Bad Son Rising Read Online Free PDF Page A

and they laughed together as he mopped up the liquid off his top lip. “No. No wood. I waited until I got back to my room to rub one out that night.”
    “Ewww.” Liz’s top lip curled up in mock disgust. “So, you danced with her and what happened? Didn’t you pour on the famous Moore charm?”
    “I dunno. At the end of the dance, she just pulled away and hightailed it out of there. She didn’t look at me the rest of the night. I tried getting her attention, but she wouldn’t even look at me.” Giving Liz a perplexed look, “What are you smiling at?”
    Liz sat back, smug smile on her face and shook her head. “You dumbass. I seriously give you too much credit for knowing women. This girl was totally feeling everything you were. She’s just shy and probably not overly experienced with guys, and face it, your looks can be totally intimidating.”
    “Nah, she wasn’t into me, Liz.”
    “Dumbass, she was totally smitten. And scared. Falling for a guy like you is just like staring into the face of heartbreak and if she wasn’t one of these cheerleader bitches like we go to school with, then she was just overwhelmed and went into protect mode.”
    Elisabeth Pierpont van der Heyden may as well have thrown a bucket of ice water over Zac Moore’s head. For the first time in his life, he realized that he did in fact have the longing to deeply love someone, and with that realization, came a new found fear.
    Zac shivered in the dank Parisian night air as he wondered if he was just too fucked up by his jaded past to ever successfully understand or relate to another person with any true level of intimacy.

Chapter Three
Spring Semester Sophomore Year
Wee Burn Country Club
Darien, Connecticut
    Zac walked into the elite country club’s banquet room with Liz’s mom, Neelie van der Heyden, on his arm. The older woman smiled up at him, proud to have such a handsome young man escorting her in.
    “Did you know it wasn’t until 1999 that women had full usage of this club?”
    “I’m sure you were behind that change, Mrs. V,” Zac whispered conspiratorially.
    “Truth is, I hate this place,” she confided as Zac brought her to their table.
    “There are other clubs in Darien.”
    “Yes, but not for us.”
    Zac nodded, understanding that their old money and social register position meant certain protocol must be followed. Things were expected. Generation after generation. And membership at Wee Burn Country Club was one of those things. Just as it was expected of Liz and other members of the younger generation to be present at certain Wee Burn events throughout the year.
    “Mrs. V, Liz and I need to bust you loose. You need a lost weekend. A weekend where we all have secrets to keep.”
    Smiling, she squeezed his hand. “You are a breath of fresh air, Zac Moore. If I were thirty years younger, I’d give that daughter of mine a run for her money with a boy like you.”
    Squeezing her hand back, Zac leaned over and kissed her cheek. Between his dad’s new family and the van der Heyden’s, Zac had learned more about family in the past two years than he’d ever known. Here was this sophisticated lady paying him compliments and not trying to get in his pants. She was truly thrilled that he and her daughter were inseparable and treated him like a son, not a boy toy. Moments like this made Zac wish he’d grown up in another family or in a social circle where there were boundaries between the parents and children.
    Growing up in affluent Newport Beach, California, there was no graceful aging of the women. They needed the next high after their latest trip to the plastic surgeon. And if that fix happened to be a thirteen year old boy, so be it. If said thirteen year old was the son of a friend, even better. Access granted.
    As the room began to fill, Zac wondered about the stories of the club’s members. At Wee Burn Country Club, he could assume they were all old money like the van der Heyden’s. As if sensing his