Lavish Obsession

by Charlotte Byrd

  He’s asking me to gamble with my life on a promise.

  A promise with the man who betrayed me in numerous ways over the years.

  Can I do that?

  Of course, I can.

  But is it wise?

  Probably not. Yet, what option do I have?

  “Why are you doing this?” I ask him. “What’s in it for you?”

  “Nothing. I just want to help my brother.”

  I stare at him. I try to read what I can from his expression, but it gives me nothing. And then, suddenly, there’s a little curl of the lips upward.

  “No,” I say definitively.

  Chapter 14 - Easton

  While I see red…

  Abbott stares at me in disbelief and takes a step backward, surprised.

  There are certain moments in which you just have to go with your gut.

  There is no proof and you don’t really require any.

  We are quick to dismiss these moments, but they can change everything.

  And what are they? It’s usually something small.

  Insignificant.

  Difficult to pinpoint.

  Something gives you a bad feeling and you should just go with it.

  Sometimes, it’s a shiver running up the back of your spine.

  Sometimes, it’s an ache in the pit of your stomach.

  Sometimes, it’s a sharp prickly pain that rushes through you at the sight of something else. In my case, it was the last thing.

  As soon as I saw that curl of the lips, that beginning of a little smile, I knew that something was wrong.

  It’s not that much of a leap for me to not believe what my brother says, but still, until I saw his little conniving smile, I was giving him the benefit of the doubt.

  “No, thank you,” I say.

  “You don’t believe me?” Abbott asks.

  The expression on his face changes from begging to a little harsh, but I don’t see any anger in his eyes.

  Yet.

  Is it coming? I wonder.

  “I don’t know. It’s not really about you. I just…it’s not something I can do right now.”

  “Why not?”

  “I didn’t kill Dagger and I can’t say that I did.”

  “Even to get a lighter sentence? Are you a fucking idiot?”

  “I don’t have any guarantees of what would happen if I do take the deal. So…I just can’t. I mean, I’m not sure I would anyway. That’s a big thing to confess, you know.”

  Abbott starts to walk in circles, shaking his head.

  “Why do you care so much?” I ask.

  “Because I want…what’s best for you. You’re my fucking brother.”

  I try to explain again, but he doesn’t want to listen.

  Suddenly, I’m starting to have doubts.

  Am I really assessing this situation correctly?

  What if he is telling the truth?

  I try to imagine my decision if anyone else would’ve presented me with the deal. For instance, what if it were Everly?

  Everly would never ask me to confess to something I didn’t do.

  I know that for sure.

  But two years in prison versus a lifetime is something that’s difficult to dismiss.

  Still, a promise like that is not something she or anyone else could keep unless it’s the king himself.

  And so far, I have not heard that kind of proposition from my father.

  “You know, you are such an idiot, Easton,” Abbott says, interrupting my train of thought.

  I look at him.

  I know that he’s not happy with my decision and when he’s not happy, he will make sure that no one is happy.

  “Here I am offering you the deal of a lifetime, and what are you doing? Turning it down? Well, fuck that. And fuck you!” Abbott says.

  I’m taken aback a bit by his reaction.

  “Why do you care so much? You barely cared before. And don’t tell me it’s because you’re my brother.”

  “Why not? It’s the truth.”

  “I sort of doubt that.”

  He opens his mouth as if he’s about to say something else, but then he closes it and starts to laugh.

  The small, quiet chuckle quickly morphs into a loud thunderous laugh.

  “What’s so funny?”

  “Hold on a second,” he says, holding out his index finger.

  Waves of laughter move his body from side to side as I look at him with confusion.

  “Fine, fine. I’ll come clean,” he says after a moment, finally getting a hold of himself.

  As I wait for him to continue, the blood running through my veins seems to be lowering in temperature.

  “Okay, you know me too well, brother,” Abbott says.

  “I’m still waiting for an explanation,” I point out.

  “Well, the thing is that, as you probably suspected, I have a bit of an ulterior motive in talking to you about the deal.”

  “I figured as much,” I say, even though I hoped that it wasn’t the case.

  “The thing is that, brother…”

  Abbott refers to me as brother instead of using my real name when he’s trying to make a point, to influence me, to show his power.

  I inhale deeply to gather my strength to withstand whatever he’s about to throw at me.

  “The thing is that you sort of have the one thing I want…and I just can’t have that.”

  I know exactly what or rather who he’s referring to before he can even say her name.

  Everly.

  He wants Everly.

  My blood drops another degree.

  Shivers run up my arms and make my hair stand up on end.

  I don’t want him even thinking about her, let alone saying her name out loud.

  And the thought of anything more than that? I clench my fists in anger.

  “The thing is that I want Everly, and I will do anything in my power to get her.”

  “You can’t have her,” I hiss. “She’s mine.”

  “Not for long,” Abbott starts to laugh again. I watch as his body seems to gather strength from his laughter, expanding his shoulders and widening his stance.

  “Fuck you.”

  “No, but I’ll definitely fuck her.”

  I want to launch myself at him, but something holds me back.

  I’m a prisoner awaiting trial and he’s the Prince of York.

  I don’t want to make my case any worse.

  So, I clench my jaw and hold myself together.

  “You know why I came here to talk to you?”

  He’s mocking me.

  I don’t respond.

  “I think on some level I feel guilty for what I’m about to do. I wanted to give you a way out. Or at least, a way to bury yourself.”

  I narrow my eyes, not fully understanding what he’s referring to.

  “I’m about to ask Father for her hand in marriage.”

  Chapter 15 - Easton

  When it all turns to black…

  I stare at him for a moment.

  Did he really just say what I thought he said?

  Everly?

  He wants to marry my Everly?

  “Everly! Everly!” he says, as if he can read my mind. “I’m going to marry your Everly!”

  “No,” I say, shaking my head. He narrows his eyes and begins to laugh.

  “You’re too smart for me, Easton."

  This time his voice is low and thunderous, the one that is all too familiar to me.

  “I thought I would come to you with this deal and I thought that you would jump at the chance to take it.”

  “Why the fuck would I plead guilty to something I didn’t do?”

  “I don’t know, maybe because two years is better than a lifetime.”

  “I didn’t kill him. And I’m going to prove that at trial.”

  “Oh, my dear, brother. You are still so naive, even after so many years of living in York. How is it that you are still so innocent?”

  I sh
ake my head.

  “First of all, trials are not for proving innocence. They can only find you guilty or not guilty. And trust me, they will find you guilty.”

  “But I didn’t do it,” I insist.

  “That doesn’t matter.” He laughs again. “But if it’s any consolation, I believe you.”

  It’s not. At this point, I care very little about what he believes.

  “Don’t you want to know how it is that I know what I know?”

  “No, not really.”

  “Oh, c’mon, don’t pretend. You do! You do want to know!” Abbott is mocking me.

  He is practically dancing around me with anticipation.

  It takes everything within me to keep my fists to myself.

  Out of the corner of my eyes, I can see that the guards are watching.

  He leans over to me.

  He’s so close that I can feel his breath on my skin.

  I pull away from him, but he grabs my shirt and pulls me in for an embrace.

  “I know because…” he whispers into my ear, “I did it.”

  I look at him, confused.

  A large, wide smile full of satisfaction spreads across his face.

  “I did it, Easton. I killed Dagger. I’ll spare you the details, but I’ve been meaning to do it for some time now. You know Father, he put too much trust into him and Dagger didn’t have much love for me. I couldn’t have that. I thought that they would frame some innocent chap for the whole thing, little did I know that this thing would kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.”

  “Two birds?” I ask quietly, still trying to process everything that he had said to me.

  “Well, you know, get rid of Dagger and get rid of you.”

  “Me? Why would you want to get rid of me?”

  “I never did actually,” Abbott says.

  His tone changes again, reminding me of some of our better times. “We were never close, but I did have some affection for you. But then this business with Everly came about.”

  I hate the sound of her name in his mouth.

  My fists ball up again against my wishes.

  “Father was getting a little too excited for you two to marry. He was talking about you moving down here. Reconnecting. Like I said, Father is getting old and he might be becoming senile.”

  My eyes glaze over as I continue to stand here and listen to his speech.

  “I don’t know what’s in store for him in the future, but I know what I’m owed. I will be the next King of York, Easton.”

  “What have I ever done to show you that I had any intentions of claiming that title? That’s the last thing I want,” I finally say. Suddenly, I feel like this whole thing is one big misunderstanding. Did he really think that I wanted anything to do with being the new King of York?

  “You never said anything, but I didn’t know if that meant anything. You play your cards close to the chest.”

  I shake my head and take a few steps to the side.

  I take a deep breath and decide to try a tactic of compassion.

  I’m not pleading for anything, but I’m trying to explain myself.

  At least, tell him the truth.

  Perhaps, then…I don’t know. I have to give it a shot.

  “All I want to do is marry Everly and get the fuck away from here,” I say. “That’s it. If we can leave today, we will. I want nothing to do with this place or its riches or its titles. You can have it all.”

  Abbott doesn’t say anything for a moment.

  “You want nothing to do with this place?” he asks.

  My hopes rise a little bit.

  Does he actually believe me?

  Then maybe, just maybe…I don’t dare finish the thought out of fear of cursing myself.

  “Are you seriously saying that you are willing to abdicate the throne?” Abbott asks.

  “I never had any intentions for the throne. I never wanted it,” I say. “You can have it.”

  Abbott paces around the room for a moment, considering my offer. It’s not so much of an offer as a plea.

  “So, let me get this straight, you are willing to just walk away from your inheritance and your wealth and everything else you’re entitled to as the Prince of York?”

  I nod, quickly.

  “And why is that?”

  I shrug. “Because I never wanted it. I never thought it belonged to me. You are the one who deserves to sit on that throne, Abbott. Not me.”

  “Well, that’s true.”

  Is this working?

  Is my flattery actually making an impact?

  “There is one other thing I deserve, though,” Abbott says.

  My chest tightens up.

  I know what he is about to say before he says it.

  I look into his eyes and suddenly everything that he has been doing here dawns on me.

  Chapter 16 - Easton

  When I can’t stand it anymore…

  Abbott was never going to give me a chance.

  This was just a game.

  Another one of his fucking games.

  He looks me straight in the eye.

  Without missing a beat he says,

  “Everly is going to be my wife.”

  Before Abbott is even able to finish the sentence, I lunge at him.

  I’m propelled more by the anger from somewhere deep within me than by actual force.

  I land right on top of him and pound my fists into his face.

  He will not say her name.

  He will not touch her.

  He will not do anything to harm a hair on her head.

  The next few minutes are a daze of punches and hurt.

  Our fists fly through the air and collide with our bodies.

  At first, my hands throb with each collision, but after a while all of the pain goes away and is instead replaced with numbness.

  Everything starts to move in slow motion.

  I lose all feeling in my fists, but that feeling somehow spreads throughout my body like a wave.

  One moment I’m on top of him, and the next I’m underneath.

  His blows hit my head and chest and stomach.

  I contract and shield myself and then I fight back.

  My blows land on his ear and his face.

  After a while, I don’t know where his body ends and mine begins.

  We continue to grapple and fight and pound into each other until the guards pull us away.

  Mainly, they pull me away and then allow Abbott to get a few more blows in.

  They hold me by my arms as he squares off with me and punches me straight in my face.

  I can’t protect myself.

  All I can do is brace for impact.

  One punch.

  Another.

  Everything gets blurry again.

  And then it turns to black.

  Something cold and wet hits my face and I manage to open my eyes through the slits that they’ve become.

  My mouth is filled with the taste of iron.

  Blood.

  I spit some of it out onto the floor.

  My lip is much fatter than I thought it would be, so it doesn’t so much land onto the tile as it does ooze out of my mouth and onto my shirt.

  “You’re such an asshole, Easton!” Abbott yells, grabbing me by my shirt. “We could’ve been friends, you know? The way that brothers had to be. But you just wouldn’t. You wouldn’t let me teach you how to be in the world. You had to fight me the whole way.”

  What is he talking about?

  My head buzzes so loudly that I can barely make out the words, let alone process them.

  “There was a time I thought we could be friends,” he continues his rant. “But you just…wouldn’t conform. Why the fuck are you like this, Easton?”

  “Wouldn’t conform?” I ask, trying to stand up on my feet.

  But after all of those blows to my head, my legs are weak, and I trip.

  The guards holding me back try to prop me up without much success.

&
nbsp; “I wouldn’t conform to what exactly? This fucking place? This sadist island where men can do whatever they want to women? Without any consequences. No, actually, it’s worse than that. Not only are there no consequences, there’s praise. If you are an asshole and a dick and an abuser like you, you get a pass. You get elevated in life. But me, what do I get? I get sent to prison for a crime I didn’t commit, that’s what.”

  Abbott starts to laugh. “Don’t you get it? After all of this time? Don’t you get it?”

  “What? Get what?”

  “Father’s theory about the world. You see, he created this place in his image. It’s the way the outside world should be, according to him.”

  He laughs again and shakes his head in disbelief.

  I have no idea what he’s talking about, but I’m done talking.

  “Women aren’t like this,” he says, getting completely serious and stern. “They are our property. Out there in the so-called real world, they are fighting for their rights. They are standing up to their abusers or whatever the fuck. But the thing is they don’t deserve any rights. They aren’t like us and they never will be.”

  He spits blood onto the floor as he says that.

  I shake my head and broaden my shoulders.

  What a piece of shit.

  I always knew that there was something wrong with him, but I never knew how fucked up he really was.

  There are things I can say to fight him on this, of course.

  Like what about our mother?

  She’s a woman.

  Didn’t he love her?

  Does he actually think she shouldn’t have had any rights?

  That she should’ve been our father’s property.

  But what would be the point?

  I’m done talking to him.

  Once and for all.

  “What, you’ve got nothing to say?” Abbott taunts me. I shrug. “Are you seriously going to give me the silent treatment now?”

  I shrug again.

  He throws a light punch into my shoulder, egging me on.

  “Okay then, that’s fine. How about I leave you with this…I’m going to ask Father if I can marry Everly and he’s going to agree.”

  My blood runs cold. I clench my jaw.

  “I’ve never shown an interest in having a wife before and he’ll be only too happy to oblige.”