Bad Influencer by Kenzie Reed

Chapter Thirteen

Jillian

Friday, May 29, is the day of the official park opening. Thank heavens we were able to hand the triplets off to the Sanders this morning, because our suite is very crowded. Fayette, Wisteria, Trevor, Edith, Bronwyn, and Ari mill around as Elliott and I get ready for the official opening ceremony.

I fuss with my hair in front of the mirror in the living room.

“You look lovely, dear!” Fayette trills delightedly. I have the feeling that she’d say that if I were wearing a gunny sack. And that’s not even a dis. She’s not the type to give phony compliments, she’s just a woman who sees the best in people. I admit when I’m wrong, and where Fayette Bradford is concerned, my preconceived notions of her were completely off base.

She calls out to Elliott, who’s in his bedroom. “Doesn’t she look lovely?”

“It would be unprofessional of me to comment on the appearance of a company employee!” he shouts back. Of course, after that roller coaster ride kiss, we’re a little past that. Nobody here will ever know that, though. In the frenzy of preparation for the park opening, it’s apparently been forgotten—swept away so cleanly it might never even have happened. At least, as far as Elliott is concerned—I can’t stop thinking about it.

“She’s an independent contractor, so it’s fine!” Fayette protests. “Child-bearing hips, dear!”

“Mom!”he bellows, sounding outraged.

Wisteria, who as far as I can understand is Elliott’s unofficial younger sister, is on the floor next to us, doing a complicated yoga pose that would make Cirque du Soleil acrobats wince in sympathy. Trevor is standing stiff and upright, arms folded across his chest, occasionally shooting me narrow-eyed looks of distrust. Dick.

“Someone’s chakras need balancing!” Wisteria sings out at Trevor. “And it’s not me!”

He blows out an exasperated breath. “Someone needs their head examined. And it’s definitely you.”

“Get a room,” I advise them. That draws horrified splutters of denial from both of them.

“Just kidding,” I say. “You’re both completely opposite and incompatible.”

“Thank you,” Trevor sniffs, looking offended.

“I mean, one of you’s certifiable and the other one is annoyingly normal.”

“Thank you,” both of them chorus. And then they stare at each other indignantly.

“Obviously, she meant me,” Trevor huffs. “The normal one.”

“Oh, sure. Obviously.” Wisteria smirks up at him from her position on the floor, and I could swear Trevor almost smiled at her, but it’s gone in a flash and he goes back to his stern scowl of disapproval.

Fayette leans in close to me, smiling. “So, those pictures of you two together. I mean, I thought I saw some real chemistry there. Am I right?”

I glance down at Wisteria. “No filter on this one, huh?”

“No filter,” Wisteria agrees, resting her feet on her shoulders. “Not a Clarendon, not a Juno, not a Valencia.”

“Nice cultural reference there.” I shake my head at Fayette. “We are not dating. Your son is a sweetheart, but we’re not dating.” I glance up at Trevor, who’s watching me with a suspicious expression.

“A sweetheart,” Edith muses. “Not sure if anyone’s ever referred to him in quite that fashion before.”

“Now, there are going to be a million cameras pointed at Elliott. How are we going to get him to reveal the true, beautiful colors of his aura?” Wisteria asks.

I stare down at her. “I think I speak for everyone when I say, huh?”

“If Wisteria ever learned to speak English, she’d be dangerous,” Trevor growls. “In normal-speak, how are we going to make Elliott smile?”

“If Trevor ever unclenched his butt, he’d be almost bearable,” Wisteria snarks.

“My butt’s doing just fine, thanks.”

“I mean, it’s not the worst,” Wisteria concedes. And she’s not wrong. I mean, the man is like 95 percent muscle. I still prefer Elliott’s butt, of course.

Damn it. Elliott really has turned me into a butt woman.

Trevor turns his back on her and glowers at me, and mouths something that looks a lot like “prison”. I just smirk. I don’t actually think they’re compatible, I just know that saying that will annoy Trevor, which is a petty form of revenge.

“We do need to find a way to make him look more like he’s having fun and less like he’s passing a kidney stone,” Edith muses. She glances at me. “Your thoughts, Jillian?”

“I’ve got plans,” I say.

“Ooh, of course you do, you clever girl! What are these plans?” Fayette says excitedly.

“Top secret. If I revealed them, it’d ruin everything.”

“That means she’s winging it,” Bronwyn announces.

“Bronwyn! How dare you? I am not winging it. I do, actually, have a plan,” I say indignantly.

Ari, who’s just been watching us all with amusement twinkling in his eyes, flaps his arms like wings. I flip him off.

“I can hear you!” Elliott calls out from the bedroom. “All of you!”

“Elliott, come out here and let me see what you’re wearing!” Fayette shouts. “Show everyone how handsome you are! Are you wearing the Bradford tie? And the pocket square?”

“There’s a tie and pocket square?” I squeal, delighted. “Special ones?”

“Oh, he hasn’t shown you?” Fayette’s eyebrows lift in surprise. “It has Ferris wheels and carousel horses and clowns. The Bradford men have worn those ties and pocket squares at special events since the first year the park was founded. It brings good luck. I mean, if you believe in that sort of thing.”

“You have to make your own luck. I’m going to generate positive energy now.” Wisteria closes her eyes and starts humming loudly.

“Wisteria. Go somewhere else and let the grownups talk,” Trevor snaps.

She crosses her eyes at him. “Your chakras are constipated.”

“That’s not how chakras work.” He glares down at her. Then he looks at me and shakes his head. “She just makes stuff up.”

Wisteria opens one eye. “That’s how my chakras work!”

“Dear?” Fayette shouts. “Come out and show Jillian your tie! You look so adorable in that tie! Remember the first time you wore it? You were five!”

Total silence.

“Elliott?” Trevor calls out.

More silence.

“You okay, buddy?” Trevor calls out and shoots me a dirty look, like this is somehow my fault.

I hurry over to the bedroom door. The bedroom is empty. “I think he’s gone!” I call out.

Everyone crowds in. “Maybe he’s in the closet?” Bronwyn suggests. “Or under the bed?”

“Window’s open.” Trevor’s brows draw together in a scowl. He peers out the window onto the sidewalk. “We’ve got a runner!”

We all crowd around the window in time to see Elliott’s heels churning up dust as he races around the corner and disappears.

“But we need to go over our plans!” Fayette pouts. “He needs to practice smiling!” She shouts out the window “Elliott, get back here, I know you can hear me!”

He’s long gone.

“We’ll form a search party,” Bronwyn declares. She reaches into her voluminous shoulder bag and pulls out some walkie talkies.

Trevor shoots me a look. “Those walkie talkies look familiar,” he murmurs in a low, threatening growl. “I think I found your co-conspirators.” Just my luck. He recognizes the walkie-talkies from the night I scaled the billboard.

“Pure coincidence,” I mouth back.

“The first thing we need to do is establish a perimeter,” Bronwyn announces bossily.

“You realize he’s not in actual danger?” Trevor hitches a brow. “Aside from maybe tripping and wrenching an ankle as he’s running away from us?”

“She wants a mission,” Ari defends her, bristling angrily at Trevor. Ari has the build of a mop with curly hair and weighs about as much as one of Trevor’s thighs. But he’s a loyal boyfriend to the end. “She is very good at missions.”

“Oh, I know!” I cry out. “I actually have a mission for her. This is very important.” I take my tablet from my purse and pull up a picture of Lauren, which I show to Bronwyn.

“Her name is Lauren Smallwood. She used to work for Bradford Family resorts and now she works for Park City Properties, and she snuck in here a few days ago. Elliott thinks she was basically being a corporate spy. If you see her, tell security immediately,” I say. “She could be in disguise.” I don’t actually think she’d try to come to the park, which is great, because it will keep Bronwyn busy all day.

Delighted, she and Ari set out. As soon as the door shuts, Trevor shoots a scowl at me. “My security team is on the lookout for her, and we even have communication devices that were not purchased at Toys R Us.”

“Well, that doesn’t sound like any fun.” I shove my tablet back in my purse. “All right, let’s go find Elliott.”

Trevor, Fayette, Wisteria and I leave the suite and fan out in search of our target.

Unfortunately, Elliott proves surprisingly good at dodging us. Trevor comes up with the brilliant idea of tracking him using the company phone, but Elliott, that evil genius, just leaves his phone at the operations building.

At 10 am, Bronwyn radios me. Her voice is bursting with excitement.

“I found her!” she squalls.

She’s got to be kidding me. “You what now?”

“She was wearing a ratchet black wig, but I saw right through her. Nobody gets past Bronwyn Davies! She’s being hustled out of the park as we speak. I’ve also learned a few new swearword combinations that I’m going to try out at our next protest.”

I shoot Trevor a knowing look. “Not to brag that my best friend beat your security team, but neener, neener, neener.”

“Prison,” he mouths at me.

“Dream on. I’m fulfilling my contract. I’m totally killing it,” I scoff.

* * *

The ribbon cuttingceremony is at 11 a.m., at the entrance to the park. Fayette, Wisteria, Edith and I get there at 10:30 and join Trevor and a group of security guards by the temporary podium. Elliott’s going to give a short speech and then use a pair of giant scissors to cut the ribbon that’s strung between the two log posts that frame the entryway.

It’s 10:45 and I want to pummel him. He joins us at the podium, and I shoot a dirty look in his direction.

“Elliott, really!” Edith chides him. “We thought you’d been kidnapped.”

“No such luck.” He shakes his head. “I walked around waving a wad of bills and shouting ‘I’m rich AF! I’m worth a king’s ransom!’ but there were no takers.”

“Imagine that. Also, you asked for it,” I say, and Wisteria, Fayette and Edith step aside as I unleash my secret weapon. The triplets run out from behind them, bearing down on him like heat-seeking missiles.

He pastes a big fake smile on his mouth for the cameras before leaning in and whispering in my ear. “I’ll get you for this”.

I shrug and smile.

They climb him like a tree. He ends up delivering the speech and then cutting the ribbon with Michelle on his shoulders, Michael on his back, and Mary hanging off his left leg.

I knew he’d be so stressed out that he’d look utterly miserable at the ribbon cutting ceremony, and urging him to smile would just make things worse. Elliott’s pained grimace-smile is worse than his angry glare. I also knew that the triplets make him smile, and the comic relief of having the kids climb on him would delight the press.

Trevor nods at me. “Not bad,” he says, as the children reluctantly trudge back to their parents. “All you’ve got to do is keep it up at this level for the next three months.”

I scowl at him. “Aren’t you a ray of sunshine. And it was considerably better than not bad, thank you very much.”

Customers are streaming in now, a river of humanity pouring through the gates. The grand opening looks to be a huge success.

Throughout the whole opening ceremony, Cameron stands next to the podium with a look of stony disapproval stamped on his face. Right now, he’s watching Trevor and me with a disapproving glower. I snort in annoyance and make my way through the crowd.

“Yes, Cameron, you got me. I am planning on simultaneously seducing Trevor and Elliott.”

Cameron shrugged. “Wouldn’t be the first time someone went after one of Elliott’s friends just for the fun of it. As I’m sure he’s told you.”

I roll my eyes. “I appreciate that you’ve appointed yourself his knight protector, but Elliott’s a big boy and he can take care of himself. I’m not dating Elliott, and I’m not fooling around with Trevor. Calm down. Enjoy life.”

“Don’t tell me how to be his friend. You don’t know his history. Or, frankly, his lousy taste in women.” Cameron fixes me with a cold stare. “Elliott’s high school girlfriend said she was seeing someone else, dumped him by text, and broke his heart. Then when Elliott caught his girlfriend cheating on him, it just about destroyed him. If I can do anything to prevent that from happening again, I will.”

“That would never happen with me,” I reply heatedly. “Even if I were dating Elliott, which I’m not, I never have, and never will, cheat on a man.”

“That’s exactly what a cheater would say, though, isn’t it? Amber and Lauren didn’t exactly announce their intentions.”

I bite back a snarky remark. He’s annoying as hell, but he’s got Elliott’s best interests at heart.

Instead, I walk away from him and make my way back through the crowd, to the side of the podium. Elliott is there, facing off against a smug man with a squarish face and thick black hair that’s frozen into gelled waves.

“Manny, if I find out that you had anything to do with what happened, I will take you down personally,” Elliott snaps at the man.

That’s got to be Manny Campbell, owner of Park City Properties.

“Why? What happened?” Manny smirks at him.

Before Elliott can haul off and flatten the guy’s nose, I throw my arm around his waist and maneuver him away. We make our way past a wall of security guards, to the back of the podium, before Elliott swings around to glower at me.

“Fake a smile. Reporters are watching.”

“You! You tripletted me,” he says, jabbing an accusing finger in my face.

“Oh yeah, I did.” I grin. “And I’ll do it again. Watch me.”

“The Sanders are going home tomorrow. They’re taking the triplets with them. Then what are you going to do?”

“I’ll do a nationwide search. I’ll rent triplets. I could even use fake triplets, you wouldn’t know. Triplets aren’t identical.”

He throws back his head and laughs, and a thousand flashbulbs go off in our faces. From across the podium, Trevor gives me a thumbs up. The tiniest bit of unease bubbles up inside me. I did just manipulate Elliott, big time, to get him to smile. But his smile was genuine. His happiness was genuine. And selling Happy Elliott means that the Bradford family gets to keep the park and all of their employees get to keep their jobs.

That’s all that matters. Isn’t it?