. Your loyalty is why you’re my favorite cousin.”

He smirks. “Exactly. I expect you to remember this moment when others try to tell you they love you more.”

When Lance and Paxton disappear around the side of the house, Tyler’s gaze follows them. “Stay put, okay?”

“I’m not a dog,” I mutter into my champagne, even though the second Tyler gives me a sharp look, I cower like one.

“Fine,” I relent.

He stalks off toward wherever my brothers just went, and I lean against the bar, taking another sip of my drink before setting it down.

“I’ll just wait here!” I yell sarcastically to Tyler’s back, irritation ringing in my ears.

This is ridiculous. In fact, the longer I stand by myself with not a single person coming over to say hello, the more pissed off I get.

Where did they all go?

When Preston makes an appearance, my mother’s loud fake laugh ringing through the air, I panic, pushing through the partygoers and following the path Tyler just took to find my brothers.

My mother watches me closely, her lips tight and her eyes like daggers, but I just smile her way, give a little wave, and keep moving.

It’s not like anyone will miss me back here, anyway, and what does she think I’m going to do? Make a scene?

Maybe she should have thought about that before forcing me back here on graduation day.

She can get over it. I’m not ready to face Preston, and I’m too curious about where everyone disappeared to stand still and smile like a good little household pet.

I walk by the pool and cross underneath the veranda that’s beneath the balcony of my room, until I’m on the side of the house. My heels sink into the grass, making it too difficult to walk, so I bend down and slip them off, holding them in my hand while the cold ground squishes beneath my feet.

There’s a group of people standing together at the edge of the property, half of them on this side of the open gate and the other half on the opposite side.

My bare feet crunch on a loose piece of gravel and I wince, but I keep moving.

Paxton is next to Lance. And then there’s Tyler, standing in front of all of them, his hands curled into fists at his sides, his posture rigid as he stares down the other group.

Anxiety punches me in the ribs, because Tyler has agun, and he’s not really known for his patience or even-keeled thinking.

Lance grips Tyler’s shoulder and whispers something in his ear. Tyler jerks away, giving a withering look to Paxton and Lance before he throws up his hands and leaves toward the house.

What the hell is going on?

I take a few steps closer to get a better look at the faces of the people my brothers are facing off against.

Rosalie is the first one I notice.Of course she is.

Ever since she started dating Benjamin, she’s been unreachable and causing enough mayhem that my parents have wiped their hands of her completely, refusing to even let her come to family dinners. She usually gets an invite to these bigger events still, although I’m surprised to see her show up to one.

My gaze flicks past her to the man at her right.

Merrick Carter.

Him, I know well. He attended Rosebrook Prep on the Montgomery Founder’s scholarship, and we were in the same grade all the way from kindergarten to twelfth grade. Honestly, he was probably invited to this event. He’s one of the most social people in all of Rosebrook Falls, and there’s rarely a party he isn’t attending.

Even if his best friendisBenjamin, who’s standing at his left. He’s a slimy, pasty guy with wavy blond hair and pinched features. Objectively, he’s considered handsome enough, I guess, but he’s always given me the creeps. He went to Rosebrook Prep also, but considering he’s MarcusMontgomery’s nephew and a Voltaire—a family that’s always beenjustpowerful enough to piss off my dad—I was told to stay away from him.

And then once he got his grubby hands on Rosalie, I didn’t need any other reason to stay away.