Her Legacy

X. Tattoos

"Man is not what he thinks he is, he is what he hides." André Malraux

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Chapter X – Tattoos

I didn't know that Providence had gated communities, but it did. Cece drove us into an exclusive looking estate that contained enormous mansions concealed by large trees and concrete walls.

We hadn't even driven a hundred feet into the estate before I could hear the party.

"Zoey and her brother, Kyle, pay off the neighbours," Cece explained.

"Don't Zoey's parents care that they have a hundred teenagers at their house?" I wondered out loud.

Cece laughed. "No. Zoey's parents love that their house hosts all the gatherings. It makes them feel important. They're obsessed with status. It's sickening. But they were close with my parents, so I suppose we've always got to put up with them."

That just seemed weird. How could throwing a house party give people status?

"But at the end of the day, we get the free beer and a cool party house." Cece parked Shea's truck behind another expensive looking car on the street. "And I didn't have to kiss anyone's ass to get it." She smirked.

We both climbed out of the truck and started the walk up to the house. I felt like we were parked a half mile away, what with the dozens of cars lining the street. I was now extra grateful for my sneakers.

Each house seemed to get bigger than the last. When we finally came to the source of the music, my jaw dropped. Through the large, wrought iron gates, was a three-storey white plantation house. But while the façade of the plantation was kept, that being the traditional columns and large windows, I could see through the windows and open doors that the interior was entirely modernised.

Cece pulled me by the hand through the front door of the mansion and my astonishment only grew. Everything was open and huge. I could see through the entire house, right to the open louvre doors that led out onto a large deck. The house was all timber, metallics, and glass. Everything looked new and expensive, yet every surface was filled with bowls of snacks, red plastic cups, and bottles of who knows what.

There were people everywhere. I only recognised a handful. The music was blaring through a speaker system, and there were gyrating bodies all around me. Cece still had hold of my hand as she pulled me through the crowd to the kitchen.

The modern kitchen boasted a mammoth marble island, and there were currently half-naked girls covering nearly every inch and guys did body shots off of them. Cece merely leaned over a few to grab some new cups and a bottle of vodka.

"I don't want any!" I cried over the noise. "My mom will kill me!"

"Are you sure?" Cece shouted back.

I nodded. Cece poured a few shots worth of vodka into her cup and then filled the rest of soda. She poured me just the soda. Once we had our drinks, we made our way outside onto the deck. I was grateful for the temperature change. All those bodies made it unbearably hot in there. Not that the deck was any less empty.

Deck was really a poor description of the impeccably landscaped outdoors of Zoey's house. There was a huge, sprawling timber deck that was littered with expensive lounges, tables, and bench seats. In the centre of the deck was a gorgeous looking infinity edge pool that just seemed to drop off into the rest of the extensive garden.

We heard the sound of a smack, and we both realised that someone had just slapped Cece's ass. Cece turned around to punch the asshole when she realised it was Jamie. She still hit him, only playfully. Then she proceeded to stick her tongue down his throat and I knew that my companion was no longer going to hold my hand during this party.