by Callie Rose
I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from snapping at her. The hallway suddenly seemed too crowded with both of us in it, and her gentle, floral perfume seemed to stifle me. I cleared my throat, carefully avoiding looking at her. “What happened to him?”
“Adam?” She let out a breath, waving a dismissive hand. “I don’t know. He was never truly part of the group, I don’t think. He wasn’t from around here, and he left just as quickly as he appeared.”
Jesus. She could even make “wasn’t from around here” sound like an insult. As if being born anywhere but Roseland automatically made someone a lesser person.
I glanced back at the picture again, taking in the entire group of my mother and her school friends. I wondered for a moment what they had been called. Had the student body at Oak Park known them as royals too?
Despite the assistance of the crutches, my good leg was shaking and my body was starting to ache. I had several bruises on my left leg, although no bones had been broken.
“You need to lie down.” Jacqueline’s voice was sharp, and when I glanced over at her, she was finally looking directly at me. Her lips were pressed into a line, but something like worry darkened her eyes. “You shouldn’t have walked up three flights by yourself. To—do what? Look at a photograph? If you want something, send Avery or one of the others to get it for you.”
“I wasn’t gonna make Avery take a framed picture off the wall and bring it downstairs just so I could see it,” I muttered, backing away from the picture in question and turning to head back down the steps.
“Why not? That’s what she’s here for.”
Jacqueline followed closely behind me, and when I started trying to navigate the steps down with my crutches, she gave a tsk.
It was more awkward going down than coming up; I had to hunch over to place the rubber ends of the crutches on the step below, and the action made me feel like I was about to pitch forward and tumble down the staircase. After only a few steps, I stopped, breathing hard.
“Oh, for—”
My grandmother’s heels clicked as she came up beside me and tugged the crutches out of my hand, wrapping her arm around my waist to support me. She laid them gently on the stairs, then secured my arm around her shoulders.
“My crutches—” I cast a glance back over my shoulder as we took a step down.
“Leave them. I’ll send Avery up to fetch them.” There was a beat, then she added, “That really is what she’s here for, Talia. And we pay her well for her service. You don’t have to be afraid to ask her for help.”
I didn’t quite know what to say to that, or to the fact that my grandma had apparently thought she needed to explain herself to me. So I didn’t say anything.
It took what felt like a thousand years for us to reach the ground floor, and when we hit the flat surface, we both let out twin sighs of relief.
She helped me hobble the rest of the way to my room and deposited me on the bed. As I crawled up the mattress on shaky arms and legs, she crossed to the dresser and collected a few pills. Then she grabbed the glass of water from the nightstand and handed it all to me.
“It’s a little early, but I think you’ll be all right to take these.” She watched me until I swallowed them, then took the glass back and set it down. “I’ll have Avery bring down the crutches. And if there are any other pictures you want to look at, let her know. She’ll get them for you.”
There was a mildly chastising tone to my grandmother’s voice, and she glanced at me once more with an assessing gaze before she turned and left.
I lay propped up on the bed, staring after her and wondering what to do with that small, reluctant show of kindness.
But I couldn’t decide. So I just tucked it away in my heart for safekeeping.
Chapter 5
LEAH: Are you fucking serious? Adena????
ME: Please don’t make me regret telling you this.
LEAH: You think Adena tried to kill you??!?!
ME: You’re making me regret it.
LEAH: WTF???
ME: I don’t know. The guys think somebody fucked with my car. That the brakes didn’t fail by accident. I don’t know who else hates me as much as she does.
LEAH: Yeah… I mean, at one point, I would’ve said the Princes, but…
ME: It wasn’t them.
LEAH: And you’re sure about that?
Yes. I was.
I had offered up my trust to the Princes, and they had offered theirs back. The peace between us might still be tentative and new, but I had chosen to believe in it. The risk of trust was always the possibility of getting hurt, but after everything the four boys and I had gone through, that risk felt was beginning to feel worth it.
ME: 100%
LEAH: Okay. Damn. Adena really is a fucking psycho. Do you think she knew that could kill you??
ME: I dunno. We don’t even know if it was her. We only have a bunch of hunches and no actual evidence.
LEAH: Um, exhibit A. She’s a fucking psycho.
ME: Yeah.
LEAH: You doing okay?
ME: Yeah.
LEAH: …really?
ME: Yeah. Just bored. And sore.
LEAH: Okay… if you say so.
LEAH: Hey, I gotta go. We’re opening presents soon. Text you later. Merry Xmas!
ME: You too!
Tossing the phone down on the mattress beside me, I checked the time before the screen went black. It was just after nine a.m., and Philip had insisted that we all do our gift exchange by the tree in the massive living room. I was starting to really appreciate my grandpa—his careful way of speaking, his old-fashioned mannerisms, his sardonic humor—but sometimes I felt like he was trying so hard to make up for the mistakes he’d made with my mother that he forgot I wasn’t her.
I wasn’t the little girl who’d barreled down the stairs excitedly on Christmas morning. The one he’d spoiled and pampered and convinced Santa Claus was real.
But still, I could tell the holiday meant a lot to him, and I wanted to give him a little of that cheer.
It’d been a week since I’d left the hospital, and my bruises were slowly fading. The bandage on my head was gone, and the scrapes and marks on my temple looked less gruesome. My stitches itched sometimes, and my leg still pulsed with pain often, but I was feeling better.
Using my crutches, I hobbled out to the living room to find both of my grandparents already there, waiting for me. Jacqueline had been mostly civil to me since I’d come back to live under her roof, and she’d gone out of her way to make sure I received good care. But we still rarely talked or even looked at each other.
“Ah, Talia!”
Philip rose from the couch, meeting me when I was halfway across the room and escorting me to a large, plush chair before resuming his seat near Jacqueline. I’d ordered them both presents online—gift-wrap included—and I knew the gifts were lame as hell. But it hardly seemed to matter to Philip. He beamed like a little kid as he handed out presents for us each to open, and when he opened the set of fountain pens I’d gotten him, I thought he might strain a muscle in his face from smiling so hard.
He wanted this to be okay.
He wanted us all to be happy.
He wanted it so badly that his jovial voice filled in the gaps in the conversation that lingered between Jacqueline and me, and for a little while, I could almost pretend everything was okay.
I watched him hand her a small gift-wrapped box, his anxious gaze settling on her face as she opened it, and it struck me for the first time—he really does love her. Their relationship made no sense to me, and it was easy to assume that for a wealthy older couple, a marriage was more about preserving money and power than about love.
But I didn’t think that was the case here.
He loved her. And judging by the way I’d seen her treat him at the hospital, the tenderness and worry that’d crossed her features when she looked at him, she loved him too.
I caught myself wondering how he could possibly l
ove someone like Jacqueline, someone capable of the coldness and cruelty I’d seen in her, then shook my head ruefully.
The four boys I cared about were some of the most deeply flawed people I’d ever met. But I’d also seen the parts of them that were beautiful and good—parts I wasn’t sure many other people knew about. Maybe my grandfather had found those sides of my grandmother too and loved her for them.
But I still can’t see them.
“Here, Talia. This is from your grandmother and me.”
Philip smiled warmly as he handed me a small box wrapped with a ribbon. When I lifted the lid, I found a set of car keys nestled inside.
“It’s got the highest safety ratings of any vehicle on the market. I—we—had it delivered to campus. I know it’ll be a while before you need it, but it’s there when you do.”
He watched me almost anxiously, and my heart squeezed in my chest. I had told him about how my brakes had failed, but I hadn’t mentioned the possibility that it’d been Adena. He’d hired an independent assessor to examine the wreckage, but Elijah had been right—the car was too badly damaged for the investigation to reveal anything.
“Thanks, Grandpa… and Jacqueline.”
Philip beamed, but she just nodded stiffly.
A few days after Christmas, my grandparents stopped by my bedroom in the early evening, dressed to the nines for a holiday party. Philip had offered to stay home if I preferred, but I’d brushed him off. There would be house staff around, and it wasn’t like I needed constant help.
“Can I get you anything before we go?” His hand rested on the small of Jacqueline’s back, and he looked younger and taller somehow in his black tuxedo.
“No. Thanks.” I shook my head, muting the movie I’d been watching. “Have fun.”
“Thank you.” Jacqueline’s voice was cool as always, and she didn’t quite meet my eyes. I couldn’t tell anymore if it was anger or pity that made her act this way around me.
“We will.” Philip stepped forward to press a kiss to the top of my head, a now-familiar gesture.
I heard the front door close as they left, and I was about to press the remote to unmute the TV when my phone buzzed beside me.
ELIJAH: Hey, Tal. What are you up to?
I’d been getting messages from all the guys since the day I’d gotten back to the house, although I hadn’t seen any of them in person. Mason’s and Cole’s texts tended to be short and almost cryptic, as if they weren’t quite sure what to say but wanted to say something. Elijah’s were sweet, and Finn’s were usually long, rambling, and purposefully upbeat.
Leaving the volume turned down, I picked up the phone and typed a response.
ME: Just resting. What are you up to?
ELIJAH: Not much. Can we come over?
My heart did a stutter-step in my chest, beating a little harder and heavier as my thumbs flew over the screen.
ME: Yeah. Sure. All of you?
ELIJAH: Yeah. See you in a bit.
I dropped the phone back onto the mattress and unmuted the movie, trying to focus on the screen and not the oddly giddy feeling that filled my chest. I hadn’t seen the Princes for ten days, and maybe it was stupid, but… I missed them.
After my accident, they’d transferred all their focus to me and my recovery, so I still felt completely out of the loop about what the fallout had been for each of them from Adena’s release of all the research in my little notebook. The school had managed to contain it pretty quickly, but that didn’t mean copies of copies and re-uploaded versions of the videos hadn’t gotten out. I was sure all of their parents knew, although I doubted every member of the Roseland elite had gotten wind of the full story.
Pretty much all the kids at Oak Park knew though, and that would be plenty to give the guys headaches once school started back up.
The doorbell rang before the movie ended, and I heard one of the house staff answer before footsteps headed toward my door. I propped myself up a little higher on the bed, brushing a hand through my hair. It wasn’t like I hadn’t showered, but something about lounging around all day made me feel gross anyway.
Not that it mattered. Every single one of the Princes had seen me looking a lot worse than this.
And they still look at me like I’m beautiful. Breathtaking.
I shoved that thought away before it made me flush, glancing up as Mason knocked on the door, which sat slightly ajar.
“Come in,” I called out.
He pushed it open, his gaze instantly tracking up and down my body as if he were checking for new injuries I might’ve somehow sustained since the last time he’d seen me. Seeming satisfied that I hadn’t, he stepped inside, allowing the others to enter behind him.
“Hey, Legs.” Finn shot me a lopsided smile, although I noticed he gave me almost the exact same once-over as Mason just had. “How’s the cushy life treating you? All bon-bons and ice cream?”
“Yeah.” I snorted a soft laugh. “It’s been great.”
“How are you feeling?” Elijah’s gaze was serious as he sat on the end of the bed, resting his hand on my good ankle. My body reacted instantly, as if all my nerve endings had suddenly gathered in the patch of skin his hand was covering.
“Good.” I tried not to let my gaze shoot down to the point of contact between us, to make it even more obvious how his touch affected me. “I’m feeling a lot better.”
“You look better,” Finn offered, coming to sit on my other side.
“Thanks.” I paused the movie, which had still been playing softly, then glanced around the room at each of them. “So, what’s up? What’s happening?”
The blond quarterback huffed a laugh. “Nothing’s happening. We just wanted to see you. Is that okay?”
I blinked at him, and he grinned at me, flashing the twin dimples in his cheeks.
“Um, yeah.” I ran my hands through my hair again. “It’s okay. But seriously, what is happening? Are you guys alright? What’s been going on since—”
“We’re fine.” Mason’s face was unreadable as he spoke, but he shook his head emphatically. “It’s nothing you need to worry about.”
I snorted. “Too late.”
“We really are fine, Tal,” Elijah said softly. When I gave him an annoyed look, he elaborated a little. “Our families all found out about the shit Adena put out there. I think all our parents pooled their knowledge as more bits and pieces of info trickled in, and now they pretty much know about everything she released.”
“Fuck.” I sat forward. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. It is what it is.” His voice held a touch of sadness, but his gaze was steady on mine. He meant it. “My parents are transferring most of my inheritance to my little brother.”
“What?” My eyes bugged.
He squeezed my ankle gently. “I’ll live.” Then a bitter expression crossed his face. “Mostly, I just feel shitty for Sebastian. He’ll be the one they dress up and parade around now, and I know he doesn’t want that.” His shoulders slumped, and for a moment, his mask of calm resignation slipped. “It fucking sucks.”
Pressing my lips together, I looked around the room, waiting for the others to tell me what bombs had been dropped on them.
“I almost got expelled.” Finn shrugged. “The school will put up with a lot of shit, but they cover their asses when it comes to stuff like buying good grades or manipulating their admissions process. My dad pulled all his donations to the school, and my grades all got docked. If I don’t get them back up this semester, I won’t graduate.”
“Shit. I can help you study if you want.”
He grinned like I’d just offered him a prize. “Yeah, maybe I’ll take you up on that this time, Legs.”
I still didn’t quite understand why Finn’s grades were so bad in the first place. He wasn’t a stupid guy—that was obvious if you talked to him for even five minutes. It could be partially just lack of effort, but he didn’t really seem like a slacker either.
My gaze tracked to the
other two boys. Both had remained standing. Mason leaned against the dresser, hands stuffed in the pockets of his dark jeans, and Cole still stood near the door, arms crossed over his chest. Neither spoke until I raised my eyebrows pointedly.
“I’m fine, Princess,” Mason said. When I opened my mouth to press harder, he shook his head. “I’m not kidding. My dad hasn’t done anything. I know he knows about it, but…” Something flickered behind his emerald eyes. “I don’t know. Maybe he doesn’t care.”
Weirdly, my chest squeezed painfully as he said those words. Maybe it should’ve been a relief to hear there were no major repercussions for him, but it didn’t sound so much like Mason thought his dad didn’t care about the leaked family drama—more like his dad didn’t care about him.
And “nobody cares about you” is a shitty mantra to live your life by.
I wasn’t sure quite what to say, so I just held his gaze for a moment, trying to let him see through my eyes to the understanding beneath. There was a kind of freedom, an anonymity, in having almost no one in the world care about you. But there was also a desperate sort of loneliness, a feeling like being a corporeal ghost.
Mason wasn’t alone though. There were people in the world who cared about him, whether or not his dad was one of them.
There was no way I communicated even half of what I was thinking through the look I gave him, but whatever he saw in my face made his own expression soften a little, made warmth creep in at the edges of his eyes.
When I turned to Cole though, his bright blue irises were completely shuttered.
“It’s fine.”
Goddammit. No, it’s not.
Whether his father was beating him worse than before or not at all right now, things in the Mercer household were definitely, unequivocally not fine.
But he wouldn’t talk about it. I could see it in the stubborn set of his jaw. And I could understand it, even if I wished I didn’t. He knew I knew about his home life—in fact, I was sure every person in this room knew. But that didn’t make talking about it any easier.
I wanted to know though. Not that there was much I could do besides offer him my support, and he had that anyway. But I needed to know.
