“Beck!” I snapped with as much authority as I could muster. He cast a look over his shoulder at me, then dropped bleeding drunk guy back to the ground and straightened up. He dismissed his victim without a second glance and grabbed me by the upper arm.

“What the fuck, let me go!” I shrieked as his fingers bit into me. When he ignored me and kept dragging me toward his Bugatti, I decided to take matters into my own hands.

Using a series of basic maneuvers that Dylan had taught me, I broke Beck’s hold on my arm and backed away from him cautiously. “You were hurting me,” I explained in a shaking voice as he glared death at me.

“Get in the car, Butterfly,” he ordered me in a low, dangerous growl. From the corner of my eye I could see Dylan and Evan hovering nearby looking ... concerned.

“No,” I replied, backing away from him a few more steps. “I came here in Jasper’s Lambo, and I’m leaving in it.”

Beck took another menacing step toward me, and I backed up three more.

“Riley,” he snapped. “Get in the fucking car.” His jaw was so rigid that his cheek was ticking, and his whole frame was strung as tight as a piano string.

“You don’t own me, Sebastian,” I said with a stronger resolve. “A couple of fucks does not give you the right to manhandle me and order me around.”

We had a huge crowd, everyone from the race was hanging off our every word like a reality TV show, and it was turning my stomach. These rich kids were fucked in the head.

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Beck bit back. “I own everyone in this town, and in eight months that’ll extend to a significant portion of the world. Don’t embarrass yourself by pretending you have free will.”

He started to step toward me, probably to put me in his car by force, but Dylan and Evan intercepted him, forming a human shield between us.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Beck demanded, his fists clenching at his sides.

Evan responded quietly, probably hoping that our audience wouldn’t hear. “Saving you from making a stupid mistake, bro. This is Riley, not some cheap skank. Think about what you’re destroying here.”

Beck stared down his friend for a long, tense moment then shifted his gaze to Dylan.

The big, scary dude just folded his arms over his chest and glared right back. “You need to calm the hell down, brother. Walk away now, or I’ll make you walk away.”

My eyes widened, but I wasn’t stupid enough to say anything. Beck stared at his best friend for a long time before glaring past him at me. “We’ll be discussing this later, Butterfly,” he promised me, and I shivered with fear. Or arousal. Yep, I needed therapy.

He stormed back to his car then, and gunned the engine. The Bugatti purred in response, then escalated to a roar as Beck tore away down the road.

“What the fuck just happened?” I asked Dylan, as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “Would you seriously fight him to protect me?” The question came out in a shocked whisper, and I craned my neck to look up at him.

Dylan met my gaze unflinchingly. “Without hesitation.”

“We all would,” Evan added, stepping up to my other side and squeezing my hand. “Beck would expect us to protect you from anyone, including him.” His expression brightened then, some of the dark shadows on his face disappearing. “Come on, let’s get to the party. You’ve got a win to celebrate and maybe a few drinks will loosen up Beck’s foul mood.”

I snorted a laugh, because I severely doubted that much of anything was going to loosen Beck up. But I badly wanted to get away from all the prying eyes around us, so Eddy and I climbed back into the Lambo and followed Evan to the party.

23

Despite all the tension and threats from Beck at the end of the race, he was nowhere to be seen at the party. When I finally found the ovaries to ask Evan, he told me Beck had been called in for a meeting with Delta. Apparently some of the successors before our parents were in town and wanted to chat. Great. Even older rich bastards. “Hey, that reminds me.” I accepted the drink that Evan had just ordered for me and chewed the edge of my lip. “Beck said something about owning half the world in eight months. What’s that all about?”

Evan heaved a sigh and wandered with me out to the back patio. “I don’t know how much of a crash course you’ve had on all things Delta,” he said, his gaze darting around us. “But basically it was set up like ... two hundred years ago. So lots of the rules are carryovers from a more antiquated time period.”

I rolled my eyes, “Yeah, like the penis requirement for entry or the whole needing a blood heir to keep your seat thing?”

Evan grinned. “Well, you’ve already broken the penis requirement. Unless you’re hiding something surprising in those pants?” He squinted at the crotch of my tight jeans then shook his head and shuddered. “Nope, no one could tuck that well. But yes, exactly like those dumb rules. This one was probably a carryover from when life expectancy was shorter, but basically the controlling seats of Delta passes to the next generation when the heirs turn twenty-one. That’s in eight months for Beck.”

My brows shot up, and I gaped at him. “Holy shit.” I wondered then what Catherine had planned to keep me in line when I was the one in control. Was almost too scary to even think about. Come to think of it, if Oscar hadn’t mysteriously died then he would have been the first to twenty-one. Was Catherine capable of murdering her own son?

I shivered.

“Yeah.” Evan nodded, oblivious to my dark thoughts as he took a long sip of his drink. “Anyway, don’t stress too much about how he was tonight. He was just crazy pissed that you’d kept secrets, and then when that dude mouthed off about your parents...” he trailed off with a shrug. “Beck has anger issues, you know?”

“I’m starting to see that,” I whispered, leaning on the railing and staring out into the night. “Am I ... should I be worried?”

Evan shook his head firmly. “God no. I suspect he’s taking his time at this Delta meeting because he’s feeling bad about earlier.”

That idea made me smile. “So this meeting ... how come none of the rest of us got dragged in?”

Evan screwed up his nose. “Ah, technically I don’t know. But if I had to make an educated guess, they’re grooming him to take over the Beckett chair. Basically dragging him into their meetings that we aren’t privy to.”

“Sounds fun,” I muttered with heavy sarcasm. “But maybe that means he can start turning shit around, if he has a say in the decision?” I wasn’t totally sure what I meant by that, considering I didn’t totally understand what Militant Delta Finances actually did to maintain their hold of power. But it couldn’t have been good. Not with how these boys had been raised.

Evan gave me a pitying look and shook his head. “Don’t hold your breath, Spare.” He raised his glass back to his lips and drained the last of it. “I’m going to grab a fresh drink. Want one?”

I glanced at the untouched cocktail in my hand and shook my head. “No, thanks. Send Eddy out to hang with me if you spot her.”

“You got it,” Evan said, wandering back into the house with his empty glass in hand.

The bar was only just inside from where I remained, and I didn’t miss the fact that Evan kept me in his peripheral vision the whole time he was ordering his drink. When these guys were on Riley Duty, they really took it seriously.

My attention shifted when Eddy came sashaying out onto the patio with a huge grin on her face and a half empty cocktail in her hand. Not her first one, either, judging by the glazed look in her eyes.

“Hey, girl,” she cooed, wrapping her arms around me in a sloppy, drunken hug. “Are you having fun?”

I laughed at her slurred words and waved away the potent alcohol fumes from her breath. “Holy shit, Eddy. You’re such a lightweight.”

“Am I?” she challenged, waggling her brows at me while sipping her drink. “Or do I have a Mary-Poppins-Bag stomach and this is really my twenty somethingth daiquiri? Hmm? You’ll never know!” She hiccupped, then propped her ass on the railing beside me while I continued to grin at her.

“Pretty sure you’re just a lightweight.”

Evan rejoined us then, but instead of a fresh drink, he was scowling at his phone. “Spare, Beck called and said he needs to speak with Dylan and me urgently.”

When he didn’t explain further, I frowned. “Okay ... and?”

“And the reception keeps dropping out. I need to go back out to the street to hear him properly.” His creased brow clued me in to his indecision, and I shook my head.

“I’m fine here, Evan. Just go and take your call, I’m perfectly safe with Eddy. Right, Edith?” I shoulder bumped my blonde friend, and she hiccupped again.

Evan scowled at her, but the look on his face when he glanced at his phone told me that whatever Beck had said, made him worried.