by Mallory Fox
Flick curls into me, a sigh of contentment coming from her lips.
I look back.
Watching me leave from the entrance of the club is a disheveled Seth. Eyes blazing with crazy, chest rising and falling, panting, lips parted with desire.
He mouthes something but I can’t hear him.
The sight of him is enough to send my body into a panic though.
As we drive off, the most satisfying thing to see is a trickle of blood running down the side of Seth’s head as he holds my glittering gold shoe with a five-inch dagger heel in his hand. Like some twisted and dark Prince fucking Charming.
A nervous laugh escapes me as I take out my phone, adding an unexpected item to my shopping list.
Looks like I’m buying another pair of killer shoes tomorrow.
Chapter 5
Pearl
Gathered in the hallway outside the old lecture hall the next day are the girls I was hoping to avoid. Denise Marques, Claudia Livingstone, and Jennifer Kingsley. They swarm around me like bees to a honey pot, crowding me. Which is not great given how hungover I am from the copious amount of cocktails I drank at the club last night.
My stomach is intent on tormenting me, and the light from outside occasionally sneaks past my shades to burn my retinas off.
I would rather throw up in a corner somewhere and huddle back down into bed than attend lectures.
I’m also, much to my disgust, quite bruised from my run in with Seth.
I have his hand prints all over my arms, which oddly hurt less than my hip where I bashed it against the wall.
I really hope I don’t see him today. I need a whole day to recover from his attention.
As soon as the girls surround me, there’s a load of squeals and Denise gives me one of those fake air kisses while Jennifer hugs the life out of me. Claudia doesn’t do either but I didn’t expect her to. She’s never been the touchy-feely type, not even when when she was trying to get herself into my close knit-circle.
“Pearl! You’re back! We missed you.” Lies.
“Oh my days, you look divine. Did you diet?” More lies.
All I can do is nod and take a step back from the group, just so I can catch a breath and scan the room for a seat. I’m being rude, not really engaging, not taking off my sunglasses to greet the three of them, not playing the game. But I don’t care. I’m feeling sick as a dog and the last thing I want to do is talk or make eye contact with anyone.
The girls, well at least Jennifer and Denise, mirror me, stepping back to give me space, allowing me to be as rude as I want without drawing attention to it.
Oh, the perks of being a Darlington.
“So Pearl, was that your elusive brother at the opening ceremony yesterday? When will we get to meet him?” Claudia asks, fluffing her hair, eyes seeming to light with glee. Claudia is such a slut. She just wants to be the first to bag him.
“Step-brother,” I say, correcting her. “And if you want to introduce yourselves I’m not stopping you.”
“Oh that’s right, your father remarried to save his company.” She snorts a laugh, sounding like a pig I kid you not. I would prefer to slap the smugness out of Claudia’s face but that would take too much physical effort.
Denise and Jenn shoot me sympathetic looks.
No need.
My father remarrying for money is a rumor that’s been flying around since actually it happened. My past, no matter how much money I pay Sully to bury it, keeps resurfacing in all the wrong places. I’m used to it.
Finally, it’s Denise who sighs. “Claudie was just teasing, weren’t you Claudie? We didn’t see you all summer so we felt a bit put out when you didn’t turn up to the party last night. We heard you went to Vendetta… with Flick?”
I can’t ignore the slight dig in her voice but I should. Denise is actually okay. Super smart too, hence why she’d be an amazing student to partner with.
Damn Seth.
“Oh, we popped out to the club for one to celebrate moving in together. You know me and Flick.”
They nod their heads like they do.
“So soon then? We’ll all go out like old times?”
“We will.” I can guarantee Flick will make sure of it.
Around us, class is starting to fill up. Brandishing a smile that doesn’t reach my eyes, I excuse myself and make my way to the front of the theatre where hardly anyone sits.
I’m just settling into an empty seat in the first row, opening my bag to take out my books and files, when I sense someone sit next to me. As though there isn’t a whole row behind me or anything. I groan inwardly when I see who it is . Who else would it be?
Seth.
The whole room is hushed for the start of the lecture but it feels like everyone is staring at the two of us. I’m just thinking about moving seats when the lecturer arrives and a some students sit at the far end of the row. To get away from him I’m going to have to make a scene. Not that I care If I do, but if all he’s doing is sitting there and he’s really here to work then it shouldn’t be a problem, right?
Seth reaches into his bag and takes out his books.
“What are you doing here?” I hiss.
“Studying, what does it look like?”
“Do you have to sit next to me?”
“I like the middle row at the front, it’s the best place for a dictaphone.” And to my surprise, that’s exactly what he does. I watch him for a moment set up the mic and attach it to his smartphone.
I’m pleasantly pleased to see a slight bump on his head where I whacked him with my shoe. I’m expecting him to say something else, maybe about last night, but he doesn’t look at me again after that. He sits and takes notes like a good student. To make matters worse, him being next to me irritates the hell out of me so much that I can’t write a single word.
As soon as the lecture ends, I gather my books quickly and head to the door before Seth can engage me in conversation.
A few of the girls, and even guys, from the class are floating at end of the row. Waiting to talk to Seth I imagine. I’ve no idea how he got a fan base so soon. Oh no, I do… he’s been telling everyone he’s a damned Darlington.
I reach the exit and look back.
He catches my eye.
“Cinderella, you left your shoes behind last night.” He reaches into his bag and pulls out one of my gold shoes and holds it aloft so the whole lecture hall can see. I end up having to make my way back into the room to retrieve it from him.
“Just one? Where’s the other one?”
He shrugs his shoulders. “On my hotel room floor?”
The guys around Seth snigger. One of them punches him lightly on the arm. But the girls, crowding around him, lapping up his very presence like he’s cocaine, shoot me evils.
I glare at Seth, wanting to hurl the shoe right back at him.
As I walk out I hear a voice that sounds surprisingly like Claudine’s say. “Isn’t she his sister? Ew, how utterly disgusting.”
When I was forced into pairing with my step-brother on course assignments, I was too surprised to say no. But after a night of restless sleep I decide to play Seth at his own game.
I’m going to apply to the faculty directly to change courses.
Course swaps are usual fare and don’t have to be approved by the chancellor. If can provide the paper work to the administration office within two weeks of the first term, I can swap onto a different course and gain a different partner by winter break.
I take a detour to the admin office to fill out the forms.
The admin assistant, Casey, a sweet girl who seems to know who I am, explains everything I need to do to make the transition. As long as I get the paperwork back and signed by my director of studies by end of term, the application should go through without any hitches.
I can’t help but smile at how easy it all is.
Seth will stay on the Global Hospitality Management track while I’ll branch off onto International Hospitality Business & Entr
epreneurship.
By the time Seth is aware, It’ll be much too late for him to change too as the year will be in full swing.
Now all I have to do is keep him out of my company and the lake house, and he’ll be out of our life for good.
“So what happened exactly for you to lose a shoe?” Flick asks out of the blue a few days later as we’re having lunch in the campus restaurant that overlooks the French Alps.
Well, I am. Flick is nibbling on a breadstick, ogling my step-brother from afar.
He’s once again surrounded by females and males like he’s a goddam celebrity not some military drop-out from wherever he’s been hiding. He’s showing some of the guys his social media fitness channel while Claudia is all over him like a rash.
“Seth and I argued, so I hit him with it and ran.”
“You took both your shoes off to do that?” She looks at me over the top if her shades with such an incredulous look on her face I almost spit out my salad.
I haven’t told Flick what happened. Not exactly. I’m just not sure I want her to know how messed up I am. I’m well aware Seth and I aren’t related but we grew up together, for a little while anyway. It’s hard not to see him as my bigger brother.
Not even when you were getting hot and heavy, hidden in a cloakroom?
Okay that’s a lie. I’ve never ever seen him as that, but I know how it looks.
“Do you know what your final project is going to be?” I say, switching topics.
As part of the solo assessment each of us are given an event to plan, organize and host at a location anywhere in the world on the penultimate day of term. Everything from managing a strict budget, to nailing the best sponsorships, to who to put on the invite list is examined.
“What? Oh… I’m going for the ever so simple fashion fundraiser.” That makes sense, Flick’s mother owns a very profitable fashion house. “What about you?”
“An exclusive awards evening for global charity?”
Flick picks up another breadstick. “Oh fancy, that’s a lot of work though. Are you going to host it at one of your hotels?”
“Hmm, maybe.”
A loud peal of laugher from Seth’s table causes my eyes to drift over to him, only to get annoyed at seeing Claudine practically on his lap.
I push my salad away. “Can we leave now?” I don’t want to share the same space as them or see him being fawned over for a moment longer. My stomach is also protesting at having to digest raw foodstuff so early in the day.
“You know he’s super fit and super hot. right, that’s the only reason they’re swarming around him. The guys want to have a body like his and the girls want his body, period.”
“It irritates the hell out of me.”
“Why?”
“I don’t know, It just does.” Because he’s supposed to be mine, no one else’s.
“Well get over it because we’re going to the party of all parties coming up and everyone, including your stud of a brother, will probably be there.”
I roll my eyes. “Do we have to?”
“Yes! I let you talk me into going clubbing while everyone else was on campus at fresher’s fling.”
“Not everyone.”
“We’re not missing the next big party.”
I shake my head. “You know how I hate those things.”
“You’ve changed Pearl, you used to be fun.”
Flick’s comment makes the muscle in my jaw tick, but I squash it down. She’s referring to the me before I made a choice not to go out and get trashed every night. I was running away from my problems. Why can’t she see that? Because she has no clue what you have to deal with outside of all this.
Still, maybe she’s right. I should let loose a little. This is college after all. But I won’t be guilted into going to some high class orgy in the middle of nowhere just to say I went wild at uni.
Been there, done the wild. Look where it got me.
“This might cheer you up, I’ve applied to IHBE,” I say, doing my best to change the subject yet again. “Maybe we can partner together?”
“Oh whoopee, instead of partying together we get to study more.”
“I thought you’d be pleased? You’re always saying you wish we were doing the same course together.”
“So I can steal your homework not do more assignments. Anyway, I’ve already got a partner.”
“Who? Drop them, I’m better.”
She laughs. “Hmmm… maybe. If you come to the mid-term party with me I might.”
I did not see that coming.
“What’s the theme again?” I know the answer before I’ve even asked the question.
“It’s Apres Ski baby!”
I roll my eyes. “Fine, fine, I’ll come to the party.”
Flick hugs me and squeals so loud the whole restaurant turns to look. The daggers Seth’s flunkies give us is enough to have us both look at each other and burst out laughing.
It’s only as we get up to leave that my eyes connect with Seth’s.
The coldness radiating off him is enough to kill my good mood. I wasn’t lying when I told Flick that Seth hated me. I just didn’t explain why.
Where are they taking him?
Held fast between two plain-clothes officers, cuffs hidden from view by the lawyer’s tweed jacket, he gives me one last look before they take him away. His eyes filled with a coldness for me I’ve never seen before.
And never want to ever again.
I watch from the window, unable to breathe without my chest hurting. The car they bend him into the back seat of is unmarked. It doesn’t look like he’s being arrested, it looks like some teachers have arrived to take him to school early.
It was the best Sully could do given the circumstances.
“Pearl, tell me again. What happened?”
It’s all because of me.
I did this.
That’s why I can’t cry… even though I want to.
“Pearl… do you want to press charges?”
It’s difficult to swallow.
There’s a lump in my throat or something. Using the back of my hand, I wipe under my eyes. My skin comes away with a smear of mascara, jet black like my soul after what I just did to Seth.
“Pearl?”
I look up at Sully. Did I do the right thing, calling this man? “What do you mean, charges?”
“Seth assaulted you… right?”
“Seth, he’s…” I can’t speak, the lump has gotten bigger. I shake my head, squeezing my eyes shut.
A noise, a rustle of paper. I open my eyes to see Sully pick up the screwed up sheet off the floor and smooth it out, reading it. Then he pockets it.
That paper. Why did Seth have to show me it? He can’t be my brother. Not legally, not after what we did. What I let him do.
I want to hide away. I want to die.
“Where are they taking him?”
Sullivan exhales, like being here is too much of an effort. “To the station for questioning. Remember, we talked about this.”
I remember. I’m supposed to say I bullied Seth. That I pushed him too far. The he lost control. Assaulted me. Who wouldn’t believe such a story.
“No.” I croak. “No charges.”
Sully nods, as though he expected it. “Come on, I’ll sort this out. They won’t charge him, better if we don’t to keep the press off our backs, but we’ll get him sent away. Keep him as far away from you as possible. This scandal will break you otherwise.”
I sniff and nod, letting Sully lead me to his car.
Inside, I’m shattering into a thousand pieces.
This isn’t what I wanted to happen.
It’s not how it’s supposed to end.
It was a mistake.
A silly, stupid, mistake.
Chapter 6
Pearl
At the end of the first week, Flick and I decide to reestablish the our previous tradition of champagne after the last class to celebrate the weekend.
W
ell, Flick decides, I just go along with it.
Since aren’t any assignments yet and there is nowhere I want to go, we crack open a bottle while watching one of my favorite Bond movies. We’re just getting to the part where he blows everything up but the girl still betrays him, when the house phone rings.
Flick picks it up before I can move.
“It’s your grandma,” she says, tossing the receiver to me.
My life flashes before my eyes.
“Fuck,” I hiss, placing my hand over the mouthpiece. “What day is it?”
Flick gives me a puzzled look. “It’s Friday. I’ve just opened a bottle of Bolly so I damn well hope it’s Friday.”
I pick up the handset and head to my room, closing the door.
“Hello? Grams?”
“Pearl, why haven’t you called? You said you would do better. Not hearing from you all week isn’t better.”
“I’m sorry Grams, it’s been so crazy here I... I forgot. I’m sorry.”
“You’re just like your mother. She was useless too.”
“Is it too late?”
“It’s ten at night, what do you think? She’s asleep.”
“Grams I’m sorry. I got carried away with an assignment.” The lie burrows into my heart and leaves a scar.
“It’s not me you need to apologize to.”
“Right. I’ll call her tomorrow. First thing.”
“You do that.”
When I emerge from my room, Flick is standing in the hallway. “I was just coming to check you’re alright. You looked upset,” she says quickly.
“I’m fine. I made a promise and forgot to keep it. Do you mind if we go to bed? I’m not in the mood to watch British secret agents blow up stuff anymore.”
She gives me a nod as a smile eases onto her lips. “Sure, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
At about one am in the morning I wake up suddenly. I must have passed out because the phone receiver is on my chest and I’m on top of the covers with the lights still on. A phone is buzzing and it’s not the one I’m holding. It takes me all of a minute to dig my mobile phone out from my college bag and glance at the screen.