Chapter Twenty-One
TWENTY-ONE
We get through the update and then Theo’s teasing me about yawning, which I’m not, but it’s a signal to everyone that we need to get to bed. We head upstairs, and Theo leaves me at my door, saying he’ll see me for brunch.
As I’m shutting the door, a guy I don’t recognize just from his voice says, “Wow. Take her to the hottest ticket in the country tonight and you’re sleeping alone afterward? What does it take with some girls, huh?”
There’s scuffle, then, “Hey, sorry, man. Really. I was kidding.”
I peek out. I still can’t see who it is, only that Theo has him against the wall, but unlike with Charles Dubois, Theo isn’t holding him there. He’s just backed him up. Then he shakes his head and walks away as the guy keeps sputtering apologies.
I withdraw, change into my sweats, and wait until there’s a tap at my door. Then I join Theo, and we slip down the empty halls and out the back door.
Maddox is in the clubhouse, stretched out on the loveseat, which apparently opens into a bed. He’s wearing a tee and sweatpants, his eyes closed until we walk in.
“Hey,” he says. “You guys still up for talking?”
“Are you?” Theo says. “You look all comfy. Not sure an open bed is really the message you want to send right now.”
A middle finger from Maddox, who then looks at me. “You want it folded up, Chamberlain? It’s clean—I used to sleep out here sometimes, so I replaced the mattress and cover. I just figured you might want to stretch out.”
“That is exactly what I want to do.” I crawl onto the mattress and lay on my back, sighing as I shut my eyes. “Thank you.”
“Recliner,” Maddox says.
I peek to see Theo with one knee on the mattress, Maddox pointing at the chair.
“Hey, I’m tired, too,” Theo says.
“The recliner reclines. It’s right there in the name.”
“Didn’t we have this talk earlier? I could swear we had a talk—”
“Not about you crowding Lili when she’s trying to rest on a very small mattress.”
“I could get us a fold-out full-sized couch.”
“Go for it.”
Theo grins. Maddox ignores him, and I try to ignore the heat rising in my cheeks.
Maddox flips onto his side, facing me. “Theo told you about Jenna.”
I nod.
“He said you’d already heard it from someone, so I’m sorry if you felt you had to pretend you didn’t know. I wasn’t keeping it from you. It just isn’t something I bring up. I’d have been fine with you knowing. Relieved, actually.”
“I still feel bad about knowing.”
A crooked smile. “Yeah, you’re really good at feeling bad.”
I roll my eyes. Then I say, “I’m happy to help. Investigating, that is. I’ll need to get details from you, but we can do that tomorrow. For now, there’s something you need to hear.”
I glance at Theo, who’s quietly listening. He nods, and I tell Maddox about Annette.
Maddox doesn’t jump on Annette’s death as proof that something is going on at Westdale. He listens, considers, and then says, “Yeah, that explains why Cecilia has been helpful. She has questions of her own.”
“Which I’m going to confront her with. Unless that’s a bad idea.”
“Nah, go for it.”
“I will. There’s more, though, which I didn’t get a chance to talk about with you, Theo.”
I tell them about the connection to my dad, through that yearbook.
“Huh,” Maddox says. “So…” He lays his head down, dark eyes on me. “This might be awkward, but it sounds as if, well, um, maybe your dad and Annette…”
“Hooked up? Hopefully that’d mean he wasn’t exclusive with Mom. But it’s also possible that he cheated on her.”
“Nah,” Theo says. “Cheating on your mom doesn’t fit that yearbook message. Dumping Annette for your mom would. Still weird, considering that Annette was already dead when it was written.”
“Unless someone blamed my dad for that. Single-car accident. It could, well, it could be suicide.”
“Either way, he could have been blamed,” Theo says. “He leaves Annette for your mom, and when she dies, everyone blames him, and it’s so bad that your parents take off.”
“Maybe? But there’s another weird thing with Annette, unconnected to my dad.” I prop myself up so I can see them both. “In the Lilith journals, Mom wasn’t the Lilith candidate for Optima. That was Annette, and Mom supported her.”
“Okay,” Maddox says.
“But when I had that video call with the Optimas, they very clearly said my mom was running. I even questioned it, and they were adamant. Mom was running for Optima.”
“So the next awkward possibility…” Maddox begins.
“Is that Mom was running for Optima and only pretended to support Annette. But even other Liliths can’t read the current Dux’s journals. Who would she be lying to? If she ran for Optima, she had to declare first. And I honestly can’t see Mom wanting to be Optima.”
They wait for me to go on.
“Mom always said she wanted to be a mom and a wife,” I say.
“That was her goal. Marriage and motherhood. She used to joke about being born in the wrong generation, and how at one time in her family, being a wife and mom would have been a full-time job. I thought she just meant older generations of stay-at-home moms, but now I realize she probably meant Chamberlain wives. The wives of rich and powerful men.”
“Managing big households,” Maddox says. “Hosting big parties. Supporting big careers.”
I nod. “And that’s what she did, on a much smaller scale. She was super wife, supermom, and it made her happy. After Dad died, she had to get work outside of the house, but it was a struggle and…”
My voice drops. “I guess she was a little lost. She wasn’t a wife anymore, and she couldn’t afford to be a full-time mom.”
I take a deep breath. “My point is that Mom wouldn’t have wanted to join the Optimas.”
Theo says, “Maybe she said she was running to scare others out of the race for Annette’s sake.”
“Except Annette died on March seventh. After she declared her intent to run. I really need to talk to Cecilia.”
“Tomorrow,” Maddox says. “For now, we need sleep. Should we head back to the house? Or set an alarm?”
“Am I stuck on the recliner?” Theo asks.
“Yep.”
Theo mutters, but he ratchets out the footrest, and we settle in.
—
I crash hard, only waking to the vibration of Maddox’s watch alarm.
I open one eye to see him stretching, arms over his head, tee riding up, and I lie there, watching until I realize he can see me in the reflection of the TV screen.
Before I can look away, he flips onto his side, the corner of his mouth crooked, hair falling over his forehead, one eye hidden, the other glittering.
“Morning,” he says.
“Good morning.”
He lies there, one arm under his head, watching me with that lopsided smile. I reach out, moving slowly, waiting for any sign of him tensing. Then I gently move the hair back from his hidden eye.
“Better?” he says.
“Mm-hmm.”
“You looked amazing last night,” he says. “And you look amazing right now.”
My cheeks heat.
He shifts closer, leaning in to whisper. “You’re shit at taking compliments, Chamberlain. I’m not really complaining, though. You are adorable when you blush.”
“Good thing I do it a lot then.”
“Like I said, I’m not complaining.” He puts his fingers under my chin, tilting it up just a little. “I really want to kiss you, but I’d like to talk first. Later.” His gaze shifts. “When there’s not someone five feet away, bound to wake up at any moment and put his two cents in.”
“Two? It’s at least five.”
A soft chuckle. “It really is. So…later?”
I nod.
He continues, “I’m guessing you’ll have brunch with Theo, then talk to Cecilia, after which I’d like an update, so…maybe this afternoon? Then I can bring you up to speed on Jenna’s case.”
“Perfect. Where? Here?”
“There’s a pond. Wildflowers popping up. A freshwater spring.”
I lift myself up on one arm. “Why have I not seen this pond?”
“Because you’re at a school full of teenagers who don’t go beyond the back lawn? Why do you think they haven’t found this place either? They don’t wander.”
I smile at him. “But you do. Wandering through the forest and haunting the pond, like a Romantic poet.”
“Not Byron, I hope.”
“Pfft. No. Byron was wild, flamboyant, charming, and a little bit broken.”
His gaze flits to Theo, still partly in his Byron costume. “Yeah.” He watches Theo for another minute and then shakes it off and says, “Time to wake Sleeping Beauty. We need to get to the house before anyone’s up.”
—
We’re in the house by six. Normally, Theo and I would have Sunday brunch at nine, but we reschedule for ten so we’ll have a few hours to rest. Only I can’t sleep.
I’m alone in this massive building. I can hear its old-house creaks and groans, and the distant flush of toilets, but there’s a lack of nearby warm bodies and soft breathing to distract me, so all I can think about is Annette and Jenna.
By seven, I’m awake and making notes. First, I write them down on paper, which helps me organize my thoughts. Then I type them into a secure app and shred the physical pages.
At eight, I text Cecilia.
Me
Something came up & I’m concerned. Need to talk. 11?
It takes her less than a minute to reply.
Cecilia
10? Could do after 2 but sounds important
Me
Sure. 10
I message Theo and say I can’t make brunch at ten. I expect he’s asleep with his phone silenced, but he messages right back asking if nine works. I say yes and return to my notes.