Of Wealth and Women, Part 1

Jace Holland came out of his house and found a man in a suit waiting outside a limo. Jace approached the man, feeling more than a little out of place, but the man gave him a welcoming nod. Jace recognized the man as the Waynes’ driver, he’d seen him a few times while hanging out with Skylar, but he admittedly didn’t know the guy’s name.

As Jace approached the limo, the well-dressed man opened the limo door for him.

“Thanks.” Jace said to the driver.

“Of course, sir.” the driver replied, and Jace slid into the limo, which was already occupied by three people.

If he was going just off of Skylar and Sophia Wayne’s appearances, he’d have felt massively underdressed. Thankfully, Sam was dressed similarly to Jace, with a white button up shirt and some black dress pants.

The women, however, were dressed to the nines. Jace had slid into the limo beside Sophia, and the Wayne matriarch was looking stunning in a bandage dress of violet, a glittery one that hugged and accentuated her large breasts without really showing off much of them besides a sexy little hint of cleavage. The dress had an air of elegance to it, and while it was a little hard to tell with her sitting down, it looked like the dress was designed to hug every curve of her lovely body.

As for Skylar, Jace’s eyes kept dipping down into her insane cleavage. She wore a deep emerald dress that had a very wide neckline, showing off not just her mouthwatering cleavage and her chest beneath it, but just about all of her tits other than her nipples. The dress had a very thin strap that was around her neck, holding up the triangular fabric that was kind of covering her tits. The triangles overlapped beneath her breasts, making it significantly more modest on her lower half, though it did have an impressive thigh slit.

“You look incredible, Sky.” were the first words out of Jace’s mouth, and a pleased smile spread across the heiress’ face. Her blonde hair streamed down her shoulders in elegantly styled waves, and she wore a really fancy necklace that glimmered with amethysts.

"Why, thank you." Skylar smirked, preening at the praise. Sam rolled his eyes exaggeratedly.

"You look great too, Mrs. Wayne." Jace spoke up, glancing sideways at the leggy woman sitting beside him. Her lips, a glossy red color tonight, curved into a small smile.

"Thank you, Jace." Sophia said with a wry look.

"And thanks for letting me come with, this isn't the kind of event I usually frequent, believe it or not." Jace confided, making both Wayne women give identical smirks.

"Shocker." Skylar put in, and Sophia gave her daughter a look.

"We're aware that an event like this is a privilege," Sophia said with a pointed look towards her daughter. "so I'm glad that you can join us. Skylar was very eager to have you join her tonight."

"Was she?" Jace asked with a small grin, looking away from the gorgeous green-eyed MILF and towards her equally gorgeous green-eyed daughter, who scoffed a bit too forcefully.

"Yeah, I'd rather not be bored all night." Skylar maintained, making Sophia sigh.

"I'm sorry for her, I know she can be difficult at times." Sophia murmured to Jace, making Sam laugh.

"Ain't that the truth." Sam agreed, and Skylar elbowed him in the ribs, glaring at her twin brother.

"Hey!" Sam protested, rubbing his ribs and looking to Sophia for help, who just looked amused.

"Has Skylar talked to you about what this event is?" Sophia directed a question at Jace, ignoring her squabbling twin children.

"She just told me it was a dinner for all the super rich families in town." Jace shook his head.

"Well, that's true, but it's also a meeting where we discuss what sort of things we're doing for the betterment of Amethyst Shore, and as much as some of us dislike it, it's a good venue for collaborating on projects to improve the town." Sophia explained. "It's something that my husband set up when he first took over Wayne Incorporated, and I kept it going after the accident."

"Sounds like an important meeting then." Jace nodded slowly. "Is this the kind of meeting where I could bring up how great a waterpark would be?"

Skylar rolled her eyes at him, but Sophia laughed softly.

"No, this isn't that kind of meeting." Sophia shook her head. "This one is more focused on charity work and improvement projects. If you're looking to get a waterpark set up, that'd probably be something for the town council."

"Gotcha." Jace said sadly, making Skylar roll her eyes at him again.

"Are you familiar with all the families who are attending?" Sophia asked, and Jace tried to remember the names that Skylar had told him.

"Charlie and Sera's families are both going to be there, right?" Jace recalled, and Sophia nodded.

"Yes, the Towers are a big name in the sciences. Nathan Tower is the current CEO of Tower Labs, and they do a lot of engineering and biochemistry work. As for the Beauregards, they're an old money family who were one of the original settlers of Amethyst Shore, so they've been part of the town ever since the original Gold Rush days before they even found the amethysts." Sophia explained.

"And what do they do these days? Roll around in piles of money?" Jace wondered.

"They marry their own cousins, for one." Skylar smirked.

Jace's eyes widened, and he looked to Sophia for confirmation. She gave a sigh, and nodded slowly.

"Yes, Ashton Beauregard did marry his cousin Fleur." Sophia admitted. "Please don't bring that up though, Fleur especially is very touchy about it."

"It was a huge scandal." Skylar put in with relish. "They fucked during Fleur's senior year of high school, and she accidentally got knocked up. Everybody thought the Beauregards would just bury that little tidbit, but then they announced they were getting married! Sera's an inbred baby, something that I've thrown in her face a few times."

"Skylar Wayne!" Sophia gasped, and Skylar jolted, like she'd forgotten her mother had been listening. "That's not Seraphina's fault, all she did was be born."

"Ugh, she's awful, Mom." Skylar scowled. "She needs someone to put her in her place."

"I'd wager you never brought it up to Cameron." Sam muttered, and Skylar whipped towards him, hair swinging and tits bouncing from the vehemence of her turn.

"Shut up." Skylar hissed, smacking Sam.

"Who's Cameron?" Jace wondered.

"Cameron Beauregard." Sam stepped in when Skylar was uncharacteristically quiet. "He's the original scandal baby from Skylar's story. Sera came later."

"Oh, they had two kids?" Jace asked in surprise.

"Yes, Ashton and Fleur had a second child." Sophia nodded. "Cameron grew up to be quite dismissive of his family and their wealth, so he's done his best to distance himself from them."

Jace looked towards Skylar, who was steadfastly looking out the window. Sophia shook her head wryly at her daughter's behavior, then looked towards Jace.

"There's one more family in attendance tonight, the Calloways. They're another old money family, but they recently set up a huge charity foundation which has done some really amazing things for the town. The Calloways were responsible for a lot of the town's original infrastructure, and they've profited off of it for decades. Lincoln Calloway set up the Calloway Foundation to provide for the town, and they've been working on that for, oh, nearly twenty years now." Sophia explained. "We're quite close with the Calloways, as Lincoln and Jon were close like brothers back in the day."

Despite the years since her husband had passed, there was still a little sadness to Sophia's eyes every time he was mentioned. Jace supposed it was no big surprise, from all accounts, Jonathan Wayne had been like the coolest guy ever, though Jace's primary source was admittedly Jonathan's own daughter. Skylar didn't bring up Jonathan all the time, but when she did, it was with a wistful smile. Losing him had made quite the mark on the Wayne family, it seemed, and Jace wondered idly what they would be like if Jonathan had survived. Would Skylar still be Skylar?

As he glanced around the limo, Jace found his thoughts drifting towards Sophia and his uncle Dean's secret engagement. The official announcement hadn't gone out yet, and as far as Jace knew, he was the only one outside of Dean and the three Waynes who knew about it. He hadn't even told his mother about it, at Dean's request. Jace wondered how Dean would possibly fit into the Wayne family, who seemed so shaped by Jonathan's absence. It was also hard not to wonder why Dean wasn't invited to this dinner. He wasn't even sure his uncle was in town, and he was also unsure if they wanted anyone to know yet, but it was still a little strange. There could be any number of reasons, but Jace was curious if things were as good there as they had seemed back at that dinner he'd attended at the Wayne Estate.

It was also hard to think of Skylar becoming his cousin- well, step-cousin. That just brought to mind bad videos and a mental image of Skylar doing a bad porn voice calling him 'step-cousin'. He wasn't a big fan of that idea, he decided, despite the actual relatives he was very interested in. Was that why Jace's brain kept trying to find holes in Sophia and Dean's supposedly happy engagement? A mental resistance to him and Skylar winding up related, even if only by marriage?

———

Mina Park was at her bedroom desk, typing furiously on her laptop.

The half-Korean girl wore an oversized white shirt, loose enough that her large tits beneath it hung completely free, practically untouched by fabric. Her white shirt had bright comic book drawings on it of Superman and Lois Lane. Lois Lane had always been a favorite of hers, and a bit of a role model considering how much Mina loved investigating and journalism. The school newspaper, however, didn't quite scratch that itch for her, which was why she'd opened the Riverbed.

Violet River High's unofficial online gossip page, written and managed in secret by Mina herself, was her pride and joy. She had started it in her sophomore year (she'd wanted to do freshman year, but worried that suspicion might fall on her if it started the same year she had came into high school), and absolutely loved the thrill of it. Mina did feel like Lois Lane every day of school, walking around and trying to ferret out the secrets that her classmates carried. And oh boy, there was loads. Jace Holland alone was a veritable treasure trove of secrets, and he was just so dumb. So, so dumb. If her best friend Valerie wasn't all starry-eyed for him, Mina would have delighted in sharing his secrets.

However, Mina somehow found the strength to keep everything she knew about Jace quiet. She kept him dating his art teacher (and former babysitter!) quiet, she kept him totally being involved in an incestuous relationship with his big sister quiet, and she even kept quiet how colossally stupid he was trying to juggle Skylar Wayne and Anastasia Prescott. Part of Mina wanted to tell Valerie everything, but she wasn't a gossiper in the sense that she talked behind people's back about them. Everything Mina wanted to share was faithfully reported on the Riverbed, not told directly to someone. Even if she wanted to.

Mina was currently typing away at her latest Riverbed post, an exposé on, well, Exposé. The paid subscription site was a bit too trashy for Mina's taste, but she did suppose that the knowledge of which students had an Exposé page was of import to some people. There weren't too many from their school on the site, but there were girls like April McCord and Aria Mitchell that Mina did find it important to report about. Mina spun her chair around and sprung to her feet, rolling her eyes at the instant bouncing of her tits. She'd always scoffed at the authors who described women that way when she was younger, but then she grew tits of her own and well... they really did bounce like that. Mina was a slender, short girl, with pale skin and long chestnut brown hair that was currently held up in a messy bun. Her bottom was cute and perky, her hips really nothing that impressive, but for some reason, whatever petite Asian girl genetics she carried had missed the memo when it came to her breasts. She had big, porcelain pale breasts that looked quite oversized on her slim figure, and they were always in the way. She didn't know how Valerie did it, Val's were even bigger.

Mina went to her closet, tugging out a big black binder and opening it up. She flipped through the pages hastily, moving through pages and pages of notes about various things she had heard. They were written on all different kinds of paper, some of various sizes, but Mina was dedicated to adding all of her notes to this binder. Her Black Book, she called it. She kind of just couldn't resist, you know? The Black Book had little to no organizational structure, it was sorted only by the order Mina heard or discovered things in. Lots of the pages were heavily amended with highlights of different colors. Yellow meant she'd already used it in a Riverbed post, red meant it was pretty much useless, and blue meant she was either holding it in reserve or investigating it further.

Licking her thumb, she flipped hastily through it, dark eyes sweeping the pages and pages of notes. She reached the past few days' notes, and started reading them more in earnest. She fished out her highlighters from the pocket of the binder, mindlessly chewing on the end of the yellow one while she read. The Black Book's notes were all in shorthand, not full written out ideas. Most of the information it contained had been scrawled hastily while walking or sitting in class. Some papers in the Book were even pages of actual notes from classes that had joined the Black Book because the things she had scrawled in the margins were more important than whatever boring thing she'd been supposed to be learning.

It took a little bit of reading, but finally Mina found the part she was looking for. Written hastily in slightly smudged black pen (she was left handed, and it happened far too often for her liking), she read the notes she'd written about April, overheard while April was telling a friend quietly (but not quietly enough), about the way that dance videos had transitioned into sexual paid content that was apparently far outpacing the allowance April got from her parents. That had been the real topic of the discussion, April telling her friend Melissa Adams about the fact that she had plenty of money to pay for... Mina squinted at the smudged word there on the page. What had she... ah, lingerie. It had looked a bit like bingers and she had no idea what bingers were supposed to be. Lingerie made more sense.

Mina made a mental note to be more careful with using inky pens, she needed to make sure she used the ones that wouldn't smudge.

Mina tucked the Black Book away back in its hiding place, and then she returned swiftly to her desk, throwing a quick glance over to her closed bedroom door. Her mother Lena was a nosy sort (imagine that) and Mina had to be very careful when locking her door or her mother would beeline straight to her door to figure out why Mina had locked her door. Lena was currently downstairs watching TV, Mina could hear the muffled noise of what was probably some kind of soap opera. Lena was a stern, serious woman, but she went absolutely nuts for her soaps. Mina had never understood the appeal of the fake drama, she'd much rather go out and figure out something real than watch a soap opera all day.

Confident she would not be interrupted, Mina went back to typing out April and Aria's secrets, when she got a popup message in the corner of her screen. She paused, frowning as she read the preview of the message. She clicked it quickly, and squinted at the unfamiliar username. Mina was on a fair few local gossip columns, operating under the clandestine username of Riversong (yes, like the Doctor Who character). It also tied in with the Riverbed page she ran, so she'd been pretty pleased with herself for that one. But this message wasn't from a name she recognized, it was from a user called Gemstone.

Hello, Riversong. I think we are in the same line of work, believe it or not. Gemstone's message read, and it made Mina instantly nervous.

What line of work are you talking about? Mina replied, unable to help her gnawing curiosity. It was her besetting sin, she knew.

The revealing of secrets, of course. came Gemstone's reply, and Mina chewed harder on her highlighter, only just now realizing she hadn't replaced it in the pocket of her binder.

And how do you know that? Mina sent back immediately.

I know a lot, Riversong. I've enjoyed your writing, but I can't help but notice some glaring omissions in your body of work. Gemstone told her, and Mina froze.

Gemstone continued typing, and Mina waited with bated breath. I intend to publish some of your omissions in my brand new gossip column. I'm calling it Secrets of the Shore. You like it?

Some of the things I omit are to protect people. I like figuring out secrets, I don't like ruining lives. Mina replied, and stared at the screen waiting for a response.

All secrets are meant to be shared. was Gemstone's only reply, and then the user went offline.

"Fuck." Mina swore to her empty bedroom. She glanced towards her phone, and went swiftly to it.

She texted two people, telling them that she knew something she absolutely shouldn't and that somebody else did, too. Still absentmindedly chewing on her highlighter, Mina sat down on her bed, suddenly deprived of any interest in writing her article.

———

The seafood restaurant was a very modern building, lots of glass giving plentiful views out towards the moonlit ocean. Night had already truly fallen by time the limousine pulled up to Trident, and as Jace stepped out of the limo, he glanced at the large, slightly nautical themed building. It wasn't nautical enough to be gimmicky, as Trident was unmistakably upper-class dining. The entrance way had a large arch with a gleaming silver trident set atop it, and the word Trident was spelled out in neon aqua on the two-story steel building. It was tiered, and the whole place sat on concrete stilts, with a wooden boardwalk running along past the base of the stilts down onto the beach, with stairs to access it from the balcony dining area.

Jace turned back to the limo, and offered Sophia Wayne his hand as she moved to step out. She took it, accepting his aid as she gracefully exited the limo. He was only human, he couldn't quite help the glance at her shapely figure in that skintight glittery violet bandage dress. He turned away quickly though, not wanting to get caught looking by Sophia or the other lady Wayne he extended his hand to as she moved to exit the limo as well. Skylar's cleavage was absolutely magnetic, and Jace didn't make much effort at all to hide the way his eyes caressed her breasts. That damned green dress didn't even attempt to cover the sides of her breasts, just green triangles coming up to cover the fronts of them. It was painfully obvious that the heiress wore no bra, and Jace wasn't complaining there, it meant Skylar had a lovely bounce as she emerged from the limo.

She shot him a knowing look, a wry smile on her face indicating she was very aware of where his eyes were lingering. She didn't seem to mind, though. Jace glanced back into the limo.

"You want a hand out, too, Sam?" Jace grinned.

"I think I'll be alright." Sam scoffed, but he chuckled as Jace stepped away to give Sam space to climb out. Jace looked back towards Trident when he felt a warmth slip up to his side. Skylar wasn't touching him, necessarily, but she was close enough that he could feel her body heat.

"Ready to dine?" she arched a perfect eyebrow at him. Jace smiled, holding out his arm to her. She hesitated just slightly, glancing towards Sam, before she set her jaw and wrapped herself around his arm. His arm nestled right into that ridiculous cleavage she was sporting tonight, and Jace had no complaints about that as the quartet made their way towards Trident.

It was a nice feeling having Skylar so close to him, both of her arms wrapped around his upper arm while her breasts enveloped it. She walked alongside him saying nothing, but he caught her leaning her head against his shoulder a couple times when she thought he wasn't looking. It was hard to pay attention to anything other than Skylar, her being so close was intoxicating.

He barely paid attention as they entered through the open double doors, though he did slightly tune back in when they approached a familiar hostess.

"Waynes, party of four. I believe Fleur is expecting us." Sophia said to the hostess with a smile. Jace recognized her at once as Penelope Martinez, the quite beautiful Latina girl who ran the Dungeons and Dragons club that Amy had dragged him to several times. Penelope's black hair fell to just above her breasts, and she wore her thin metal-framed glasses as usual. She greeted the Waynes with a smile, and Jace glanced at her outfit. She wore a button up white shirt showing off just a little hint of olive cleavage, with the sleeves rolled to just above the elbows, and a cute black skirt showing off her legs. She was a shorter girl, though she still stood taller than Amy. Not exactly hard to do, though.

"Pen!" Jace greeted her with a smile. "I didn't know you worked here."

Pen looked faintly shy at his greeting, but she gave him a small smile, her gorgeous full lips painted a bright red that they usually weren't. Pen had the kind of lips that girls often got surgery to emulate, but hers were decidedly all-natural.

"I've been working here since the summer." Pen admitted. "Started as just a summer job so I had some spending money, but I actually wound up really enjoying it."

"Glad to hear it." Jace said, looking around the spiffy restaurant. "I quit my summer job, but it definitely wasn't as nice as this one."

"Oh, that's right, Amy told me the two of you were working at Hank's, right?" Pen recalled, and Jace nodded.

"Yup. The diner wasn't too great, and I didn't make anywhere near the tips that Amy did." Jace gave a sigh, making Pen laugh.

"I can imagine. Now, as for your reservation tonight, Mrs. Beauregard has booked out the balcony for you." Pen read from the tablet she held in her hands. She lifted one hand to nudge her glasses back up her nose, a little quirk Jace had always found cute.

Jace felt eyes on him, and he turned his head slightly just in time to catch Skylar's glare. He had the urge to roll his eyes, but figured he better not. She didn't get to swear up and down that she wasn't his girlfriend, then start getting jealous, that just wasn't fair.

Pen pulled a handful of menus from a shelf on her stand, and led the Waynes (and Jace) through the restaurant. It had a high ceiling, with lots of expensive-looking lighting hanging from the top. It was a big spacious open restaurant, with round tables that were mostly filled with people. Pen led them past all of the indoor seating options and led them out onto the balcony, which was empty except for one big table that had been formed of some littler rectangle ones.

"Mrs. Beauregard, the Waynes have arrived." Pen reported to an elegant looking blonde woman. There was something of Sera's haughtiness in the way that she rose to her feet, though she also seemed to resemble Sera in two other big ways, Jace couldn't fail to notice. Fleur Beauregard wore a snug silver gown, though not one so skintight as Sophia's. The silver gown was shoulderless, and had quite a wide neckline, showing off her generous very large breasts. He wouldn't call Fleur pale, per se, but she was certainly not tanned, her skin a healthy pale peach color. Her dark blue eyes swept across the newcomers to her table, lingering just slightly on the one she didn't recognize, before her gaze returned to Sophia.

"Thank you, Ms. Martinez. When the Towers arrive, bring them through as well." Fleur said to Pen without even looking at her.

"Yes, ma'am." Pen bobbed her head, and moved to leave. As she did, she caught Jace's eye, and gave him a little wave goodbye, which he returned with the arm that Skylar wasn't still curled around.

Fleur walked forwards, heels clicking on the floor as she approached.

"Sophia, welcome." she smiled a smile that Jace would call polite, though not particularly welcoming or friendly. Fleur's ears and collarbone both gleamed with diamond jewelry, and her features were elegantly glamorous, like a Parisian model.

"Thank you, Fleur. This is a lovely setting for this meeting." Sophia said, and Fleur gave a little shrug like 'of course it is.'

Jace glanced towards the table, his eyes falling on a handful of strangers, one girl he vaguely recognized, and one girl he knew too well for his liking.

For the strangers, a handsome blonde man in his late thirties or early forties sat in the chair beside the one that Fleur had risen from. He had the same steely blue eyes that Fleur and Sera both had, dark blonde hair, and wore a deep navy suit jacket. Jace was briefly taken aback by the family resemblance, before he remembered what he'd learned in the car, that Sera's parents were cousins. Seeing Fleur and whoever this guy was beside each other did make Jace think idly of Isabelle, but he pushed that aside hurriedly. On the other side of Fleur's cousin/husband sat Sera, who despite the frosty look on her face, looked sensational in a navy blue dress that matched her father's suit jacket quite closely. Sera's dress was a bit more modest than Fleur's, but not by much. Her very large breasts swelled very prominently in that dress, and her cleavage seemed magnetic.

Jace focused on remembering how awful to be around Sera was, but she did look incredible tonight. Elegant make-up adorned her model-like features, and her dirty blonde hair was pulled back in a crown-like braid, with blue gemstones glittering on a hairpin she wore.

Then beside Sera was a young man Jace didn't know, but he could tell at a glance that he was a Beauregard. Maybe it was the cousins as their parents, but they all looked very similar. He had the same steel blue eyes and dirty blonde hair, and Jace guessed this must be Cameron Beauregard, the black sheep of the family. He knew that Mr. Beauregard's name had been mentioned in the limo, but Jace could just not remember it for the life of him.

Jace saw Cameron looking towards Skylar, but Jace **** himself not to feel jealous. Skylar had no right to be jealous about him, and he had no reason to be jealous about her. They were just friends who fuck. Nothing more.

Jace pointedly looked away from the Beauregards, his gaze falling on the other family currently present. Thankfully, the Towers weren't here yet. This family contained just three people, and the first to catch his eye was a sexy Indian woman in her late thirties, Jace would guess? She might be a bit older than that, but she still looked youthful and stunning. Her dark brown hair fell in gorgeous waves to her breasts, and she had incredible breasts. They were the biggest at the table, Jace noticed immediately. Fleur was a close second, but this stunning woman definitely was a bit bigger. She wore a gold dress, which did contrast nicely against both her dark brown skin and Fleur's silver dress. The swells of her rich brown bosom was displayed prominently, and oof. She was even more a test of willpower than Sera had been. Her lips were painted a dark maroon, and her deep brown eyes definitely caught him looking. Fortunately, she gave him only a small, almost playful smirk. She was so damn sexy.

Beside her, thankfully oblivious to Jace's ogling, must be her husband. He was a white guy, with short brown hair that was slightly curly, but too short to be all that curly. He was one of those people who just looked like a nice guy, Jace thought, and Jace did recall his name was Lincoln Calloway, from the discussion in the car. Him and Skylar's dad had been good friends.

Then beside Lincoln was a gorgeous girl who looked vaguely familiar. He was pretty sure he'd seen her around the school, but he thought she was a junior, and he didn't know too many of those. She had black hair, brown skin a little lighter than her mother's, and very large breasts a bit more modestly contained in a hunter green dress. Her dress didn't show off much cleavage, but it was impossible to miss the size of her bust. Her brown eyes seemed a little awkward in this setting, but she gave Skylar a small smile.

"That's London Calloway." Skylar told him in a low whisper. "She's my little cheersister and you're going to be very nice to her, OK?"

"Are you saying I'm usually an ass to people?" Jace replied in the same low voice, and Skylar gave him an exasperated roll of her pretty green eyes.

"No, of course not. Just be nice to her, she's on the shyer side." Skylar murmured, and Jace nodded his assent. As Sophia and Fleur continued talking, Skylar dragged Jace by the arm towards the empty chairs beside London, and she sat down right beside the pretty Indian cheerleader, pulling Jace down into the seat beside her.

"Having fun yet?" Skylar asked London conspiratorially, raising one of her perfect eyebrows at the younger girl.

"Um, sure." London mumbled. "You know how much fun these things are."

"I sure do." Skylar rolled her eyes in the general direction of Seraphina Beauregard. "This is Jace, by the way. I don't know if you two know each other."

"Nope." Jace shook his head, extending his hand out past Skylar. "Nice to meet you."

London shook it gingerly. "Nice to meet you, too. I'm London."

Jace, being the model gentleman Skylar had requested him to be, didn't glance down at London's big brown tits in her gorgeous dark green dress. He really wanted to, but he managed to restrain himself.

"London here recently got promoted to the senior squad." Skylar said, in the tone of a proud, bragging older sister. "Her and one of her friends are being vetted for the captain spot next year."

"Hey, that's great!" Jace grinned. "Congratulations."

"Thanks." London said softly. "Um, Alyssa's not really my friend though."

"Alyssa..." Jace mused. "I think I know that name from somewhere."

"You do?" Skylar raised her eyebrows.

"Yeah, I think maybe Val or Mina hates her." Jace tried to remember. "I don't remember which one it was, but one of them definitely doesn't like her. If it's the same Alyssa, anyway. I'm sure there's more than one junior named Alyssa."

"Yeah, must be. This Alyssa seems like a solid choice for captain. I'm Team London, of course, but Alyssa seems like a girl who's good with people." Skylar said, then looked to London. "Am I wrong?"

"Er... Alyssa can be a little difficult sometimes." London admitted. "A lot of the girls on the junior squad like her though."

"I know someone like that." Jace said wryly, looking towards Skylar, but Skylar didn't seem to notice.

"Yeah, Anastasia can definitely be a bit much." Skylar agreed.

Jace shook his head wryly as he opened one of the menus Pen had set out. He went straight to the appetizers, as he was damn starving. As he peered over them, tuning out the other conversations at the table, Sophia sat down beside him as Fleur took her seat again as well, and Sam sat on Sophia's other side, leaving two chairs remaining empty at the table, placed between Sam and Fleur.

"So, is anyone else feeling like a bread basket?" Jace asked the table, and Skylar snickered beside him.