by LJ Byrne
Katrina drags the twins to the bar and starts mixing a drink. Jasper grabs himself some scotch while snagging two beers for Charles and Bruce. Lucas pinches the bridge of his nose as Jasper asks unctuously, “What can I get you, my princess?”
“A club soda and make sure it hasn’t been opened. Last time I attended an Elite party, they drugged me so Ben Summers could try to rape me,” I say in a chipper tone, knowing how dangerous that knowledge is with Jasper.
“Is that so?” Jasper isn’t smiling anymore as he looks at Ben Summers the same way Hannibal Lecter might have looked at fava beans. “Stay here a moment, darling, and don’t accept anything from strangers.” He makes a beeline for Ben Summers.
Lucas thumps his glass down. He really shouldn’t drink hard liquor. “Is Jasper Bourbon your attack dog, Elena?” he asks with a mirthless smile. “He certainly seems to enjoy the role.”
“I haven’t asked him to attack anyone.” That’s not entirely true. I may have pointed him at Ben Summers. “My plans don’t involve that kind of revenge.”
Lucas moves so he’s within my personal space. “Why are you torturing me?” he asks suddenly. “Why did you come back?”
I pause thoughtfully. “Torturing you? I thought it was the other way around. Or did you not participate in the attack on me?”
“I didn’t know the girls kicked you.”
I smile. “Well, that makes it so much better. It just confirms your cluelessness. I used to think you were smart.”
Lucas jerks in surprise. “I wasn’t clueless. A lot was going on at the time.”
I make a disbelieving sound. Jasper’s smiling like a maniac at Ben, which means that Ben is in serious trouble. I wonder if I should intervene.
Lucas downs the rest of his glass. “Well, now that you’re with that asshole, I guess you don’t need to worry. You certainly didn’t hesitate to let him grope you for your video project. Did he buy you that dress, too?”
Lucas sounds jealous. Or resentful. I remember the look on his face when I turned down his necklace. “You think you can buy people. You think you can make someone feel special by throwing money at them. That’s where you went wrong.”
My phone vibrates and I see that Lance wants me to call him.
I make my way to Katrina and the twins. “I need to make a call. Mom and Dad stuff. I’m going to step outside real quick.” Katrina gives me a loopy thumbs up.
Grabbing my cape for extra warmth, I head towards the dock for privacy, glancing behind me to ensure I haven’t been followed. There’s a paved path for me to follow to the dock, which is great since I’m clumsy on uneven ground.
“Lance, what’s up?” I ask.
“What’s the chance I can get you to New York for the ball drop?”
“Are you kidding me?” I groan, my breath frosting in the air. I think about it. I’ve never been to New York before and I want to live it up a little. “Okay, yes, I’ll do it.”
Lance laughs. “You’re a trooper. Look, it’ll be worth it. With all the buzz from your Christmas announcement, people will be clamoring for more information. We can then tie in a sweet White House visit. I’m telling you, you’re going to change the world.”
“Ugh. Fine. I want a warm outfit for the ball drop.” I shake my head. But then again, all that money is going to such a good cause. I’ll be able to hire and train counselors for kids: both the bullies and the bullied.
I breathe in the cold air, trying to clear my head while I consider my next steps. I pocket my cell phone. There’s a surreal quality to everything that’s happening
When I hear steps behind me, I turn casually and then realize my predicament. Vanessa Valentino, Ben Summers, Thomas Carver, Kiana Shimura, and Astrid Fleming are smiling. Ben is carrying chains. Thomas is carrying a small kettlebell.
I barely get a scream out before Vanessa is on me. She’s faster than I expect, clamping down on my mouth. Astrid pauses as Vanessa pins my body down with Kiana. “We’re not doing this for real, are we? This is a joke, right?” Astrid asks.
“Get out of here if you can’t handle it. I’m getting rid of this bitch,” Vanessa hisses, slamming my head back. Astrid flees.
I angle my head and bite her hand, tasting blood. She hits me hard across the head as I feel chains being wrapped around my legs. Before I understand what’s fully happening, I’m pushed into the freezing water, my clothes instantly growing heavy.
I’m a decent swimmer, but the shock of the icy water paralyzes me more than I expect and the weight yanks me down hard. For a brief second, I’m able to grasp one of the braces of the dock as I gasp for air. My cape hampers my ability to remove the weights and I have an Incredibles’ moment where I think, No capes. The cold is so sharp that I can’t scream. I know I’m in trouble and I try to fight the weight, but my grasp slips, and I sink. It isn’t a matter of displacement buoyancy. It’s a matter of the force dragging me down, the inability to curb my panic, and the confusion caused by the cold. Everything blurs in a painful rush as an overwhelming pain seizes my chest. I feel cold, pain, horror. Oh, God, the pain. When the darkness comes, I’m grateful.
CHAPTER 6
KATRINA
I’m so angry at Mason that I consider hitting him again after seeing him scowl at us. I decide to look for Elena. She’s been different since returning to school – focused and with a certain coldness about her. Knowledge about Elena’s injuries gave me, Bruce, and Charles the push we needed to make a stand with her and Jasper. Although Jasper’s got a mean streak, he’s been good for Elena, giving her confidence and level of ease that I haven’t seen before. He likes her, that’s certain, but I don’t know if she feels the same about him.
I see said Lord Jasper having a dick match with Lucas. At any moment, I expect them to be bumping their chests against each other. Oddly enough, the Elite girls are not around. That makes me nervous.
Astrid comes running in, face pale. “Katrina, they’re going to throw Elena in the lake!” she shrieks.
I don’t need to know who “they” are. I dash madly to the window and see Vanessa and Kiana, with the help of some boys, push something into the lake. I think I scream Elena’s name, grabbing Bruce’s arm in horror. Jasper reacts first, running for the dock with savage intensity. Lucas and Mason are right behind him as I throw my damn heels off and run, too.
“End of the dock,” I try to scream ahead of me, but Jasper is already peeling off his jacket and shoes before he jumps in.
I don’t even realize I’m screaming Elena’s name as I’m running. Lucas and Mason yank half their clothes off while running, and I register the terror on their faces. Jasper breaks the surface, gasping. “There’s a fucking weight on her!” he screams. I don’t understand how he can function in the freezing water. He sucks in another breath before he kicks below the surface again, but this time Lucas and Mason join him unflinchingly.
The water isn’t that deep here, but I don’t see anything beyond the glassy surface. Brock swears, staring into the water. He looks ready to jump in, too, but Charles and Bruce arrive with flashlights. They shine it into the water, but I have no idea if I see any movement.
I’m starting to think I’m going to lose my brother and my best friend when Lucas, Mason, and Jasper bring a pale, listless Elena up. They’re struggling to keep her head out of the water. All three boys are breathing painfully as Brock and I reach for Elena, fingers curling around her icy wrist. She doesn’t weigh much, but she feels unnaturally heavy as we yank her out of the water, chains and a bloody weight attached.
Brock starts tearing at Elena’s clothes, trying to get a pulse. I manage to unhook her cape, dimly aware that Charles and Bruce are hauling Mason, Lucas, and Jasper out. My terrified brain tries to think of how long she was underwater. Thirty seconds? A minute? Five?
“Fuck, she’s not breathing. I can’t feel a pulse,” Brock says, and he sounds ready to cry.
Lucas shoves Brock out of the way with almost preternatural speed and strength. His eye
s, barely visible in the dark, cradles Elena’s face as he tilts her head back and seals her lips with his. I hear rather than see him deliver two breaths before starting chest compressions. Mason stumbles over and collapses.
“Shit. Shit, what have we done,” Mason says hoarsely, pain in his face.
Jasper crawls over to Elena’s limp body. He’s panting in rattling gulps.
“Come on, don’t do this,” Lucas says under his breath, like a prayer, like a plea. He gives her two steady breaths. “Come on, Elena. Fight. Don’t die. Don’t leave me. Please.” Chest compressions. Two more breaths. “Please. Elena. Please.” His ragged breathing is punctuated by a faint sob.
I don’t know how long Lucas does CPR, pleading, begging, his voice raw with emotion. Jasper grabs Elena’s hand and I think he bends his head to pray. Elena’s body suddenly spasms, water erupting from her mouth violently. Mason immediately puts her on her side as she coughs out water and then sucks in a breath. As she gasps and spits, Lucas grabs her, holds her to his chest, a strange sob escaping his mouth.
Relief floods me so fast that I stop crying. I look at my brother. “Mason, what the hell is going on?”
It takes forever to get Elena warm. I end up cutting her clothes off before throwing her into the shower. Bruce finds some sweats and then I bundle her up and put her by the fire. The entire time, she’s silent and expressionless. I’m working with an Elena-doll. The other Elites have disappeared, and an enraged Brock chases the rest of the students away.
By the time I get Elena changed – the Elite boys send for an on-call doctor – Lucas, Mason, and Jasper have stripped off their wet clothes and changed as well. Their hair is still damp, and even though Jasper’s exhausted and chilled, their grim faces tell me no one is leaving until we’ve talked. Charles and Bruce stand near the fireplace, trying to offer me their support while eyeing the Elite boys suspiciously.
Brock hands out cognac, but Elena continues to be oblivious. I’m worried that I can’t sense anything from her, so I stay close to offer creature comfort. When Brock finally sits, he hangs his head between his knees in defeat. Mason is on the plush rug near the fireplace, knees up and head in his hands. But Lucas – he stares at Elena like he’s afraid she’ll vanish if he takes his eyes off her. In all the years I’ve known Lucas, he’s never seemed so vulnerable.
“Everything we did last year, Lucas,” Mason says hoarsely. “We fucked up.”
Jasper’s nose flares as he looks at the three Elites in the room. “I am going to destroy each of you after I take care of your girlfriends.”
“There was a bet,” Lucas says in a strange hollow voice, his eyes dark with some emotion. “Vanessa bet the girls she could get rid of Elena last year. But she never stipulated how. It wasn’t until the fire that I realized it meant by any means necessary.” Lucas’s stormy eyes close for a moment. “I tried to stop her. The only thing Vanessa would accept was that the Elite boys could try first. I thought, if Elena left first, she’d be safe.”
Brock takes over the narrative. “Lucas told Mason, but not me. Not initially. Kat, Mason told us that you said she wasn’t sure if she planned on returning. I messed things up by asking Elena to the dance. It changed things.”
“So, you orchestrated humiliating her at the dance,” Charles surmises, his face grim. He looks at the three boys with disappointment.
“You’re all so incredibly stupid,” I whisper.
Lucas’s hand around his glass tightens. “My hands were tied because of my father. I thought she’d be safer and happier away from Highbury.”
“All three of you are pigs,” Jasper retorts, his voice a little raspy from the water. “I won’t just destroy you. I’ll break you first.” His blue-green eyes darken malevolently.
I shake my head. “Wait, Jasper.” I look at my brother. “And then the last day, when the girls beat her, and then you doused her with glue and feathers? What kind of sick shit was that?”
“We didn’t know about the glue,” Mason says. “But we had to follow through.”
I stand up, shaking with rage. “You could’ve said no! You could’ve stood up to them! What kind of fucking cowards are you?”
Brock shakes his head helplessly. “The Club wasn’t stopping Vanessa… We went through the motions.”
“The stupid, fucking Club!” I scream, storming right over to Mason and hitting him. “Don’t use them as an excuse! Own up to your actions!” And I start crying. “Go through the motions, my ass! All of you are spineless cowards! They’ve trashed me, and now you’re going to let them kill Elena.”
“No,” Lucas says, his voice getting stronger. “No, I won’t allow it. It won’t happen again.”
Pure disdain drips from Jasper. “You? You’ve done a bloody fine job of keeping her safe.”
Lucas’s arrogance flares for a minute. “It’s different now. I’m not letting them touch Elena again. I don’t need you to tell me how to keep her safe.”
Blue-green eyes clash with gray ones. “I beg to differ,” Jasper replies. “You see, I’m quite invested in Elena and I intend to keep her safe from the likes of your girlfriends.”
“They’re not our girlfriends,” Brock protests. “I can’t even stand any of them.”
“Why are you so afraid of them?” Elena’s voice cuts through even though it’s thready and weak. Her face is averted as she stares at the fire with a terrifying blankness.
Lucas swallows, clearly trying to control himself in the face of her awareness. “Vanessa isn’t quite sane. Her parents. They’re dangerous. The bets, the games are everything to them. There are enough who are curious about this. My father, among others. They think that because you’re poor, no one will throw a fuss.”
“Edgar Maverick?”
I frown at Elena’s question, but Mason shakes his head. “No, Dad quit a few years back.” Mason nearly crawls over to my best friend. “Dammit, we’re sorry. We’re so sorry. We didn’t know how to stop Vanessa that we didn’t think.”
She doesn’t look at him. She doesn’t look at anyone. Elena sits there in her solitude, her doe-like eyes unfocused.
“They don’t deserve you, darling,” Jasper says, taking her unresisting hand in his. He presses a kiss into her palm. I can see how devoted he is to her, but there’s something just a little off about Jasper.
“And you do?” Mason snarls, his blue eyes hard and angry. “Don’t pretend you’re any better than us.”
“I’ve never hurt her, and I never will. Can any of you claim the same?” Jasper asks, staring at Elena intently. “She already knows I’m a monster. She’s known that the first day we met. That’s what drew me to her, to be honest. I may not be worthy, but I’m a lot worthier than you three combined.”
Lucas hisses. “That may be so, but why don’t we let Elena decide.” He’s still cocky, but there’s a shattered expression on his face as he watches Jasper with Elena.
“How much did you know before they beat me?” Elena asks, her voice almost singsong in cadence.
Lucas closes his eyes, his body trembling. Brock answers, eyes lowered, “We didn’t know they beat you. We didn’t even know about the glue until Vanessa handed it to us. But your face… I wasn’t sure if you were hurt or not when it happened.”
“But you still did it,” Bruce points out. “You didn’t have the balls to stop.”
Brock bends his head, blinking back tears of regret.
“Stopping would’ve required an awareness of the poison. Why would they have stopped?” Elena wonders out loud. Her face moves ever so slightly. “Brock’s money is tied to his father. As is Lucas’s.” Lucas makes a sound, his eyes open with an unspoken protest that causes Elena to pause. “Mason yearns for approval and wealth he can call his own – money that isn’t tied to whom he marries or what he does. The Club can offer that, can offer him the security he thinks he needs.” Elena’s light voice cuts deep. For Elena, this much chatter is of epic proportions.
“It’s not like that,” Mason
tries to deny, but Elena gently shakes her head.
“It always comes down to money.” A strange hardness creeps into Elena’s voice. “Do you think forgiveness is as simple as an apology? What’s the price of your soul? A life? Or just my life?” She shifts her head enough to look at Lucas directly. “I’m surprised you bothered to save me from the water. It’s not my first brush with death.” Her smile is terrifying. “They kicked me hard enough that I bled internally.” She parts her robe enough to show the scar on the side of her abdomen.
Lucas falls to his knees like he’s been punched in the gut. I felt the same way when Elena revealed her injuries to me. Mr. Asshole Supreme isn’t horrified – he looks lost. Mason stares at me, realizing why I’ve been so angry with him. Tears glide down my cheeks and Bruce comes over to console me.
“I’m not broken, Lucas.” Elena turns back to the fire with shadows dancing in her eyes. “Be careful, Jasper. It may be that both my parents aren’t quite sane. Vanity is said to be the devil’s favorite sin. It was mine. Last year, I fell because I wanted to belong. Because I was tired of being on the outside.” The last few lines she directs towards Brock.
“No, it was never your fault. I don’t scare easily, darling. I told you – I’ll destroy them just for you,” Jasper says in a rather cheerful tone. “Besides, I’m not quite sane myself.”
“Elena, I know…” Lucas swallows hard. “I know you hate me. Hate us.” He gets to his feet heavily and takes the few steps to reach Elena’s side, his eyes wide and strangely vulnerable. “We’ll help you. Take down the Elite girls. Do whatever you want. Regardless of cost.” He sinks back to his knees beside her. “You don’t need Jasper.”
Jasper’s normally easygoing face freezes. “You’re not getting rid of me that easily, Rhodes. I am only going to say this once,” he says with this dangerous calm. “I’m her monster. You weren’t there when she was rushed to surgery because she was bleeding internally. You weren’t there to pick up the pieces.” He waits for the pain on Lucas’s face to show with feral intent. “Did you even bother to find out how she was doing or if she was okay? Or did you hide behind your Elite walls?”
