Chapter Twenty-Seven
TWENTY-SEVEN
I wake the next morning to a “Call me now” text from Cecilia. There’s a moment of confusion before I remember what happened last night and the fact I didn’t notify her.
There goes any hope of a quiet Sunday morning waking in Theo’s bed, with all the promise that holds.
Fifteen minutes later, I’m in the clubhouse with Maddox, connecting to a video chat with Cecilia.
“Your video’s off,” I say when she answers.
“That’s because you do not want to see my face right now. Do you know when you should have seen my face? Last night.”
“We know,” Maddox cuts in. “And we never thought about it. Liliana was worried about Isolde, and I was worried about Liliana. Then we were both worried about Theo.”
“Theo?” The picture comes on then, as Cecilia settles into her chair, anger fading from her eyes. “Tell me what happened.”
I walk her through it. When I finish, she’s staring at us.
“Isolde said Theo attacked her?”
“He didn’t,” Maddox and I say in unison, and before I can go on, she waves us to silence. “That was adorable, but I’m not actually questioning whether Theo did it. There is no way you’d be best friends with anyone who’d do that, Maddox.”
“Former best—”
“Oh, cut the shit. You’re still best friends. And don’t insult me by denying it again. I’ve humored you long enough. You and Theo are besties. Now you’ve pulled Liliana into the fold, and whatever else you’ve pulled her into, I do not want to know about.”
“We—” I begin.
“Is everyone getting along? No duels at dawn to win the fair maiden?”
“What?” I say. “No.”
“Then I’m happy. Moving along. Why did Isolde identify Theo?”
“I don’t know,” I say. “It seems our attacker reminded her of Theo, and when she saw Theo come outside, she got confused.”
Maddox leans forward. “I want to know where Charles Dubois was last night.”
“Creeping Charlie?” She shakes her head.
“He’s all bark.” She raises her hands as we open our mouths to protest. “But I will check because, yes, he resembles Theo, and in a dark alley, during a fight, catching a glimpse of him could make Isolde think it was Theo. I will also find out what exactly Isolde said.”
“She retracted the ID by the time she reached the hospital,” I say.
“Good. I also want to talk to Theo.”
“He did contact his lawyer last night. Well, his mother did.”
“Also good, but that lawyer is in L.A. and I’m here. Tell Theo to call me.”
“You’re going to need to make arrangements for Liliana,” Maddox says.
I look sharply at him. “Arrangements?”
“For leaving Westdale.”
“I’m not leaving Westdale.”
His glare matches my own. “You were attacked in an alley. You’re leaving.”
“The hell I am.” I look at Cecilia. “Can we call you back?”
I can tell she’s about to object, so I click off the call and get to my feet. “I’m not leaving, Maddox. I understand you’re worried—”
“You nearly got killed,” he says, standing.
“I got pushed and slashed because I interfered with the real target—Isolde.”
“Isolde wasn’t the one who got shoved down the stairs.”
“That was Jayden. Undeniably Jayden. Who is not the guy who attacked us last night.”
“Well, Isolde isn’t the one Cecilia is worried about. She’s not letting you stay here after that.”
“No, she’s not letting me leave here after that.
She’s keeping me at Westdale—no more passes.
I understand you’re worried, but I had plenty of opportunity to escape that guy last night.
I got hurt trying to protect Isolde. She must have been the target, and that could have been random, some guy in the club following us, nothing to do with Westdale. ”
His jaw sets. “You don’t believe that.”
“It’s possible—”
“Logically, in a random attack, there was no reason for him to go after Isolde instead of you. She was in front, yes? He pushed you out the door. He had the chance to grab you then and let her run. She’s sturdier, stronger. You’re…” He waves at me. “You.”
“What’s that supposed to me?”
“You’re a tiny little thing, and he could’ve easily overcome you.”
“Excuse me?”
“He would have thought he could easily overcome you. You were right there, and yet he went for Isolde. And don’t say maybe he has a thing for redheads.”
“Okay, so yes,” I admit, “it seems to have been a targeted attack.”
“Yes.”
“On Isolde. As you just said.”
He stops. “Fuck. You set that up.”
“You just agreed the target was Isolde.” I put my hands against his chest. “I’m not leaving Westdale.”
“You are.”
I slap my hands gently on his chest. “I know you aren’t actually ordering me to leave. But you’re still treading dangerous ground.” I look up at him. “If I leave, I can’t go to Stanford.”
“You’re already in.”
“Yes, but I need to actually graduate high school to get into college, Maddox. I have six more weeks. If things change and I’m in actual danger, we’ll revisit this.”
“I have conditions.”
I tilt my head to look up at him. “You don’t actually get to give me conditions. You know that, right?”
“You won’t leave the grounds. I don’t even want you walking to the clubhouse alone. Theo and I are stopping this not-friends bullshit. After last night, no one’s going to buy it.”
“I agree. So those are your suggestions?”
“Conditions.”
I glare up at him. “Suggestions.”
“No sleeping alone either.”
My brows shoot up.
“For protection. I’ll sleep on the floor if you want.”
“Oh, I’d never make you sleep on the floor, Maddox. I’m just giving you that look because this seems less a condition than an enticement.” I waggle my brows. When his cheeks darken, I lean in and whisper, “Has anyone mentioned how hot you are when you blush?”
“You’re distracting me.”
I loop my arms around his shoulders. “I know you’re worried, and I will accommodate by agreeing to all your suggestions.”
“Conditions.”
“You’re also hot when you get all growly. And adorable when you think you can boss me around.”
He pulls me into a kiss so fast I gasp, and that kiss…Maddox has been keeping it slow, even sweet, and I’ve been matching him, both of us cautiously exploring this new thing between us.
This kiss is not slow. And if I say it’s not sweet, I mean that in the best possible way. This kiss is fire, and it’s like a smoldering ember catching dry tinder, as if this is what he’s been holding back and…Oh, wow.
Before I realize it, we’re on the loveseat.
Or, actually, kind of over the loveseat.
And I don’t know if I got us there or he did, because I’m giving as good as I’m getting, hands in his hair, body pressed to his, not caring about that inconsequential thing called oxygen.
We come up for air once or twice, I think, but honestly, I don’t notice.
I just know what I feel, and it really is fire, and when it ends, we’re entangled and panting, and it takes a few minutes before we can speak.
“You know what I really like about you, Chamberlain?” Maddox says.
“That I think you’re super-hot, and I can’t keep my hands off you?”
He sputters a laugh. “Well, yeah, I do like that. There’s a list of what I like about you, and it’s pretty damned long. But one thing near the top?” He pulls me into an embrace and whispers in my ear. “That you let me get mad. You don’t treat me with kid gloves.”
“You get some of that, huh?”
He pulls back, rolling his eyes. “I get so much of that. It used to be different. Theo, my mom, Jenna—they didn’t take my shit.
I’d lose my temper, and they’d argue with me.
Then Jenna died, and I had my breakdown, and I feel as if I’m mostly me again, but when I get mad, my mother and Theo and everyone who knows about the breakdown?
They back the hell off. Give me what I want.
Like they’re scared of what will happen if they don’t.
I didn’t have a psychotic episode. I didn’t get violent.
It was a breakdown only in the sense that I broke.
I just couldn’t function. And I really hate being treated like I’m one step away from another crash and burn. ”
He exhales. “I didn’t mean to unload that on you.”
I hug him. “You can unload anything on me, Maddox. And you never need to worry. I know you’re not that fragile, and I will absolutely call you out on your bullshit.
” I wrap my hands in the front of his shirt.
“Also? Anytime you want to fight someone, I’m here for it, as long as it comes with a hot make-out session afterward. ”
He laughs softly. “You can always have that, Chamberlain. Now, do we call Cecilia back or make her wait a few more minutes?”
I tug his shirt, pulling him to me. “She can wait.”
—
We talk to Cecilia, who agrees I shouldn’t quit Westdale unless I have an ironclad reason, which this is not.
She also agrees with the Liliana-lockdown plan, which was exactly what she was going to suggest. I should not be alone, even at night, and while her solution had been to stay with Allegra or Polly, she likes the idea of me staying with one of the guys even better.
She doesn’t know the others well enough to be sure they’d understand the danger.
Ten minutes after that call, I’m with Maddox and Theo outside the dining hall, Sunday brunch in full swing within.
“You ready for this?” Theo asks.
I nod. Maddox grunts. We walk in, and at first, the dull roar of breakfast conversation continues.
Then it goes dead quiet. Theo surveys the room and points to the only remaining private table—for two.
There’s a snaking murmur as people decide that means Maddox just happened to come in behind us.
But then Theo pulls over a third chair, and that hush falls again.
It takes five seconds for someone to come over. It’s one of the guys I don’t know well.
“Hey, Theo, Maddox,” he says. “You two kissed and made up?”
Maddox lifts his gaze, slowly and deliberately, and the guy steps back.
“Uh, that came out wrong,” the guy says with a nervous laugh. “Good to, uh, see you, uh, getting along.”
Maddox turns to me. “Mocha?”
“Please.”
He goes to stand, but the guy is still there.