Crown of Ashes

by Addison Moore

  “That was very noble of you.” My heart breaks for the dude even though all parties are well past their hormonal wedded and bedded years.

  “Great love requires great sacrifice.” He pats my shoulder once again. “But she’s here tonight. And I’m not feeling so generous anymore.” He gives a sly wink. “If I’m smart, I’ll steal a kiss later this evening.” He dances off into the crowd, looking as if he’s got the world in the palm of his dead hand. And in a way, he does. All rules of engagement were released once that golden cord was severed—and as it is in eternity, it’s party time from here on out.

  Gage comes up and offers me a mock sock to the gut.

  “What’s up?” I slap him five and pull him in. “Rumor has it, women go crazy for a sharp dressed man.”

  “I see what you did there.” He offers a quick sock to my arm before stepping back.

  “And I see what you did there.” I flick his tie into his face. “That color really sets off your eyes, sweetheart. Smooth move.”

  “It’s lambskin.” He frowns down at it. “Dad let me borrow it. He said it was all the rage back in the day.”

  “Which dad?” I lift a brow. “Kidding.”

  Gage lands another sock to my arm, and this one hurts, assuring me he put some effort into it this time.

  “Watch it, man. You’re packing some serious muscle.” I rub my arm down to demonstrate the fact. “Where’s Skyla?”

  “She’s coming with Chloe.” His demeanor darkens on a dime. “Where the hell was Coop running off to? He blew right by me without bothering to say hello.”

  “I don’t know. I think I pissed him off. He wanted to know what was up with Ezrina.”

  A hand crashes over Gage’s shoulder, interrupting our conversation, and we look over to find his lookalike Wes.

  “Dude.” Gage pulls him into a partial embrace as if it was a reflex, and my gut grows hot with rage. I don’t mind Gage acknowledging the fact Wesley is his brother. Hell, I don’t mind the occasional obligatory visit to the Transfer, where at least he can visit his niece, but this genuine connection the two of them seem to have going is really starting to eat at me. I don’t for a minute think Wes is going to replace me in some moronic way, but seeing them buddying up to one another, whispering something about a Barricade meet and greet right in front of me is really starting to piss me off. “Glad you could make it.” He gives his big bro the once-over, and oddly enough they’re dressed to match, sans the bright blue tie—Wesley’s is green. “Looking sharp, man.”

  “Thanks.” He glowers at me a moment. “Have you guys seen Ezrina?”

  “She’s the woman of the hour.” Gage cranes his neck before coming up empty. “Coop blew out of here a few minutes ago looking for her, too.” He winces my way as if to ask if he should go there. “You know about her, don’t you?” He cuts that steely gaze into his brother’s eyes, and Wesley flinches.

  Knew it. “You’re behind this, aren’t you?” I give him a hard shove to the chest just like Coop did me. “You sick fuck.”

  Wes snatches my wrist and lands my arm up against my chest, crooked and ready to break. “Who said you could touch me?”

  “Whoa.” Gage steps between us. “This isn’t how this night goes down.” He looks to me. “It’s your last night at the old place with friends. Don’t get worked up so fast.” He shoots a dirty look to Wes. “And you”—he sighs with exasperation as one can only do when dealing with Wes—“what the hell are you doing? Who is that chick? And how the hell did you get Ezrina to agree to it?”

  Wes steps back and offers a weary look around before stopping short at something just over my shoulder. “I found what I was looking for. Excuse me.” He takes off in the direction of the kitchen, and I catch Nev scowling at him as Wes heads his way.

  “So much for getting a straight answer out of him.” I yank Gage in by the tie. “Get a straight answer out of your new little buddy asap, and I want to know what excuse he gives you as soon as it leaves his mouth. I don’t like Coop pissed at me.” I toss his tie in his face and press out a dry smile. “I’m betting you’ll score some serious points with Skyla if you crack this code before midnight.”

  Gage shifts from foot to foot as he searches out his wicked brother. “I’ll get right on that.” He starts to head out and backtracks. “Text Skyla and make sure she’s coming, would you?”

  “Will do.” He takes off, and I shoot our favorite Celestra a quick message. Where are you? We need to party like it’s 1989.

  It takes less than five seconds for her to fire right back. That’s not how the song goes. And I’m just about ready. Laken just got here. See you soon!

  My heart gives an irregular thump at the thought of seeing her—the way it always does when I’m about to see Skyla. A despicable part of me finds it mournful that Gage is determined to land in Skyla’s bed again, but if his dick gets its way, I know for a fact all will be right with the world tonight. His world at least.

  A couple of girls walk by tittering my way with their lashes lowered, their fingers loosely covering their lips. It’s the flirtatious bunch from the old Walsh house. And behind them an entire crowd migrates through the doors. I spot Holden Kragger and a couple of girls with him. I know Skyla mentioned Emerson was back, and holy shit, there she is. The Kraggers, in addition to Holden’s new wife, who I haven’t had the misfortune to meet yet, haven’t been holing up at Gage and Skyla’s new place like the rest of them. Speaking of the dead, the last of them trample their way in with the same enthusiasm I’ve witnessed these past few days. It’s safe to say they’re enjoying the hell out of their jaunt back to reality, albeit a short one. Just as I’m about to head over and lend Ellis a hand with whatever mischief he’s gotten himself into, a familiar looking girl catches my eye as she hovers near the arcade. I give her a sideways glance and do a double take.

  It’s Laken.

  I glance down at the text Skyla just sent. Laken is with her.

  But Laken is here.

  I give a friendly wave as I head on over, and the girl’s eyes grow wide, her face just as blank as it was a moment ago. Maybe she doesn’t recognize me. And why would she? It looks as if Ezrina’s science project wandered away from the lab.

  My fingers dance across my phone as I text Coop to get his ass back here right fucking now.

  I walk slowly, casually toward the arcade, and the girl tries to bolt just as I come upon her and snatch her up by the wrist.

  “Leaving so soon? How about a quick dance?” I swoop her in close and try to lead her to the office, but she jets out the front door into the paper white fog, and I bolt right after her.

  It looks like I’m about to unlock this secret long before Gage. Of course, Skyla will be grateful, and that alone makes me run just a little faster through the parking lot.

  The girl trips over a concrete block, and I dive in time to break her fall. I twist my body around so that my back takes the blow from the concrete and her mouth lands a hair away from mine. Her eyes, that face, she is the exact representation of Laken. I must admit, Ezrina is capable of damn good work.

  “I don’t believe we’ve had the chance to meet.” I wrap my arms around her, making it impossible for her to escape my grip.

  Laken’s twin closes her eyes as she lands a weary hand over my chest. “Wrong, Logan—we’ve met before. You know exactly who I am.”

  4

  Let the Bodies Hit the Ground

  Skyla

  Paragon is known for its long gray days, for the fog that pulls up its skirt and sits over the face of the island, evergreens that stretch their naked limbs high into the sky allowing the night air, the sky to lick at its most intimate spaces. There have been many tender aches in my young life, but none of which rival this primal urge to leash my body to that of my husband’s and atone for our sins during a long night of electric passion. I blame it all on those damn Kegels.

  “Geez, Messenger, how long has it been since you’ve gotten laid?” Chloe throws a stuffed bun
ny at me, and I catch it before it nails my face. Her hair is crimped and teased, her makeup so neon her lips glow incandescent, but it’s that old-school sweater dress in an eye-popping rainbow of geometric shapes paired with a giant chunky belt that sets off her look—an homage to a tacky era gone by.

  “Twelve weeks, three days, and forty-two minutes, seventeen sexually explicit seconds,” I say, dusting my face with powder before snarling at myself in the mirror. But the fog, the island seems to call to me, and I can’t help but set my gaze on the evergreens, the world outside my window. Laken texted to let me know she was parking and would be up in a second. I was a little relieved when her name popped up on my phone. For a second, I thought she cut me off for good.

  “Stop glaring outside and panting like a dog. It’s not a good look. I can smell the desperate on you. Put some ’80s perfume on and get in the mood. It’ll cool you off.” She picks up a pretty pink bottle of Love’s Baby Soft my mother gifted me for my last birthday and proceeds to douse me in it.

  “Would you stop!” I scoop up both Nathan and Barron in a panic and make a break for the hall. “Perfume is nerve gas for babies in the event you didn’t get the memo,” I bark as I stalk down the fecal-stenched stairs, leaning against the wall with every other step—a trick that’s helped me from toppling with my precious little babes a time or two. There’s no way in hell I’d let Chloe take one from me. She’d probably land the poor kid on his head, on purpose, of course. I may be keeping my enemy close, but I’m not blind to her old tricks. In the celestial mother of all ironies, it’s Chloe and I who are until death do we part. In the end, Chloe’s loyalty, albeit bought at a price, is virtually indestructible.

  “Listen, Messenger”—Chloe pulls me back by the elbow as we hit the foyer—“you and I made a little deal. It’s time we start polishing the details of that payoff.”

  A ripe anger burns through me. “You are alive. You are in my home, inches from the two beings that represent my beating heart. You are allowed in my presence.” A fire blazes from my eyes. “And yes, you and I will both get what we are looking for.”

  Those dark soulless pits of hers scour my features. “You’re not really looking for anything from me, are you, Skyla?”

  “Just what I asked.”

  A sharp knock erupts, and both boys startle in my arms. Chloe opens the door only to find Laken, whose smile quickly sours.

  “I thought we could go together.” She offers a sharp look my way. Laken has completely embraced the ’80s radical color explosion with her psychedelic print miniskirt and mesh net top that accents the hot pink bra underneath. Both Chloe and Laken have gone all out, and all I could piece together was an acid washed jean dress I pulled from my mother’s closet. It’s tight in all the right places, squared off neck, the hemline shorter than anything I could ever envision my mother leaving the house in.

  “Yes, for sure. Of course, we can go together. Chloe will have to tag along.” I give a quick wink to the demon to my left. Unfortunately for me, Chloe will be tagging along a lot longer than just one night. As soon as I witnessed Gage Oliver’s demise the night of the christening, I knew my hands were tied. Chloe may not realize it, but she’s the most valuable weapon in my arsenal. In a world where I can’t get a single being to do my bidding, I knew I could rely on my equally desperate and out of control nemesis to step across enemy lines—especially since we have the very same mission in mind. Our goals may not have always lined up, but when it comes to Gage Oliver, we are one in the same, obsessed to a fault, desperately and hopelessly in love with him. Not even our Celestra bloodlines could bond us in the way that Gage has. Apart from one another, Chloe and I were wayward, but together we are a force unstoppable, a nightmare, a blessing, a reign of holy terror—two saviors riding on our white steeds. I’m no fool. I realize Chloe has a heart of destruction when it comes to me and perhaps my family. But for now, with her tethered to my hip, chained to my neck, we are safe from all of her reprehensible harm. I should have done this years ago, but years ago she wasn’t nearly as helpless as she is now. Neither was I.

  “Well, hello, you handsome little men,” Laken coos to the boys as she gives Barron a quick tickle, and they both break out into deep, husky belly laughs that vibrate through me like a current of pure joy. “Oh my God! They’re darling!” She scoops up Barron and touches her nose to his. “I’m in love.”

  “You better watch out. They’re highly addictive.” I give Nathan a quick kiss to the forehead. “I can’t get over how happy they suddenly are. All they do now is smile and laugh.” And my heart melts each and every time.

  Chloe grunts at the thought. “And shit and suck on your tits. I’ve witnessed.” She sneers over at Laken. “You’re not missing much.”

  “Why are you here?” The joy quickly drains from Laken’s face. “Skyla, I might have to talk to Dr. Booth and have you committed.”

  I bark out a laugh and spin on my heels toward the family room. “It wouldn’t be the first time. Come on, let’s hand these chunky monkeys off for the night. My sisters are pulling diaper duty until I get back.”

  We find Mom doing an art project with Misty and Beau while Tad huddles over a stack of bills along with them at the kitchen table. But it’s that odd speck sitting prominent on Mom’s left cheek that calls my attention.

  I nod over to her. “I think you’ve got a chocolate chip stuck to your face.” I brush my cheek in an effort to navigate her to the chocolatey confection.

  She swipes the air with her hand as if it were no big deal. “It’s a new look I’m trying out.” Her eyes swipe over to Tad a moment before reverting back to me. “I hear a well-placed mole drives men wild,” she whispers with glee.

  “A what? Drives men what?” Why the hell would my mother find it suddenly necessary to beguile Tad with what amounts to a pre-cancerous lesion on her face? I scan my mind for any woman with prominent moles, and all I can think of are a few supermodels. Sure, it’s hot as hell, but on them it’s natural. On Mom it just looks like a bird had a very unfortunate discharge. In fact, the only woman that comes to mind with a mole that size on the island is Dom—I suck in a sharp breath. Dominique Winters! Gah! No wonder my mother is whispering! She didn’t want to arouse Tad’s suspicions or apparently his penis! And double gah! The words Tad’s penis just flitted through my mind! It makes me hate Demetri that much more for all the grief he’s given me. Not only is my mother wasting her time trying to beguile him with a knockoff mole—trying to win him back from Dom the Dominatrix—but he’s plummeted my mother into the hell of insecurity. If Demetri really loved her, he wouldn’t give a demonic rat’s ass whether or not she had a mole. And sadly, I suspect it’s true. Demetri couldn’t care less if she had any teeth either—and at this point, her brain is questionable at best.

  I turn my attention to the family room where I find Mia on the couch with—oh shit.

  “Rev?” I blink back in horror at the biker wannabe with his shorn head and dirty leather jacket that’s probably crawling with germs and semen because God knows you can’t wash leather. “Do you two have a date?”

  “Yup!” Mia springs up and takes Nathan from me while doing a little happy dance. Her lashes look suspiciously long and luscious, and it’s not until I note one sitting crooked do I realize they came from a box. Her makeup is garish, bright red lips, enough highlighter to signal to the moon. Mia Landon isn’t looking to stay home and change diapers all night. “I’ll be right here with these little dudes. Rev’s helping me babysit.”

  “No way, no how.” I pull Nathan right back. “Laken, hold on tight. There’s no way I’m leaving these angels with this hot-to-trot duo decked out in Halloween costumes.”

  Rev gives that perennially bored look he’s famous for. “Tell her I’m good with kids, Laken.”

  A breath gets caught in my throat. That’s right! Laken and Rev are practically stepsiblings now that their parents have hooked up for the seemingly long haul.

  Laken squirms a moment. “He r
eally is. Lacy and Marky adore him.”

  Lacy is Laken’s little sis, and Marky is Coop’s.

  “Traitor!” I gulp for air at how far the mighty have fallen. “Chloe, take Barron.” Desperate times call for desperate bitches to assist me.

  “No.” Laken spins away from Chloe’s purple claws. “Rev is going to do just fine. He’s not a menace, I promise.”

  “Ha!” Tad leaps from his seat, waving a piece of paper in his hand. “He’s exactly a menace. An expensive one at that.”

  Crap. It’s never a good sign when Tad and I agree on something.

  “That beast he dragged into the house is riddled with fleas! And now we need to tent the entire house!”

  Mom shakes her head, rolling her eyes at how pathetic Tad is—even though I highly suspect he’s right. “We have termites, Tad. It’s an entirely different species.” She looks to me. “When we tore out the poopy carpet on the stairs, we found rot leading straight to the floorboards. It turns out the entire house has been eaten from the inside out and we need to fumigate.”

  “Gah!” I clutch onto Nathan a little bit tighter. It sounds as if my mother and Chloe are on the same nerve gas page.

  “Don’t you worry about a thing.” She lifts a glitter-covered finger at me. “Once we schedule the appointment, we’ll all be forced to leave the house for three short days.”

  “I’m not going anywhere,” Tad grumbles, falling back into his seat. “It’s all just a ploy to get you out of the way so they can up and leave with your valuable treasures. I’m staying put.”

  Mom clicks her tongue. “They won’t fumigate with you here. In fact, the paperwork says not even a houseplant can survive. We’ll have to store all of our food in plastic bags.”

  “Just plastic bags?” I won’t eat here for a year. “Dear God, it’s going to be Chernobyl all over again.” As if Gage turning to the dark side wasn’t bad enough, the boys and I are going to lose all of our hair—forever.