Game Over Boys, page 32
“I’m … numb.” I hug her back, just in case things go south. Then I can at least have this one hug with a sister I don’t even know. That I still want to know. Please don’t be one of Justin’s cronies. We draw back from one another and Delphine smiles, reaching out to stroke my hair from my face before she lets me go.
“Understandable. I’m always here if you need to talk about things like that. I won’t judge.” She smiles as she turns toward my room. “Let me get your clothes picked out for you.”
Something ugly, I’ll bet.
“Sounds good. Thanks.”
I shower in my own bathroom, dry off with a fluffy towel, and put on the horrible dress that was left out for me. It’s a white cotton minidress with lilacs printed on it, so short that I know I’m going to be pulling it down obsessively. It has a tie in the front, leaving this little peek-a-boo of skin beneath my breasts.
I hate it.
I wear it.
What else can I do?
Delphine does my hair and makeup, as usual. She even makes me sit on the edge of my bed so that she can help me into these chunky beige ankle-strap pumps. I feel like Mia Prior when I walk out into the hallway behind her, but Chasm doesn’t seem overly disappointed by the look.
His eyes light up and he rakes his fingers through his hair several times as I approach. For his part, he’s dressed like he always is: handsome, edgy, with a kiss of early aughts emo, and designer sneakers. These ones are bright red, and they pop like crazy against his black-on-black ensemble of a long-sleeved shirt and jeans.
“I like your eyeliner,” I mumble, and he grins, some of that strange sadness stripped from his features. He’s as terrible an actor as I am, but we both better get our crap together—and quick. Delphine’s already disappeared down the stairs, but Justin is a harsh and omnipotent critic.
“No shit? I put it on for you.”
He walks away first, and I hurry to catch up, trying not to obsess over that comment or any of the other one-liners he keeps chucking at me like bolts of lightning.
Lumen and Danyella are waiting at the table when we get downstairs, seated next to Caroline in her flowing off-white blouse and wide-legged brown slacks with purple heels. On a positive note, Justin and Raúl are missing.
“You kids are so lazy, sleeping your entire lives away. It’s practically noon.” Caroline yawns dramatically, reaching up to fix her hair, its color disturbingly similar to Parrish’s. I check the time on my phone. It’s ten-thirty, nowhere near to noon.
I take a seat, Chasm pulling out my chair for me. He scoots me back in and then grabs the spot beside me while Delphine settles down in Justin’s favorite spot—at the head of the table, obviously.
“We’ve been up for a while,” Lumen offers, smiling at me. I won’t lie: I want to slap her again. “I take it the two of you made up last night?” Her brows go up as she chuckles and—even if it’s all part of an act—I’m annoyed with her.
“Sorry to make you wait.” I smile pretty, too, lifting the silver lid off the eggs and hashbrowns underneath. I set the lid aside and pick up my fork. “Chasm and I had copious sex last night; there was a lot of cleanup.”
Delphine chokes on her food as Chas makes a strange sound in his throat.
“Sorry about my sloppy seconds.” Lumen adjusts her hand so that she can examine the ring on her finger and Danyella turns a death glare her way.
“What are you doing?” she hisses, shoving her bright yellow glasses up her nose. She’s got on white capris and a daisy-patterned crop top. Shoes are honey-colored wedges (I’ve never seen her wear the same pair twice). Very cute. But I can’t properly appreciate the outfit because I’m just sitting here praying she can get her bestie under control.
Don’t react. It feeds him. You are stoic and strong.
“Doing?” Lumen asks with a scoff, shoving up from the table suddenly and rising to her feet. “She’s forgiven Chasm, but she won’t let go of Parrish either. You slept with him at the camp last night? What the hell is wrong with you?” Her eyes flash, and I can’t tell if she’s serious about what she’s saying or if she’s warning me.
Doesn’t matter.
I take another bite of my food as Chasm bristles with annoyance beside me. He slams his fork onto the table, but I beat him to the punch line.
“Tit for tat. You slept with my fiancé; I slept with yours.” I cover my ass (but mostly Parrish’s) and act like this isn’t such a big deal at all. Lumen stares at me before huffing in annoyance and taking off.
“Good riddance,” Chas grumbles, returning to his food as Delphine tries to laugh the situation off, tucking some hair behind her ear.
“Well, this is awkward.” She pokes at her food with her fork, like a nervous nobody. It’s driving me nuts. Clearly, this girl is a genius. I would just love to know whose side she’s really on. “My sister’s a cheater now, too.”
I ignore the barb as Danyella sighs heavily.
“I’m sorry about Lumen,” she says, pushing her plate back from the edge of the table. “She’s going through a lot right now.”
“Really?” Delphine asks, doe eyes wide, lashes fluttering as she blinks innocently at Danyella. “Which part? Selling her family estate and moving to Bellevue? Or the rumors about her father’s affair with his financial advisor?”
Ouch.
Danyella purses her lips and stands up, trying to force a smile for me. I don’t know why she and Lumen were here other than that Justin essentially blackmailed them into it. If there was something they were trying to achieve with me, I don’t know what it is. All I know is there’s nothing to be gained by trying to talk to them there. Whatever news they might have will need to wait.
“I’ll go find Lumen.” She says that like anyone else cares, taking off out the doors and heading in the direction of the water.
Personally, I’m wondering if Justin wouldn’t let Chasm and me take the boat out. Could we talk freely out there? Or is that way too much to hope for? I’m desperate to know about the video Chas made and how they pulled it off, how they convinced Justin to accept it as proof. It was set up to look like he’d cheated on me long before the directive, a surefire blow to my heart and my ego. Smart move. Good foresight.
“Where’s Justin?” I ask as Caroline pauses with a bite of honeydew melon to her perfect mouth. She sets her fork down, staring at me, and I realize I’m meant to correct myself. “Daddy, I mean. Where is he?”
“He’s off to enjoy the fruits of his labors,” my new stepmom remarks, smiling privately into her napkin as she dabs at her lips. She offers her phone up to me and I take it, reading the headline and feeling a tightening of anxiety in my gut.
Veronica’s kidnapping is big news. Huge. It’s everywhere.
Probably because her parents—the Fishers—were just indicted on embezzlement charges.
Ah. So here we go. I kill their kids; Justin ruins the rest of their lives. Not that it matters, just salt in the wound, right? But holy cow, the man is vindictive.
Now I’m supposed to get one of the others on the list next? What was I thinking?!
About saving lives, that’s what I was thinking.
Great. What unsuspecting Whitehall teen do I get to ‘murder’ next? I wonder if I couldn’t just store the whole of Parrish’s graduating class (along with a handful of sophomores and juniors) in Laverne’s vault? We could get a few more composting toilets and air mattresses down there, surely.
Right.
We need a better plan.
“He’ll be back for dinner; we’re going out as a family,” Caroline continues, her careful makeup unable to hide her bruises, a matching set to my own. I just smile blandly back at her before I dig into my food. Under the table, Chasm’s fingers wrap my hand and squeeze. “Somewhere nice, hopefully. I’m owed that much at least.” Her lips twitch as she looks down at her plate, and then she sets her fork to the side, resting her forearms on the edge of the table. Ah, the whole it’s rude to have elbows on the table but somehow forearms aren’t rude trick. “Especially since I took care of your father’s little problem after the wedding.”
It’s a jibe to remind both Chasm and me about the mysterious blood on the wedding dress. Right in front of Delphine, too. Damn it. My sister continues on with her reign of obliviousness.
“Gosh, Caroline.” I smile mischievously, bolstered by last night’s discovery.
Chasm is not a cheater. I knew it. I should’ve known it from the first second. Which, of course, brings me to Maxim Wright. I have an idea on how to test him, too. Stubborn prick.
“Yes, darling?” she replies, just as cheekily.
“Daddy seems to have come around since the first time he talked to me about you.” I tap my lips and pretend to be deep in thought. “What was it that he said about you? That you were a ‘user and a loser’?” I make quotes around the words, and then lean in. I do, in fact, put my elbow on the table. Gasp. “You know he’s still in love with Tess, right? Both men you wanted like her more than you.”
“I’m going to shave your head next time we’re at the salon,” Caroline remarks with all the politeness of a pit viper. I get the idea that she’s my ‘minder’ for the day, here to watch me while Justin is away. Delphine pauses with her fork halfway to her mouth and turns this glare on our stepmother that gives me the chills.
She looks … murderous. Pardon the pun. Well, maybe it’s not even really a pun? She truly and utterly looks like she’s plotting Caroline’s death as we speak.
“Seeing as Justin didn’t ask you to sign a prenup, he must really mean till death do you part, eh? You’re not getting out of this marriage unless one of you is buried.” As soon as I speak the words, I almost feel bad about them. “You’re basically trapped in a domestic violence situation.” I add this last part with a wave of unnecessary sympathy, and that just triggers the hell out of her.
Caroline stands up and comes around the table. Before I know it, she’s backhanded me as hard as Justin, and Chasm is lunging out of his chair in her direction. I put a hand up to stop him, but it’s Delphine that intervenes.
She snatches Caroline’s arm, digging her manicured pale pink nails into the sleeves of the woman’s blouse. Caroline turns an aghast look on my sister before shaking Delphine’s arm off with a violent jerk of her body.
“Who the hell do you think you are?” Delphine continues, getting up Caroline’s face. “You’re the stepmother here. You don’t think Daddy loves his daughters more? If you touch my sister again, I’ll kill you.” Delphine looks at me with a smile as I sit there dumbfounded and silent. Chasm curls his lip in disgust at the situation, but he doesn’t hit Caroline, which I appreciate. “If she bothers you again, just let me know.”
My sister takes off, her heeled boots loud on the marble floors.
I hold up my hand to my cheek. Too soon after the last beating. The pain is in my jaw, in my teeth, even my right eye is throbbing. Chasm notices, filling a cloth napkin with ice from his water glass. He holds it up to my face, and I take it. The situation mimics what happened last night, our roles flipped.
“If she touches you again, I agree with Delphine.” Chasm stares at Caroline, but she doesn’t notice or hear him, staring after my sister with a determined glint in her gaze. That’s a mistake. Chas is the type to sit and wait until the perfect revenge plot strikes. He serves it ice-cold.
Caroline shakes her head and leaves us, a strange hush falling over the solarium.
At least the flowers smell nice.
“How the hell did you survive this alone?” Chasm asks softly, putting a hand on the side of my head as he studies me. “You know that I can’t stay here today, right? I’m working part-time for my dad and Justin on Milk Carton stuff.”
I didn’t know that. Not sure how I feel about it either. Chasm spending all day with my father, that makes me uneasy. It feels like another threat.
“Is this an optional part-time job?” I query politely, and his lips twist in amusement.
“I’m a hacker; you’re a writer. That’s what we do now.” Chas pauses when his phone pings. He reads the text before sliding it over to me with a sigh. “See what I mean?”
In the writing cave today, Princess. Mr. Volli is waiting for your future masterpiece. His words, not mine. I told him not to hold his breath.
Right.
I turn to Chasm, but he has this grim half-smile on his face.
“Come get your phone before I leave?” he asks, and I nod. We walk together through the foyer and then out the front, and I shamelessly ogle Chasm’s ass as he leans into the Porsche to get my clutch. He passes it over, complete with spy cam. Err, iPhone. Same thing, different names.
“A rose by any other name,” I say with a long sigh, and Chas stares at me. I am quoting Shakespeare at random, so …
“Damn it, don’t do this to me before I go.” He takes my head between his palms and kisses my forehead tenderly, a man about to head off to war.
“Don’t do anything to jeopardize yourself, you hear me?”
“Can you agree to the same?” he retorts, but I don’t answer that because I can’t. I will jeopardize myself again if needed. I’m almost sure that I’m going to have to. “That’s what I thought.” He kisses me again, expression pointed. “No more heroic deeds, Mrs. McKenna. Just don’t do it.”
He steps away from me, walking backwards for a minute before he turns around, slips into the Porsche, and turns right at the gate.
Some part of me feels like he’s going to die.
I can’t shake that creeping chill for the rest of the week.
I’ve never been so happy to see a Saturday morning in all my life.
The custody agreement states in perfectly clear language that Tess’ parenting time begins at exactly seven am. It’s a minute till, and Chasm and I are dressed and ready to go. We’re just waiting for those few final seconds to tick down before we head outside and hop into the Porsche.
That is … if Justin lets us leave.
“On our way out the door already, eh?” he asks when we come down to the foyer. He’s drinking coffee out of a mug that says I’d Rather Be Hacking. Real cute. “Well, have fun, kiddos.” He grins at me and chuckles before moving into his office, Raúl stuck to his ass like an undersea barnacle. Nice cat eye frames on those glasses though. He even has a matching turquoise lighter that he flicks antagonistically in my direction.
I flip Raúl off as he goes, but Chas snatches my hand in midair and gives me a punishing look of admonition.
“Don’t antagonize a loose cannon, Dakota.” He drops my hand and then stifles a yawn, checking his phone for the time. That last horrible minute must’ve already passed, right? “God, I’m tired. Can we nap when we get to Laverne’s?”
“Sorry about that,” I murmur absently, still staring after Justin. He’s just going to let us leave? How? Why? It doesn’t make any sense. I don’t like how chipper his mood seems to be this morning.
“Sorry?” Chasm repeats, opening the front door for me and allowing in a sunny summer morning. “Are you apologizing for keeping me up with sex every night?”
I turn a wide-eyed look on him, but he seems to find something either sensual or funny in that statement. Maybe both. He’s not wrong per se—we’ve been having a lot of, um, fun—but that’s not what I meant.
“Sorry you had to get up so early when you came home from Milk Carton so late.” I clarify my statement, moving ahead of him onto the porch and then down the stairs. I’m foaming at the mouth to get out of here. I’d climb the fence all over again, and I’d do it without Maxx and Chas’ help this time. “Pervert.”
I’m reaching for the door handle of the Porsche when two cars pull up outside the gate: Tess’ new-old vintage ride, and the super obvious black SUV full of bodyguards. Chasm and I exchange a look as we walk the length of the gravel drive and then use the smaller of the two gates to let ourselves out.
No alarms. No explosions. No gunfire raining down from the trees above us.
It’s deceptively peaceful this morning.
Tess is already climbing from the car, but I notice that she doesn’t bother pulling onto the property. The large drive-through gates are opening of their own accord—well, Justin’s accord—but she ignores them, putting her hands on my shoulders and looking into my eyes.
“Are you two okay?” she asks, and then she gives Chas a grateful/annoyed look as he walks up to stand behind us. “I’m not thrilled that you left and came over here, Kwang-seon, but at the same time, thank you for watching over my daughter.”
Chasm gets tongue-tied the way he does around Tess sometimes, reaching up to rub at the back of his head.
“Yeah, uh, not a problem. My pleasure, seriously.” There’s something about the way he says ‘pleasure’ that makes Tess’ eye twitch. “You want me to drive Dakota back or …?” He doesn’t finish the sentence because he knows that Tess will want to take me with her, even if he’d prefer to keep me by his side.
“Why don’t you go back to Laverne’s? Dakota and I have some errands to run today.” Tess smiles at him, but I sense a trap lurking beneath her civil expression. Unease colors my insides, and I shift nervously on my feet. This woman, she’s a pit bull.
Chas hesitates slightly, but at a nod from me, he steps close, brackets my face between his hands, and kisses the breath out of me.
“I’ll be waiting, Naekkeo,” he murmurs, giving Tess a chagrined sort of look before taking off.
We climb into her car and wait for him to leave before we do, a prudent move with Justin around.
I am a bit disappointed to see that Parrish isn’t with Tess. Makes sense though. Why bring him within reach of the devil’s idle hands? Maxx … I’m sure he’s still fully committed to his lies, but I’m going to break him this weekend, I swear it. I have a plan.
“Do you have your phone?” Tess glances at me, and I shake my head.
“Chas has it.” I sink into the seat, overwhelmed with a sense of stark relief. I’m alive. I’m driving away from Justin’s. Nobody else that I love has been murdered (yet). It’s a good day.
“Did you hear about Veronica Fisher?” Tess asks, surprising me. I shrug my shoulders loosely, keeping my gaze focused out the windshield. “There’s no need to hold back: I know that Justin is involved. The Fishers’ daughter goes missing and they’re immediately arrested for embezzlement? They did him wrong, there’s no doubt about that.” Tess swallows, hands tight on the steering wheel, and risks looking over at me as she asks her next question. “Is Veronica dead?”
