by Huss, JA
And then Ax Olsen enters the studio.
He takes off his shirt.
He positions himself so the whole room can see the scars on his back.
I swear to God, the entire studio goes completely silent.
Ax searches the room until his eyes find mine and then he just stares at me.
Somehow I go through the motions. I put my paper on my easel. I take my charcoal pencils out. I sketch. And when the class is nearly over, I do it all in the opposite order.
Ax is waiting for me at the door. Everyone files past him without meeting his gaze. It’s not like Ax is an ignorable man. He’s the opposite.
But his damage is the kind of stuff that gets buried under the label ‘drama.’ Or ‘mind your own business.’ Or ‘I have no idea what you’re talking about.’
When it’s my turn to file past him I don’t stop. I don’t even slow. But he slides in next to me like we’re on a team. I don’t know why I worry that Leela might be waiting for me today. She said she would see me at the end of the week. And she’s not waiting.
But I worry about it all the way across campus.
People look at us. A few people stare. And I don’t know if this attention is my fault, or his.
When we’re in the woods, on the path that leads to the dorm, finally, Ax grabs my arm and pulls me into the thick underbrush. He doesn’t let go of me but I don’t pull away. I simply follow him through the woods. Up and over a small hill. We cross a stream, walk through two meadows, and finally we stop at the gate that surrounds Vernon Valcourt.
‘What are we doing, Ax?”
He turns to me. Licks his lips a little. Takes a breath. “What the fuck are you doing?”
“What do you mean?” It’s cold out today, so my protest steams the air directly in front of us.
“Have you forgotten why we’re still here?”
“Of course not. Have you?”
“I’m not the one who’s off script, Cadee.”
“I’m not off script! There was no script, Ax. We all went into this semester one way, and then everyone decided to play their own game. Even you. So do not lecture me because I’m still doing what I was told.”
“You’re playing with fire here, Cadee.”
“Did Cooper send you?”
He doesn’t answer, so I take that as a yes. “Why didn’t he talk to me himself? I literally sleep twenty yards away from him every single night.”
“You know why he can’t talk to you right now.”
“He doesn’t even come home anymore. I’m up there all alone most nights.”
“So you just hand yourself over to Leela?”
“Hand myself over? We get our nails done, Ax. That’s it.”
He’s shaking his head before I finish. “That’s not it, Cadee. You have to know that.”
“Then what is she doing? Hmm? In two and a half weeks Cooper and Isabella will be engaged. I’ll be their mistress, Ax.”
“You wanted this, remember? You’re the one who wanted this.”
I don’t say anything.
“Do you want out, Cadee? Because we need to make a plan right now.”
“A plan for what?”
“Escape. Are you even trying to pay attention to what we’ve all been doing this semester?”
“You know what? Fuck you. No one is trying to escape. And you’ve been hiding out at the inn the whole semester, so you’re one to talk.”
He sucks in a deep breath. “Everyone is worried, Cadee.”
I scoff. “About me? Why? I’m fine.”
“You’re not fine. You’ve bought in to it. You’re really picturing yourself as Cooper and Isabella’s little fuck toy, aren’t you?”
I slap him.
Then regret it.
“Nice,” he says, palming his face with his hand. “That’s nice. But slapping me won’t change the truth. You’re not going to be here much longer, Cadee.”
I just stare at him.
I know this. It’s not a surprise. The whole point of us all coming back to school was to put Dante’s plan in motion. And that didn’t include me staying on for sophomore year.
But…
“You want to stay, don’t you?”
I want to lie to him. Tell him everything he wants to hear. But I can’t. So I say nothing.
“Where does that leave Cooper?”
“What are you talking about, Ax? Cooper and Isabella will be married on June fourth.”
“He’s not marrying her, Cadee.”
“Oh, he most definitely is. I love the double standard here. I really do. I love how Cooper can go along all he wants and you show up in my art class to literally lecture me about having one friend.”
“She’s not your friend. And Cooper isn’t going along—”
I turn away, take a few steps, and then turn back, fuming. “I don’t want to hear it. Everyone is pissed at me, fine. We’re right on plan then, aren’t we?”
“We would be,” Ax says. “If we all thought you were faking it. But you’re not, Cadee. You really think that bitch is your friend.”
I keep walking. I’m not even a hundred percent sure where we are, but I vaguely remember how to get back to the central gardens using the path Cooper and I traveled during homecoming.
Ax doesn’t follow me. And when I finally make my way back to the dorm, every one of my former friends ignores me as I get in the elevator and go up to my room.
Go up to my tower.
Cooper doesn’t come back to the dorm.
Ax isn’t the model in my life drawing class the next day.
Leela doesn’t show up to take me to dinner.
I don’t think I will ever see Ax again.
Leela is in my bedroom when I finish my last final exam of the semester on Friday.
“I packed you up,” she says with a smile.
And I know it’s sad. But I say it anyway. “I missed you.”
She delivers me to the Valcourt mansion via limo. Jack is there when we arrive. If Cooper is there, he doesn’t come outside.
And he’s not there for dinner, either.
Leela comes to my room with a tray of food. I’m not sure what’s happening when she knocks and I open the door, but then she says, “Jack and I are going out to dinner and the Chairman has a dinner meeting. But I didn’t want you to think we forgot about you.”
She comes in my room and sets the tray on the dressing table, then turns to me and gives me a hug. “I don’t know what’s going on with you and Cooper, Cadee. But don’t worry, everyone gets confused before the big day. In two weeks you won’t have to think about any of this anymore. It will all be settled.”
I nod and breathe out. “Thanks, Leela.”
“I’ll see you soon.” Then she places her hand on my cheek and it lingers there for a moment as she smiles down at me.
Then she’s gone.
My door is closed.
And I am alone.
I don’t eat the food. I’m too busy wondering how I got here.
Too surprised at how lonely it is.
Too sad at how nothing ever seems to change.
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN - COOPER
“What am I looking at, Christopher?” My father sighs and rubs his temple. This meeting was Jack’s idea. It’s Christmas Eve and the only thing on my father’s mind is getting drunk.
This is a Valcourt family tradition. Has been since my mother died in that car crash when I was five. I have always thought my father hated me because I survived and she didn’t—why is it my fault that air bags and car seats are wonderful modern inventions? It was only very recently that I entertained the idea that this might not be the case. That my father might actually give a fuck or two about me.
How naïve I was.
“It’s seismic scanning, Dad. Jesus Christ. It’s like I’m suddenly the smartest person in the room. How many times do I have to fucking explain this shit?”
He turns from the window and scowls in my direction. We’re in his offi
ce. Me, Jack, the Judge, and the Mayor. I’ve never taken a meeting with his cronies before. It’s kinda creeping me out. But Jack said they’re invested in my project and are eager for the news.
Right now, the Judge is looking at me like I have a target between my eyes and he’s seriously considering shooting me. The Mayor is texting on his phone. My father is standing at the window, drink in hand, looking out at the freshly fallen snow that covers the lake.
Jack is pacing. “I think we need to hire someone to go over the data. Clearly Cooper is not able to fully interpret what we’re seeing here.”
“What are we seeing here?” my father asks. Like he didn’t just ask me that same question ten seconds ago and he’s hoping Jack has the answer he’s looking for.
I’ve made a PowerPoint and it’s being projected up on the wall. “We’re seeing nothing,” I say for the tenth time, so fucking annoyed. “Because there’s absolutely nothing there.”
“That can’t be true.” The Mayor looks up from his phone, searches the room for Jack, then says it again. “It simply can’t be true. We all know it’s there. We need to find it.”
“Cooper doesn’t know what he’s doing.”
“I know what I’m doing, Jack. Am I, or am I not, the only one in this room who maybe could potentially be a goddamn geological engineer next year? There’s nothing there. Look at the scan.” I get up, walk across the room, and start pointing things out. “This is all rock. This”—I point to something else—“is clay. Victor and I dug it out. That’s what I’ve been fucking doing for the last week. We dug it all out. There’s nothing there. Whatever it is you’re looking for, it’s not here.”
“Then where is it?” The Judge’s voice is deep and low. We all turn to look at him, but he’s directing this question at me for some unknown reason.
“How the fuck should I know?” I snap at him because he’s an asshole. “I don’t even know what you’re looking for.”
“Get out, Cooper.” My father’s words come out with the same level of contempt for me as mine just did for the Judge.
I throw up my hands. “Fine with me. But my project is done, right? I did my job and I’m done.”
“Get. Out. Cooper.” He snarls it so I leave.
I head towards my room, but then I catch a glimpse of Cadee’s door down the hallway. I look over my shoulder, checking to see if Jack followed me out, but he didn’t.
So I walk down the hall and tap lightly on the door. “Cadee?” I don’t hear anything, so I open it. She’s not here.
I enter, check the hallway, then close the door behind me and head straight across the room to the door that leads to the patio.
She’s not there, either, but I step outside anyway, then glance across the snow-covered lawn.
“Looking for me?” Mona calls.
“Have you seen Cadee?”
“Yeah, I saw her. She and Leela left in a limo about half hour ago.”
“Where did they go?”
She laughs. “You’re asking me? You’re the one who lives with her.”
I sigh and walk across the snow-covered lawn that spans the distance between our mansions. Not sure what I’m gonna say to Mona, but very sure I need to say something. She stares at me the whole time with a look of utter fascination on her face. She’s not smoking, but she is drinking. She’s got a bottle of Grey Goose sticking out of a mound of snow off to the side of her chair and a tray of shot glasses lined up on the table in front of her like she’s expecting company at any moment.
“What are you doing, Mona?”
She holds up a shot glass and smiles. “I’m doing… exactly what it looks like.” Then she downs it. Coughs. And then breathes out a long, “Ahhh. That burns,” in a throaty voice. “Want one?”
The chair across from her has a cover on it, so I pull it off and take a seat. “Sure. Make it a double.”
Mona laughs as she pours. One for her. Two for me. We down them at the same time, and then we both breathe out. I lean back into the cushions and look at her. “How are you, Mona?”
“Oh, I’m hanging in there. Living my best sex slave life, I suppose.”
I frown at this. “Is Dante mean to you?”
“Dante.” She laughs again, pours us each another shot. “No. He’s not the problem, is he? I’m the problem here.”
“What do you mean?”
She sighs and shakes her head at me. “We’re not supposed to be talking about it, Cooper. You should go home now.”
I want to ask her a million questions. And she must see this written all over my face because she puts up a hand before I can speak. “What’s done is done. The semester is over, New Year’s Eve is right around the corner, and then we’ll all make our little resolutions and be granted a fresh start, won’t we?”
I think about that for a moment.
“Go home, Cooper. It’s Christmas Eve. And if Cadee’s night is anything like mine—and why wouldn’t it be, hmm? We are both offerings, after all—then you should be preparing for that. Because you can bet money that Leela is preparing Cadee right now.”
I let out a breath. “Mona—”
“I’m not nearly drunk enough to talk about it.”
“But are we—”
“Go. Home. Cooper.”
I don’t move. So she does. She gets up, grabs her bottle of vodka, and leaves me there.
I don’t leave. Not right away. I sit there in the cold, freezing my ass off because I have no jacket until I see the Judge get in his car and pull out of our driveway. The Mayor just lives on the other side of our house, so he’s probably gone too. Just walked home instead.
It’s only four in the afternoon but the sun is already setting and the entire lake neighborhood, and college campus across the lake, feels gloomy and dark as a light fog drifts in.
A limo appears and I get to my feet because that’s Cadee and Leela.
I walk out to the driveway and wait for them to get out of the car. It takes more time than it should, and when Leela finally steps out first, I know she was talking about me.
“Cadee.” I reach for her as she slides out of the limo. “Can I see you for a moment?”
“Not now, Cooper,” Leela sighs. “She has to get ready for dinner.”
Cadee says nothing. She doesn’t even look at me. Leela reaches up and places her hand flat on Cadee’s cheek. I can’t decide if this is some twisted motherly gesture of love or just a creepy way of reminding Cadee that she’s a good, obedient girl.
“I’m not talking to you, Leela. In fact—” I suddenly remember who I am. “Get the fuck out of my face. I’m going to have a conversation with my Maiden.”
I hate saying that word. It makes me fucking sick. But Leela is nothing if not well trained, and it gets my desired result.
She stares at me for a moment, perhaps calculating how much power I have compared to her. She shakes her head at me. Like I just disappointed her. But she turns and walks away without another word.
Cadee lets out a long breath. “What do you want?”
“Why are you being like this?”
“Being like what?”
“A total fucking bitch.”
She points to herself. “I’m the bitch? Me? You moved out, Cooper. And you left me a note telling me to move home to the servants’ quarters at the end of the week. So here I am. Your loyal fucking servant. How can I serve you, my king?”
She bows mockingly.
“Hey, you’re the one who showed up. You own an inn with fifteen bedrooms, Cadee. If you don’t want to be here, leave.”
“Why would I leave now? I’m about to get everything I ever wanted.” I narrow my eyes at her, but she doesn’t wait for me to ask the obvious question. “I know who my true friends are now.”
“Yeah? Who’s that?”
“Well, not you. Not Mona. Not Ax. Not Lars. Not Isabella. Not any of you.”
“Sounds like you’ve got a whole lot of nothing there, Cadee.”
“Not true. I have Leela
now. And she’s worth a hundred of you nobodies.” Cadee tilts her chin up. Daring me to do something. Say something. Just like she did that second day of summer rush when all the pledges got the rules. Then she laughs unexpectedly. “Come on, Cooper. You can’t possibly be mad because I’m better at playing the game than you are.” Then she laughs again. “Oh, my God. You’re threatened, aren’t you? Maybe even… a little bit jealous. Ho-lee shit. Cooper Valcourt stands before me in a state of… wanting. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen this side to you before.” Then she shakes her head and pouts out her words. “It’s not a good look for you, my king.”
I don’t say anything back. There’s really nothing left to say.
Cadee Hunter came into this game knowing full well what she was getting into. And she’s in it so deep now, there’s really nothing else to do but play it forward.
“Are we done here, Christopher?”
I nod. “Yeah, Cadee. We’re fucking done here.”
I stay up in my room until Jack comes looking for me. He knocks on my door and pokes his head in. “Can I come in?”
I’m playing video games and don’t even look at him. “Looks like you’re already here.”
He walks over to my game console and turns it off.
“What the fuck?”
“I didn’t come up here to hang out, Cooper. We need to discuss things. The Huntingtons just arrived and we’re about to have dinner.”
“So?”
“Cooper, you have a legacy offering as your guest this year. There are protocols.”
I get a sick feeling about this. “What are you talking about?”
“She can’t sit at the table. You know this.”
“So… why is she here? I mean, if she’s not allowed to celebrate Christmas with us, why is she here? Why am I here? We could just go to the inn and celebrate Christmas with Ax.”
“You could,” Jack says. He’s using that tone of voice people use when they’re placating you. “But… she wouldn’t go with you. She’s in, Cooper. And you’ve been ignoring her. It’s your job to guide her through this. Did you even get her a gift?”