“I’ll sleep at night.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you will…” He turned his face from her to hide his smile. “I’m sure everything comes easy for someone as smart as you—for a doctor.”
Veda had to laugh, amused that none of the men in her life seemed to have any idea what a disaster she was.
“But me. This…?” Linc seemed to go off to another place, eyes dashing back and forth. “Swear to God, sometimes I wonder if I even deserve this badge. Sometimes… I feel like I really don’t have any idea what the hell I’m doing. No cop worth his salt would’ve ever allowed you in this deep.”
Veda found her heart softening. “Four years of med school, half a year of residency and almost a million dollars in unpaid loans and I still walk into that hospital every day with no idea what the hell I’m doing. Pretty much just counting down the seconds until I accidentally kill someone, because that day is coming. It’s going to happen. So, no, Linc… I don’t have it all figured out, okay? No one does.”
He cut a look at her from the corner of his eyes, his smirk growing.
Veda smiled back.
They tittered together, kicking their feet against the wood floors, both uncomfortable yet unwilling to walk away from the silence that fell and lingered.
The sound of an engine roaring outside her apartment, however, wiped the smile clear off Veda’s face. In the next instant, she was charging for her window, so quickly she made Linc stumble as she barreled into him on her way by. She distantly heard him chuckle, “Where’s the fire?” as she slammed her hands into her blinds and ripped them open, giving herself a view of the parking lot.
Yep. Gage’s Phantom Coupe. Pulling into the lot.
Coco sat in the passenger’s seat, laughing at something he’d said.
“Fuck, shit, balls!” Veda cried, releasing the blinds and racing over to Linc. She grabbed hold of his arms, taking a second to wonder if she’d ever be able to touch them without taking just a moment to get lost in their hardness. Recovering, she shoved him, trying to push him backward.
He laughed at her. It was a joke, after all, the fact that she thought she could move him against his will.
So instead of physical force, she begged. “Gage is home early. You have to hide.”
His laughter grew, making his stomach tighten. “That’s funny.”
“You have to hide.”
“It’s never gonna happen.”
It was the brightest smile she’d ever seen on Linc’s face. Too bad she had no time to appreciate it as she heard Gage’s keys jingling outside her door.
She nearly threw up, barreling her body into his chest like a linebacker.
Linc must have taken pity on her, because pity was the only thing in the world that would move his feet backward at that moment, and backward they moved. He held onto her arms, stumbling as she dug the balls of her feet into the wood floors, shoving him.
“You gotta be fucking with me,” he said.
“It’s ridiculous, but if he sees you in this apartment…” She stood tall when she realized he was now moving on his own. “If he sees you in this apartment he will seriously murder you and then break up with me. And I really, really don’t want him to break up with me, Linc.”
“But murdering me, that’s all good? Not the greatest way to get me to do what you want.”
Veda slammed her fists into his chest, making the amusement in his eyes grow even brighter. She clenched her teeth at his glee, hissing through them. “Get. In. The. Fucking. Bathroom.” She bent her knees. “Please?”
Gage’s key entered the lock. He jiggled, pulled, and then turned. Veda couldn’t help but wonder why he’d chosen that day to become an expert at unlocking her raggedy door, breathing in relief when Linc stepped into the bathroom, shaking his head and scoffing the whole way.
The front door creaked open.
Veda pulled the bathroom door shut and raced into the kitchen, ripping open the refrigerator door and pretending to peruse the drawer of fruit at the bottom.
Coco, as usual, was talking Gage’s ear off about something or another, their laughter filling the foyer and floating through the house as they entered. Usually, the sound of the two most important people in her life in good spirits would be enough to turn Veda’s whole day around, filling her with the light she’d come to depend on so much. But at that moment, she couldn’t breathe. Her heart constricted. Her stomach seemed to be eating itself alive.
“Baby?” Gage called.
Veda stood tall and tried to look surprised. “Whoa! Hey! You’re home early. Coco!” she beamed, throwing her arms out in welcome.
Coco froze in mid-speech, cocking an eye. “You’re being weird.”
Veda’s smile fell. Clearly her acting skills were absolute shit.
“I’m just excited to see you, that’s all,” Veda chirped, making her way out of the kitchen. “Am I not allowed to be excited to see you?”
It was Gage’s turn to squint at her. “You been drinking, baby?”
Veda froze on her way into the foyer, throwing her arms out. “Haha, Veda’s an asshole who’s never happy to see anyone. Veda being nice is a total anomaly. Veda’s a total jerk-off.”
Coco and Gage smiled, neither jumping in to argue.
“You guys suck,” she grumbled.
“There’s my fiancée.” Gage purred before nodding towards the door. “Did you forget about Coco buying us an engagement drink at Dante’s?”
Yes.
“Nope,” Veda smiled, racing to the coat rack next to the door and snatching her purse down. “I’m ready. Right now. Let’s go—right now.”
“Woah, slow down.” Gage leaned down and kissed her cheek. “Coco has to use the bathroom first.”
“I’ve been holding it for hours.”
Veda grabbed Coco’s arm. “There’s a bathroom at Dante’s.”
Gage took the hand Veda had locked around Coco’s arm, releasing her fingers one by one. “And there’s also a bathroom… here…” He tilted his head at Veda. “Seriously. You been drinking?”
Veda hesitantly released Coco, one finger at a time, only distantly aware of Gage asking her, seriously, what the hell was wrong with her.
Coco moved to the bathroom, giggling the whole way.
Veda’s entire body went as still as a stone statue. Not even the gentle strum of Gage’s lips lining the curve of her neck was enough to relax her.
Coco opened the bathroom door, stepped inside, and leaped nearly a foot in the air, a scream that could shatter glass leaving her lips and bouncing off every wall in the apartment.
Gage jolted, and his kisses came to a rapid halt on Veda’s neck. In a flash, he’d grabbed Veda’s arms and moved her body behind his, his own arm shielding her in a way that reminded her of a mother shielding a child in the passenger’s seat during a car accident.
“Jesus, Coco what is it?” Gage cried.
Coco’s wide eyes flew from the bathroom and into the foyer, zooming to Veda.
Over Gage’s shoulder, Veda shook her head at Coco rapidly, baring her teeth, silently begging.
“Spider!” Coco sputtered, her eyes flying back to Gage as she squeezed her body into the bathroom doorway, pulling the door closed as far as she could without squishing herself. “A huge… huge spider.”
Gage began toward the bathroom, going to remove his suit jacket. “Aw, don’t worry, Coco Puffs, I’ll take care of it—”
“No!” Coco nearly leaped out of her skin, throwing a hand out.
Gage froze in mid-stride, startled.
Veda’s eyes slammed closed because it was apparent Coco wouldn’t be accepting her Academy Award anytime soon either.
Collecting herself, Coco attempted a cool smile, leaning to the side, voice lowering. “That’s really sweet, Gage, but I got it. I already got it.” Stumbling over her own feet, back into the bathroom, Coco waved a hand, smiling at Gage. “Already killed it.” She lifted her sneaker and slammed it onto the tile as if she were squashing a bug. “Killed it
dead. So… it’s totally cool…” Her voice trailed off as she disappeared back behind the bathroom door, slamming it closed behind her.
Veda released the breath she’d been holding, heartbeat rebounding.
Gage faced her with a stupefied look on his face.
She chuckled, motioning to the closed door of the bathroom, shoulders rising to her ears.
“Kids,” she mumbled, still panting from the lack of oxygen, throwing a hand on her hip when the world began to spin.
Way too close.
Way to close for comfort.
21
“So…” Coco leaned forward on her barstool at Dante’s Grill, tilting her head so far to the side that it made the tips of her long black hair pool into a heap on the wooden bar. “Is there anything you’d like to talk to me about…?”
“Hey, isn’t it illegal for minors to sit at the bar?” Veda asked the bartender and owner, Dante Johnson, who was currently flipping through the channels of the TV in the corner, trying to find the football game. Veda did everything in her power to ignore Coco’s leering eyes.
Dante shot Veda a look, his skin just as smooth and chocolatey as his teenaged half sister’s. He had a smile that could light up the deepest, blackest cave, and Veda felt her heart soaring as she found herself on the receiving end of it. “Lil’ sis knows the drill. If the cops show up—”
“Stop, drop and roll!” Coco cried, still tilting her head at Veda, shooting her wide, obvious eyes.
“Please stop looking at me like that,” Veda begged, once Dante had moved away to serve a customer.
Coco had obviously been waiting all night for this moment. The moment when Gage finally excused himself to the bathroom of the bustling bar, giving Coco and Veda a moment alone.
“Just wondering if there’s anything you’d like to talk to me about,” Coco said, keeping her suggestive tone of voice at a level ten. “Anything at all.”
“I’ve got nothing to say,” Veda beamed, shooting Coco her own wide-eyed look. Her voice lowered. “And it wasn’t what it looked like, okay? We’re just friends.”
“Right…” Coco nodded. “Because everybody knows you hide your ‘friends’ in the bathroom when your boyfriend—oh, excuse me—when your fiancé surprises you by coming home from work a little early.”
“Gage is deeply jealous because he thinks there’s something going on between Linc and me, okay? Even though we’re obviously just friends. I knew Gage wouldn’t be able to handle seeing him in my apartment. So, yes… I made him hide. But we’re just friends, Coco. I swear to God. Nothing is happening between us. Nothing. I love Gage. If I ever lost him… shit, I don’t know what I would do. I would be absolutely destroyed. Beyond repair, Coco.”
Coco searched her eyes, pulling the long sleeves of her top down over her hands. “I know that. I know how much you love Gage. It’s totally obvious. I actually think it’s… kind of sweet… that you went that far to protect his feelings.” She laughed. “The look on your face though. You looked about two seconds from shitting your pants.”
“I’m surprised I didn’t.” Veda’s eyes softened. “Thanks for having my back. You truly saved my life tonight. You saved my engagement.”
Coco winked. “That’s what friends are for, right?”
And for the first time, Veda didn’t hear that word as something bad or burdensome. She didn’t find herself regretting the day she’d let that word slip from her lips. Friend.
She found herself, once again, learning from Coco. That the word ‘friend’ didn’t have to be bad. It didn’t have to be something she ran from. Crazily enough, it might almost be something… wonderful. Beautiful.
Rare.
“Thank you,” Veda said again, blushing at the quick hug Coco gave her arm, loving her more at that moment than she ever thought she could—than she ever believed herself capable of. Somehow, Veda knew her love for Coco would only grow deeper. That it had only just begun. She knew, soon, she wouldn’t even be able to stop herself from uttering the next most dangerous word.
Sister.
She knew that day would come, but surprisingly, it wasn’t a day she dreaded as much as she had before. She still dreaded it, of course. But it was less… intense.
Dante’s bar had no walls, leaving the ocean marina in full view. An orange cast zoomed across the sky that evening, the last hint of the setting sun that fought to live on a little longer.
“Have you gotten your costume for the Masquerade Ball tomorrow night?” Coco asked. “I can’t wait!”
“I have. I found the perfect costume.” Two perfect costumes, in fact.
“Not a Jason mask and a sweatshirt, right?” Coco asked.
“Sadly, no,” Veda laughed. “It’s definitely a legit masquerade costume.”
If she was going to cut Eugene’s balls out, she’d need a much stronger disguise than a Jason mask and a sweatshirt.
For months, Veda’s nose had been curled up at the idea of that Masquerade Ball. She couldn’t understand why her boyfriend wanted to go. Why he couldn’t be content with just staying in the house and having sex all day. Why he loved social interaction so damn much.
But then, in the midst of her disgust at his social butterfly ways, she’d been struck with an epiphany.
There was no better place in the world to exact revenge than at a party where everyone was in full disguise, and since she couldn’t risk taking care of Eugene at his house, the Masquerade Ball was the next best option.
So that night, the answer to Coco’s question wasn’t just yes, but abso-fucking-lutely.
Veda was abso-fucking-lutely excited for the Masquerade Ball that weekend, excited to ensure that the man who’d stolen her innocence ten years ago finally paid the price. That the man who’d ruined Luke’s life, not once, but twice, before murdering him in cold blood to keep him quiet, got an extremely bitter taste of his own medicine. Like her, Luke had just been a kid from the hill. A poor kid who’d never bothered the rich. A poor kid who'd minded his own business.
Yet Eugene Masterson had still felt entitled to interfere in Luke’s life. Greta’s life. Zena’s life. God only knew how many countless other’s lives. She knew that entitlement had been embedded in him from the day he’d been born with that silver spoon in his mouth. She knew he would probably die before he saw the error in his ways.
Veda found herself frowning into the distance, drink forgotten.
As if her hateful thoughts had beckoned him, right then Eugene entered the bar, a bright smile on his face as he approached his friends, who just happened to be sitting at the bar next to Veda and Coco. He gave them all high fives of greeting, the noisiness of their ‘dudebro’ excitement reaching near-deafening heights.
“Ugh…” Coco instantly rolled her eyes, and Veda was reminded of the second reason why she loved her so much. It was because Coco hated the rich in Shadow Rock just as much as she did. Technically, Coco was one of the rich, but she was also one of their victims. One of the victims Veda was beginning to learn was very high in number.
“God, I hate those guys,” Coco grumbled, shooting Eugene and his friends a look from the corner of her eyes as they barked more drink orders to Dante, who was also visibly irritated from behind the bar, even as he made their drinks.
Veda rubbed Coco’s back. “Don’t worry, my love. I’ve got your back.”
And just like that, Coco’s entire being relaxed.
“Yo, look at this!”
Veda’s attention was snapped back to Eugene just in time to see him nodding towards the TV. Dante hadn’t been able to find the game and had given up on a channel that was playing the five o’clock news.
When Luke Greer’s face popped up on the screen, Veda sucked in a breath.
“Damn, in the bathtub?” One of Eugene’s friends whistled. “Brutal, bro.”
“Yo, fuck that junkie.” Eugene curled his lip. “And his whore sister too.”
A white-hot blaze of fire shot under Veda’s skin, straightening her spine.
Through her pounding ears, which felt like her pulse had relocated to the drums, she heard Coco scoff again.
Every bone in Veda’s body wanted to speak up for Luke, for Greta, and even for Zena—whom she still suspected had met her fate at Eugene’s hand. But, thankfully, she was able to bite her tongue.
She had to play it smarter.
She could no longer argue with these pricks in public. In broad daylight.
She was done arguing.
From that night on, she vowed to move in silence.
She vowed to move in the dark.
At the ball that weekend, Eugene Masterson would learn just how deep that darkness ran.
Another “whore” joke left Eugene’s mouth and poisoned the air. He and his friends howled with laughter, clinking their glasses together in celebration of their asshole ways.
But Veda didn’t get mad.
She smiled. She almost laughed.
It was actually kind of adorable. That he believed he was in the clear.
Eugene screamed with laughter again, and the sound made Veda’s grin spread wider.
Keep smiling, asshole.
Sooner than he knew, she’d wipe it clear off his face for good.
—
The Annual Masquerade Ball in Shadow Rock was one of the few events on the island where the rich and the poor could congregate without barriers. Perhaps it was the fact that everyone was in disguise, so no one had to acknowledge that they were interacting with a “greater” or “lesser”. That year, the ball was held in an old Opera House that sat alone on top of the island’s tallest mountain. Domed stained glass windows lined the walls, soaring all the way up to the top of the vaulted ceilings where lines of gold chandeliers dominated, casting a yellow glow onto the partygoers. The walls were encased with chunky gold trim, and the Renaissance paintings on every wall reminded Veda of the Sistine Chapel.
As beautiful as the building was, Veda still hadn’t made sense of how this was anybody’s idea of fun. Cuddled up in Gage’s arm in the middle of the dance floor, surrounded by masks of all flairs and trims—she couldn’t help but feel anxious.
She’d never been a fan of Halloween, either. Something about not being able to see anyone’s face. The real monsters that potentially lay beneath the disguises.
Tingle (Revenge Book 2) Page 20