by Eden O'Neill
They nodded, myself somehow the leader of all this. They were looking to me for guidance, and I knew less about this school and these woods than they probably did. Even still, they took my advice, some with their flashlights triggered on their phones. It really was getting that dark, and after pointing in various directions, I led the girls to scan those areas. I had my own party, but in the end, started racing off by myself.
“December!”
My name was called as I charged forward, no time at all to be going slow. I’d be okay and had to be way more than Ramses was currently.
What the hell is wrong with Royal?
Because this was dark, so dark. This was madness and if they really made Ramses stay out here to get that damn Court ring, they really were trying to kill him. Ramses said he could survive whatever they threw at him, but I was sure my sister thought that as well.
The whole thing made me sick, hard to even walk in the darkening woods. The only thing keeping me charging on was because I knew I might be the last thing keeping Ramses from a similar fate. He needed me like my sister didn’t have that night.
“Ramses, please, if you’re out there, say something!” My voice moved the trees, birds literally flying out of them and into the woods. In my ear, I heard similar calls, our friends searching for him too. I turned on my phone light the deeper I got into the woods, and waving it around, I caught an object before doubling back.
What the fuck?
My phone light caught three objects, people who scattered the moment the light hit them. The people had their faces covered, wearing black surgical masks over their faces like I’d seen in KPOP videos. Running off, two of them bounded away from the third in the center, and I raced that way, the other person sitting and slumped.
No way.
My light moved over a body sitting in a chair, literally hanging off it and slumped forward. They were naked down to their boxers and sneakers, shaking with a black bag over their head.
I dropped my phone.
“Ramses!” I ran like I’d never run before, faster than even in gym class and on stable ground. The body twitched at my sudden presence, long legs and lanky arms both bound at the wrists and ankles. Skin normally aglow with tan had turned pale, his body literally uncovered in the middle of the goddamn woods.
“Ramses,” I cried, immediately going for the bag. They’d secured it with string but it wasn’t tight. I pulled it off easily, and even though Ramses had twitched before, he wasn’t moving now.
He sat there, eyes closed, and I didn’t even know if he was breathing.
“Guys, help me!” I screamed, shaking him. I put my hands to his face. “Ramses? Ramses, look at me.”
He said nothing, icicles literally on his eyelashes and curly hair. Ripping my glove off with my teeth, I checked for a pulse.
“’Zona?”
My heart beat with the pulse at his neck, his face shifting. His cheek touched my hand, so cold. He smiled a little. “You’re so warm.”
“Oh my God, Ramses.” Shaking, I didn’t move, letting him take my heat. Unzipping my coat, I braved the weather to put it around his bare body. He shivered inside it, and using my hands, I warmed him.
His grin widened. “Mmm. That’s nice, and I have to say, you took long enough.”
I’d hit him if I wasn’t so scared for his life, and when our friends arrived, some of them actually screamed. I wasn’t surprised. Ramses didn’t look good.
He couldn’t even raise his head.
He kept it down while he’d spoken to me, and I shouted for someone to call an ambulance.
“No, don’t,” Ramses urged, moving into my heat. I had my arms completely around him now, giving him all the heat I had. “Don’t let them.”
He’d whispered it all in my ear, my head shaking. “You’re going to the hospital.”
“No. I haven’t been out here very long. Maybe an hour? The other guys left when they heard you coming.”
I’d seen them leave, but he was crazy if he thought he wasn’t going to see a doctor. He could have hypothermia or worse.
“Please, ’Zona,” he edged. He pressed his cheek against mine, and suddenly, he was warm too. He was raw heat, fire, and even more when I slid my arms inside the coat and around his naked body. We were both in the puffer coat’s heat, our own sauna created as his face rubbed mine. “Just get me home.”
The urgency there I didn’t want to listen to, but if he’d gone through all this to accomplish something and going to the hospital might undo that for some reason…
I held him tighter, telling our friends we just needed to get him home. They thought I was fucking crazy, and I did too.
And so was living in this town.
Six
Ramses
My friends were literally freaking the hell out. I was fine, and I told them that when I finally started to feel my toes. I really hadn’t been out there for that long, and despite that, they all decided to stay at my house that night. They all stayed, even December, which gratefully I hadn’t had to explain to my parents since they were out of town on business. They didn’t keep up with much in my life, but a couple dozen guys and girls parking it at my house for an evening, yeah, they might have a little issue with that. My friends worked in shifts while I shivered under heating blankets and in front of space heaters. The girls had been in charge of food duty. I had soup and chicken broth literally coming out of my ears by the end of it. I couldn’t sleep I’d been so full, and eventually, the majority of my friends bailed out about daybreak. They needed to get home and ready for school, and I needed to crash the hell in after a night slash weekend of freaking hell. The Court hadn’t gone easy on me, and it wasn’t expected. I needed to be a little uncomfortable to join their ranks, and truth be told, if they’d tried anything light on me, I would have fought for more. I had to make a statement.
I think I made it.
Nothing was sweeter than the look on Prinze’s face when I not only rose to the challenge but literally did everything they said all weekend. The guy had made me his bitch, and I acted like I enjoyed every moment. I wasn’t weak and showed no weaknesses. I went into those woods and put that bag on myself when it was all said and done. I sat there, not expecting the worse but ready for it. One would have had to pull me out of those woods before I walked out on my own.
I guess in the end that’s how it turned out.
I think it was around mid-morning the next day I finally found myself coherent enough to talk to people again. Like I said, the friends had left around dawn, and they all checked in as they did. I’d been in and out of it then, but I recalled pounding a fist or two. The guys had given me props while the girls looked like they’d wanted to kill me. I’d scared them and even more so when I refused to go to the hospital.
I almost regretted that a little bit now as I stirred in my bed, sunlight a bit too much for the day. I folded hands over my eyes, rubbing the sleep out. My arms still a bit weak, I returned them both to my sides. I found warmth there.
I found December.
I shifted, then froze… December on my bed and a lot closer than I recalled her being last night. True, she’d been the one in and out the most, looking after me the most. I thought she’d read me the riot act like most of the girls had about trying to join Court, but not only had December held her opinions about my decisions, she’d helped me. She’d directed all the girls and even some of the guys last night, making sure they stayed out and gave me anything I asked for or needed. She’d listened to me.
She’d been a friend.
This friendship was why our current position was so awkward now, the girl literally up on me, and with where my proximity to her had been, maybe something I hadn’t fought in the night. I settled an arm around her slowly, December really that close. She lay on top of my sheets but she was with me.
I shifted, staring down at her. She was fully clothed, the only thing missing her coat, and I turned completely, just looking at her for a second. She slept sou
ndly, looking like last night hadn’t even happened with her little arms tucked in and her face on my pillow.
Don’t do that. Don’t…
I gave myself only a few moments before coming back to my goddamn senses. In the end, I put space between us, retreating over to my side of the bed. Before I lay back down, I grabbed the shrug my grandma made me one Christmas located at the foot of my bed. I made sure it was around December tight before grabbing my phone. I had a couple calls to make.
Things were going to change when we were both awake.
Seven
December
Warmth radiated around me, undisturbed and subtle. It’d reminded me of a place I’d been in the middle of the woods, so much cold around me but there was one place where it wasn’t. It was under my coat with Ramses when I’d been trying to get some heat into him. He’d scared the shit out of me.
The bastard.
I only couldn’t yell at him because I’d been scared, and that fear I took into the night. Only when he was out of the worst of it did I finally get some sleep.
Poke.
Something touched my nose, something rubbery, and I opened my eyes to see messy brown hair, a grin, and a fucking pencil in Ramses Mallick’s fingers.
He pulled it back. “It’s morning, sleeping beauty. You can wake up now.”
Morning…
I launched up, a blanket sliding off me. I didn’t remember putting that on, but maybe I had. In any sense, I was too busy freaking out to think about that. I fished around the bed for my phone, but when I pulled it out, I found no messages from Rosanna.
“Don’t worry. I texted her you were staying at a friend’s house,” came beside me, Ramses when he sat up and dropped his pencil. He stretched long arms, that wingspan of his cutting across his entire king bed. His comforter had dropped to his lap, pooling in a heap at surprisingly chiseled hips. The guys had put him to bed basically the way we brought him in, all of us pretty frickin’ frantic that night and Ramses definitely had made it to the gym a time or two. He had a subtle definition only made out by the golden skin he got from being a mixture of races between his dad and mom. I might have noticed all that he had going on a little more had I not feared for his life last night.
Still pissed about that, I scanned my phone to check out whatever text message exchange had been done between Rosanna and “me.” There actually were a few freak-out texts on her end since my faux response Ramses sent wasn’t received until early this morning. He told her I was fine and sorry I didn’t check in. I was apparently up all night with Birdie studying and fell asleep. He actually managed to convince her to get me out of school for the day too, which was pretty nice. Seeing the time, we were pushing lunch now.
I lowered the phone. “Thanks.” Ramses knew about my living situation, how I wasn’t living with my dad. It’d come up a time or two in casual conversation, and I was happy it had now, since he got me off the hook.
Flashing another grin, Ramses took the next seconds to put a shirt on, one he’d found in his dresser drawers beside the bed. I honestly didn’t think any of his nakedness at all would bother me. I’d seen more than enough last night, but for whatever reason, I definitely noticed when he no longer wasn’t. Things felt a little easier, less awkward? Anyway, I was glad he did it.
He bunched the flannel at the sleeves. “No problem. The least I can do considering you kept me alive last night.”
Remembering that, the anger flooded back. He was so nonchalant about that. I smacked him. “And what the hell was all that about? How long were you out there? What happened—”
“I told you an hour, ’Zona.”
“Yeah, but what you didn’t tell me was the details. You texted me you were having a meeting, Ramses. A goddamn meeting not that.”
Seriousness lined a face normally laced with humor. He frowned. “That is how it started.”
“So what happened?”
“They agreed to a vote between all the members, the Collective. The vote happened and the decision was obviously made. They allowed me to pledge, the conclusion of which you walked in on in the woods.”
But it was so… fast. “Is it always that fast? The process?”
He clasped long fingers together, and when he frowned again, I assumed I was right about this being unusual.
“My dad was there,” he said, looking at me. “Flew right in just for the meeting. He’s on the council, but he was out of town, so I didn’t think he’d be there. I have a feeling the quick vote was all him. It was all set up and everything, happened within literally hours after the council agreed to let it happen. Those who didn’t show were allowed to vote via teleconference. A done deal. I got my request.”
I frowned now. “So he wanted you to join?”
“Did he want me?” Sarcasm laced his laughter. He bunched curls. “He obviously made this whole thing happen, rushed it to hell. Let’s just say after the council decided I got a big goddamn hug. His legacy continued.”
What was with the fathers in this town? Were they seriously all as crazy as mine and Royal’s? I shook my head. “And he didn’t mind you getting hazed?”
“He didn’t know about it.” His hands came together again. “At least the details of it, but it is all a part of the process. He could assume that’s what was going to happen next. After the vote, the good ole boys left, and the young guys came in, quickly taking me away.”
“What did they make you do?” I cringed saying it. Mira said Royal and the others had tortured a pledge all weekend.
Ramses leaned back in his bed pants and flannel, way too nonchalant about this for my liking. “Really, you saw the worst of it. On Friday, they took me away blindfolded and used scare tactics to try and freak me out. Loud noises and flashing lights. Minor stuff. Anyway, they left me that way in a basement that night. And it was a heated basement before you ask, so it really wasn’t that bad.”
Even still, I cringed again, but Ramses only smiled.
“I was fine, a little hungry but fine. They fed me gruel, some crap that looked like oatmeal but definitely didn’t taste like it. After meal times, I was forced to serve the guys their meals, then clean the entire Windsor House. It really wasn’t a big deal and concluded out in the woods, which you saw.”
“They could have killed you.”
“They wouldn’t. Honestly, they were about to take me in until they heard you and the search party. I heard them talking about it, ’Zona. They wanted to freak me out. They didn’t want to kill me.”
But they could have, and as far as I knew, they just might have had we not come.
“What do our friends know?” he asked, raising his knees under the sheets. “I mean, what do they think is going on?”
I’d had to dodge that bullet several times last night. I shook my head. “Next to nothing. Beyond thinking you’re crazy, they just believe you’re just going for Court again. They didn’t ask why.”
And maybe they didn’t need a reason. They hadn’t the first time. He was obviously legacy, so that was probably enough for them.
He nodded his head. “How did y’all even find me? I didn’t reach out or anything.”
“Royal,” I said, making his eyes widen. “I put the pressure on, and gratefully, he told me.”
I honestly didn’t think he would. I mean, why would someone without a soul want to help me, but he had. Ramses sat unusually silent with this information, and when I pushed his knee, I got his focus back. “What’s up? Why are you looking like that?”
He folded fingers into his curls. “Just wondering why he’d break code is all.”
“Code?”
He shrugged. “I don’t give a shit about it, but there’s a code. Court information doesn’t leave Court. If it does, there are consequences.”
“What kind of consequences?”
He grinned again. “I’ve never been Court before, remember? No idea, but Prinze will hear it for that. You must have really put the heat on him.”
Thinking abou
t how he put the heat on me, I faced away, hating that part of the confrontation most of all. When he pinned me in his room, I hadn’t stopped him.
At least not quick enough for my liking.
“So you’re in now?” I asked.
“Almost. I just need to get my ring, and we’re squared away and actually,” he said struggling a bit when he threw legs over the side of the bed. He was still a little weak obviously, and when he tried to stand, falling back down, I launched off the bed.
“Ramses, what the fuck?” I grabbed him, making him lie back down. “What are you doing?”
“I gotta go pick up my ring,” he said but all attempts at movement had him laying his head back. He folded a hand over his eyes. “As soon as I can bear weight again.”
This guy was seriously out of his mind. I pulled the blankets over him, and needless to say, he didn’t fight me this time.
He grinned. “Thanks, Mama.”
I shoved him. “You’re not going anywhere, and where’s your ring?”
“At the jewelry store,” he said, sighing. “They sized me for it at the start of the weekend. Told me I could pick it up if I survived.” He started to chuckle but stopped as he watched me leave the bed. “’Zona?”
Finding my coat on the floor, I put it on. “Do you need anything while I’m out? I’m going to go get your ring.”
“Uh?” he started to get up again but stopped, his arms dropping like weights to the bed. “Don’t do that. I’m going to get it.”
“Hmm. Will that be before or after you pass out? Shut the fuck up. I’m going to get your ring. Now, do you need anything else while I’m out? I have the day off thanks to you, so might as well use it.”
That logic had him eyeing me, but since he was so obviously in no state to argue, he pointed a finger to his dresser. “My wallet is on top. There’s a silver card in there. Get it out.”
I did, finding the card easily. It was metallic, a chrome finish, and actually had some weight to it.
Ramses sat up. “Show it to the guy at the jewelry counter, and he’ll know you’re legit. I called just this morning, and they said it was ready. You can borrow my car. The Benz is parked in the driveway.”