by Kat Cotton
Ren nodded. “That might be for the best.”
“It might.”
We kept walking in silence. It was getting dark and cold. I’d have to go inside soon. The shouts of students practicing some kind of team sport echoed across the lawns. I had no idea even what sports we played. I’d ignored sports since I’d got here.
“So, you and Oscar...” Ren kept his head bowed.
“Me and Oscar?”
I’d forgotten all about Oscar. I assumed he’d gotten back to school okay. Principal Murphy would’ve definitely had something to say if Oscar had been injured.
“Are you... are you dating?”
“No.” A weird choking noise twisted from my throat, half scoffing, half gurgling. “A million times no.”
“But you were together.”
I wanted to ask if he cared. He seemed a little bit jealous and that made me glad.
“I asked him to do a favor for me and he kind of forced me to go to the village with him. But it wasn’t a date. It wasn’t anything like a date. It was awful.”
“Yeah, I guess you’d dress better for a date, poor girl.”
I punched his arm playfully. “No, I wouldn’t. I’d dress exactly like that.”
Ren laughed and I laughed too. Ren finally looked at me.
“If you still want to come home with me for semester break, I guess that would be okay.”
I stopped walking, my mouth going so dry that I could barely speak. Ren didn’t hate me.
“Are you sure?” He’d seemed so dead against it and we hadn’t exactly been on the best of terms lately.
“Of course I’m sure, poor girl.” He laughed, that old arrogance returning to his voice. “I wouldn’t have asked you if I wasn’t sure.”
Chapter 16
I WAITED WITH REN IN the forecourt, my backpack at my feet. One of the Worthington drivers would pick us up. Even without his father’s money, it seemed Ren still had access to the family cars and servants.
“How long does it take to get to your house?”
“About an hour.”
I nodded. “And how long from the gates to the house?”
Ren rolled his eyes. “It’s not that far. Maybe ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes’ drive or ten minutes’ walk?”
“Shut up, poor girl. You’ll find out when we get there.”
Whenever Ren called me poor girl, my heart skipped a beat. It wasn’t something that’d sound romantic to anyone else but it’d always been what he’d called me. When he used that name, it seemed like everything between us had gone back to normal. And there was something about the way he said it, drawing the word out so it sounded like “poooowaaaah” that softened into an endearment rather than an insult.
“Are you saying that because you’ve never walked it before?”
“Maybe.” He huffed and turned his back on me.
The car pulled up, all sleek and black and huge, before I could tease Ren too much. Even amongst the other fancy cars picking up students, the Worthington car stood out. Angela and her friends glared at us as we got in, Oscar glared even more.
“You should stop calling me poor girl.” I buckled my seat belt then checked out the fruit platter on the table in front of me. I did love a fruit platter.
“You’ll always be a poor girl, poor girl. You’ll always wear your bedraggled hoodie and your worn-out boots.” Ren smiled and it made me happy because his words were true.
“You’ll always be a rich boy with your too perfect fingernails and your fancy talking.”
Ren held up his hand and inspected his nails. “They aren’t too perfect. They are the right level of perfect.”
I popped a strawberry in my mouth to hide my grin. Oh, wow. That strawberry had a deliciousness that I didn’t even know strawberries could have. Like rich people fruit was grown on a whole other planet or something. I did a quick calculation in my head. There were 23 strawberries on that platter. That meant 11 for me. Maybe 12. Definitely 12. Ren hadn’t even glanced at the platter.
“Anyway...” Ren turned to appraise me. “Why haven’t you gotten yourself some better clothes now you’re no longer poor? You wear your poverty like an armor.”
Did I? I sure didn’t want to start buying a heap of fancy clothes that I couldn’t afford. Clothes didn’t mean that much to me. Food meant a lot, though. I reached for another strawberry.
“These clothes are comfortable.” I folded my arms. “Who do I need to impress anyway?”
Ren sighed as though that was something he shouldn’t need to explain. “I bet you even have that old phone with no SIM card.”
“I’ve been meaning to get one. I’ve just been busy.”
Ren got out his phone. I wanted another strawberry but those melon slices might be offended if I left them all uneaten. Melon slices seemed like a consolation prize after those awesome strawberries but I didn’t want to hurt their feelings. I’d have one of each.
A moment later Ren told me he’d ordered a prepaid card to be delivered to his house. “Otherwise you’ll get in trouble and won’t be able to call me.”
I swallowed the fruit in my mouth. The strawberry/melon combination was pretty good.
“Is your house so big that I’ll get lost?” In my imagination, Ren’s house was bigger than any house I’d seen. Bigger than a hotel even. With a crazy labyrinth of rooms. His house would be like every mansion I’d seen in a magazine or movie but even more amazing. I couldn’t imagine anyone in the world having more money than the Worthingtons.
“Maybe.”
I tried to hide my grin. Ren had obviously gotten over his issues with me and we’d had the whole break alone together and— I had to stop thinking like that. This break would be about finding information on Ren’s mother, not romance.
Even so, I couldn’t resist sneaking a sideways peek at Ren. He’d relaxed and his ridiculously long eyelashes fluttered against his cheek. I think I liked Ren best when he relaxed and softened a little, but shirtless, sweaty Ren working in the stables held a special place in my heart. Well, maybe not my heart...
Then he sat up and caught me thinking wrong thoughts about him. I blushed so hard, I bet even my toenails turned red. I turned to look out the window because if he looked in my eyes he’d know. I subtracted fifty points from my total. Fantasies about Ren should be kept away from real-life Ren.
“You know, when we get back to school, you should try making up with Lucas.”
Huh? Where had that come from?
“He was the one who started it. Shouldn’t he make up with me?”
Ren flopped back, sighing. “It’s not about who started it or any of that childish business. You miss being friends with him, right? He misses you too. You’ve been friends a long time, so just sort it out.”
I chewed on the sleeve of my hoodie, thinking this over.
“I’m not very good at this friends thing.” I kept my voice low, not wanting to admit it. I’d missed Lucas so much, Ren wasn’t wrong about that. And I burned to ask him what Lucas had said about me, but pride stopped me. “Before Lucas, I’d never had a friend. I’m still not sure how it works.”
“You and me both.”
Ren’s voice was lower than mine, almost a whisper. Once I’d have scoffed at him. Poor little rich boy and all that. He’d been the most popular student at school. Everyone had loved him. But I’d seen how fast the other students turned against him when they found out he had no money. Dropped like a hot potato but not nearly so tasty or butter slavered. I guess one advantage of being poor was that I never had to second guess people’s motives.
“Hey, why do you think Oscar wants to date me?” If anyone knew, it’d be Ren.
He shrugged. “You’re really not that bad. Some guys might find you attractive.”
I kind of grinned because he did that looking away thing he did when he was nervous. Did he find me attractive?
“Yeah, I get that.” I laughed because I didn’t. “But his interest just came out of
nowhere. It’s not the money thing because it started before he knew about it. He even left a bunch of roses on at my door. Well, I think it was him. I threw them in the incinerator because getting flowers from a secret admirer is scary.”
Ren laughed. Then he stopped, looked at me, and laughed again.
“What?” I poked him in the side.
“You’re the only girl I know who’d freak out at getting a bunch of roses. Demons, evil scientists, all kinds of monsters don’t worry you but... whoa, roses, gotta burn them before they attack.”
I laughed too. When he put it like that, it did seem funny.
“But, Oscar,” he said. “I don’t think there’s much going on below the surface with that guy. Hey, if you really want the rest of those strawberries, go ahead. I’m not going to eat them.”
I grinned. It wasn’t like I wanted to eat Ren’s share... well, yeah it was exactly like that. I popped two big strawberries in my mouth at once.
“Are you sure you don’t want any?” I asked as soon as my mouth was empty. “These strawberries are really good.”
I finished eating the rest of them and curled in my seat. It wasn’t much farther to Ren’s house but I’d catch some sleep before we got there. Just before we arrived, Ren shook me awake.
The car stopped and we pulled up at the house. Someone opened my door while the driver got my backpack out. I rubbed my eyes but didn’t get much of a chance to look at the outside before being hustled into a huge entrance hall.
I’d expected Ren’s home to be lush and extravagant but this place felt kind of wrong. Not that it didn’t ooze money. But my body chilled. Couldn’t these people afford heating? And the walls around me were lined with dark, heavy wood paneling that gave off an air of sternness. The only light entering this room came from the window above the double staircase, way up high so that by the time it hit the lower level, all the warmth and intensity disappeared.
I loved the dark. I loved the shadows. But the darkness in this place freaked me out.
For Ren, who loved the light, this place must be hell.
He reached out for my hand. I wanted to pull away from him, sure that my hand was sticky and gross after eating all that fruit but if he wanted comfort, I couldn’t deny him.
“Thanks for coming with me,” he said. “I don’t think I could do this alone.”
I’d lived in some hell holes growing up, places reeking of violence and apathy. But this place was completely different. I knew that smell. I knew that overbearing oppression. I’d felt it all before and I shivered. This place reeked of Mr. Worthington.
Chapter 17
SEVERAL OF THE STAFF came to meet us. Most of them were pretty close to retirement age except for a couple of the guys and one girl. An older woman, Mrs. Cavendish, gave me a strange look when Ren introduced me. I guess that was to be expected since Ren now had nothing but it wasn’t like I’d asked to get a heap of money from Mr. Worthington.
“Follow me,” she said. “I’ll show you to your room.”
I went to pick up my backpack but someone else grabbed it and carried it for me. I expected Ren to follow but when an older servant asked him about his horse, Ren’s eyes lit up. He’d talk for hours about Thunder and meanwhile, Mrs. Cavendish tsked at me. I had no choice but to follow her.
I wished the younger girl servant was coming with us. That would’ve been much less intimidating. Mrs. Cavendish wore a stiff uniform and had her hair pulled back in a tight bun. She looked exactly the type who’d take no-nonsense.
Maybe the rest of the house wasn’t so gloomy. They could just have an imposing entrance hall to intimidate visitors, especially the vampire visitors, while the part of the house they actually lived in was normal. The long hallway I walked down said otherwise, though. The walls seemed to close in on me and only tiny lights on the walls lit my way.
If there wasn’t a bookcase in this house that turned into a secret passage, I’d put in a complaint.
I’d joked to Ren about needing a phone to find my way around but that joke didn’t seem so funny now. After a few twists and turns, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find my way back.
Finally, the old lady opened a door. “Your room.”
I walked in and looked around. With a huge double poster bed and massive wardrobes, the furniture looked centuries old and just as dark and heavy as the entrance hall had been. I had a window but even with the drapes open, a tree outside filtered most of the light. Dust floated in the air. Again, I shivered. This place didn’t seem healthy.
“Do you require anything else?”
I looked around, not sure of what I should require. Could I ask for anything? Chocolate? Fancy shoes?
“Bathroom?” I asked. That seemed like the most pressing necessity.
The old woman pointed to a door and I nodded, then she left. Drat, I should’ve asked about heating. Maybe they just didn’t heat most of the house when no one was here. That made sense. It’d cost a fortune.
I sat on the edge of the bed. Right on the edge. Something about that bed creeped me out, like if I got too far on it, it’d open up and swallow me alive. How I’d sleep in that, I had no idea. And I didn’t even want to open the doors on that wardrobe. No way. Luckily, I didn’t have much stuff in my backpack. I’d keep the wardrobe well shut.
I went through to the bathroom. Even though it sparkled clean, something about it felt weird. No way would I look in that mirror because I would see something creepy reflected in it, something I couldn’t see with my own eyes.
I got another hoodie out of my backpack and doubled them up, hoping that would take the edge off the coldness. The sun hadn’t penetrated this room in the last century or so. I hadn’t expected the house to be freezing so I’d not packed much in the way of warm clothes. No gloves, no scarf, no thermal underwear.
Not sure what I should be doing, I walked to the window and looked out over the grounds. Beautiful gardens stretched out as far as I could see. They made up for the gloominess of the house. I’d go outside as soon as I could and get away from this place. Sun wasn’t usually for me but right now, I craved it.
I rolled my shoulders and figured I had to make the most of this break. At least the gloomy house would make it easy for me to hide in the shadows. You could find out a lot of information that way. Only, there was no point disappearing like that when I didn’t know my way around the place. Maybe I could ask Ren for a map, if I ever saw him again. The longer I spent in this room, the more I felt like I’d be trapped here forever. I still hadn’t totally gotten over being kidnapped. I didn’t think I ever would.
Getting out my phone, I tried to distract myself with a game.
A little while later, Ren came in.
“Do you want dinner or are you still full from all that fruit?”
I wanted to ask him how he’d stood growing up here, encased in darkness and gloom, but that kind of seemed like a rude question. Maybe Ren loved his family home.
“I could eat.” Even though I wasn’t that hungry, any excuse to get out of this room.
Ren took me a different way than the housekeeper.
“That’s my room.” He pointed to a door that looked a lot like all the others. “If you need anything, just knock.”
“If I can find it.” I grinned. “I wasn’t wrong about this house being a labyrinth.”
Ren paused, then opened the door. I peered inside. His room did look more welcoming than the rest of the house. At least the white walls made it seem brighter. He came back out before I could see too much. He had a green tie in his hand that he hung over the doorknob.
“Just in case. You’ll be able to find me now.” Something about his smile made me question his motives. Like, did he want me to come looking for him in the middle of the night?
We went down a flight of stairs at the back of the hallway. “We never use the stairs at the front unless it’s a special occasion.”
“What are all these rooms for anyway? Have you even been in all of them?”
“I used to play hide and seek sometimes as a kid. About half of them are just full of crap.”
I bet by “crap” he meant very expensive heirlooms. Which made me think of something. Maybe his mother was a prisoner in the attic. This house had a serious “prisoner in the attic” vibe about it.
“What about the attic?” I asked, figuring it best to be direct.
“Huh? That’s the servants’ quarters. It’d be intrusive of me to go up there.”
Okay, that answered that question. And really, servants’ quarters? Who the hell had them in their house?
“The other wing is mainly for guests. I rarely go over there. My father’s rooms fill most of the front of the house. And this wing is mainly for me.”
“You have a ‘suite of rooms’?”
“My bedroom, a living area and bathroom. Then a couple of guest rooms, like yours. There’s a library downstairs. If you want something to read, I can show you but it’s mainly rare books. Nothing too exciting.”
We reached the bottom of the stairs and went through a couple of gloomy sitting rooms to get to the dining room. The Worthington’s had to do an awful lot of sitting to justify those rooms. One of the rooms was filled with stuffed animals, a bear in one corner, a tiger in another and a bunch of smaller animals in corners and crouched along the picture rail as though waiting to attack.
“One of my great uncles was really into taxidermy.” Ren shuddered.
As much as I found those animals creepy, I also wanted to take a closer look. There was something grotesquely cool about them.
“Hurry up!” A gong sounded and I raced after Ren.
The dining room almost ruined my appetite. More heavy wood and a dining table about the size of a swimming pool. Two places had been set at one end of the table. Two lonely places in that vast room. Did Ren eat like this all the time when he was home? With crystal glasses and actual silver cutlery and pictures of creepy dead people staring down at him?
