Underground

22

The party was actually at the Mason faction mansion and there were a lot of people. From Assassins I've seen on base to high ranking aristocrats and their children but it had a club vibe to it. On the front lawn there were lanterns lit and floating around, strings of lights that looked like little fireflies and there were huge cabanas set up around the place but it was clear who were allowed to sit in them. I pulled on the ends of the short black dress Cherine stuffed me in. As if it was automatic my eyes started searching for Joel. He left immediately after Cherine and Staci barged in on us and I think it put him in a bad mood. An arm snaked through mine and I looked over at Staci who winked at me and we started walking around. "What do you think?" She asked softly.

"It's huge. How many from the faction live here?" I asked.

"Only ten not including my siblings, parents and myself," she said. "Most of the faction have their own houses and only come here for meetings and the parties." Staci led me through the party and I felt the curious eyes on me. My first instinct would be to ask what they were looking at. Don't do it Ryder. Joel will rip you a new one.

"There she is."

Staci turned around and smirked when Dorrian moved himself from the swarm of females that were pining for his attention and draped one arm over Staci's shoulder and another over mine. Now the Mason brothers looked handsome regularly but it was something about when they dressed up that magnified their presence. Dorrian cut off what he was saying to Staci and winked at me. She slapped him on his chest, rolling her eyes. "Stuff it, Dorrian," she said sternly but the playfulness still in her eyes. "Where are the others?"
"In Joel's personal cabana but I'd advise against going in there, Stace," he made a gag gesture and Staci's expression changed. My ears perked up hungry for information. She looked, I guess, in the direction of Joel's cabana and then looked back at Dorrian.
"Why?"
"Lena is in there," he said. "She's back from Brazil.
Nothing slipped pasted me as I saw Staci's eyes flicker at me and then at Dorrian who shrugged at whatever unspoken message Staci sent him. She grabbed his hand and then sent me a smile, "We will be right back, Jus," she said quickly and pulled him away. It didn't take a genius to tell me something was off about this Lena person. I folded my arms across my chest, frowning.

"Guessing he didn't tell you about Lena."

Of course he would be here. I turned around to tell Nicholas off but my words were caught in my throat. I mean seriously? Is good looks a thing around here? He strolled over to me and stood next to me. "You know her?" I asked stupidly. Nicholas just nodded and offered me his arm, walking with me at a leisurely pace. "She is Gary Belrose's daughter," he says jerking his chin in a direction. I followed his eyesight and saw that he put me directly in front of the cabana that had General Mason and his wife, all of the Mason siblings and a few other people but what caught my attention was Joel and the woman who was extremely close to him with her hand on his thigh, giggling. The fuck is she giggling about? I growled to myself. Although it was there for a few seconds I saw Joel's lips tilt up in an amused smile. My smile. Nicholas placed a hand on my back and I felt myself lean into it. "Who is she to him?" I asked softly.
"I may hate him but I think he should be the one to-"
I looked up at him and whatever expression I had on my face worked to make him sigh and say, "She's supposed to be his fiancée," he said slowly and then quickly added, "That engagement has been on hold for years because Elizabeth wanted him to pick his own wife! Only thing she has with Joel is the position of being his childhood friend."
But Nicholas was lying. She has a whole lot more. Lena was gorgeous with long shiny black hair, pretty pale skin and what looked like forest green eyes. I thought Mitchie was a model but Lena was a doll come to life. Nicholas grabbed my hand and tugged gently. "Justine, come on. Your friends just got here," he said softly.
No. I want to watch them. As I thought that, a laughing Carter looked directly at me and the smile wiped quickly off his face. I turned away quickly before he could tell the others and dragged Nicholas along with me. He wasn't lying when he told me that Mitchie and the others were here. Devlin waved me over and I forced a smile onto my face for them. The bad thing? Their cabana was directly across from Joel's. "Joel is glaring at us," Nicholas whispered to me and I rolled my eyes.