by Eden O'Neill
Royal stood behind the doors, his academy uniform on minus the jacket and tie. He had his hands behind his back, presenting himself before a man who sat at a desk with his head down. He’d call him Dad, the man with the same sandy blond hair as himself. Though he’d had some gray in there from where I could see.
His dad didn’t even look at him, continuing to jot something down on some papers. “What’s this I hear about you and your friends out at Route 80 the past couple of nights?”
There was silence before Royal spoke, his hands working behind his back.
“I just…” he started, then stopped when the man faced him.
His dad’s eyes narrowed. “Just nothing. You don’t go out there, and I don’t want to hear about it again.”
Royal said nothing, his dad’s threats eerily similar to the first words Royal had exchanged with me. He’d told me to stay out of somewhere before and said it just as coldly.
His dad’s gaze returned to his desk. “And tell your buddies to lay off the booze. You’re only eighteen, and you and your friends drink like you actually pay for anything around this place.”
Ouch.
I gripped the doors, straining to hear more, but his dad appeared to be done because Royal nodded and turned.
I hadn’t been quick enough, eyes of green pinning me in place. I’d been caught, Royal’s eyes narrowing on me, and they were just as cold as his dad’s had been on him.
“One more thing, Royal. I want to talk specifics for the planned events scheduled for the next few months around here.”
The command raised by Royal’s dad came before Royal could do anything about me, the swallow hard in Royal’s throat before he turned around and returned to his dad’s desk. Out of nowhere, large arms came around me, and before I knew it, the doors were being shut in my face.
“Oh, you little devil,” Jax chided, a firm hand guiding me forward. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you it’s rude to spy?”
“I wasn’t,” I quipped, moving out of his hold. Obviously, this was a lie. He clearly caught me spying on Royal and his dad.
Jax smirked, shrugging. “Whatev. You just about ready? I got a text LJ and Knight are done loading you up.”
I had no idea what “loading me up” consisted of, but as Jax’s tour doubled back to the room of boys and their watchful eyes, I found myself too focused on that. I stayed close to my escort this time, and when he finally left that place and went outside, I grabbed him.
“What’s up with all that back there?” I asked. “Those guys? They were staring.”
Like Jax just noticed, he waved it off. “Don’t mind them. It’s probably because you’re the only girl who’s ever been in there.”
My jaw slacked. “I am?”
“Yeah,” he stated, chuckling. He threw an arm around me. “You must be real special.”
Completely gobsmacked by whatever that meant, I let Jax guide me out to where Knight parked his Escalade. LJ and Knight were standing outside of it, but Jax and I didn’t go to it. The boys led me to LJ’s pickup truck, apparently how I was getting to work that evening, and the minute I saw the cargo stacked in the back, my jaw hung again.
Dog food, like literally bags upon bags were in the truck bed, the last of which another one of the Court boys dropped off when I got there. LJ pounded the guy’s fist, dismissing him, and I stepped forward.
“What’s all this?” I asked, blinking wide, and LJ passed me a look like it was obvious.
“We heard you had a dog,” he said, pushing his thumb toward the haul. “We’re hooking you up.”
When I said nothing, Jax threw an arm across my shoulders again. He grinned. “She’s speechless, guys.”
What gave it away?
Shaking my head, my lips parted. “Uh, where did it all come from?”
“Windsor House has like twenty dogs running around this place at any given time,” LJ said, coming around and slapping one of the bags. “Puppies included. You should be good to go for a while.”
I circulated the haul, blown away. I placed a hand on my head. “Um, wow. Thanks, guys.”
“This is Royal’s doing.” Knight had hands on the truck bed, not looking too pleased by the fact. He folded big arms. “Just don’t come back looking for more. This is a onetime thing.”
His grunt got him a nudge from Jax and a look from LJ. For whatever reason, Knight didn’t want to be a part of this crusade, and the man behind it had me looking back at Windsor House. This had been Royal’s doing?
What the fuck?
“Come on. We don’t want to be late for work,” LJ said, gesturing to his truck. It was a nice one, newer but definitely leagues away from what the other people seemed to drive around this town. He obviously had a different background than the other boys, like he mentioned at Windsor House.
I got inside, strapping myself in. Knight and Jax tapped us off with a pat to the truck bed, and LJ started the truck.
“By the way,” LJ said, putting the truck into gear. He threw an arm over the steering wheel. “Royal said this is only the prelude to your deal.”
Twelve
The Past - one year ago
I snapped out the beach blanket over the sand, adjusting it. I’d just evened it out when my sister ripped it off the sand, then proceeded to use it as a cape as she ran down the beach.
“Hey!” I squealed, hopping to my feet. I started to run after her, but froze as she charged down to the shoreline. In her polka-dot bikini, my sister dangled my red towel over the water, and my eyes widened. “Paige, no!”
She dropped it in, sticking her tongue out at me, and I saw red. That was my only towel, and I immediately raced down the shore after her.
“What you going to do about it?” she teased, splashing me, and I dove, grabbing her and taking her with me. I dunked her with the determination of a little sibling getting revenge on her big sibling. Of course, this was futile. More skilled in the water and basically at any sport, Paige turned the tables, dunking me and inadvertently giving me a belly full of ocean water.
We splashed around, the two of us pretty evenly matched, and something happened while each of us attempted to drown the other…
I smiled and with so much laughter to the point that it hurt. I forgot about the stupid towel, and she forgot about playing a trick on me. We forgot it all, nothing else mattering.
Thank God.
I never would have thought it’d be this way, never in a million years. Over two years ago, my sister couldn’t even get me out of the house, and when I finally did come out, she or anyone else had been even more hard-pressed to keep a bottle out of my hands. I’d gone down a pretty dark road after my abortion, parties and losing myself to vices. It took a while. It took a lot of time, but eventually I found myself again. I was taking care of myself, and now I was laughing and smiling on the beach. I’d done what my sister said I’d do all those years ago, all of this completely wild.
After our splash fest, Paige and I tired ourselves out, coming back onto the shore, and the moment Paige reached for her dry towel I cut her off.
“Uh-uh. You owe me,” I said, whipping out my hand. Laughing, she tossed it to me, shaking out her hair to air-dry it. Short, she could do that, taking her turn with the towel last. In the end, we laid it out and both lay on top of it. She rested belly down, chin on her laced fingers, and I lay beside her on my back.
She nudged me. “I’m so proud of you, Em.” She didn’t say for what, but she didn’t have to. I’d done a lot of growing these past couple years, both caring about what I put into my body as well as seeing myself in a new light. I didn’t need a boy to see me a certain way. I was a badass all by myself, and I didn’t need anyone’s justification but my own. My new sense of self-worth only grew when Dean ended up transferring schools. There’d been pressure after rumors circulated he’d cheated on his final exams last year. I didn’t know what I saw in him, but what was in the past was in the past. I’d never be able to go back to who I was before him, but
that was okay. I was okay for the first time.
“You’re going to be smiling.”
I did, laying my head on my sister’s shoulder. Turning, I opened a book, and she read with me, something we liked to do when going to the beach. We’d been a few times this summer since she came to stay with me before the start of our junior years. It’d been an awesome summer, the best, and even things with our dad settled down for her. She didn’t fly to LA to see me as much like she did only a year or so ago. We both were growing, no longer running.
Paige turned the book page for me, and when she did, a Frisbee caught in front of our path. It nearly clipped the book, and we turned to see a girl running down the beach in a string bikini.
“Sorry about that,” she said, hands on her hips. She smiled. “Wanna toss it back?”
Terrible at that, I did nothing, but Paige happily obliged. Any kind of sports was her thing, and after getting to her feet, Paige whipped the thing right at the girl. Perfect form, it went straight to her, the girl catching it before glancing over her sunglasses.
“Thanks,” she said, doing a poor job in her attempt not to ogle my sister. Her glance lingered for definitely more than a few seconds before turning and heading back to her friends. She tossed the Frisbee back to them, but even after she did, she gave Paige more than a few peers over her shoulder.
Paige seemed to be completely oblivious to it as she returned to our wet towel, and when she popped our book back up, I pushed her. “Hey, that girl was totally eye-fucking you.”
“Was she?” she asked, gazing over her shoulder. Like the girl knew, she waved at Paige, but Paige lifted her chin in that direction only briefly before going back to our book.
My eyes widened in shock. “Um, who are you and where is my sister?”
She frowned. “What do you mean?”
“I mean,” I started, pulling the book away. “Since when have you ever objected to an opportunity for a casual hook-up?” My sister had a track record, one she definitely took advantage of when visiting me considering all the eye candy around LA.
She shrugged, dismissive about what I said, and my jaw nearly dropped open.
“What’s with you?” I asked, eyeing her. “You’ve been weird all summer, not wanting to go out.” We’d been to exactly two parties since she’d come, something I didn’t tend to do these days but made exceptions for Paige when she rolled through. She loved them, but hadn’t wanted to go out so much this summer.
Paige turned on her back, her smile coy, and seeing something was up, I attempted to tickle the information out of her.
She squealed, grabbing my hands. “Okay, okay. I’ll tell you.”
I stopped, ready for information, and with her smile, I knew I was about to get it.
“I met someone, okay?”
“Are you serious? The infamous Paige Lindquist settling down?”
She rolled her eyes. “We’re just talking. It’s new.”
“How new?”
“Since last fall or something.”
“Last fall!”
She pushed me. “Stop making a big deal about it. Anyway, it’s nothing and probably won’t even work out. We’re just having fun, hanging out.”
It sounded like it was more than just having fun, and I knew my sister. If she saw someone for longer than a month, it meant something, and I noticed how different she’d been all summer. She’d seemed lighter, happier.
I brought my arms around her. “Tell me more about her.”
“I don’t know if I want to,” she said, turning within my arms. “Like I said, it probably won’t work out. You know how I am.”
I did. My sister was a runner, an avoider like me. When things got tough, she didn’t tend to stick around, where I used a boy and, before that, food to get away from my feelings after our mom died. I got a handle on those things, though, and if I could change…
“Promise me you’ll open your heart to this?” I asked her. “You never know what can happen unless you do.”
Laughing, she threw an arm over my waist. She squeezed. “When did you become the big sister?”
“Today, when my sister decided to fall in love.” I eyed her, and when she didn’t say anything, my lips parted. “Paige, have you…”
She pressed a finger to my lips, and as she laid her head on my chest, I think she gave me my answer. My sister had fallen for someone.
My sister may even be in love.
Thirteen
About five hundred pounds… five hundred pounds of grade-A number one certified dog food was currently stored in secrecy in my dad’s guesthouse. I knew because I spent half the night hiding it after I returned home from work. LJ had helped me get it in there after driving me home from work, but after that, I’d been on my own. It was good-ass stuff too, no cheap crap, and that scared me as much as made me happy. It scared me because I didn’t know the reason behind the gift as well as LJ saying the food was only the prelude to my deal with Royal.
What’s Royal playing at?
A question that plagued me the first of many days. I never approached Royal about the dog food because, honestly, I didn’t know how to broach the subject. I’d had opportunities, passes in the hall, time in the lunchroom. I could have walked over, called him out like I did that day on the lacrosse field, but I held my tongue.
That’s when I found the first dog toy.
It’d been in my bag, something I’d dumped out after I got home from school to do my homework. Hershey herself had actually found it, chewing on the small squeak toy, and at first, I thought maybe it’d been something Rosanna put in my bag before school. She’d been known to stick snacks in there, cookies and other contraband she knew my dad didn’t like around the house but that I did like. I questioned her about the toy after I found it, and when she denied putting the thing inside my bag, that stumped me for all of about two seconds until the next day. I found another toy, a ball this time with red polka dots. It also squeaked.
I stared back at Royal, one of few people who knew I had a dog. Chatting with his friends, though, he paid no attention to the girl with a dog toy in her hand.
He must be playing with me, some kind of sick game to scare me or something…
That was all I could come up with and, of course, had no proof. I hadn’t seen him put the toy in there, but he was the only one outside of LJ, Jax, Knight, and Rosanna who knew I had a dog. I watched the other three guys too after that. In fact, all of them for the next week, and not once had I noticed them put anything in my stuff. I even stopped carrying my bag, and that’s when I found them in my chair, a tiny toy or sometimes two. There was at least one left in my seat every day, and it got to the point where my psychosis actually questioned if I had been given these maddening little gifts or not. That was until I caught a freshman in the hall, a boy slipping something into my locker. I’d been walking with Birdie, Kiki, and Shakira at the time, and the moment he saw us approach, he darted off like the guilty little shit he was.
“What’s that about?” Birdie asked me, more than one question I’d gotten since that day she saw me get into Knight’s car. I passed it off, of course, telling her he’d just given me a ride to work, but still, she’d asked. I also noticed her looking at me a lot, which didn’t help since I seemed to always be starting at Royal and his lot recently. I’d been trying to catch them in the act.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged, well aware all three of my friends watched as I opened my locker.
Another dog toy fell out, a thin one at my feet. It was one of those crinkling ones that rolled up like a snake.
I picked it up, determined to stop this. I didn’t care if Royal knew about my dog. All this was just too much. I found myself frickin’ paranoid every day, wondering what exactly the toys and dog food meant in regards to me “owing him.”
As well as what he’d do in the end to collect.
A bell sounded in the hall, a warning before class started again, and leaving, the girls said they’d see me at lunch. I
went to close my locker but noticed a note lodged in the vent at the top. That kid must have pushed it in with the toy.
I pulled it out, unfolding it.
“Meet me at McAlester’s Pumpkin Patch tonight, eight o’ clock, past the patch and outside the corn maze. Bring Hershey and the dog toys.”
He’d left no name, but he didn’t have to…
He said bring Hershey.
Fourteen
“Hi, niece. I just wanted to call and let you know I got a few packages back home for you today. From some colleges?”
Shit.
Aunt Celeste would call me during my trip out in the middle of the boonies, to see Royal with my dog wagging her tail in the front seat of my sister’s Range Rover. Then again, maybe this was the perfect time for her to call me.
If I went missing, at least someone would know.
I was using her as my fail-safe again and pushed my hair behind my ear. “Can you just save them for me?”
“You don’t want me to ship them out? Shouldn’t you be deciding on something soon? I mean, some of these are pretty good schools, and you might be able to get a scholarship based off my income.”
Christ, I really hadn’t wanted to talk to her about this now with some distance between us. But some things had changed, and I bit my lip.
“I’m thinking about staying around here.”
“And going to college?” She’d sounded shocked.
“Not necessarily. I think I want to just wait maybe, work? Dad’s job he got me isn’t so bad.”
I could put up with time at the community center. LJ most likely wouldn’t be there since he’d probably be off to college himself, and the job really wasn’t so bad, hard work but mindless.
A sigh bled into the phone. “This is about your sister, isn’t it? From what I understand, you haven’t heard anything, right?”
I’d checked in with her so she knew. “Correct.”
“So now, you’re ruining your life over this? Putting everything on hold when all this is most likely just drama between your dad and your sister? He ran her off, and now, you’re letting yourself get caught up in it too?”