Keeping Secret: Secret McQueen, Book 4 Read Online Free
Author: Sierra Dean
lived, I couldn’t help imagining people cheating on their spouses and sleeping off midday hangovers within the bowels of the complex. Rich people didn’t tend to want for material things, so they spent most of their time wanting attention instead. When they didn’t get that, well…shit met fan.
The reputation of one Miss Kellen Rain was a prime example of attention whoring gone wrong. Although I now knew her personally, I still got a sick sort of voyeuristic pleasure from reading about her exploits in the weekly gossip columns. From burning down the bar of an Italian bistro in the West Village, to having sex in the turtle pond in Central Park, there was never a shortage of rumors. The turtle-pond rumor had been made even more humorous, given Kellen’s reaction when I asked her about it.
“Please,” she’d said with a dramatic eye roll. “Do you have any idea what kind of bacteria is in that pond? Not to mention the turtles. Ugh . I have a shapeshifter predisposition. As if I’d risk getting bitten by a turtle and becoming some bizarre Ninja Turtle freak.” At that point I had made a comment on the lady protesting too much. “Well, I did have sex in the park…but in the castle, not the pond.”
That was Kellen Rain in a nutshell. Unapologetic and somehow totally loveable.
She had also missed the memo on bridesmaids not overshadowing the bride at wedding-related events. When she bounded past the building’s doorman, even he did a double take, and I’d never seen the man so much as blink before. In spite of the brisk mid-April weather, Kellen was wearing a slinky gold dress dripping with flouncy fringe. She looked like a Bond girl. Or a stripper from the ’20s.
Once she had clambered over Brigit into the tiny backseat of the BMW, which was barely a backseat at all, Kellen put an elbow next to each headrest and perched her smiling face on both hands. Only when the car door slammed did the doorman shut his mouth and come out of his stupor.
“Subtle ensemble, Kel.” I shook my head, unable to be genuinely irritated. Between Brigit and Kellen, I was in danger of losing my killer edge. They were making me soft, at least when the attacks involved charm.
“You look like a chandelier,” Brigit added, but the awe in her voice was all it took to know she wasn’t being rude.
Kellen, who had heard every possible derisive comment and cruel barb, seemed taken aback by the young vampire’s compliment. She blushed. “Thanks, Brigit. You look pretty too.”
I revved the engine. “All right, all right, enough. Have either of you two ever driven on the highway with a vampire in a sports car?” My two bridesmaids exchanged nervous glances in the rearview mirror and fastened their seat belts in a hurry. I flipped my straight hair over my shoulders and gave a wicked chuckle. “Smart girls.”
And with that, I peeled out of the parking spot with enough burning rubber to make Steve McQueen proud to share a name with me.
Chapter Five
Under normal circumstances, the trip to Lucas’s mansion in Upstate New York should have taken over an hour. Google Maps would tell you so, anyway. The narrow two-lane highway wound like an asphalt snake through a towering hall of pine and bare-branched oak. Every time you passed another car you took your life into your own hands, risking oncoming traffic around the next tight curve in the road.
Whenever I drove from the city to Lucas’s sprawling country estate, the looming darkness of the trees made me nervous. The dark can hide so many evils, I was hesitant to let my eyes linger on the tree line because my overactive imagination could formulate any number of potential attacks from within.
I never expected the road itself would be the thing I should fear.
The first blow was so sudden I thought I’d run something over. But as my gaze darted to the rearview mirror to see what poor fox or badger I might have killed, the previously unseen car behind me turned on its brights. The
The reputation of one Miss Kellen Rain was a prime example of attention whoring gone wrong. Although I now knew her personally, I still got a sick sort of voyeuristic pleasure from reading about her exploits in the weekly gossip columns. From burning down the bar of an Italian bistro in the West Village, to having sex in the turtle pond in Central Park, there was never a shortage of rumors. The turtle-pond rumor had been made even more humorous, given Kellen’s reaction when I asked her about it.
“Please,” she’d said with a dramatic eye roll. “Do you have any idea what kind of bacteria is in that pond? Not to mention the turtles. Ugh . I have a shapeshifter predisposition. As if I’d risk getting bitten by a turtle and becoming some bizarre Ninja Turtle freak.” At that point I had made a comment on the lady protesting too much. “Well, I did have sex in the park…but in the castle, not the pond.”
That was Kellen Rain in a nutshell. Unapologetic and somehow totally loveable.
She had also missed the memo on bridesmaids not overshadowing the bride at wedding-related events. When she bounded past the building’s doorman, even he did a double take, and I’d never seen the man so much as blink before. In spite of the brisk mid-April weather, Kellen was wearing a slinky gold dress dripping with flouncy fringe. She looked like a Bond girl. Or a stripper from the ’20s.
Once she had clambered over Brigit into the tiny backseat of the BMW, which was barely a backseat at all, Kellen put an elbow next to each headrest and perched her smiling face on both hands. Only when the car door slammed did the doorman shut his mouth and come out of his stupor.
“Subtle ensemble, Kel.” I shook my head, unable to be genuinely irritated. Between Brigit and Kellen, I was in danger of losing my killer edge. They were making me soft, at least when the attacks involved charm.
“You look like a chandelier,” Brigit added, but the awe in her voice was all it took to know she wasn’t being rude.
Kellen, who had heard every possible derisive comment and cruel barb, seemed taken aback by the young vampire’s compliment. She blushed. “Thanks, Brigit. You look pretty too.”
I revved the engine. “All right, all right, enough. Have either of you two ever driven on the highway with a vampire in a sports car?” My two bridesmaids exchanged nervous glances in the rearview mirror and fastened their seat belts in a hurry. I flipped my straight hair over my shoulders and gave a wicked chuckle. “Smart girls.”
And with that, I peeled out of the parking spot with enough burning rubber to make Steve McQueen proud to share a name with me.
Chapter Five
Under normal circumstances, the trip to Lucas’s mansion in Upstate New York should have taken over an hour. Google Maps would tell you so, anyway. The narrow two-lane highway wound like an asphalt snake through a towering hall of pine and bare-branched oak. Every time you passed another car you took your life into your own hands, risking oncoming traffic around the next tight curve in the road.
Whenever I drove from the city to Lucas’s sprawling country estate, the looming darkness of the trees made me nervous. The dark can hide so many evils, I was hesitant to let my eyes linger on the tree line because my overactive imagination could formulate any number of potential attacks from within.
I never expected the road itself would be the thing I should fear.
The first blow was so sudden I thought I’d run something over. But as my gaze darted to the rearview mirror to see what poor fox or badger I might have killed, the previously unseen car behind me turned on its brights. The
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