Chapter 3
“ H oly shit.” Tris had mumbled those words all night, and now that we were nursing our morning hangovers at my kitchen table, he kept saying them again. “I mean, how could your mom lie to us all this time?”
“Us?” I asked with a raised brow and a headache pulsing behind my eyeballs.
“Yeah, I mean, sure. She lied to you the most, but she lied to me, too. Probably lied to your whole family. Do you think your grandmother knew?”
My mom’s mother had spent the last several years of her life living with us.
“You know, I doubt it. I feel like she would have told me.” We’d been close.
Very close. And her loss still grated at the open wound in my heart.
I stood, using the table to balance against the dizziness, and made my way to the couch where Tris had slept.
I started to fold the blankets while Tris kept asking questions.
“You know, you kind of look like him,” he said, studying the picture. “I mean you look like a perfect mix of the two. You really have no resemblance to Stuart at all. How hadn’t I noticed that before?”
I’d been wondering the same all night. “I’m not really sure what to think about it,” I confessed.
Hugging the pillow against my chest, I turned and faced my friend.
“On one hand, it’s nice to have some explanation as to why I never felt super close to my dad.
But on the other hand, I feel like my whole life has been one big lie. ”
“It has been.”
“Thanks.”
Tris smiled. “But that’s gotta pull at your nature, too. I mean, you love solving mysteries, right? This is just another story for you to uncover.”
He knew me so well. “Get dressed. That place where Kaelan works opens at noon.”
Rubbing his hands over his cropped hair and day-old scruff, he sighed. “Why did you let me drink so much last night?”
“Because I needed someone to suffer with me.” I walked over to the table and kissed Tris on the cheek. “So, thanks. You’re a good friend.”
He looked up at me with a strange expression on his face. Almost a hunger of sorts.
“What?” I asked, my body tingling at the way he was looking at me.
Pushing to his feet, he brushed his hand over the top of my head and cleared his throat. “Nothing.”
As he walked to the back of my apartment to the bathroom, I watched the way his muscles moved in time with his graceful gait.
Tris was such a solid part of my life, I couldn’t even imagine surviving the world without him.
When I’d asked him to come over last night, he didn’t even hesitate.
Growing up, our friends had always joked that we’d either been siblings or lovers in a past life because of the strong bond we shared.
In high school, when Tris was growing in popularity and every girl had a massive crush on him, I’d often wondered if that could be me.
I mean, he’d always been handsome and kind and funny and super muscular.
He certainly wasn’t hard on the eyes. But we were better as friends. Even now.
Yes .
We were better as friends.
Tris and I lived in Larkspur Grove, west of the city center and south of Seaford Capital Academy, where we’d graduated a few years ago.
The area was popular for younger adults just getting started in the world and who intended to live in New Rothwick forever.
Not many of us chose to leave the city and venture north into Kilderoy, where the jobs were scarce and the forests were haunted.
Only a handful of small villages and ports were scattered amongst the north.
And to get there, it meant buying a very expensive train ticket through the Mortarbone Cliffs.
While adventure excited me, I was perfectly content living in Larkspur Grove for now as I focused on my career and life after university.
It was also one of the most affordable locations, offering dozens of apartment building high-rises for those of us who only needed a small bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen to make it through the day.
Tris and I lived in separate complexes, but the streets were easily connected through walking paths and bike lanes that weaved between the overgrown oak trees and stone buildings.
When we reached the parking garage, Tris offered to drive his bike so I could navigate.
An hour later, we were weaving around the western part of the city looking for the House of Treasures.
I spotted Casiopia Park, and with one left turn, we found ourselves in rowhouse heaven.
But it wasn’t a residential area, and with one look around the narrow streets and three-story stone houses, I realized what kind of a place the House of Treasures was.
Tris recognized the location at the same time. “I guess the citizens of New Rothwick can’t survive without their twenty-four-hour clubs.” He pointed to a large sign on top of one half of the building in front of us. “Looks like we’re here.”
“Seriously?” I asked with a sigh. “The man looking for Gil works at a playroom?”
Tris chuckled. “It would appear so. Come on, have you ever been in one before?”
Rolling my eyes, I glared at my friend. “Of course. But not when I was searching for my biological dad. ”
“Fair enough.” Tris shrugged. “You ready?”
Was I? That adrenaline junkie in me was, but the daughter in me still hesitated.
What if something bad happened to him? I didn’t want to learn about my real dad only to find him floating in the harbour somewhere.
I mean, I didn’t know the man, but he’d meant something important to my mom.
I didn’t want to have to tell her about his demise.
“Sosie?” Tris asked.
“Yeah, I’m ready.” I slipped off the back of his bike and hung my helmet over the seat before Tris could ask me if I was okay.
Pulling on my inner investigator, I readied myself for the interrogation that needed to happen.
Tris held the door to the House of Treasures for me, and I was immediately overwhelmed when we walked inside.
I’d been to one of these clubs once before, in college, but that one was mostly a dance club with extra special rooms upstairs that we didn’t indulge in.
The House of Treasures was not only triple the size I’d expected, but the sheer number of clothing and toys displayed along the walls as we walked inside had to cause a major headache for the person tracking inventory.
Music thrummed through the walls, the base reverberating through the floor and making me guess that the real club was somewhere down below us.
Pink, blue, and purple handcuffs hanging like streamers bumped me in the head, and as I went to swat them away, I almost stumbled into a box of summer solstice holiday-themed phallic-shaped sparklers.
“Nice.” Tris laughed, looking at an arrangement of female mannequins lining the hallway and donning an assortment of risqué lingerie. “You should get one of these.”
“For whom?” I asked.
Tris shrugged and quickly turned away from me. “Good point.” He was running his fingers down the side of the faceless mannequin’s arm to where a piece of fabric connected the outfit to the bodice.
“Stop touching her,” I hissed. “It’s creepy.”
He laughed again and pushed past me to the large shelf full of colorful massagers. “What about this?” he asked, waving around a very well-endowed flexible toy. “Look, it even lights up.”
“Stop!” I pushed out through gritted teeth. “You aren’t supposed to touch anything.”
“Says who?”
“Says me!”
“Can I help you?”
Tris and I both froze at the sound of a voice behind me.
Slowly sliding the oversized toy back on the display shelf, Tris smiled and pulled me close to him.
The feel of his hand on my back made me blush when my thoughts went to a dangerous place I didn’t want Tris to know about.
It was this place…too many temptations. And ideas about the kinds of activities that happened behind these walls.
I turned around so I could face the man behind us, and almost covered my eyes when I saw what he was wearing.
No shirt hid his sculpted abs and chest, but the tiny jazz shorts decorated with rhinestones glittered in the light.
His bright red platform boots almost distracted me from the glitter on his face and the dark eyeliner highlighting his green eyes.
I couldn’t tell if I was enamored or confused.
The man stared back at me with an equal amount of surprise, although my jean shorts and tank top shouldn’t have been that alarming to him. “It’s you,” he breathed once I finally closed my mouth.
“Excuse me?”
“Delicia told me you were coming today, but I didn’t believe her. Damn girl. You’re here.”
“Delicia?” I asked.
The man shook his head and waved away my question. “She sees the dead.” His eyes roved up and down my body. “It’s really you.”
I glanced up at Tris, who shrugged once he stopped grinding his teeth together. Holding out his hand, he stepped forward and offered it to the man. “I’m Tris. ”
After hesitating a moment, the man shook his head and grinned. “Sorry. Yeah. I’m Kaelan Black.” Not much older than us, Kaelan stood eye to eye with Tris thanks to the four inches he gained from those boots. “And you must be Sosasia.”
“Sosie. Yes, I am.”
Kaelan rushed forward and pulled me into a hug. He squeezed hard enough that I could barely breathe, and when he pulled away, tears glistened in his eyes. “You look so much like him,” he whispered.
“Like Gil?” I asked.
Kaelan nodded. “You know, Gil isn’t one to share much of his personal life, but he talked about you quite a bit.”
I looked over toward Tris, a seed of anger starting to grow in my stomach. “He did?”
“He loved watching your reports on the news. He’d always brag about how good you were and about how your career was going to take off.”
I swallowed the lump and an ember of rage burning in my throat. Gil knew me. He followed me on Rothwick On Air. I think that made me happy, although I was also feeling a ton of unidentifiable emotions right now.