I followed behind her and listened as everyone said their hellos. Allie was clearly liked, and I wondered how long she had worked here. She couldn’t be much older than me.
“How long have you worked here?” I finally asked her as I helped her prep for lunch.
She handed me a knife, and I set it at the place setting like she had shown me.
“Since I was fifteen.” She tucked a stray piece of hair behind her ear. “I work a lot more during the summer. Not so much once school starts. Clermont High isn’t too bad though. I still have time to study and work.” She laughed and I winced. “What?” She looked at me curiously.
“I’m going to Clermont Bay Prep.”
“By choice?”
I couldn’t help but laugh at the look on her face. “No. My dad is making me.”
“I’m sorry.” She seemed sincere, and that only served to jack up my anxiety about the school year. “It’s not that bad.”
I made a face showing just how little I believed her, and she laughed.
“There are a few cool people, but most of them are…” She looked like she was searching for the right word, so I helped her.
“Rich assholes?”
“Exactly.” She snapped her fingers. “We already have to wait on them hand and foot here. I couldn’t imagine having to go to school with them too.”
“I’m not looking forward to it.” I followed her as we carried the silverware to the next table. At least I would have Lucas. Even if I knew no one else there, I would have him.
“There are some really hot guys though.” She fanned herself. “A lot of them are members here. You’ll see.”
All I could think about was Beck.
I followed her through the rest of the setup, and I couldn’t stop the anxiety from rising as I thought about school. It was only a few weeks away, and I was supposed to be having the most fun year of my life. Instead, I would be spending my senior year with people who meant nothing to me.
With people who hated me for nothing.
Not that the people back home had meant much to me either. I had shut them all out once Mom got sick, and I barely knew any of them anymore.
And they certainly didn’t know me.
Not the real me.
I barely knew who the real me was anymore.
I didn’t know who I was without my mom.
I followed Allie’s every move as patrons started rolling in. It was mostly men who were there to discuss business or who were there to talk shit while they golfed. They mostly talked business, sometimes about their wives, others about their mistresses. While I was shocked by it all, Allie seemed completely unfazed.
They talked as if we weren’t even there. As if our presence was completely inconsequential, and I guess it was.
We were the people who didn’t matter.
These men, they did.
And they knew it.
No one here would dare say a word. That was one of the advantages of Clermont Bay Country Club. Allie had made it clear that the secrets of these men lived and died within these walls.
There was no judgment, at least none that was voiced, and there were very few rules.
Secrecy was number one.
Break it and you were gone. Break it and you would never have the privilege these men shared again.
We were several hours into our shift when the sound of laughter caught my attention. I turned toward the entrance to watch a group of teenagers walk in. They were dressed far more casually than the rest of the members, but they still reeked of money.
“Who are they?” I whispered as Allie grabbed a fresh pitcher of water.
I watched them sit at the large table in the center of the room like they owned the place. They didn’t care who sat around them or the type of power they possessed.
They feared nothing.
“Those, my dear, are your new schoolmates.” I tensed as the words left her mouth. “The one in the corner, that’s Carson Hale. He’s a total playboy.” Allie rolled her eyes, and her hands tightened around the pitcher. “He has a new girl on his arm every time you see him. I don’t even know that girl’s name that’s with him today.”
I could see why. He was handsome in a way that screamed money. His blond hair was perfectly coiffed but still somehow reminded me of a surfer. His shirt stark white and not a wrinkle in sight. His arrogance fueled by the idea that no one could touch him.
“The one sitting across from him, that’s Olly Warner. His family is crazy rich. He’s never going to have to work for anything. He’s never worked for anything in his life.”
I could barely see him from where I stood. He looked like a mess of light brown curls, and I imagined what they would feel like slipping through my fingers. He was fit, probably an athlete, and I found myself eager to get a look at his face.
Allie looked like she was eager to get as far away from them all as possible.
“Who’s the girl sitting next to him?” She was gorgeous. Her body slender, her hair so dark it was almost black, and I couldn’t help noticing how Olly watched her every move.
“That’s Frankie Clermont.” Allie practically growled out her name. “Her parents own this place.”
“Oh.” My gaze snapped back to Frankie, and I took in every detail of her again. My heart raced as I watched her smile. She seemed so much kinder than her brother.
She didn’t seem anything like him outside of the similarities in their looks.
Her tan skin and dark hair reminded me so much of Beck, but her smile, that belonged to her father.
“You don’t like her?”
“It’s not that.” Allie shook her head. “They’re all just so different than us.”
I didn’t tell her that my father was just as rich as them. Even if it
