Turn the Tables

by LJ Byrne

  We all need a break. After the shock of Vanessa and the other four wore off, it becomes evident to me that I’m not heading straight to college. Brock and I are doing a set of low-key concerts benefiting the foundation we created and foundations we’re helping. Then we’re disappearing for a bit. Not just me and Brock, but Mason, the twins, and Katrina. We’re traveling, sometimes together, sometimes separately. No one likes my suggestion of visiting Jasper in Ectotania.

  “After the first concert, where should we go first?” I ask Lucas.

  “Europe. Find a house to rent. Eat chocolate.” He looks at the cloudless sky. “We could go to the Caribbean, but I hear it’s terribly hot during the summers. Maybe we’ll hide there during the winter. Find a place in Canada where we get snowed in. Just you and me.”

  “I’ve never been very idle before,” I muse aloud. “Once we do start college, there are too many things I want to study.”

  “I know. Which is why I think it’s best to think of this now,” Lucas says, suddenly getting on his knee. “Will you marry me?”

  My eyes grow huge as he pulls out a sapphire engagement ring.

  “I know. We’re both eighteen. I’m not suggesting we get married right away,” he adds. “But I want you to know that this is what I want when you’re ready.”

  I tilt my head as my fingers run through his hair before tracing his jawline. I think of how I’ve changed in the past few years, and how much I have evolved. Lucas once said I’m his endgame. And I know that he is mine as well. He shouldn’t have been redeemable, and yet he became redeemable.

  I briefly toy with saying no. I doubt he’d accept it. He slides the ring on my finger and waits. “Yes, Lucas. I will.”

  I hear a squeal from behind the trees. Katrina grabs Mason’s arm. “I told you she’d say yes.”

  Lucas spins me around before planting a kiss on my lips as our friends join us: Mason, Brock, Bruce, Charles, and Katrina. I give a brief thought to Jasper, but I think I’m the only one.

  EPILOGUE

  LUCAS

  I married her, of course. I married her on a picturesque fall day in September with friends and family in attendance sans my father right before we started college. Once I decide, the decision is set in stone. Loving Elena means forever regardless of what comes our way.

  I remember the moment I saw her and the terror I felt at being emotionally vulnerable. Her dark eyes saw past my carefully maintained veneer of entitlement and arrogance. In my brief entanglement with Ashley, I’d been trying to purge Elena from my mind. Her standing there, the horror and disgust on her face, was more effective than a cold shower.

  I never forget how I failed her. I remind her of my debt every time I kiss her fading scar. I remind myself every time I walk by the framed harlequin mask in our library. I feel her pain every time I listen to her first album. And yet, I can’t help that hint of smugness in knowing, somehow, she still loves me. Somehow, I made myself partially worthy of her affection.

  At night, she is solely mine. I am nearly insatiable. I don’t share her – not with the world. Occasionally I’m forced to share her with our children, even with the night nannies I hire much to my wife’s annoyance. It borders on obsession and desperate need on my part.

  She spends her days writing songs, inventing, running the foundation we build together. She gets degree after degree, her thirst for knowledge never-ending. I don’t think her mind ever stops. As we settle in our home, she moves her learning increasingly online. There are times when her eyes grow distant. The walls go up as she disappears into the canvas of her mind. I won’t let her. I bring her back to me by whatever means possible. I keep her present with me. When she tries to pull away, I show her why we belong together. I refuse to lose her.

  Our children play alongside Katrina’s children with Bruce. Charles comes by with his twins from time to time. Brock never marries. Mason gets married too often. I never ask – I never ask if they’re still haunted by memories of Elena. Jasper is relegated to the role of that strange uncle who no one talks about. He appears randomly, showering Elena and our children with gifts. He never stays long. No one ever asks Jasper the questions that linger in our minds about the five people who likely died by his hand. I tolerate him. I never ask if he pines for my wife, although I see the way his eyes devour everything about her. He, too, never marries, and I never shake the feeling that he’s waiting for my demise. He’s never improper, and that’s all I care about.

  I am a better father than my father, although that’s not setting the bar high. When my daughter runs to me crying, “Papa, Papa,” I swing her high and never raise a hand in anger or frustration. When my son falls, I encourage him to get up. I tell him it’s okay to cry. My in-laws are perfect grandparents, doting and kind. My mother-in-law seems to heal as the grandchildren are born. We never learn what triggered her mental collapse or what shadows lurk behind her dark eyes.

  I take over my father’s company. I do it out of revenge. I destroy everything I hate about him and retool the company to focus on AI and machine learning. There is a savage satisfaction knowing our children will never carry the Rhodes names. Sometimes Elena dabbles in my work. She’ll have a breakthrough and leave my research team scrambling to catch up while I hide my laughter.

  We fight. We plan. We laugh. We love. She picked me. I never forget that. So, I worship her. My wife. My love. My life.

  Books By This Author

  Survivor

  When Juliet receives a scholarship to attend the prestigious Breaker Academy, she accepts without hesitation. But the moment she arrives on campus, it's clear that the students who rule the school despise her. But if the Kings of Breaker Academy think they can bully her, they're mistaken. Juliet's been to hell and back and survived to tell the tale.

  Juliet's not a victim. She's a survivor.

  The Betrayal

  Five years ago, I lied. I lied and almost sent an innocent person to prison. It was unforgivable. Now my parents have sent me to live with my aunt. I’m to care for her while she receives chemotherapy. As part of the agreement, I’m enrolled in a private school nearby where I encounter Rory Remington again.

  When I was twelve, he was my best friend and my twin brother’s best friend. But now he hates me because I’m the one that nearly sent his brother to prison. He promises to make me pay, he promises to break me, he promises to exact his vengeance for what I did to his family.

  I deserve it all. If he thinks I’ll fight, I won’t. He can join the list of people who’ve broken me before.

  Acknowledgement

  There are a lot of people that I have to thank. As always, the support of my friends. Darcy, Brittany, Tina, Nicolle: it's been hard to get together as much as we want to, but I feel blessed that fate made us friends.

  To my sister, Lorna, for taking me to the library frequently as children.

  To my college buddies who patiently answered questions: Bruce, Mark, Brad, Peining, Dave, Mike. We may not always agree, we may not always agree to disagree, but we still remain friends to the end.

  To my game friends: 2020 will be a year where friendships changed. Thank you for being a constant: Celestikun, CowboyJBB, happyreader, Pinkle, Ziltoid.

  To my unnamed friends from the following games: Angelstone, Empires and Puzzles, Heroes Charge, and Hundred Soul. I love that I continue to encounter you in different games I play.