Scandal: Billionaire's Twin Heirs

Pop music blasted through the speakers of Violet’s car. As much as I love Zara Larsson and Dua Lipa, I wished Vi would turn down the volume because we weren’t even supposed to be out at this time of the night. It was well past 12 in midnight and the streets in the tiny, snobby town of Fleur Greens were sleeping. Two girls – and not just any girls but the daughters of the most influential men – driving under the cover of night to party and get wasted with the college students in the next town was not the kind of stuff you wanted the town's people talking about.

As the car rolled down the street where snotty Principal Eileen lived, I reached over to turn down the volume a little bit, but before I could even touch the knob Vi slapped my hand away.

“Vi, anyone can hear us!”

“Oh shush, that’s just your fear speaking. They are all asleep anyway,” she laughed and grabbed the paperbag – wrapped bottle from the console, took a huge swallow as she guided the car down the empty road. She swallowed the alcohol easily, made a face as it scorched a path down her throat before holding the bottle out to me. 

“Hmm no. You probably shouldn’t be drinking either. You are driving!”

She groaned. “Oh my God Nia, don’t be such a killjoy! You agreed to this, didn’t you? For the first time, I didn’t have to force you into anything. You practically begged me to let you come along. I’m not going to let you ruin my night. Now just shut up and take the f*ck*ng drink!”

She took her eyes off the road long enough to shove the bottle into my hand. “Drink it, you’ll need it. You will love it, trust me.”

Easy for her to say. Her dad, being the owner of the most successful bank in Fleur Greens, may be the next richest man after my dad, but she did not have to live by the strict rules that my dad makes me live by. Even at age 17, I wasn’t allowed to drink, wear make-up, play music in my room, shut my door or even go out to parties. Dad only trusted me with Violet because he was good friends with her dad and because we’ve been friends since childhood.

My dad was the richest man in this town, yet I was only allowed to have one friend. No one else was good enough because my dad didn’t trust me with anyone else, especially anyone that could turn me into the very thing he feared.

My mother.

I sighed, saddened by the thought that my life, which should be fun and bubbly, was boring all because dad could never forgive mom for leaving him for some young hot model.

I bent my head and tossed the alcohol into my mouth, and it burned a fiery path down my throat, causing me to choke and cough.

“Oh my God! Oh my God…” I choked, nearly coughing out my lungs. “It burns…it f*ck*ng…”

In the driver’s seat, Vi laughed throatily.

I shot her a dark look, patting my chest lightly to reduce the burn behind my chest bones. “You didn’t warn me that it was this strong!”

“You weren’t expecting that watered-down sh*t your dad makes you drink, were you?” she laughed. “Come on, take another sip, you’ll get used to it. You will love it.”

I shook my head, laughing when the burn subsided. “You are such a bad influence. If my dad knew the things you made me do…” I laughed. Violet merely chuckled as she guided the car around the bent that led out of town. 

“Trust me, I’m not teaching you anything you don’t want, and you know it.”

She always said that every time she tried to convince me to do something dangerous. She likes to say that I have a kind of controlled rebellion inside me. All I needed was the right channel to really let that rebellious Nia Turner out. 

“Come on, another sip.”

This time I took it slowly. The cool liquid coated my tongue sweet at first, but as it smoothly drained down my throat it stung. Yet it was a good sting. I clicked my lips, enjoying the way the drink made me feel. This is the second time I’ve tasted alcohol, the first being the fruity alcoholic wine Vi snuck into my room one night. That was mild by a huge margin compared to this one. I was even scared to look at the alcohol content. Squeezing the paperbag tighter around the bottle's neck, I raised it to my lips and took another drink.

“There we go,” Vi laughed, reaching over to nudge my shoulder.

I swallowed, trying now to spill the drink as I laughed and shoved her playfully. “Don’t get too excited,” I told her. “This is all I’m going to drink tonight.”

She giggled. “We’ll see about that.”

The next turn down an untidy road brought us into the next town. It was less sophisticated than Greens, the houses here were cheaper and older, the cars cheaper and dustier than you would find back home. Most of the people who live in this town make their living working for people in our own part of the city.

Vi seemed to know her way around the town as she navigated rough streets and tattered roads. Even before pulling up before the venue, I could already tell where the party was happening from the crowd of people heading to the house and the crowd already there. She drove the car past a throng of party-goers, found a space by the curb, parked and turned off the music.

I looked away from the crowd, took a couple of deep breaths to calm my nerves before raising my hand to open the door when Violet stopped me.

“Not so fast.” She drew me back. “Just a second.”

She reached behind my seat to grab her purse, dug through it, found her lipstick and held it out to my lips. I shrank back.

“What are you doing?”

“Babes, if you are going to lose your virginity tonight you are going to have to look the part. You think some guy in there is going to take a look at you and not know that you just turned 17? Those guys are college kids, there are far hotter girls in there. You want to stand out. Now pucker up.”

I wasn’t so sure, but Violet already lost her virginity, and she’s far more outgoing than I would ever be, so I trusted her and let her apply the red lipstick for me. When she was done, I looked in the mirror unable to recognize myself. The lipstick was a stark contrast to my honey-colored skin, making me appear older than I really was. I did not recognize the girl staring back at me in the mirror with huge brown eyes and ruby-red lips. She was beautiful in a mature, worldly way.

“Let’s put on the mascara.”

“Oh no! Let’s not,” I finally found my voice. Usually I wear thick lenses because of my bad eyesight and when I’m not wearing my glasses – like tonight – I tend to pull my lashes out for comfort. I know it’s sick, but without my glasses it feels like the only way I can see is if I pluck out all my lashes.

Just for tonight, I ditched both glasses and lenses, damning the consequences. 

Maybe I shouldn't have. I was already getting drunk. My vision was beginning to swim. I didn’t want to complicate issues with the mascara.

“I think I’m good with this,” I smacked my lips.

“Are you sure?”

I nodded.

Vi shrugged. She pulled down the sun visor, using the mirror in it to check and reapply some mascara to her already long lashes. She reapplied her lip gloss, smacked her lips and struck a pose. “Let’s take a picture.”

She dug out our phones, passed mine to me and, in the same fluid motion, pulled me with her arms around my shoulders and took the picture of us smiling.

“We look so hot!” She winked and laughed. “Now we have a memory of the night you lost your 'innocence'.”

I groaned. I was already getting nervous thinking about it. If dad found out that I snuck out of the house for this, then I better just begin to look for another father because I know d*mn well he’s going to disown me.

I tried not to think too much about that as I got out of the car. Vi came around to my side of the car, hooked her hand through mine and led us into the party.

Right from the get-go I knew that I did not belong here. The only parties I ever attended until tonight were the charity balls dad threw and even then I always stuck to his side. The music was so loud. There was booze and way too much flesh to see. 

I swallowed past the nerve balls in my throat, or tried to anyway. The only thing I ended up swallowing down was the smell of sweat, alcohol and smoke. I tried not to choke as I followed Vi to the house. The host was a college kid she had been seeing. She swears they are not dating, and she just uses him for s*x, but I know they see each other every weekend and talk every night. So, unless I’m so green, I don’t even know what dating means then…well, they are a couple.

We barely walked into the house when a tall dude with blonde hair swept in front of us, arms wide. I thought for a second he was about to hug me and Violet, but he swept her into his arms.

“Baby,” his voice was deep, words slurred.

“Kevin,” Vi cooed as she threw her arms over his shoulders.

And then, right before my very eyes, they began to make out. First it was a peck, a small kiss which soon blossomed into a salacious dance of lips and tongue.

I looked away feeling my cheeks go hot. My eyes landed on someone that I hadn’t noticed before. He was tall with dark hair and a sleepy look in his eyes that made his eyelids droop, making it almost impossible to tell the color of his eyes.

He was good-looking in a lean-muscled way. 

“That’s Ace,” Kevin said to me once he was done tonguing Vi’s mouth without shame. He leaned down to speak in my face, his breathing smelling like alcohol, smoke and Vi’s lipstick. “Don’t let him fool you. Dude is our football star. Captain for 2 years in a row.”

Ace groaned. He opened his mouth as if to speak, thought better of it, raised his hand and took drag of the rolled-up blunt that I hadn’t seen before. That explains his heavy lids.

Kevin suddenly let out a loud raspy laughter as he grabbed the blunt from Ace’s fingers. “Dude easy on that sh*t.” He took a drag, s*ck*d it in before passing it to Vi, who s*ck*d deeply.

I bet my eyeballs nearly popped out of their sockets.

“It’s his first time,” Kevin whispered in my face again. “You?”

“I – I haven’t smoked before…” I stuttered. And I was beginning to think that perhaps it was time to stop trying to have my ‘firsts’. 

But Violet saw through fear. She swung her arm around my shoulder. “Come on, no backing out now.” She raised her gaze to Ace, who was swaying lightly on his feet as he talked to Kevin. Kevin held the weed away from him, laughing when he tried to grab it again. “Ace is Kevin’s best friend. He’s a little shy but trust me, I’ve heard that he’s got a monster in those pants. That’s the kind you want for your first time. Go on. Have fun.”

She practically pushed me toward him. Next thing I knew, she had her arms around Kevin again and both of them turned. Kevin's hand dropped to grab her *ss as they walked off. She turned around and winked, mouthing ‘have fun’.

I smiled nervously.

The alcohol was already making me sick, but I chose to come out tonight for a reason. I s*ck*d in a deep breath and dared to look at Ace. He was staring at me, probably wondering how I appeared before him.

“Uhm…hi…” I waved.

His responding smile was nothing short of friendly, but it was so beautiful my breath caught in my throat. 

“Uh…”

He suddenly frowned. “I... I gotta pee.”

And without another word he walked off.

My heart beat quickened. In a split second, I made my decision. It was time to shed my good girl skin and become a rebel. I followed Ace, watched him stumble through the crowd into the downstairs bathroom. He swung the door, but it didn’t quite shut.

This was my chance. I had the condom in my back pocket. One drunken one-night stand and I will no longer be a virgin.

I grabbed a can of beer on my way, cracked it open, emptied it down my throat and followed Ace into the bathroom.

He stood before the toilet bowl trying to figure out his zippers when I walked in and shut the bathroom door. 

He turned around, swaying slightly, confused. “What are you…?”

All I could do was stare at the erection that sprung out of his jeans, wondering how the hell he had been able to hide it in his jeans in the first place.

“Who are you…? What…?”

I didn’t give him the chance to talk. I threw myself recklessly on him.

8 YEARS LATER

“What is wrong with me? What is wrong with you, Mark?!"

Violet’s voice was high and shrill, but beneath all that was the pain. She does a good job at pretending to be nonchalant, but I’ve known her all my life to recognize the pain. 

I shut the door to her apartment as gently as I could and began to tiptoe into the living room. It was almost sad hearing my best friend’s voice break as she spoke into the phone.

“Mark,” her voice cracked. She quickly cleared her throat. “Mark please…come on, I love you. Mark? Mark?!” she stamped her feet cursing. He must have hung up on her because she threw the phone across the room, cursing heavily. It was a miracle the phone didn’t slide off the chair to shatter to pieces on the floor. Already she had lost 2 other phones in the same fashion but for different guys. “F*ck you you f*ck*ng b*st*rd!” her voice broke again, and I heard her sniffing back tears but when I walked into the living room, I saw her, head be