At around eight, Massie and Derrick parted ways with promises to meet later with their favorite redhead to begin shopping for the event this weekend.
Massie pulled her Audi into her driveway, sighing when she saw Tristan's Mercedes in front of her house. No doubt he was inside right now, hamming up to William, as he usually did when they had arguments. This, though, was different. This wasn't an argument, this was borderline war.
Padding up the entryway stairs in her black loafers and pushing open the heavy cherry wood doors, the brunette raised an eyebrow suspiciously when she didn't hear anything happening inside the house. Both sets of keys to William's collector-edition cars were hanging up, so they definitely were in the house somewhere.
Taking a guess, Massie began pacing towards the study. Hearing no words, that made her even more nervous. What if he was discussing the prenup, or lack of? What if William had him signing the papers for the company right now? Fuck, she needed to find her dad.
She popped her head into his study doorway, seeing no one sitting there. Where the fuck did they go?! Now, panic began to set in. Sighing, she turned around and headed towards their sprawling backyard where they sometimes read the newspapers in silence on the patio. Oh, what a weird relationship her dad and her fiance have.
Massie, as she got closer, saw two bodies sitting out on the patio through the clear and white glass french doors. The alpha yanked them open, letting them hit against the door frame with a bang, which made Tristan jump and William simply raise his right hand before going back to gripping his paper.
"Massie, doll, you left so early this morning. Inez was going to make breakfast for us two and set it up out here."
"Yeah, Mass, where did you go?" Tristan asked pointedly, like he knew she was doing something he thought less than highly of.
Massie, thinking better of it, decided to not answer Tristan at all. In fact, she wasn't going to acknowledge his presence, even. She simply plucked a newspaper off of the glass table, apologized to her father with a shrug and a "Sorry, daddy," then took her seat on the other side of her father.
William raised an eyebrow over his glasses, but went back to his reading. Kids and their drama and fights and problems, he knew, were better to figure things out on their own. If she needed help, she would've asked him.
The three sat in the overwhelming silence for two hours before William finished his paper, folding it up and leaving it on the table in front of him.
"I'm going to go make a cappuccino, I'll see you love birds inside."
With that, her father disappeared into the enormous house, leaving the engaged couple to their own devices. Her father and his solstice disappeared, and now Massie felt exposed.
"So are we going to talk, or just ignore each other until the wedding day?"
"I prefer the latter. That is, if I don't run away and get you arrested."
"Oh, Mass, you wouldn't do that. You love me so, almost as much as Block Enterprise, so we both know that wouldn't happen."
"Tristan, I think you forget the hold I possess over my father. One word, and you're so done, done, and done."
"But Massie, him and I are also close. I'm his apprentice, I'm almost his son. I wonder who he'd believe. The boy who he trained and raised in his own image, or the girl without attentive parents who would most likely just lie because she's getting cold feet."
"Bite your god damn tongue!" Massie snapped, throwing her paper at him. "And I am his daughter, I am his blood, you arrogant ass!"
He simply laughed, and watched it fall on the ground at his feet. "Much like you should be doing, sweetheart. Remember, it's a man's world, and there's only one place for a woman here. That's on his arm."
Infuriated, Massie stood and stormed inside. Tristan waited a few beats before too going back inside, ignoring the curious glances William was giving him as he watched his only child storm up the stairs and into her bedroom, closing the door with a loud slam.
Dylan was impatiently waiting on Derrick's couch when he returned to his apartment.
"Finally!" She squealed, dropping her book of 10 to zen and jumping to her feet.
"What happened!?"
"Well, I'm apparently going shopping with you two at noon to find outfits for this party."
"Okay, that's a start, but not what I meant. What did you two talk about? Did you two confess your love so now we don't have to go through with any of our seven plans?"
"No, not quite. She's warming back up to me, though, which I consider a win." The dirty blonde explained as he made his way into his kitchen, starting his nespresso machine and placing a white ceramic mug underneath the spout.
"Dyl, you have no idea how hard it was to not say something about him when I was talking to her. It's going to come out."
Dylan followed Derrick into the kitchen, leaning her back against his granite-topped island. She was hopeful he wouldn't turn into his typical, brash self.
"And that's fine, but please, for the love of God, be sane and calm about this. You need to make sure you do it the right way, not out of spite, not out of control. We can't spiral!"
"How can I not?"
The redhead sighed. "It's going to be hard, Derrick. Really fucking hard, actually, because we both know what she's going through. How do you think I feel? I'm one of her best friends, just letting her go through with this when I know way better! But we need to be careful."
The dirty blonde boy nodded his head sully, taking his mug out of the nespresso and taking a long sip of his burning hot latte. It stung the tip of his tongue, but that was nothing compared to the sting in his heart.
In his head, he tried to process it all. He wanted to smash Tristan's face into the hardwood flooring, he wanted to shower Massie with love and affection, he wanted to scream at William until his face was beet red.
Derrick wanted answers. He wanted to know what was so fucking valuable to William about Tristan, because he couldn't see anything worth wanting.
"So, I need an outfit too."
Massie tried dialing Alicia five times to no avail. Frustrated, she threw her phone down onto her plush carpet as her body slid down the frame of her queen sized bed. She felt like she was trapped in her own home! Standing to her feet, Massie padded to her bay windows, pulling one of the curtains aside and watching Tristan's Mercedes Benz sit shining in her driveway. The view made her stomach churn.
He was so entitled, he was so arrogant! What she ever saw in him, she wasn't sure. All she knew was that she sufficiently fucked herself over in this situation, knowing how in love with him her father is. Tristan was right, William would always take his side over hers. If her mom was here, would she be helping her daughter? Honestly, probably not. She'd most likely be trying to sleep with Tristan, now that Massie thought about it.
Her anger fueling her on the inside, the alpha picked her phone back up and dialed Dylan. She, at least, would answer. Waiting for her to answer the phone, Massie impatiently tapped her fingernails against one of her bedposts. Examining her bed, her nose scrunched up realizing Tristan had slept in those very sheets, and made a mental note to have the help replace them.
"Hello?" Dylan's voice rang through the phone.
"Dyl, please tell me you're available to come pick me up from this prison."
"What happened?" The redhead's voice echoed, telling Massie she was on speaker. She was probably doing yoga, Massie thought to herself, not knowing that Dylan was really with Derrick.
"He's a fucking monster! He literally told me to bite his tongue! He said I belong on his fucking arm, Dylan!"
"No!"
"Yes! And he's still here! He won't leave, so I have to, so pretty please tell me you're getting in your car right now to come rescue me."
"Be ready, I'll be there in ten."
With that, the line clicked.
Dylan hung up the phone call, hesitantly looking at Derrick to see how he was reacting.
"Der, calm down."
"Absolutely fucking not!"
"I know! I know! But, if she knows we're hanging out right now, she'll know we're planning something! We can't spoil it yet! You stay here, I'll get her, and we'll go from there."
"Why can't I come? I just wanna speak to him!"
"Yeah, with your foot up his ass." Dylan retorted, grabbing her purse and coat off of his table and walking out of his apartment.
Dylan's cherry red alfa romeo giulia's headlights flashed the Block's mansion as she pulled into the driveway. Stepping out of her sports car, Dylan tucked her white calvin klein knit long sleeve into her emilio cavallini black leggings, grabbing her red veda leather jacket and slamming her car door out of anger.
The redhead stomped her fyre white studded slip on sneakers up the driveway and front entrance steps of the mansion, pulling the front door open, not bothering to knock. She was not in the mood, let me tell you.
"Dylan, how are you? I haven't seen you in ages!" William greeted her, standing up from his chair and coming to give her a quick hug.
"Could be better," the redhead sniffed, her eyes landing on Tristan's as he shrunk back into his corner chair.
"Oh, really? What's the matter?" Massie's father asked, looking at Dylan pointedly. The two got along the best out of all of Massie's friends.
"Well, if you really want to know," Dylan started, reaching up to re-position the top knot on her head before Massie interrupted her.
"Dyl! Perfect! Let's go." The alpha stated in her no nonsense tone, giving her a pointed look before pointing her chin to the door.
"Another time, William." The yoga instructor promised her alpha's father, leaving a kiss on his cheek before turning and heading to the front door. Her alpha followed her, after giving William a kiss on his other cheek, and completely not acknowledging Tristan.
"So that was fun," Dylan said with a smirk, shaking her head as the pair reached her car.
"Just drive, Marvil."