Chapter 61
CHAPTER 61
Heath
Weeks later
Through the bushes, I watch Ivy scatter her mother’s ashes on the cemetery grounds. She grabs Cora’s hand tightly when the girl starts weeping, and it makes it so hard for me not to come and hug them tight.
The trees whistle in the wind while they stay put to watch the dust settle on the grass.
I know I should stay away.
I know I should let her deal with this in peace.
But a gnawing part of me just can’t let go.
Even if I have Max now, it feels like I’m missing a part of me without her.
Max was right. We’ve gotten addicted. Addicted to the rush of having a girl like her at our beck and call. And then we wasted it all because we thought she was a liar.
Prejudice is the killer of love.
Now we have to watch her from the sidelines, wondering if she’s doing okay.
Silas warned me not to overstep, so I won’t, even though I wasn’t the one who said “deal.”
But if I made a move now, it would only establish what we already know to be true; the Skull and Serpent Society men take what they want with no regard to anyone else.
So I stay put and watch her from a distance.
For a second, she turns around, wiping away a small tear, her eyes briefly connecting with mine before I disappear into the trees.
Even if she doesn’t want us close right now, I will always keep watch over her and Cora.
That is the promise I made to myself the moment she walked out of that hospital on her own despite every bit of adversity thrown her way.
A deal I made with myself when I swore I would never touch those fucking pills again.
And I intend to keep that promise until the day I die.
Ivy
“Why can’t I take Bagel to school?” Cora whines.
“Because cats aren’t allowed in there.” I laugh. “Besides, the teacher would probably get holes in her clothes from the number of times he’d want to jump on her lap for cuddles.”
“Aw … but he’s so cute.” She cuddles him thoroughly, entirely against his wishes as he moans in cat language to please let him go . I don’t speak cat, but I consider myself a connoisseur in Bagel-ese, and I know what it sounds like when he’s annoyed.
“But he’ll be so alone, all by himself,” she says, then she starts singing the lyrics to that song, making me laugh again.
“He’s surrounded by plenty of sorority girls more than willing to pet him,” I reply. “I’m sure he’ll be all right.”
“Ivy’s right; that cat has more game than the boys from the Skull and Serpent Society, and that says a lot,” Océane says as she leans against the doorjamb of the guest room I’m staying in. “We have alternating classes here, so I doubt he’ll be alone.”
“Exactly what she said.” I wink. “Now, let’s go. We’re almost late.” I grab her bag and drag her along.
“You need a ride?” Océane asks. “Talon can drive.”
“It’s only a short ride down the mountain. Max offered to bring her.”
“That’s awfully chivalrous of him. You two dating or what?” she asks.
I blush. “Maybe. I don’t know. It’s complicated.”
“Hey, you do you,” she says. “Good luck at school today, Cora!”
Cora waves as we exit the house, where Max waits on his bike for us.
When he takes off his helmet, Cora immediately runs to him to hug his leg. “Hey, kid, long time no see.”
I cross my arms. “It hasn’t been that long.”
“Too long,” Max replies. “You ready for a ride?”
Cora has a beaming smile on her little face. “I’m going on a motorcycle? That’s so cool!”
She almost jumps up and down out of sheer excitement.
I chuckle. “You just made her first new school day extra special.”
“Gotta earn those bonus points somehow.” Max winks.
“This is so freaking awesome,” Cora says as Max grabs her and puts her on.
“Safety first,” I mutter.
Max swiftly pulls out a small helmet and plops it on her head, tightening the straps. “You didn’t think I was going to drive away without this, right?”
I narrow my eyes at his coy smile. “You’ve gotten bold …”
“And?” he asks, raising a brow. “You like it?”
I playfully slap his shoulder. “You keep talking like that, and I will make you regret it.”
He makes a filthy moan-ish sound. “Don’t threaten me like that. It only makes me want it more.”
“Want what?” Cora asks.
“Nothing,” Max and I both say, and when he glances at me over his shoulder, we both burst out into laughter.
After we’ve dropped Cora off at school, Max brings me back to Spine Ridge University, and I peck him on the cheeks before he drives off again to take his bike for a spin. Our classes don’t start until late this afternoon, and he probably doesn’t want to encroach on my need to distance myself for a while.
And he was right … I did want to be left alone for some time so I could properly grieve our mother’s passing together with Cora.
So I could navigate my way through a world without parents.
Without a solid base.
Without a house to call home.
But we’ll get there someday.
I breathe out a sigh as I walk up the stairs in the Alpha Psi sorority house and head into the guest room where we’ve been staying all this time. Bagel greets me with a purr and a tail rub against my leg, and I pet him a little to feel grounded again.
Little Bagel and I have been through so much together. He was my mother’s first pet and her only companion through the abuse my stepfather flung at her. Sometimes I still can’t believe I was able to steal him away too while I ran with Cora in one hand and Bagel in the other.
I pick him up and settle down on the bed so I can give him some much-deserved chin rubs. However, he’s really not feeling it and jumps out of my arms to strut all over my desk, making a mess everywhere he goes.
“Bagel!” I scold him as the letters fly through the room.
Letters I don’t remember putting there.
I go to my knees to pick them up from the floor. They’re all notices from a bank, banks I never contacted, and my name is clearly printed on the label, but it was sent to this sorority house.
How?
I open the envelope and read the letters, but the longer it goes on, the more it feels like the flooring has been ripped away from underneath my feet, and I’m falling. I’m falling so hard I can’t breathe.
Money.
Millions and millions of dollars have been put in a bank account … in my name.
So many letters are here that dizziness takes over, and I collapse on the bed while gaping at the bank account clearly in my name, along with all those zeros.
I didn’t steal.
I didn’t even try.
There is only one possible answer.
Stefano.
But how? He’d never give me this money willingly. In fact, I’m pretty sure he wrote a will outlining all the ways I would never get my hands on a single dime. He’d rather go to the grave with all of his money than gift it to the one girl he hated more than anyone in the whole damn world.
“Sorry, I should’ve told you. A bunch of mail came in for you, so I put all of it on your desk.” Océane’s words interrupt my train of thought. She clutches the door, furrowing her brows at me. “Are you okay?”
I nod, still in shock. “More than okay.”
She smiles. “Good. Let me know if you need anything. I’m here all day. I don’t have classes today.”
“Wait, I wanted to give you this,” I say, handing her the cash I borrowed from her. “I promised I’d give it back.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
When she’s about to walk away, I add, “Can I ask you something?”
She pauses. “Sure.”
“When you got together with Talon … how did you know he was the one?”
She stares at me for a moment, completely befuddled. “I … I just knew. When I thought of him, I could feel him. Physically. Inside.” She points at her heart. “I don’t know, I can’t explain it. But if I had to put a finger on it, I’d picture what it’d feel like if he wasn’t mine, and that eviscerated me. So that’s when I knew I wanted to be with him.”
That sounds awfully familiar.
I swallow. “I see.”
“You still not sure about Max?” she asks.
“No, this isn’t about him. It’s … more than just him.”
Her eyes widen. “Oh wow. Really? Multiple guys?”
“I’m trying to figure that out.” I look at all the letters.
“If those came from your multiple guys, then you’ve got your answer.” She snorts. “Think about it. Whatever it is, you’ll figure it out.” She winks and closes the door while I’m left staring at my letters.
Because what if she’s right?
I open more of them, searching through each one of them until I finally find my answer inside a small box that Océane also brought to my room.
I sit down on the bed and open it up on my lap.
Inside is a knife, covered in blood.
Fresh blood.
I swallow away the lump in my throat as I pick it up and inspect it.
This is … this is Silas’s knife.
The knife drops from my hand and clatters to the floor, spilling droplets of blood everywhere.
But something at the bottom of the box draws my attention the most. A letter stained in blood.
Silas
Ten years ago
I suck on my straw, sipping my coke, while watching my mother pierce through balloons with a few darts at the fair.
Of course, I’m not allowed to do this particular stand. I can hit some clowns with a few balls, but the second I go near any sort of sharp object, no one ever trusts me not to try and hit the guys behind the stands instead.
And I suppose they’re right. It is fun watching them squeal their heads off as I ‘accidentally’ pierce their thighs with a dart.
Grinning at the thought, I take another sip of my coke.
“Yes!” Mom high-fives Mavis and Aspen after she’s knocked out all the balloons in one go.
“Knew you could do it,” my dad says, winking.
The guy in the stand laughs. “Well done. You win. Pick whatever you want.”
Mom points at a plastic flower in the back of the stand, and the guy brings it to her.
“There you go.”
“A flower?” I mutter to myself. Mom turns to look at me, and I shrug. “Whatever.”
She holds the flower in front of me. “For you.”
I scowl. “For me?”
This doesn’t make any sense. Aspen likes flowers, not me.
“Yeah, because I love you, silly.” She attempts to kiss me on the forehead.
“Gross,” I say, wiping it off immediately.
She chuckles. “Don’t be so scared of a little bit of love, Silas.”
“He doesn’t know what to do with it,” Aspen says, sticking out her tongue at me.
“Shut up!” I yell back.
“Silas …” Mom grabs my shoulders. “Just ignore it.”
“It’s getting on my nerves.”
“I know.”
I grind my teeth. “I wanted to throw those darts too.”
“I know that too, but we also know what you like to do with sharp objects.”
I lower my eyes.
“You’re just a little … different. And that’s okay.”
Is it?
Or are they just saying that because they don’t know what it’s like to feel nothing but the instinct to kill?
Mom presses the flower into my chest. “Hold onto it. One day, you will feel what it means. And then you can give it to a girl and make her happy.”
She smiles, but it doesn’t make me smile.
Neither does the plastic flower I’m forced to hold onto for the rest of our time at the fair, wondering if she just picked it so she could give it to me.
To try and get me to feel something.
Anything.
When we’re finally home, I sit on my bed and stare at the box on the floor. The one Mom once gave me to store away memories I want to keep forever.
The plastic flower in my hands feels so goddamn meaningless.
So goddamn worthless.
Love .
Like I will ever understand what it means.
I throw the flower into the box and lock it, then shove it under my bed, groaning impatiently as I cross my arms.
Fuck love.
I don’t know what it is, and I will never, ever need it. Especially not from some girl.
That flower will stay in its prison, rotting away for eternity.
Ivy
Present
I pick up the letter and read the words.
I was right. You are a thief.
But you were right too. You needed it more than I did.
So I’ve made sure that all the money Stefano kept in his bank that he tried to take to the grave was put in your name instead. Along with all the funds in my bank account.
All of it belongs to you now.
Every dollar. Every dime. Yours to spend as you see fit.
I try to read as fast as I can, but my heart is racing.
I once had a red flower.
A cheap, meaningless, plastic flower.
When I was young, my mom once gave it to me and told me to give it to a girl.
It would make her happy, she said.
I kept it in a box because I didn’t want to make anyone happy.
Until you stole it.
My throat feels constricted.
That’s why he wanted that plastic flower I gave to Cora back.
I stole the only way he knew how to show love.
It’s yours now, so keep it.
I also want you to have the knife you killed him with.
I told you, I’d make you fucking love sharp things just as much as I do.
Now go on, little thief …
Take what’s left of my fucking soul.
Silas
PS: Did you know even serial killers have a heart? I didn’t.
The letter shakes in my hand as tears begin to well up in my eyes.
He gave me and Cora … everything .
Just like I once promised him.
I stare at the words, wondering what on earth they mean, when a teardrop rolls down and falls on top, mixing with the ink. Ink … that turns red like blood.
And suddenly, it hits me.
I snatch the bloodied blade off the floor and rush out the door. I can’t storm down the stairs fast enough as I bolt out the front door, ignoring everything the girls are saying to me while I run as fast as I can toward the Skull and Serpent Society.
Now, more than ever, do I wish I could run faster.
When I finally get to the door, I ram the door so hard I nearly break through the wood. “Let me in! Now!”
When the door finally opens, Heath stands there, sheepishly staring at me like he can’t believe I’m here in the flesh.
“Move, now!” I yell.
He frowns. “What, why? What’s going on?”
“Silas has given me all of his money and a knife with blood on it,” I reply. “ His blood.”
His eyes widen, and he immediately pulls away and bolts up the stairs with me, where I bump into Max on the way up.
“Ivy? What’s going on?” Max asks, still in his biker clothes.
But we both ignore him as we head straight for Silas’s room. Heath breaks down his door, and we rush into his room.
“Stop!”