Page 40 of Hers To Keep
Much to my dismay, we will spend the evening down at the beach houses, thankfully not back at Servite Manor. Ace suggested we skip out on his family’s festivities and spend the evening alone, but with my life indebted to Wesley Servite, he says, I do. And he said it was crucial I be in attendance.
The Servites host a New Year’s Eve Gala, much similar to the Halloween Masquerade Ball I attended earlier this year, only thisone much more grandiose, with bright lights, loads of champagne, and a firework show with an impeccable view of the Pacific Ocean. Tonight’s theme, The Roaring Twenties.
“Think of Gatsby, much bigger,” says Stella from inside my closet. The start of a new era requires a massive farewell and even bigger welcoming.
“Like the movie? Ooo I love me some Leo DiCaprio. Please tell me someone in your rich and famous town knows him,” Jade says from her spot perched on my bed. Her hair’s pinned up in Stella’s hot rollers, making her look like an old woman in the 1960s wearing vintage Velcro rollers.
“I’m fairly sure Ace’s mom Willa once dated him. She dated serially through Hollywood in her early modeling career. I believe she was only sixteen when she started. That was before settling down as a trophy wife on the arm of Warren Servite two years later.”
“Yeah, I’ve been meaning to ask, how did Ace’s parents meet? His mom looks way too young to be with his dad.” Jade asks with a mouthful of popcorn.
“Oh, she is. Willa is only thirty-six, Wesley’s age. They were the ones who met first, but to everyone’s surprise, Wesley introduced her to his older brother. Warren is at least ten years older than her. She was only eighteen when they got married and she had Ace and Wynter right away. He allowed her to work for a few more years, but after that her job was to attend various high society events and galas on his arm. I think he was afraid of losing her to a younger man in her line of work.”
“Wow, so she got herself a sugar daddy?” Ruby asks, standing by the doorway with her hands on her hips, eavesdropping on our conversation. “Just like Wesley Servite wants Scarlett. It makes more sense now, his obsession with you.”
“Shut it, Ruby. Servite wants nothing with me, but to show us he has the power to ruin us. He’s just one of those sick bastards that gets off on instilling fear in others.”
“You’re right,” she adds, walking in and over to us. “Definitely think he gets off on scaring you.”
“Fuck off, Ruby!” I grab my underwear and towel before walking over to the door, shoving past her as I exit. “I’m going to get ready for tonight and I suggest you all do the same. We’re leaving at eight.” I say, turning to face them.
Ruby chuckles sarcastically. “Ahh yes, your boy toy is going to send a car for us, right?”
“You don’t need to join us, actually I’d hoped you wouldn’t,” I mutter to myself, but I know she heard me.
“And miss out on the dramatics between you and Ace? I think not. Besides, Jax is going with Drake and Kai. So I’ll be flying solo this New Year’s Eve.”
“Without your boyfriend on New Year’s Eve? Do I smell trouble in paradise?” Jade sneers, causing Ruby to roll her eyes.
“No, but thanks to Scarlett and her little fiasco on Christmas Day, my brother wants nothing to do with her, so we can’t all hang out together. Jax is just being a friend and not turning his back on Drake.” Now it’s my turn to roll my eyes, as I head toward the bathroom to take a much-needed hot shower, hoping to ease the tension within me.
“That’s what you’re wearing?”Stella asks, eyeing my ensemble as she enters my room. Compared to her rose gold, knee length dress with fringe tassels and beaded embroidery, my gray jogger pants and a matching sweatshirt look ridiculous. Stella tucked her hair under a sparkling headband, making it appear shorter. Her lips are a bright pink, while her eyes twinkle under a layer of soft blush eye shadow. She looks beautiful, a real-life Daisy Buchanan.
“Honestly, if it were up to me, yes, but Ace wants us to dress uplike some 1920s version of Bonnie and Clyde,” I say, continuing to apply my last bit of mascara and crimson lip stain.
“How romantic.” I can’t tell whether she’s being sarcastic or not.
“You know Bonnie and Clyde were murderers, right?” I ask, slipping out of my sweats.
“Of course I do, I’m not an idiot. I was just saying how romantic of him to want you guys to coordinate outfits.”
“Yeah, you know Ace, not only is he the King of Servite, but he also doubles as the King of Romance.” I chuckle lightly to myself at the sarcasm dripping from my comment.
“Okay now who’s being sarcastic,” she adds as I pick up my choice of attire for the evening from my bed, stripping out of my sweatshirt and slipping into the silver flapper dress, with a deep V-neck neckline and mesh underlining I’ve chosen to wear. I’m pairing it with a pair of matching silver heels and pinning my hair to one side with a silver studded pin in the shape of a cross, or sword, not really sure which it is.
“Wow, that dress is gorgeous, and it looks incredible on you, but that’s no surprise, everything always does. Ace is going to lose his mind when he sees you in that outfit.”
“His mind’s already lost,” I mutter, sarcasm clear in my scornful tone.
“Well yeah, all his sense of reason goes out the window where you’re concerned. Just as it does vice versa.” She walks over to my couch, dropping on it with a sigh. “I still can’t believe you’re dating Ace Servite.”
I laugh at her comment, finding the disbelief in her voice hilarious. “Contrary to what others believe, he’s just like you and me, flesh and bones, with blood running through his veins. Tainted maybe yet still red and warm.”
Stella crosses her legs grabbing a book from the table beside the couch, casually flipping through the pages as she speaks. “Didn’t look that way until you arrived. He was cold and cruel, a true prick if I ever met one. But yet, not as bad as his counterparts. Ace has always been more of the suffer in silence type. He wouldn’t bother speaking beneath him and preferred to lead through fear. Not as mouthy and arrogant as Alek, or feigning honorability like Beckett, and definitely not as broody and detached as my cousin Sebastian.”
“He’s still the same, except now he has someone who challenges his position of power and makes him look at things from a different perspective,” I add, adjusting myself in the mirror, adding the final touches with some jewelry Stella lent me for the occasion.
“He’s in love, that’s the difference. Before you, he didn’t understand what that meant, and after you, I don’t think he ever will,” Stella naively says. She sounds so hopeful, I’m almost sorry for what I’m about to say, but she needs to hear it. If not, she’ll spend her life with a broken heart.