by Ella Fields
I stared down at Jude’s signature. The tumbling lines of ink pressed too harshly into paper, so much so, that it was dented. That told me all I needed to know. He didn’t want this, but, like me, he had been given no choice.
And I was determined to find out why.
Fern
Ardent Falls University had almost an entire island to itself.
Bordered by beachside homes and businesses, the campus sat in the very center. Essential stores, small boutiques, restaurants, and apartment blocks separated the elite students and families from what many of them deemed as commoners.
Cory helped me move boxes from the trunk of my car and up the three circular porch steps to my new home. It resembled a brownstone with ivy and overgrown hedges roaming the exterior. The former was a popular pest in Ardent Falls and even on Peridot Island. At least it was a pretty one.
It crawled over the brick to wrap around the white arched windows and planter boxes. Inside them were white roses, and I wondered who would be taking care of the landscaping.
There wasn’t much of a backyard behind the two-story home, but there was enough grass that I’d either need to teach myself how to cut it or have to hire someone.
I couldn’t exactly picture Jude doing it.
The very idea made my eyes round, and my stomach jump as images of him shirtless and sweat-misted sailed through my mind.
We set the boxes inside along the wall of the narrow entry hall. “I just…” Cory stopped and looked around, hands on her hips. “I still don’t understand.”
“Neither do I,” I muttered, and I could only tell her so much.
“Your mom was so mad,” Cory said. “Steam exiting her ears kind of mad. I never would’ve thought she’d agree to have you guys shoved into the same house in the name of college and saving money.”
That was the excuse I’d given her, and I had no choice but to stick with it. “She might be loaded, but she keeps and grows that fortune by being smart with money,” I said, coughing a little. “I guess.”
She’d soon find out some more, and I hoped to be the one to tell her. I couldn’t yet. Too much at once and she was liable to freak out and demand to know what was going on.
I wished I had an answer for that myself.
All I knew was I had to marry the toad who hurt me numerous times because we’d both been born into some secret society.
Yeah, even if I could tell her, there was no way she’d believe that.
I shifted the conversation to her new boss. “How’s Alice’s hip?”
Alice owned the local bookstore a few streets away from school. Cory not only gained employment there but also boarding. She’d only had to go home for a few short weeks to pack up her life and haul it back to her new apartment. It sat above the store, drowning in so much ivy that she could hardly see out the windows, but she adored it.
“Better.” We headed back outside to grab the next load. “She’ll probably be climbing the stairs every other hour to offer me tea again in no time.”
“That would be amazing,” I said.
“If you want to be up peeing all night, sure.”
I laughed at that, propping the box on my hip to close the trunk.
Jude wasn’t here, thankfully. Mom informed me he was spending the weekend at home with Henry, which was why, with school starting on Tuesday, I’d finally quit living in denial and decided to move my things across the bridge.
An hour later, Cory was still taking stock of my new living arrangements while I was trying not to have a panic attack in my new room. It was huge with a king-sized bed dressed in a fitted white sheet, waiting for my bedding in the center of the room. Either side of it were two high arched windows, midmorning light spilling onto the low lying whitewashed dressers beneath them that served as nightstands.
“Did your mom furnish the place? Or Jude?”
“I think it was purchased furnished,” I said, not knowing for sure, but assuming so judging by the bareness of it. If my mom was given the task, she’d have decorated far differently. Our home was old charm meets modern sterility.
This place was antique, old money, everywhere I looked. I pondered whether Mom or Elijah had even purchased it, or if it had already belonged to Nightingale.
I was willing to bet on the latter.
In the kitchen, we marveled at the new appliances and the French provincial cupboards and countertops. “There’s no fucking food,” Cory said, moving to the double door fridge “Protein shakes, fruit, microwaveable meals… you can tell he’s been here a while.” Shutting the doors, she turned to me with a smile. “Let’s go snoop in his bedroom.”
“Let’s not.” I shivered at the mere thought.
“You’re not the least bit curious?” She jumped up onto the counter, chomping on a green apple. “I would be. The universe has given you some rotten as fuck lemons, time to milk them into revenge.”
There was nothing I wanted more than to hand Jude Delouxe his balls, still bleeding and warm, but not like that. “I want nothing to do with him.”
“Well,” she said, chewing. “You’re about to have a lot to do with him, I’m afraid.”
“Not if I can help it.” I inspected the barren pantry myself with a sigh. “I plan to live in my room and never see him.”
She snorted, knowing that was going to be virtually impossible.
The front door opened, and I spun around, throwing my back against the closed pantry door as Silas’s deep baritone bounced off the walls. “You never know.”
I looked at Cory, who was staring wide-eyed at me. “A complication we should’ve foreseen,” I whispered. “Where’s the back door?”
She jumped down and turned in a circle.
It was too late. Jude entered the kitchen, followed by Silas. They both froze, Jude with his hand halfway through his luscious hair, and Silas with his eyes glued to Cory.
No one said a word.
I wondered if anyone besides me was breathing.
Then Jude’s hand dropped to his side, and he dug out his phone from the pocket of his jeans, walking forward to dump it and his keys on the counter.
He didn’t speak, just walked right by me to the fridge, pulled out a water bottle, and headed to the living room.
Silas was still standing there, hands fidgeting at his sides as if warring with what to do.
I decided to back out slowly, but before I was free, Cory’s apple flew across the kitchen toward Silas’s head. He ducked, and it slammed into an old cross-stitch of a bird on the wall before splattering to the floor among the broken glass.
“Cory…” Silas started.
But she’d taken the opportunity to run straight past him, her sneakers crunching over the glass on her way out.
“Cory, wait!” he yelled, and the desperate hitch to his voice stunned me.
Then he gave chase.
The laundry room was next to the kitchen, and I found a dustpan and brush inside a tall cupboard next to the washing machine and dryer.
I couldn’t hear them, and I didn’t know if he caught her, so I closed the front door and cleaned up the mess they’d left behind.
Jude’s boots appeared, and a tiny shard of glass was kicked toward me. “Missed some.”
I collected it into the pan, then lifted the picture from the ground. The frame was fine, but there were jagged triangles of glass sitting beneath it.
I noticed then that it wasn’t just any bird. “A Nightingale.”
“How observant you are,” Jude commented with lethal snide.
I set the picture against the wall and gazed up at him. His eyes were narrowed on me, his jaw flexing and his arms crossed.
Even in just a baggy plain gray T-shirt and dark jeans, he was stunning, and I fucking hated it.
I also hated how small he’d made me feel in just a cluster of seconds. Unsteady, I rose and walked around him, taking the glass to the trash can under the kitchen sink.
“For someone who’s been handed what she wanted, you d
on’t seem very appreciative.”
I closed the cupboard, a little harder than necessary, and whacked the dustpan onto the counter. “You actually think I wanted this?”
“Sure looked like you did a few months ago.”
Taking in the severity of his face, the lowered brows, and the pressed state of those lips, I laughed. Then I laughed some more.
“What’s so funny?” he said, resentment fading into confusion.
“You,” I said and plucked my car keys from the pocket of my peach shorts. “You’re the last thing I want, Jude, believe me.”
He feigned disappointment with his hand against his broad chest. “You wound me. Wasn’t it your diary I read just a few short months ago?” His voice deepened as he added, “Wasn’t it you who wrote all those poetic musings about a boy you’d been watching for years?”
Fuck him. I needed to find Cory and get some food into this hellhole.
“Yeah, well,” I said, leaving him and heading to the door. “A lot can change in three months, asshole.” I slammed it behind me and heard the picture inside smack against the floorboards.
Jude
A lot can change in three months, asshole.
No, Red, I’d wanted to shout. A lot can change in an instant.
“I’m sorry,” I said for what seemed like the hundredth time. If I were looking at the entirety of our relationship, it probably wasn’t far from the truth. “But it’s done, Marns. We tried.”
“I tried, you mean. I fucking tried.”
I waited for her to finish yelling at me, my head in my hand and the darkness of my new room threatening to eat me alive.
“… has to be someone else.”
“Marnie,” I said, gripping my phone so hard, I thought it was going to break. “You’re in New York now, and I’m here, and I need to go.”
“What?” she screamed. I lowered the volume and waited once more. “You call me up to dump me when I’ve only just taken you back, and then you need to go? I don’t think so, Jude. You’ve known I was going to Columbia for months. Something’s happened. If you’ve slept with someone…”
“I haven’t,” I said, and that was the honest to god truth. I was a scoundrel, through and through, but I would never do that while actually dating someone. I could tell, though, that if I didn’t give her a little honesty, enough to hurt her some more, then I wasn’t getting off the phone anytime soon. I needed this done before I caved and told her way more than I should. “But there is someone else.”
The line went completely silent.
And then it went dead.
Sighing, I stared at the screen, a picture of Henry smiling back at me.
I just hoped he never got too curious for his own good. I hoped he never saw our father the way I used to—as someone to admire and strive to become.
It only led to darkness.
I threw my phone onto the bed and stared at the closed bedroom door.
I wasn’t sure if Fern was home. School had started earlier this week, but we didn’t share any classes. I was willing to bet that was January’s doing. Unless she’d been coming or going at the same time as me, then I hadn’t seen her here either, and even then, she was silent, forever in a hurry as soon as I appeared.
I didn’t know if she hated me or wanted me, and I didn’t care.
Evidently, she wanted nothing to do with me, and I was fine with that—fiancé or not.
This morning, I’d rehung the picture of the Nightingale back on the wall with all its missing glass. She’d walked by me on her way out the door without so much as a pause.
She hadn’t appeared shocked by what had been revealed to her.
Give it time, I thought and made my way to the en suite. All too soon, she’d be begging Mommy dearest for a way out.
She’d never find one.
Dad crossed his ankles, leaning back against the kitchen counter. “The nightmares are far less frequent now. Dr. Monrow said he’s doing okay.”
“That doesn’t matter.” I stopped myself from pleading with him, standing there with my arms crossed. “Please, just be there. Just fucking be there, and if you can’t, then bring him here.”
He stared at me for a long moment, then he nodded. “How’s Fern?”
“Acts like I don’t exist,” I said, unfolding my arms and grabbing a meal from the fridge. “So I wouldn’t know.”
“Have you apologized for what you did to her?”
I withheld a biting retort and said nothing.
Dad scratched his cheek, expelling a loud breath. “You really ought to let Rhiannon come over and cook for you, too.”
I chucked the meal into the microwave. “Henry needs her.”
“So I’ll find you someone else.”
I knew he could, but something stopped me from allowing anyone else entry into this new home of mine. It didn’t feel like home at all, but if there was one thing I was thankful for, it was the lack of memories.
Everything was brand new, even the silent snake who resided here with me seemed different.
“I’ve already got Silas in my hair most days,” I said for an excuse. “It’ll get too cramped.”
“How’s he doing?” Dad asked.
“Wait around another hour, and you’ll find out for yourself.” Seeing his frown, I snatched a fork from the drawer and explained, “He’s been staying in one of the spare rooms most nights.”
“His parents,” Dad said in response.
“Yup. Wants nothing to do with them.”
Dad wiped his hand down his face. “Poor kid.”
Poor kid indeed. My once happy-go-lucky friend was now a grumbling dark shadow. I had enough of those already, so I hoped he fixed his shit somehow and got out of here soon. Though, I honestly didn’t know if there was any fixing what he’d done.
That was the point.
And I knew firsthand exactly how that made one feel—completely fucking helpless.
Dad saw himself out when the microwave dinged, but then backtracked as I sat down at the counter in front of my risotto. “Oh, don’t forget about the engagement party this Sunday night.”
I didn’t respond, just glared at my food before pushing it away.
The door closed and reopened an hour later, a familiar laugh echoing down the hall into the living room.
Hitting pause on the game, I peered over to find a red dress fluttering, creamy skin, and some prick’s Nikes.
She’d brought a fucking guy home.
I was up in an instant, ready to storm after her and ask what the fuck she thought she was doing. Not only because in my eyes, Red’s only sexual experience was me, but because she was going to piss a lot of powerful people off if she didn’t play by their fucking rules.
I wasn’t about to go down because she’d taken my training and had decided to put it to good use.
A thought entered, unwelcome and infuriating that it was highly probable she’d already been doing that. For months.
Anger funneled through me, a sickness with no way out. I sped down the hall to the stairs and ran right into my useless best friend.
He shoved me back from his chest. “Fuck, Judy. I missed you too, but no need for the tackle hug.”
I snarled. “Piss off.” Glancing behind him at the stairs, I heard a door closing, and it hit me like dynamite in my ears.
Silas followed my gaze, then smirked. “You loved messing with her a little too much, didn’t you?” With a pat on my chest, he skirted around me and headed for the kitchen.
I followed and grabbed a beer from the fridge. “She’s going to fuck this whole thing up, and knowing January, it’ll be my head on the chopping block, not Fern’s.”
Silas took a seat at the counter and stole my beer.
I got another, turning to find he’d stolen my uneaten, cold as shit risotto, too. “You gotta tell her, then.” I didn’t like the sound of that, and he chuckled, his hair a stringy mess he pushed out of his eyes. “Your fucking face right now.”
“Y
our fucking hair right now.” He just grinned at his food, and I grunted, “I’ll leave her a note.”
Rice flew as he guffawed. “You’re not ten. Man up.”
I gave him a look. “Me?”
He grumbled, “Fuck you,” and shoved more food into his mouth.
“How long do you plan to hide out here for again?”
“Forever,” he mumbled, then glared at me, something I was unaccustomed to. “Problem with that?”
“Well, yeah. Quite a few, actually.”
“Write me a note too,” he said. “I’ll be sure to use it to wipe my fine ass.”
Feeling kind of nauseated, I ditched my beer and lousy friend and forced myself upstairs to my room. I probably just needed a shower and sleep.
Let Fern fuck it all up. What did I care? Maybe then I wouldn’t have to marry her, consequences be damned.
Fern
Our engagement party wasn’t held at The Ribbon like I’d thought it would be.
Horror swept through me as we pulled up outside the Hystenya, and my driver opened the door to reveal my future husband.
“Why here?” I said through my teeth, trying to light the devil on fire with my eyes.
“I had nothing to do with it.” Jude tipped a shoulder, taking my arm in his and whispering, “This is not for Nightingale. This is for the outside world.”
Even dressed in a dark gray tuxedo, the touch of his arm against mine made my skin crawl, biting shivers cascading over me like stinging nettle.
Inside, the party was already in full swing in a suite that took up the entire floor third from the top. I was sure I had my mother to thank for that much, at least—that I didn’t have to be subjected to more humiliation in the same room. Why not spread it out?
I grabbed a flute of champagne as soon as we stepped out of the elevator, and a round of applause greeted us.
Shocked, I stilled, and so did Jude. Then he took an offered champagne and held it in the air, a practiced smile edging his lips but not reaching his eyes. “Thank you for coming to celebrate with us.”
That was all he said, and I didn’t plan on opening my mouth unless it was to drink.