“I saw on Entertainment Weekly that they’ve started filming Master of Blood this week.”

His voice is smooth but he’s nervous and it makes her smile. She’d ignored his text earlier but couldn’t resist when he called. He knew to never call when Chase was home. And he was right; filming had started again this week. Chase had flown out a few days ago.


“I can come over. Take the boat across. Be there in less than an hour.” He offers after a few moments of quiet.

“My kids are home. Ken and Kinz have friends over” She states.

“You know what I mean.” He says quietly. And he does know. Her limits have been made clear.


“I know you can’t have me in the house.”

There’s a pause. It’s the same dilemma every time. Where do you meet when you can’t be seen ANYWHERE?

“Come here then.” Lux says after a moment.

“Lux, you live with your parents. I am NOT coming to your home.” She huffs and even though she can’t see him, he feels himself blush. He has always been confident in his decision to live with his parents. He helps with the farm. He plans to help them as they get older. But when SHE says it, he feels embarrassed.


“We’ll meet at the pub.”

“The WHAT?” He can’t tell if she didn’t hear him or if she’s never been to a pub before. He wouldn’t be surprised with either. He was sure the shoes she wore sometimes cost the same as the entire pub itself. He had a hard time picturing her with a beer in her hand, laughing in a booth.


“The pub. There’s a patio. No one will be there. I’ll make sure. You can walk down by my place, there’s a private beach path. Trust me.” he assures her.

She paces. Always anxious when giving in to his plans. DID she trust him? She could not be spotted. Her husband’s fame made her a target of potential paparazzi and any sort of scandal would throw both his and her reputations through the ringer. They were THE it couple. Power, money, fame. The wolves circled daily waiting for any sign of weakness.

Did she trust Lux with that?


“Ok”

She agrees to meet him. Lux smiles as if he’s won first prize at the carnival. His heart starts to beat faster and he turns to get ready.


Angela knew she was in over her head when they’d gotten on a yacht. She of course had wondered how she’d get home later but these were the cool kids. She’d figure that out later. What was she going to do? Say no? Ha! Not likely. Ken hadn’t been fazed at all as they’d hopped aboard and sailed across the short waterway over to the island off of Pepper Island. It’s not like they’d gone far.

Harper’s party was a fleeting thought once she’d been invited to Kens. Did she feel bad? Maybe a little but she couldn’t pass up an opportunity to meet some new people. Surely Harper would understand that? Angela was still new...finding her place.

Besides, Ken was cute.


She’d kept her cool when they’d strolled up to the house that looked like an entire 5 star resort. Harper had called them the rich kids. She wasn’t kidding. She’d felt him watching her as they’d headed in the front doors. Assessing her reaction. This whole evening was a test. She knew that. This wasn’t her first rodeo. The cool kids always had a test.

In Pleasantview she WAS the cool kids. She knew how to play this game.


Ken gives a casual “Hey, this is Angela” as they walk in and everyone pauses for a second to check her out. She smiles and pushes every ounce of confidence she has to the front line.

Scanning the room she is surprised by the small nature of this “party” but that just means they’re selective with their friends. She flashes a smile to the room as Ken steps away from her side and glides right up to one of the blond girls.


Angela recognizes her instantly. Fern Zelly. Fashion blogger and influencer and Angela is impressed. She’s been following Fern for years. Ken heads straight to her and traces a finger down her arm. Angela knows this game as well. Ken had been flirting with HER all evening. This is his chance to test her level of jealousy. If she wasn’t trying to impress, she’d roll her eyes. She can’t quite hear everything he’s saying but he then turns to Angela and gives an introduction.

He finishes with a nod towards Angela. Fern smiles and her eyes flash with amusement.


“Fern, right? I recognize you from your blog. I loved the post you did about waves for straight hair.” Angela tells her, walking a fine line between flattery and fangirl. She throws in a hair flip and has Fern smiling. “It has certainly given these locks a bit of life.”

“She’s cute. I like her.” Fern says to Ken who is watching carefully. Angela wonders if Fern is the worst they’ve got. If she is, this will be a breeze.

“You play pool?” Fern asks.

Angela shrugs. “I know how to play but haven’t in awhile.”


Fern turns to one of the girls who is already playing pool and holds out her hand. The girl passes her the cue, and wanders away to sit down. Angela doesn’t miss the quick flash of annoyance in the girls eyes, confirming her assessment that Fern is definitely the one in charge here. Perfect.


Angela had learned to play pool from her father. While he wasn’t useful for many things as a parent, she sends him a silent ‘thank you’. Losing this game wouldn’t cause her much damage but winning? Well that would give her plenty of insight to how this evening would play out. It would also let Fern know that while Angela was looking for an ‘in’. She wasn’t looking to be another little follower.

A glance to the pouty girl who’d handed off the cue and Angela reaches for her own from the table.

As Fern sets up, the chatter around the room gets quieter.


The game starts off well. Fern is good and Angela keeps up. Not winning...yet.

She’s glad for the opportunity to show off and show Ken that she’s not planning to cling to him for the evening. No one hides the fact that the game happening in the middle of the room is of high interest. Though Angela guesses, from the way the guys watch her, anything Fern does is of high interest with this crowd.


As the game continues, everyone eases back into their conversations and drinks but it’s clear they’re still watching the game. It doesn’t take long before Angela is winning. She knows better than to play it as “beginners luck”. Fern watches her every shot and when the game finally ends, Angela grins.


“Good game.” She says. Fern grins back and Angela knows she’s hit the mark. She’s is impressed, not annoyed.


They chat for awhile after the game and Angela starts to loosen up. This IS a party after all and she’d befriended the queen. It was time to enjoy herself.


When Ken brings her a drink she doesn’t think twice before taking a sip. Ok, she thinks a little bit about the “no drinking” rule from Violet but the second she’d stepped foot on a yacht, the rules had gone out the window. Besides, it’s not like she was planning to get brought home in a cop car after breaking and entering. Her sister had set the bar for behaviour and she didn’t think this quite matched it.


She makes the rounds and meets a few different people. All of whom seem much nicer than she’d expected for a rich kid party. She considers Anthony’s warning for her sister and wonders if he is only interested in Lilith himself.


“New girl seems nice but a bit dull” Evelyn Martin says to Ken, scanning the room. “Thought you said you were bringing twins.”

“The other one is grounded. Broke into the school.” He tells her, watching for her reaction. She smiles.

“Now THAT sister might be fun to hang out with.” Evelyn replies. Ken gets a glimmer in his eye. Pepper Island didn’t get new kids very often. And twins? Troublesome twins? It didn’t get much more exciting than that.

“You gonna go get your moms pills tonight, or you playin’ it safe after last time?” She asks with a sigh. She really hoped he wasn’t trying to put on a show for the new girl. Evelyn didn’t get to party with her friends much and always had a better time when they mellowed out on whatever Ken could find in his mom’s office.

“Rough week?” He asks. She shakes her head and rolls her eyes at him. She doesn’t need to explain herself to anyone. Not anyone here anyway. She’d hung out with this crowd for years but she wasn’t sure she really considered them to be friends. More like acquaintances of convenience. Her mom LOVED that she partied with the son of Chase Harrington. She bragged about to all of her friends.


The night continues to go well and Angela spends time with a few others. She starts to wonder if Ken will make his way back over to her. Maybe he was more involved with Fern than she thought. She was trying to be independent but had assumed she’d get SOME of his attention.


When he finally makes his way over to her and joins the conversation, she grins. She doesn’t miss his fingers lightly touching her arm.

“Hey, do you have a charger I could borrow for my phone?” She asks. “It seems to have died.”

Ken takes it and looks, then nods.

“Yeah, I had to head down to my moms office anyway. We can grab the charger too.” He says.


“You’re going to drag her away with you? Lookin’ for some alooooone time.” Leo teases, getting up and stumbling a bit.

“Yeah, I think after talking to you for 5 minutes, I’m not dragging her away. It’s a rescue mission.” Ken jabs. The boys jokingly push each other and Leo sits back down.


“I do have to head upstairs though, you coming?” Ken asks, tracing his fingers down Angela’s arm lightly. She gets a shiver and smiles but notes it’s the same move he’d used on Fern earlier. She doesn’t care too much. She hadn’t hopped on a yacht to NOT end up sneaking off with a boy at this party.

“Yeah, you can give me a bit of a tour.” She tells him. He nods and turns. She catches him wink at his friends and she wonders how many girls he actually brings to parties.


As promised on the way down to his mom’s office, he gives a brief tour and while Angela tries to stay cool, she can’t hide her amazement at the size and wealth of the house. She gets the feeling Ken enjoys showing it off so she acts suitably impressed. She’s not even sure if his parents or family are home. You could live here for days and never run into anyone else.

When they get to the office, Ken pulls a key out of his back pocket to open the door and Angela starts to feel nervous. Are they not supposed to be down here? What did he need from a locked room? Or maybe it was just a precaution because they had friends over?


Ken heads straight over to a mini fridge and enters a code. Two locks? She feels a flash of disappointment as she realizes he really DID need to come down here to grab something. She’d hoped it had been an excuse to get her alone. Had she misread his wink to Leo? She hoped not.


He roots through the shelves for a moment and finally pulls out a small package and shoves it into his back pocket. When he turns around she’s watching curiously.



“Just some chill pills.” he says casually. She notices his cheeks turning red.

“Fern and them are into it. Not hard stuff or anything. Samples from my moms work.” He keeps explaining as if she’d grilled him with questions. She hasn’t said a word. “I think they’re for anxiety or whatever.”

She’s not sure what to say but definitely finds it interesting that he’s not nearly as cocky now as he was earlier.



He walks back over to her and carefully places a hand on her hip. THIS was what she’d been waiting for. She had played the night just right.

“I’m glad you came tonight.” He says quietly. “I wasn’t sure if you would or not. Harper and I...don’t get along and I figured she’d convince you not to.”

“She tried.” Angela smiles. He pulls her a bit closer, his other hand finding a place on her lower back. Fingers touching her skin. He’s paused. Hesitating? Angela can’t tell what he’s waiting for. Is he nervous? She doubted it.


Finally she loses patience and tugs him closer, lips meeting his. Letting him know that this had been HER plan as well. She wasn’t leaving the crowd with him for the house tour. All hesitation is lost his fingers move up and grip her hair, holding her close. Another hand slides down her back and for a few minutes the rest of the night disappears.

When they pull back, Ken chuckles and holds her hand. “I wasn’t expecting that.” He says. He’s met with a look.

“Really?” She raises an eyebrow.

“I was HOPING, but…” His voice trails off. She couldn’t figure him out. He’d seemed all confidence earlier. Both at school and at the party. Now he seemed almost unsure of himself. To be honest, she was surprised he’d kept his hands from wandering too far. She’d expected more.


When she spies the lake in the through the window she wanders over to look.

“Breathtaking.” Angela whispers.She can see Pepper Island not too far in the distance, a blur on the horizon and a small flicker of worry passes through her. It’s not quite curfew yet but it was clear she wouldn’t be home on time. Thinking of curfew reminds her that her phone is dead and she mentions it to Ken.

He turns back to his mom’s desk and digs around for a bit pulling out a phone charger.

“We should probably get back upstairs…” Angela says quietly, unconvinced still mesmerized by the water and the gardens below. Ken’s fingers brush her own and she reaches her arm back, not quite turning but feeling him standing close behind her.


“No rush.” He says. She turns and he’s grinning at her. Confidence fully returned.