by Huss, JA
I look up at him quickly. Because even though I knew, we’ve never talked about it before.
“Not anything like his son, actually.”
“Whose son was he?”
“It’s not important.”
I scoff. “I’m pretty sure that would’ve been important to Dane.”
“I’m not talking about Dane.”
“What?” I shake my head at him. “Then who?”
“Just listen for once, Cooper.” Then he pauses to shoot me a stern look.
“Whatever. Keep going then.”
“The third son was a lot like the first. In looks, mostly. But they had very different temperaments. The oldest wanted to succeed at everything. The youngest was quite the underachiever.”
I huff. I know he’s talking about me.
“The oldest did everything he was told. He took the wife he was offered and he was happy. Content. The youngest didn’t want anything to do with the girls at High Court. Not the legitimate ones, anyway. You see, he loved a girl on the edge of things.”
My heart thumps inside my chest. Then I force myself to look up at my father.
“Do you want to know what happened to them?” he asks.
“I think I already know.”
“You know nothing, Christopher. Nothing at all. And the reason you know nothing is because I’ve been trying to protect you.”
I laugh. Pretty loud, too. “Oh, that’s funny.”
“The story isn’t about you and your brothers. Not really. It applies, of course. Because you and Jack are both my sons. Real. Sons. But Dane was not. So…” He lets out a long breath and gazes around at the overgrown yard. “So losing him today wasn’t a big deal to me either.”
I think my heart stops for a moment. “What the fuck?”
“That story was about me and my brothers, Cooper. Not you and yours.”
“You have brothers?”
“Not anymore. They both died.”
“Let me guess, you were the overachiever and this is a cautionary tale that I should get my shit together and play along or I’m going to end up like Dane?”
“Cooper, the story isn’t about Dane. It’s about me.”
“What?”
“I know you think the world revolves around you. And that’s my fault. I set you up for that. And I know you think I’m evil. I walk into that tomb every month and condone what happens in there.”
I want to stop him here and ask what does happen in there. What haven’t I seen yet? What is this about?
But he doesn’t give me the chance. Just keeps talking. “But I was you once. I was the youngest brother. The underachiever. I wanted the girl on the edge of things. She was a town girl, not a pretty thing in the woods. And I got her, Cooper. That was your mother. And I still ended up here.”
He’s silent for a long moment. And I am too. I need long, quiet moments to piece together all the words that just came out of his mouth.
He abruptly laughs. “Trust me, no one would be happier if you got out than me.”
“That’s… funny. You don’t want me out, you want me in. You’re doing all this right now to keep me here. To force my hand. To make me go back. A building? Dedicated to Cadee? And all this shit with Isabella? I can’t forgive that. She almost died in my arms that night.” I start to get emotional. Because it was fucking horrible and I have still, to this day, never recovered from that night. “I found her in the bathtub, Dad. There was blood everywhere. And why did that happen? Because she wanted to be her own person? And you people”—I sneer the word—“you people just don’t care. You drag her back. You drag them all back—”
“I didn’t drag them. That’s the part you misunderstand, Cooper. They are not you. They are weak. Isabella is weak. She’s better than she was.” He pauses to point his finger at me. “Because you stayed by her side. But she does not have the strength to stop this. She isn’t the one who will change things, Cooper. You are.”
I laugh. “You want me to believe that you’re on my side?”
“I’ve always been on your side, Cooper.”
“No. You’ve always been on Dane’s side. You never had my back.”
“Not in public.”
“Not in private, either. You blamed me when Mom died. You blamed me! Do you have any idea how unfair that is? I was five, for fuck’s sake.”
My mother killed herself. And I was there.
But the worst part is… I lived and she didn’t.
“I was five,” I say again. “I didn’t know she was going to crash the car.” I pause and look up at him. Meet his cold, steel-gray eyes. “You never had my back. Especially in private. You know Dane was beating the fuck out of me when I was a kid. And you did nothing.”
He sighs. Tired, maybe? Possibly frustrated. “When you came in my office at the beginning of the summer, I gave you that advice, remember? Always have a plan B. And look at you. Sitting here in front of your Plan B. You actually made me proud when you showed up at the tomb and threatened me.”
I guffaw. “Right.”
He shakes his head and looks out at the view of overgrown tulip trees for several long moments, just staring into nothingness. Like he’s reliving something. “I thought that Isabella was a turning point for you.” He looks at me. “When I heard what you did that night, how you stepped up and saved her life, Cooper”—he smiles at me—“I was proud of you. I thought, ‘Well, finally. The prodigal son steps up.’ But it wasn’t the first time, was it?” He pauses again. “I didn’t know about Dane for several more months. I didn’t know that you stepped up for Cadee too.”
I huff. “I didn’t step up for Cadee. I forced her to be quiet. I talked her into getting an abortion.”
“You took control of something, Cooper. You made decisions. For once, you thought of someone other than yourself.”
“You’re wrong!” I insist. “I made her keep that secret so I could use it against Dane later, Dad. What I did was unforgivable.”
He sucks in a deep breath. Then lets it out slowly. “Yes. You were a total piece of shit. And yet she forgave you, Cooper.” He stares hard at me. “Almost no one gets it right the first time. I certainly didn’t. And when Isabella needed you, you performed better.”
“Performed?” I am… incredulous.
“Listen. I made mistakes too when I was young. There is a lot more to this story than you could ever realize. You and I are more alike than you will ever want to admit. But that’s fine, Cooper. I don’t pretend to be good. I’m not good. I play my part. Just like you were playing yours. And I know that you think I hate you, but I don’t. Everything that’s happened between us was for Dane’s benefit. And now?” He shrugs. “He’s gone. We don’t have to worry about him.”
“You killed him.”
“No. Believe it or not, I had nothing to do with it. Elizabeth will try to pin this on me during the next tomb meeting, but it won’t stick. I did not plan the building dedication ceremony that took place this afternoon. Cadee’s mother did.”
“What?”
He smiles at me. “She knew about the building. And she knew I was going to offer Cadee a scholarship after the Prep kids graduated. It’s just… things got complicated and I had to… improvise. But every bit of this was planned, Cooper. And Mrs. Hunter was in charge of the food and drink for that ceremony.”
“How did she die? Did you do it?”
He shoots me a disgusted look. “Of course not. She was my friend. I was at her wedding, Cooper. The best man, in fact. It was a hit-and-run.” He lowers his voice. “But she knew what happened between Dane and Cadee. So I suspect Dane had something to do with her death. I was as surprised as anyone about the strawberry champagne. It’s… tasty. Very sweet and bubbly.” He bobs his head a little. “Just not very… classy, is it? But Cadee loves strawberries, doesn’t she?”
Does she? “How do you know that?”
“Strawberry shortcake is her favorite dessert. She told me herself. At any rate, Elizabeth will try to blame me, but I’ve al
ready looked into it and the champagne was ordered last May, just before Mrs. Hunter died. It was not me, Cooper. It was her, and it was revenge. And Dane”—his blue-gray eyes stare into mine—“Dane got what he deserved.”
I just look at him for a moment. Study his perfectly composed face. And marvel just how much he looks like my brother, Jack. Or, I guess, Jack looks like him. “Why are you telling me all this?”
“Why?” He smiles at me. “So you can stop Lars from taking your place. So you and Cadee can have time together. One nice year.” He points to her bookstore bag. “She’s excited about this, Cooper. Don’t take it away from her. And don’t let Lars steal her from you, either. He’s… got plans. He’s not like Ax. Ax has your back. Keep Ax close, but keep Lars closer.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m telling you to pack up your shit and move in to the Hunter Building and take your place as King. You can’t do anything from out here, Cooper. You have to be on the inside to get things done.” He sighs. Then stands up, buttons his suit coat, and slides his sunglasses back on his face. “Think about it. But either way, please don’t make it difficult for Cadee. Let her enjoy her year.”
He walks back over to his Maserati, gets in, backs it up, and leaves the way he came.
Ax steps out from the side of the house.
“Did you hear all that?” I ask.
He nods and then settles down on the steps where my father was just sitting.
“What do you think? Should we go back? Move into that building?”
Ax picks a weed from a nearby overgrown planter and twirls it between his fingertips. “I’m pretty fucking sure I don’t have a room with my name on it in that building.”
“You could stay with me. Hell, you can have the whole place. I’ll stay with Cadee.”
He winces a little, then looks up at me with squinty eyes. “Nah. I think I’m gonna stay here, Coop. I like this place. I’ll fix it up and then Cadee can sell it for a profit after she graduates.”
“Graduates.” I sigh. “Four years from now. Where do you think we’ll be next year this time?”
“No clue. But…” He looks up at the tulip trees. “Probably not here.”
I lean my head into my hands, so frustrated. “I don’t know what to think about any of this. It all feels like a trap.”
Ax laughs. “Oh, it’s a fucking trap all right. If I were you, I’d forget that whole conversation you just had with your father. Because I’m not convinced any of it’s true. Take his shit, of course. His money, that cool new dorm. Take all of it. But to me, Cooper? That sounded a lot like the set-up to a very long con.”
I want to object. I want to believe my father. And trust him. It would be so nice to believe and trust in him. I’ve been the disappointing one my whole life. I’ve always felt like an outsider. Like I don’t belong here. It’s very confusing when everything about my life screams, You belong.
But I know him way too well to start falling for some sob story that paints him as a hero now.
He’s no hero.
“And if I were you, Coop, I’d definitely take that position as King.”
“You would?”
“Fuck, yeah. You’re not gonna hand that shit to Lars. You’re gonna pack up your room, and then tomorrow I’m gonna drive you and Cadee over to High Court, and you’re gonna kick Lars’s ass out of his little castle, take his borrowed crown, and put it right the fuck atop your head where it belongs.”
I smile, picturing it. Not wanting to picture it. I don’t want to fight with Lars. I really don’t. We had a plan. All three of us. I love him like a brother. It wasn’t supposed to end this way. “Is Cadee sleeping?”
Ax gets up off the porch and extends his hand. I grab Cadee’s bookstore bag, accept Ax’s hand, and let him pull me to my feet. “Go find out.” He pushes me towards the door.
I go inside, but Ax doesn’t follow. And when I turn back, I catch a glimpse of his back as he hops down the steps and heads around the side of the inn.
Upstairs in our room I find Cadee lying face down on the bed. But she’s not sleeping. Her eyes are open and she’s staring off at nothing when I enter. “What are you doing?” I ask.
Her eyes focus on me, then drift down to the bag in my hand.
“Oh, you forgot this at the Chairman’s dining room. He brought it by.”
Cadee just stares at it. And her eyes track it as I put it on the bed next to her. “He was here?”
“Yup. Came to tell me…” I pause. Because she looks wrung out. Tired. Maybe even miserable. And the last thing she needs is me burdening her with my father issues.
“Came to tell you what?” she asks, pulling herself up into a sitting position. She leans her back against the headboard and reaches for the bag. She pulls out the socks and smiles. But it falls almost immediately.
“What’s wrong?”
“These stupid socks.” She stuffs them back in the bag and tosses it on the ground. “God.” She looks up at me with those light brown eyes of hers and pouts. “What was I thinking this morning? I mean, did I really just think I would… what? Walk onto campus, buy a few school spirit items from the bookstore, and all these crazy problems would just disappear?”
“Well.” I sigh and sit down on the bed next to her. “I mean… the Dane problem is… well, it’s not over until you get your justice. But he’s not a threat anymore.”
“Did your father kill him?” she asks.
“No,” I say. And then I pause to have an internal debate about whether or not I should tell her the same story my father told me. Is it true? Did Cadee’s mother find out about the rape and this was her final act of revenge from beyond the grave?
“How do you know that, Cooper? I mean, nothing about this place is what it seems. And you’re not particularly trusting when it comes to your father. You’re the one who told me he didn’t have my best interest at heart when he made me all these offers, remember?”
“Yeah, I remember. But… this building, Cadee. It’s been in the works for a while.” I decide not to tell her the strawberry champagne story my father told me. Who knows if that’s true or not. But I can tell her some of the other things. “I mean, I get it. My father is a powerful man. He grounded a commercial airline flight I was supposed to be on at the beginning of summer. But a four-story building in the middle of the woods?” I shake my head. “That place was planned. And his story about dedicating it to your parents, well. I can’t speak to that. But even if it was bullshit, saying it to everyone was a gesture you can’t exactly ignore.”
“He called me a legacy, Cooper. Do you think that’s weird? I mean, my parents didn’t want me to go to High Court. Even though I could’ve. They never told me they were students there. Why keep that a secret?”
“I dunno. Maybe… maybe they were like Victor, ya know? I mean, obviously they didn’t have money like the other families. And we both know that Victor has put up with some shit to drag his ass through that fucking school. Maybe they had high aspirations for you and didn’t want you stuck on that campus your whole life.” This is suddenly starting to make sense to me. And I can see that Cadee is thinking the same thing. “This is probably why Victor is living in the gardener’s cottage, right? He’s going to work here. Forever, Cadee. Maybe all those scholarship kids, maybe that’s their lot in life. Just like your parents. And they wanted more for you. So they kept you out of it.”
She thinks about this for a little while.
I pick up her bookstore bag, take the socks out, and dangle them in front of her. “These are damn cute socks, Cades.”
She cracks a grin.
I pull a little yellow miniskirt out of the bag and hold that up next. “Fucking hot.”
She covers her mouth and laughs.
Then I pull out a white shirt and a cropped hoodie. “What the hell? You bought a whole outfit?”
“Please don’t judge me, Cooper. Because I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I have had fantasies about wearing this st
uff. And when I was a kid, I stole a uniform from the lost and found and I used to wear it when my parents weren’t home. I used to pretend I was a High Court Prep student.” She sighs. “It was all I wanted growing up. And I know wanting in is stupid. Especially when all you guys wanted out. But it drove me crazy not to be a part of High Court. And this morning, I don’t know. I felt like I was finally living my dream.” She shakes her head. “And now… I don’t know.” She looks up at me, her eyes glassy. Like she’s ready to cry. “I get it. There is a building with my name on it. On campus. I was honored this afternoon with a welcome ceremony as I stood next to Mona Monroe and Sophie Bettington. The real legacies. And even though it was all very confusing, I was excited about it.” She shrugs. “I was.”
And there it is. Proof that my father was right.
About one thing at least.
She wants this. She really does.
And the only reason she’s having these doubts is because I planted them there.
“Oh, hey,” I say, wanting to make her happy again. “I got sidetracked with the thought of your gold-tassel knee socks, but I came up here to tell you the real reason why my father came by.”
“Oh?”
“He wants me…” I hesitate. I never wanted this. I never wanted to run the summer rush or be some kind of symbol for the college. But I don’t like seeing Cadee all upset. I just want to make her smile. I want to make her believe that it’s all OK. I want to make her dream come true. I think she’s earned it. “He wants me to move in the new dorm.”
She shoots me a sidelong look. “And be the King? You’d hate that.”
“Yeah.” I breathe out. “Normally. Maybe. But… with you as my Queen?”
“I hope you told him no. I don’t want you to do that for me.”
“I told him yes, Cadee. And yes, I’m doing it for you. A little bit, at least. But mostly I’m just doing it for me. I think it’s been well established that I’m a pretty fucking selfish individual.”
“Liar.”
“No. Really. I want to live there with you. I want the fantasy. I’ve been pushing it away for three years now because the fantasy was conditional. And Isabella Huntington is a nice girl and I really do care about what happens to her, but she’s not my Queen. You are.” I take her hand and lace our fingers together. “Can you imagine how much fun it will be up on that roof, Cades? With the forest all around us. And all our friends in the same building.”