Wicked Mercy

by Mae Doyle

  “Do Taylor Prep kids just live for snacks? I swear, it’s like we’re all obsessed and it’s all we think about.” I wanted to say more but the sound died on my lips as we walked through the foyer. At the end was a huge double curved staircase leading up to the second floor, and large paintings with spotlights hung on the wall.

  Brett pulled me to the left through double doors and into the living room. It had vaulted ceilings and a grand piano tucked in the corner. With its high ceilings and large windows, I knew that the room would have great acoustics, but I also had the feeling that his mom would rather die than let me sing in there.

  Maybe if things went well, though, I would get a chance.

  “She’s not in here, so she must be in the gardens. Can you believe my mom likes being outside now? I swear, she never so much as set foot out the door when we lived at the old house. Come on, I bet she’s in the roses.”

  “I like roses.” Truth be told, I was grasping for any way that I could connect with his mom. She had liked me before, and if we could get past the nonsense with the council and the murder then maybe she could like me again.

  Yeah, right.

  He scoffed as we walked through the rest of the house to huge glass doors that opened onto the patio. “These aren’t really roses, honey. They’re…her babies. I can’t even tell you how much she’s spent on them. They even have their own gardener in addition to the regular gardener.” We stepped through the doors and he pointed. “See her out there?”

  It was strange to see her again, and if Brett hadn’t pointed her out as his mother, I wasn’t sure that I would have recognized her. She’d gone gray when we were young but she was dyeing it now. Deep chestnut curls fell around her shoulders and she’d probably lost twenty pounds, even though she never really had the weight to lose in the first place.

  “She looks younger.” It was true, but she also looked sicker. Meaner, somehow. Meaner than the woman who got rid of her dead husband? Seemed a bit far-fetched, but everything was strange to me now.

  “She’s had some work done.” Brett’s fingers tightened around my hands. “Come on, we should go say hi so that we can get this over with, right?”

  We should, but my feet still felt attached to the patio. Brett tugged on my hand and I walked with him, focusing hard on lifting up my feet for each step. As we got closer to his mother I noticed that she didn’t look quiet as young as I had thought.

  Her skin looked smooth and flawless, but she looked simply exhausted. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think that she was really sick, but Brett hadn’t mentioned anything. The thought that he didn’t know flitted through my mind, but I pushed it away. That simply didn’t make any sense for him to not know if something was wrong with his mom.

  “Hey, mom.” Brett called out to her when we were just a few yards away and she finally turned to look at us. There wasn’t any way that she hadn’t heard us coming across the garden, and I got the distinct feeling that she had been avoiding making eye contact with us. Or, at least, with me.

  “My son.” She dropped her hand to the side, still holding onto her clippers, then turned her face to me. “And who is this?”

  Swallowing hard, I stepped forward. “Rose Bennett. Remember me, Mrs. Cox? I lived next door to you when we were younger and – ”

  “I know who you are.” She cut me off. “What I don’t know is why you’re here with my son. Is this some kind of a joke, Brett? Do you know what being seen with her could do your reputation? Having her here simply isn’t a good idea.”

  She scowled at me and I moved to drop Brett’s hand, but he hung onto mine more firmly, his fingers tightly squeezing me. I suddenly felt like I was drowning. I had to hang onto him or I was sure to fall apart and be swept away.

  “Mom, I love Rose. I know that things were rough at first, but you have no idea what she means to me. She’s amazing, she’s everything, and I wanted to bring her here for you to see that.”

  “For me to see what? That you’re hanging out with this…this gutter rat?” She raised a perfectly manicured eyebrow at me as she looked me up and down. “She even dresses like a slut, just like her mom.”

  I gasped, covering my mouth with my hand. Even though I knew that I was just drawing more attention to myself, I couldn’t believe that she would say that to me. She and my mom had been…well, not exactly friends, but certainly on better terms than this.

  “You should know better than to bring this trash to my house, Brett. After all I’ve done for you. You came to me at the beginning of last year freaking out, and what did I do? I went to the council for you!” Her voice was getting louder and louder, and I looked around, noticing that the gardeners had made themselves scarce.

  I didn’t blame them. She was still gripping her clippers like they were the only things keeping her sane, but the more I looked at her, the more I realized that she was walking a very fine line between sanity and going crazy, and Brett and I may have just pushed her over the edge without even meaning to.

  “You can’t be serious, Mom. Think about what you’re saying.” I glanced up at Brett, surprised to see that he was looking a little pale. “This needs to end. Rose doesn’t deserve what’s been going on at school, and you’re the only person I know who can possibly stop it. I need you to put an end to it, Mom, please.”

  She laughed, a strangled sound that made the hair on my arms stand on end. “End this?”

  There was a silence between us as she chuckled to herself, but then she turned to me, gesturing at me with the clippers. I wanted to take a step back, but that would mean leaving Brett alone to face his crazy mother, and I wasn’t willing to do that.

  “Mrs. Cox,” I began, wanting to try to connect with her in some way. I thought that if I could only remind her of what it was like when we were younger and living next to each other then this would all work out. She’d snap back to her sense and we wouldn’t have to worry about the crazy look in her eyes.

  “I don’t want my name in your whorish mouth.” Her voice was cold, but at least she wasn’t pointing at me with the clippers any longer. “You need to leave, Rose. I can’t help you. As soon as Brett came to me and I went to the council with the case then I lost all control over what was going to happen.”

  “I know that you can stop it.” Brett sounded so sure of himself that, for just a second, I felt a surge of hope. If his mother really could stop it then I wouldn’t care if she hated me. I just needed her to make everything at Taylor Prep calm down so that I could enjoy my senior year and my time with the rogues.

  Slowly she shook her head. When she spoke, it was obvious that she was talking to her son, even though she was looking right at me. “I can’t stop things. Once the council has decided on something then there is no going back. I told you that, Brett, and you assured me that you were willing to do this. You knew that there were risks.”

  “I didn’t know that there wasn’t any way out!” Brett’s voice sounded strained. His jaw was tight and I could see the muscle twitching in it as he tried to keep his calm, but he was failing. “You didn’t tell me that once we started things that it would be impossible to stop them. I thought…I thought that you could just…stop it.” He dropped his head down and rubbed his eyes with his free hand.

  “Brett, it’s okay. I’ve made it this far, and I’m not going to back out now, no matter what they want to do to me.” Squeezing his hand, I hoped that he would look at him, but he just wiped away his tears and stared at his mother again.

  “Hear that, mom? She’s not going to give up. So, what does the council do in that case, huh? When the person refuses to leave because it’s the right thing to do? What will you guys do now? Look at her, don’t you think that she’s been through enough?”

  Mrs. Cox dropped her clippers and reached for her son, but Brett stepped back out of her reach, shaking his head at her. “Brett, the council doesn’t stop. Prep values its reputation and if Rose tries to stay then they will only work harder to get her to leave or someone
is going to have to pay the price of her staying.” She glanced at me, and for the first time, I thought that I saw a hint of compassion in her eyes. “They rely on order you know.”

  A flash of inspiration hit. “From order comes freedom.” The Latin motto at the school suddenly hit me. Even though I wasn’t entirely sure of what she was saying, I was beginning to get an idea.

  She nodded. “I’m sorry, Rose.” Her voice was so quiet that I had to lean forward to hear her. It was almost like she was afraid of someone listening in and wanted to keep her voice from traveling, but we were alone, so I wasn’t sure who she was afraid of hearing her. “Once the council is involved there’s really nothing that can be done.”

  She glanced around us and then straightened back up. “You two may sleep here tonight because it’s getting late, but then you have to leave in the morning, do you understand?” She spoke loudly enough for her voice to carry, which I thought was strange. It wasn’t like there was anyone around listening, right?

  But then why had she gotten so quiet when she leaned closer to talk to me?

  Brett scowled at her, but I nodded. “Thank you.” I wasn’t sure what was going on, but the more time we spent with her in the garden, the more I began to think that something was wrong.

  “But you can’t sleep in the house. No whores allowed.” She looked at Brett and then at me before continuing. “There’s a bed in the guest cottage where you two may stay. I’ll make sure to send out dinner in an hour or so to keep you from starving, but that’s all you can expect, do you understand? Now, go, before I change my mind.”

  Brett’s hand was sweaty in mine, but I squeezed it hard and pulled him away from his mom. He looked shocked, like he couldn’t understand what was happening.

  Chapter 15

  “Wait. This is the guest cottage? Seriously? The thing’s bigger than my house!” Brett had opened the door and I was standing in the middle of the kitchen, my jaw practically on the floor. “Did you know that in some countries there are entire extended families that live in a place this size? I’m talking cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents…” I started to laugh and Brett walked up behind me, wrapping his arms around my waist.

  “We don’t have to stay here if you’re uncomfortable with how big it is.”

  Laughing, I snuggled back into his arms. “No! It’s great! I’m just…I’m a little surprised that your mom upgraded this much. Do you remember how small your house was when you lived next to us? Your mom told me once that she could plug in the vacuum and clean the entire thing without having to switch outlets. But this? This is…huge.”

  It was, and it was decorated just as gorgeously as the main house. There was incredible art on the wall, some of it behind glass so that nobody could touch it. The sofa and love seat in the living room were leather, and when Brett noticed me looking for a TV, he sighed and pushed a button on the wall. The TV descended from a slot in the ceiling that I hadn’t noticed.

  Even though I hadn’t enjoyed the warm welcome that I had kinda wished I would receive, this place was so amazing that it was hard for me to be really mad. If nothing else, it would give us a nice place to stay away from Taylor Prep for the night and would also allow us some privacy to talk about his mom and how weird she was acting in the garden.

  I wandered back into the kitchen to find Brett pouring us two glasses of lemonade. He handed me one and we sat at the counter next to each other. Even though I was bursting with things I wanted to say, I felt like it was a good idea to give him the chance to speak first. Biting my tongue was hard, though, and when he didn’t say anything for a few minutes, I piped up.

  “I think we need to talk about what’s going on with your mom.” The words were barely out of my mouth before Brett scowled, a frown darkening his face.

  “You mean the fact that she hates you, has completely lost her mind, and was willing to sell you out to the council without looking back? I really don’t know what there is to say about that besides the fact that I thought I knew her and I guess I didn’t. Not really.” He drained his lemonade and set his glass down on the counter so hard that I winced, thinking it was going to crack.

  But it didn’t. Nothing in Brett’s life cracked, and even if it did, he would just somehow put the pieces back together again.

  “No.” Reaching out, I gently took his hand away from the glass and slipped my fingers through his. “That’s not what I think we need to talk about. We need to talk about the fact that she was apologetic and scared, Brett.”

  He scoffed. “What in the world are you talking about?”

  I paused for a moment while I thought about the look on her face and the way she had leaned towards me, lowering her voice. “She feels bad, Brett. Maybe she didn’t know that the council would go this far and she’d be unable to make them back off, or maybe they have something on her and now she can’t get out from under them. Whatever it is, I really think that your mom is scared.”

  “My mom’s never been scared of anything.” He sounded so sure of himself that, for just a moment, he reminded me of him as a young boy, trying to act brave even when I knew that he was going home to daily beatings.

  Shaking my head, I squeezed his hands tighter. “That’s not true, Brett, and you know it. She was scared of your dad. Now I really think that she may be afraid of the council. I think that…I think that maybe she knows that if she goes back to them things won’t work out well.”

  “She called you a whore. She said some unspeakable things, Rose, and I really don’t see how you can sit right there and defend her when you had to face what she said! She…she was supposed to welcome us with open arms and invite us into her house, not make us stay in the guest cottage so that nobody even knew you were here.”

  “Maybe that’s the point.” He wasn’t listening and I was getting tired of trying to explain it. Brett was obstinate on a good day, and right now it was definitely not a good day. “Maybe she didn’t want people to know that I’m here with you. Do you have any idea who’s on the council?”

  He fell silent and I could tell that he was thinking hard. Brett and I didn’t have all the answers, and it felt like we were stumbling through a puzzle together, blind and clueless, trying our best to make it out alive. The only saving grace is that I had him with me and that I wasn’t trying to navigate it on my own. Together, I knew that we could do anything.

  By myself? By myself I would be screwed.

  “I’ve never met the council.” For the first time since we’d started talking about his mom, Brett sounded unsure of himself. He had been convinced that she was out to get me and that nothing would make her back down, but now he didn’t sound so sure. “I have no idea who’s on the council. Do you think that they may have some dirt on my mom?”

  Shrugging, I pulled him to me. He stood and wrapped his arms around me, then we went to the sofa to snuggle. The leather squeaked under us while we got comfortable, but as soon as I was tucked under his arm, I knew that I wasn’t going to move anytime soon. “I think that, given the way she was acting, it’s entirely possible that she may be afraid of someone on the council and that we need to take that into consideration. Your mom isn’t a bad person, Brett.”

  He was silent.

  “She did what you asked her to and now she may be dealing with the consequences.”

  Still nothing.

  “Brett, are you even listening to me?”

  He sucked in a deep breath and I turned under his arm to look at him. There was a glimmer of a tear in his eye, but he squeezed them tightly shut and it disappeared. “My mom has had a shit life, Rose. I can’t bear to think that it could be any worse due to something that I’ve done, you know? I went to her to tell her that you were at school because I was scared that you would tell people that I had killed my dad.”

  Now it was my turn to be silent.

  “But then she was worried that you had seen her and would tell someone. I…I didn’t think that you had.”

  “I hadn’t.” My voice was a
whisper. He already knew that I had only seen him, but I felt compelled to say something – to say anything.

  He ignored me. “But she was so worried that she wanted you out of Taylor Prep. And now…now it’s gotten bad. I don’t know what kind of reach the council has or how they can make people act the way they do, but I don’t know if they’re going to stop.”

  His heart was racing in his shirt while he talked and I felt mine speed up to match his.

  “And now I’m worried that other people won’t walk away. The rogues and I – we walked away, Rose. You were worth it to the three of us to stop and to walk away, but what about everyone else? What about the people who don’t love you the way we do or who are more afraid of the council? What about them?”

  He was asking, not only about the other students at Taylor Prep, but also his mom. I knew that, but there wasn’t anything I could say.

  “I think – ” I began, but I was cut off my stomach rumbling. Brett started to laugh so hard that I had to sit up so that he could breathe. “Are you okay? Do I need to call someone?”

  He waved me off, tears in his eyes again, but he no longer looked like he was going to have a meltdown. “I’m fine, Rose. I just…it was really nice to be reminded who I’m here with. Things are shit right now, right? I mean, my mom has basically turned her back on me, we have no idea who the council is, and the harpies have threatened to up their game. But you? You are so pure and so whole and amazing.”

  “Is this because my stomach rumbled?”

  He laughed again then stood up, pulling me by the hands to follow him to the kitchen. “It’s because I know you, Rose Bennett, and I know that you want some snacks more than about anything in the world. Am I right?”

  “Well, you’re not wrong.” Sliding back onto the stool, I watched as he raided cupboards, pulling out chips and salsa, crackers and cookies. He found hummus and some fruit in the fridge and poured us each some more lemonade.