Bow smiled, putting away her phone after texting me her address. “Thatcher won’t be around until super late. He and the other guys have football practice until like six. Drives my mom crazy since he’s always late for dinner.”
Well then, this was perfect.
“Be there around four?” she stated, backing down the hallway, and I nodded. I just needed a little information. I had that, and she could go back to ignoring me, and I could go back to being Vapor. What I was about to do wasn’t wrong at all.
And if I told myself that enough times, I may actually believe it.
Chapter Fourteen
Sloane
Rainbow Reed didn’t live off the beaten path like Bru and me. Where we virtually had no neighbors on our little hilltop in the sky, Bow was in the middle of the ritziest cul-de-sac I’d ever seen in my entire life. I honestly questioned if I was in California taking a tour of the stars’ homes considering how each house just seemed to get bigger as I passed.
And not just bigger.
Lush gardens and old brick homes donned with ivy and regency elements filled my vision. She also lived in a gated community. I had to be buzzed in after they made “a call” to the Reed Manor to confirm I was an allowed visitor.
They had a manor.
This was a new level of wealth here, and I already questioned coming around. I wasn’t particularly excited about using Bow to dig up dirt on Dorian, but I’d do what I had to do.
Like I said, he drew first blood.
I used those thoughts to take me up to Reed Manor. I was let in by another man at a wrought-iron gate. He directed me up to the main house, and I had to drive a little bit to get to the circle driveway. Bow lived in an aged brick home that had many staff grooming and trimming the hedges. They all waved at me in a friendly fashion upon passing, and I smiled, trying to look like I saw shit like this every day.
A man in bibs knocked at my door.
I jumped before rolling down the window of the Chevelle.
He smiled at me. “Noa Sloane, I presume?”
“Sloane,” I said, eyeing the house behind him. This house was something else, flower boxes filled with light pink roses and even columns outside. Where Bru’s and my place was more modern, this place had an ancient storybook look.
The man nodded. “I’m Henry, the Reeds’ groundskeeper. I’m here to take your car to the garages if that’s all right.”
The man said garages.
Well, all right then.
I gave this Henry my keys, heading toward the main house with my purse and book bag. I did bring my textbooks because I planned to study. I was just going to casually ask Bow a couple questions about Dorian and the others.
This wasn’t going to be some kind of CIA mission. Bow was a nice girl, and I wasn’t trying to take advantage of her. Odds were, since her brother’s friends weren’t really her friends, she didn’t know too much anyway.
“Sloane!”
Bow waved spritely at me down a shiny hallway. Her housekeeper Janet had let me in, and I wondered how many staff these people actually had.
“Hey,” I said, eyeing the interior. Her house was crazy, an actual chandelier glistened the ceiling from above, and they had wall sconces with candles in them. Though, I supposed those could have been electric. “You got a nice place.”
“Thanks. Want to get a snack before we study?”
She’d changed into shorts and a T-shirt, and I had too before coming over. I slipped off my sandals, then followed her to the kitchen, where several staff members were hard at work cooking stuff and wiping down counters. Several platters of cakes, cookies, and desserts lined the counters like a buffet, and my eyes twitched wide.
“You guys having a party?” I laughed, but then she picked up one of the platters. She handed it to me.
“I guess I did go a little overboard,” she said, rolling her eyes. She chuckled. “I just didn’t know what you liked.”
I nearly choked on the macaroon I took a bite of. I hit my chest. “Sorry?”