13
Brooklyn
The twins had only been back from the police station for an hour or so when someone buzzed the front door.
“Yeah?” I asked through the intercom.
A foreign voice answered. “Delivery.”
I wasn’t expecting anything but buzzed him up anyway. When I opened the front door to the delivery guy, I came face to face with a massive bunch of red roses. I recoiled back in surprise.
“Um, who’s that for?” I asked.
“Lila Carlisle.”
“Okay, thanks. Lila!” I called over my shoulder, and she appeared at my side.
“Holy shit,” she said, taking the bouquet. It was way ostentatious and over the top, not my style for sure and not Lila’s either from what I knew about her. It must have cost hundreds of dollars.
“Aiden?” I asked, swinging the door shut, and she pulled the card from the bouquet, reading it quickly before nodding.
“Yep, he wants to see me,” she said, tossing the note into the trash.
I tried not to grin. “Not interested?”
“Nope.”
But she still cut the bottoms of the flower stems and dug around in my cabinets until she found a vase before placing it in the center of the kitchen table.
“Roses? Really?” Jude asked, looking up from his phone. “How impressive,” he rolled his eyes.
My own phone dinged with an email, I pulled it out to take a look. I smiled when I saw it was from Tae. We never saw each other much during winter break, she was always jet-setting from one fabulous destination to the next. But while I was opening my email, a weather alert flashed.
Winter Storm Warning Inbound - Severe Elements Expected, Freezing Temperatures, High Winds, and Heavy Snowfall - Click the link to find out how to prepare.
The weather had been slowly turning milder in a sort of false spring, but it wouldn’t be Hampshire if we didn’t have at least one more horrifically cold storm before being allowed to really begin the march for spring. I was really looking forward to moving somewhere warmer after I graduated.
“Hey, Red, toss me a soda please?” Jude called from the kitchen table, where he was frowning at my computer screen.
As I did, I realized for the first time that Jude and I hadn’t really spoken much about our plans for the future. Obviously, now was not the time, considering all that he had going on and the questions about his future without taking anything else into consideration. But it was worth thinking about, and something I needed to consider as well before that conversation happened.
I had always dreamed of fleeing as far south as possible after graduating from Bryers. Finding a little town on the beach somewhere. Nothing fancy, or special. But, I wanted to live in shorts the rest of my life and never again deal with feet of snow and wind so cold it freezes eyelashes together.
But would Jude want that?
What if he wants to stay here?
I walked past him before he snagged my arm, looping his around my hip and pulling me into his lap. He dropped a kiss on my cheek that made me smile and my heart melted. These were important considerations, but they didn’t need to be decided now. I still had a year and a half before graduating, and it looked like Jude was going to be stuck here that long if he was getting involved in the court proceedings. There was still time to work the rest out.
“You’re wonderful, you know that?” he murmured in my ear.
I leaned my head against his cheek and smiled. “Yeah, I really am.”
He chuckled before he kissed me again and I smiled from ear to ear. It was time for me to head into my first shift at their house since everything had happened, but I tried to focus on Jude as much as possible. With every step I took to get ready, I felt the tension in the air thicken.
But, I knew this would all be worth it in the end.
“Anything you guys need?” I asked as I tied my tennis shoes. “I’m not sure if they’ll let me take anything back with me, but I can try.”
“No,” Lila said. “Will you keep an eye out for what’s going on?”
“I’ll do my best,” I said, standing and wiping my hands down the front of my pants. They were damp with nervous sweat. I just didn’t know what I was going to be walking into and their mother terrified me.
To any God still out there, just help me get through these shifts.
I kissed Jude on the forehead. “There’s food in the fridge. I put together a casserole this morning, so just put it in the oven for an hour at 350 and you’ll have dinner.”
They both blinked at me and I sighed. “It’s written down on a post-it on the fridge.”
Then, I left my place and closed the door behind me. I mean, I was only going to coddle them so much. It was well past time for them to start coming to terms with their new reality and to stop looking at me like I spoke Latin whenever I told them to do something for themselves.
And as I drove back to their former home, I felt the lead knot in my stomach tightening.
The Carlisle Manor looked exactly the same from the outside, though there were no flashy cars parked out front. I parked in the employee parking and walked in through the kitchen, where Janey was back in her usual spot.
“Brooklyn, good,” she said, and I noticed that her face seemed a bit rounder since she’d last been here, like she’d gained a bit of weight. It suited her. It softened her severe features and made her look less intimidating. Though, the uncertainty in her eyes didn’t do much for my own nerves.
“How’s it going in here?” I asked, tying on an apron.
“I’m glad I negotiated a raise before all hell broke loose,” she said. “I guess the feds have approved a certain amount of funds for upkeep, but not much. So that’s left me, two maids, and one groundskeeper and someone to help him. That’s it.”
It was a massive change from the usual staff. At any given time, there would be a dozen people milling around the house taking care of general upkeep and maintenance. It was a massive manor on sprawling grounds, after all. Just flushing the toilets once a week to make sure the pipes stayed clear was nearly a full time job.
“I guess we were lucky to have that much be approved,” I said, peeking out into the weirdly silent hallway.
She rolled her eyes. “Please. The government just wanted to protect its assets if that’s what this place turns out to be.”
“Where do you want me today, then?” I glanced around the kitchen.
“Can you tackle the mainly used areas?” She was wearing an apron too, I noticed. “I’ve gotten roped into cooking and serving here if you can believe that, but the woman is hardly going to be down here making herself a sandwich. I can handle everything in here if you can clean and tidy her bedroom and bathroom, the living room and dining room, and the twins’ rooms if you have time.”
“That doesn’t seem like much,” I said. “I’m sure I’ll have plenty of time.”
“You haven’t seen what a mess she’s made,” she said grimly.
I blinked. “Are those the only rooms she’s using?”
“They locked up her office for investigation, as well as the cellar, the basement, the library, and all of the spare rooms. Oh, and if you could peek into the gym and check on that, that’s actually still open but I don’t know if she’s using it.”
I nodded and rolled out my cleaning caddy. “Got it.”
Janey had not been exaggerating. The house was a pigsty. It looked like the Congresswoman had taken up smoking to a vengeance, and if the glass tumblers everywhere were any indication, she had taken to drinking as a full-time hobby as well.
It took me an hour to bag up all of the cigarette butts and bourbon bottles I found throughout the main level, to wipe up smears of ash and pour out dregs of bourbon and stack the tumblers, and two hours more to get the main level rooms clean. How could one person living here alone make such a damn mess?
Dragging my cleaning caddy up the west wing stairs where the Congresswoman’s bedroom was, I took a deep breath
to calm my racing heart and prayed that she would not be in her room.
I knocked gently and listened, but heard nothing. Creaking her bedroom door open, I looked quickly around. The room was a disaster, but there was no sign of her. Sighing with relief, I made her bed, wiped down all the surfaces, and ran the vacuum. There was more ash to wipe and cigarette butts to trash of course, and I had quite the collection of glasses growing on my cart. But I could handle all that.
Her bathroom, however, was another story.
The tub was half-filled with tepid, yellow water, and had a full ashtray at its side. In the shower I found a collection of empty beer bottles, and the countertops were lined with soaking wet towels and scattered skincare products. It took me close to the end of my shift to get all of it taken care of, leaving me with just enough time to pop in and take a peek at the home gym to give it a wipe down before I left.
Damn, Janey hadn’t been joking.
Working nearly my full shift without running into the Congresswoman had left me feeling comfortable. So, I strolled right into the gym without checking through the glass door first to see if it was occupied.
And unfortunately, it was.
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing here?”
Her voice was clipped and annoyed. It made the hairs on the nape of my neck stand on end. And as I slowly looked over at her, I saw she had been using the elliptical while dressed in flawlessly matching workout gear. The woman looked like she hadn’t broken a sweat the entire time she’d been in here, though the smell in the air told me otherwise. However, there were no visible signs of the past few days regarding her drinking and smoking. But the air in the gym was thick with the scent of alcohol being sweated out.
Thick enough to make me gag.
“I’m working,” I said, managing to keep my voice calm as I nudged my cleaning caddy with my foot. “I came in here to wipe down the machines.”
She stepped off the elliptical and came towards me, fire blazing in her eyes. “The little shits set you up to this didn’t they?” She snarled. “You thought you could just come back into my house and spy on me?”
“Actually, I think the feds would disagree with you referring to it as your house at the moment,” I said, forcing a casual tone.
“GET! OUT!” she shrieked, throwing her water bottle at me.
As I backed up, leaving behind my cleaning caddy because fuck it, she advanced. “And in case it wasn’t clear to you, you’re fired. Don’t you ever step foot in my house again.”
I untied my apron and threw it on the ground, striding down the hallway to the front of the house.
“I have friends, girl! Friends who will make sure you’re never seen again if I ask! Don’t you think about coming back!” she called from behind me. “And good luck with my waste of space of a son. Tell him mommy sends him love,” she cackled, and I realized that she was somehow drunk working out.
Who the hell does that?
I just shook my head and went into the kitchen.
“Well, she fired me,” I said to Janey, who was putting together a tray of food.
She didn’t look up. “Yeah, I guess that was to be expected.”
“Good luck, Janey,” I said, leaving the kitchen without looking back.
“Hey, Brooklyn!” she yelled as she ran out behind me. “I’ll make sure you’re paid for your full shift today. All bills are being routed past her, so I’m going to put you in for a year’s worth of severance as well. Can’t say the financial advisor will approve it, but it’s worth a shot.”
I smiled. “Thanks, really. And honestly, I wish you the best of luck dealing with Congresswoman Crazy in there. Take care of yourself.”
We looked at each other for a minute. We had been colleagues, enemies, and strangers, but never friends. I nodded, and she nodded back, her face completely stone-cold serious. I slid into my car and thought about my days working at Carlisle Manor coming to an end. The pay and benefits had been good, and who knew if I’d be able to find another job in town that paid as well, but I knew it was for the best. That chapter of my life had closed for good.
So, I turned my key in the ignition and started for home, eager to tell the twins what had happened.
They are going to get a kick out of this.
14
Lila
Brooklyn was all up in arms about prepping for tomorrow’s big winter storm that was headed our way. Jude and I were a bit bemused by this, too. Usually that was something that was taken care of for us. The manor had a full system of generators and back-up generators, as well as an electrician team on call. So we’d never once lost power, not even in the worst storms.
Guess this one would be different, though.
She sent me to the store to grab batteries, candles, hand-warmers, and some emergency foods. All of which overwhelmed me while I was looking at the brands and the colors and the kinds of batteries and candles and handwarmers and emergency food stuffs there were.
I can’t believe people do this on a day-to-day basis.
How did everyone find time for everything else?
“And price check what you buy. Don’t just grab the first thing you see, look around at the cheaper options. We’re on a very tight budget now that none of us are working.”
Brooklyn’s warning rang in my head as I squinted my eyes to read the little numbers on the shelf. Budgets were not something we were used to, but she was right of course. I wasn’t really surprised that our mom had fired her and kicked her out, but it was disappointing. Not just for the money but also so that she could keep an eye on what was going on. From what Brooklyn had told us, however, what was going on was a lot of drinking and smoking.
“Figures,” I murmured to myself.
It took me forever to check off everything on the list, because I was doing my best to follow Brooklyn’s instructions to price check. You could feel the storm coming in the air. Today was clear, but the wind blowing was ominously sharp and cold, and there was a heaviness that promised something was coming.
I had just arrived back at Brooklyn’s house when I heard the single whoop of a police siren. I jumped and turned to see Aiden, leaning out of a state police car and smiling at me.
I sighed outwardly, but inside I was glad he was here. Let him grovel after he’d made me walk all the way home. I hadn’t responded to the flowers and had blocked his number in my phone. So, maybe that was finally the wake-up call he needed to understand exactly what he’d done and who he let walk away from him.
“Li, can we talk, please?” he asked.
“No thanks,” I said. “We’re done, Aiden.”
“Please?” He repeated. “Come on, let me buy you a coffee. I was a scumbag. I just want to make it up to you.”
“I have no interest in dating you again,” I said.
“That’s fine. I completely understand. I don’t expect another chance with you, I just want to make it right. Come on, one cup of coffee? You can get the fanciest one they’ve got,” he smiled.
I softened some. “Alright,” I relented. “Let me just run up and drop this off and I’ll be back down.”
He smiled that smile that still made me weak in my knees. “Great. I’ll be down here waiting.”
I ran upstairs, where Brooklyn and Jude were snuggled on the couch, looking for jobs on her computer. I dropped everything into the corner and drew in a deep breath, but neither of them turned around to look at me.
“Find everything?” Brooklyn asked.
“Yep,” I tried to say in the cheeriest voice I owned. “So, Aiden’s downstairs and he wants to take me out for coffee, to apologize for the way things ended between us.”
That made Brooklyn turn around. “You told him to fuck off, right?”
Jude snickered, but didn’t say anything. And when my eyes widened, so did Brooklyn’s.
“Lila.”
I licked my lips. “You don’t get to judge me just because I’m going. My brother was a right assbag to you, but look at h
ow you got through to him.”
Jude finally turned around. “I’m sitting right here.”
I nodded. “Yep. And everyone knows it’s true.”
Brooklyn sighed. “I just don’t want you to--.”
I shot her a look, but Jude caught it as well. “Why are you two acting like this is such a big deal?”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I mean, I feel bad for the guy and he wants to at least make things right. I’m not getting back with him, but it’d be nice for one less person in this city to hate us. Plus, I can’t turn down a nice coffee after the way Brooklyn’s been making us eat lately.”
She ignored my quip. “You want us to come with you?”
I fluffed my hair a bit. “No no, it’s totally fine. Really. I’ll text you guys later.”
Jude eyed me carefully. “Just be careful, Lila.”
I winked at him. “Always am.”
I felt their eyes on me as I slipped back out the door and I had a sinking feeling in the pit of my gut. I mean, I hadn’t completely lied to them. So, what was the problem? I wasn’t going to get back with Aiden, not by a longshot. I just wanted a fancy coffee, I wanted to hear him grovel, and I wanted to talk him into paying for coffee for Jude and Brooklyn.
Because the three of us needed a decent cup in our lives.
I ran down the stairs and slid into the passenger seat. And when Aiden smiled at me, my heart skipped a beat.
“Blenders okay?” he asked, naming the coffee shop downtown.
I nodded. “That’s fine, sure.”
He signaled and merged into oncoming traffic. “So… how have you been?”
I snickered. “Aiden, it’s been like two days since we broke up.”
“Yeah, but it’s felt like much longer.”
I decided to leave that alone for now. I didn’t want to give him the wrong idea. I’d take the free coffee and hear him out, but there was no way we were getting back together. Over the past few days, I’d taken a lot of time to think about how everything had gone down, and nearly everything about our time together was staked with red flags.
VENGEFUL ROYALS | A DARK COLLEGE BULLY ROMANCE: HEIRS OF HAVOC Page 11