This Is War - Chapter 19 - The Princess Suite
“Here it is,” said Cole.
“This is the princess suite?” I looked up at the four-story-tall stone tower in front of us. “So the catch is that I have to man the ballista when the goblins come attack?”
Cole laughed. “Princesses can live in towers. Haven’t you ever heard of Rapunzel?”
“Oh, great. So I’m going to be stuck up there for the rest of my life?
Well if you think I’m going to let you climb my hair, you’re crazy.
” Especially since I’m wearing a wig. Kind of…
I wasn’t sure how exactly Tanner’s bracelet worked, but I doubted my black hair would be strong enough for Cole to climb.
And anyway, it wasn’t nearly long enough.
Cole ignored me and pressed a few buttons on a keypad next to a heavy wooden door. Instead of swinging open, the door slid back into the wall to reveal a fancy elevator.
“I don’t remember Rapunzel having an elevator,” I said.
“You’d rather take the stairs?”
Up four stories? No way. I got on the elevator and up we went.
My jaw dropped when the doors opened to the princess suite.
It was like a cross between a casino penthouse and something out of a fairytale.
A Disney fairytale. Not the real ones where babies get eaten by evil monsters.
Or whatever the Rapunzel equivalent was of Chastity’s version of Hansel and Gretel.
If I was living in that deranged fairy tale world, then I was in serious trouble.
“What do you think?” asked Cole.
“This is freaking amazing!” I ran over and collapsed back on the gigantic round bed. It felt like I was lying on a cloud. For some reason, my mind went immediately to the sausage king. Did his family have a castle like this back in Germany? I’d have to go back to his restaurant soon…
“See? And to think that you didn’t trust me…” Cole made a tsk tsk noise and shook his head back and forth.
“I still don’t trust you.” I stared at him.
He still had that stupid cocky smile, but I was starting to find it kind of endearing.
Fine… a lot endearing. But it wasn’t my fault.
Tattoos did something to me. I shook the thought away.
I was in love with Tanner. What?! No. I shook that thought away too.
“But maybe you’re not as awful as I originally thought. ”
“I’ll take that. Well, enjoy the princess suite. I’m gonna go grab some food before the dining hall closes.” He started to walk out.
“Wait up,” I said. “I’m starving.”
I pulled out my phone and texted Chastity during the golf cart ride to the dining hall.
Ash : So I think I might be going to dinner with Cole.
Chastity : I love that for you. But we still need to prank him.
Ash : He might not be as bad as we thought.
Chastity : Does that mean you saw his dick? Was it magnificent? Tell me everything!
Ash : He saved me from living with a bunch of naked soapy shower lesbians. And you should see the room he got me…
Chastity : Naked soapy shower lesbians? Wow, you’ve got some competition. You’re definitely gonna have to suck his cock if you want his help finding Rosalie.
Right. I’m here to find Rosalie. How had Cole distracted me so easily? I glanced over at him and my eyes gravitated to his muscly tattooed arms. Oh yeah, that’s how. But no more! From here on out I was going to be in full detective mode.
I slid my phone back into my purse. “So how long have you been a part of the Society?”
“A few years.”
“A few as in…three?”
“Something like that. You?”
“A few months.” But that’s not important! I needed to know if he was in the Society with Rosalie before she disappeared.
“I’m surprised you haven’t been to the Emerald Oasis yet then,” he said. “Where were you all summer?”
“Working.” It didn’t seem necessary to tell him that the app had disappeared from my phone all summer.
Cole turned onto another gravel path. “Well, as your camp counselor, it’s my official responsibility to ensure you have the best experience possible.”
And help me find Rosalie. I glanced down at his crotch. Was I really gonna have to blow him in order to get his help? Or could I just ask the right questions?
“What’s that over there?” I asked, pointing at a group of cabins.
“Those are the couples cabins.”
I bit the inside of my lip. I could have been there with Tanner.
But Tanner was the worst, so I’d definitely made the right choice.
But like…where was he now? Was he in a cabin like they’d tried to put me in, only his was full of soapy gay men?
Or did he have a prince suite? Probably a prince suite.
God, did he have another woman there with him?
I felt Cole staring at me. I needed to stop focusing on these stupid distracting men.
I pointed to a clearing across the path.
A bunch of guys in Emerald Oasis t-shirts were rearranging picnic tables and piling firewood next to a giant unlit fire pit.
“And that?” Of course I just pointed to more distracting men.
“That’s where we’ll have the post-games spit roast tomorrow night.”
That thing where they roast a pig over an open fire? “Oh my gosh! I’ve always wanted to have a spit roast.”
Cole looked over at me with a raised eyebrow. “You have?”
“Yeah! I never knew it was a thing until one of my ex-husband’s friends suggested we have one for our 1 st wedding anniversary. But of course my stupid ex wouldn’t let us do it. Said it was too dangerous.”
“Well that was extremely lame of him.”
“I know! He was the freaking worst.”
“It sounds like it.” Cole pulled to a stop outside the clubhouse and opened the heavy wooden doors for me.
Since when was he such a gentleman? I had really underestimated him.
The dining hall was mostly empty, but there were still a few stragglers. More importantly, the buffet was still well stocked with all sorts of good stuff. Burgers, pasta, even some waffles. Breakfast for dinner? Yas queen! Sign me up for summer camp.
We each made a plate and then sat down at an empty table.
As much as I wanted to go back to the topic of how much Joe sucked, it was more important for me to collect more intel. And devour an inappropriate amount of waffles.
“So you were saying you’ve been a part of the Society for a while,” I said as I smothered my waffles in syrup. “How’d you get started?”
“A few years ago I was invited to come be a counselor here. The members must have liked me, because after that first weekend they asked if I wanted to work at Club Onyx too.”
“So you’re not a member?”
“I wasn’t at first. But for two years of loyal service, they rewarded me with membership into the Society. How’d you get in?”
“Ryder invited me after my divorce,” I said. I was so proud of myself for remembering to use Tanner’s Society name.
Cole nodded and took a bite of his burger. “Ah, classic Ryder.”
“What do you mean?”
“He’s by far the Society’s most active recruiter. It seems like he has a different girl on his arm every night at Club Onyx.”
“What?” I asked. From the Onyxies I knew that Tanner recruited tons of members. But had he been recruiting members all summer? That little asshole! He was hiding out in the city instead of in jail in…Morocco? Is that what he’d said? I was going to kill him.
“You didn’t know?”
I was going to get so much more information, but then Tanner sat down next to me with a tray of food. “Didn’t know what?” he asked.
“Nothing,” I said. I couldn’t believe that he’d really just disappeared from me this summer so he could go bang a bunch of new members.
“How’s your room?” asked Tanner as if everything was totally normal.
“Amazing. I’m so glad I passed on the couples cabin.” The princess suite really was everything. I couldn’t wait to get back and send Chastity some pictures of it. She was gonna be so jealous.
“She wasn’t happy with the first cabin we had for her,” said Cole. “But I pulled a few strings to get her an upgrade.”
“Thanks for looking out for her,” said Tanner.
Looking out for me? What did Tanner care about someone looking out for me? Didn’t he have some newbie to go bang or something?
“It’s my pleasure. I told her I’d do anything I could to make her weekend as enjoyable as possible.”
Tanner narrowed his eyes at Cole and slid a little closer to me. “It sounds like you’ve already gone above and beyond.”
Cole popped a French fry into his mouth and stared back at Tanner. “Just doing my job. Speaking of which…is everything good with your cabin?”
“It is,” said Tanner.
“You’re on the red team, right?” asked Cole.
Tanner nodded.
“I guess that makes us enemies.”
“Red team? Enemies?” I asked. I was so confused. Both about the teams and about why Tanner was acting all protective. He’d made it abundantly clear he didn’t want to be with me. If the three months of ghosting wasn’t proof enough, him literally telling me he couldn’t date me because of DODO was.
“For the games tomorrow,” said Cole. “Everyone splits into two teams - red and blue - and then we battle it out over 23 events. At the end of the day, we crown a winner.”
“Which team am I on?”
“You’re on red with Ryder. Unfortunately, I’m blue…which means you guys are going to be on the losing team.”
“Oh yeah?” I asked.
“Yup. Not to brag, but my team has won 9 weeks in a row. And there’s no way I’m going to miss out on breaking the record with a 10th.”
Cocky bastard. “Sorry to burst your bubble, but Ryder and I are going to crush you.”
“Wanna bet?” asked Cole.
“Sure,” I said through a mouthful of waffles. “What are we betting?”
He didn’t even have to think about it. “When blue wins, you go out with me tomorrow night.”
Fat chance. I swallowed down the lump of sugary goodness. “And if Ryder and I win?”
Cole gave me his cockiest grin. “Then I’ll let you go out with me tomorrow night.”
I laughed. “Nice try. How about this. If Ryder and I win, then you have to get naked at a future time of my choosing. No questions asked.” It wasn’t the perfect prank, but it would be good enough payback for all the times he’d tricked me.
And Tanner choking on a French fry as I said it was a nice little bonus.
“What?” asked Tanner.
I had no idea what his angle was. Despite what he’d said in the car about dating being off the table, he sure was acting like a jealous boyfriend whenever Cole was around.
Because he was a crazy person.
That was the only logical explanation, right? I would have just said he was weird. But I was weird. And I didn’t want Tanner to make being weird a bad thing. I used to love that he was weird like me… He was definitely just insane.
Either way, I couldn’t worry about his feelings. I was here for one reason, and one reason only: to find Rosalie. And maybe to flirt with Cole and make Tanner jealous…
“Deal,” said Cole. He stuck out his hand and we shook on it.
“Hope you’re ready to get naked,” I said.
Cole wasn’t fazed by my threat. “You don’t even know what the events are.”
“It doesn’t matter. With Ryder on my team, there’s no way I’m going to lose.” I squeezed his massive bicep to drive the point home. If Tanner was going to send me mixed signals, then I could do the same. Besides, I really liked touching him.
“She’s right,” said Tanner. “I hope you enjoyed your winning streak while it lasted, because it ends tomorrow.”
“We shall see.” Cole popped one more fry into his mouth. “May the best team win. See you tomorrow, Raven,” he said with a wink. And then he got up and walked out of the dining hall.
I turned to Tanner. “This is going to be so great. I can’t wait for his stupid cocky grin to disappear when you whoop his ass tomorrow.”
“Me either,” said Tanner. “That guy is so annoying. Did he at least have some information about Rosalie?”
“He said he’s been a counselor here for about three years,” I said. “It’s possible he was here when that picture was taken, which means he might have known her.”
“I doubt it.”
“Why?”
“It just seems unlikely. Let’s talk to some other people instead.”
“Wait, are you jealous of Cole?” I asked.
“No. Why would I be jealous?”
“Because he was hitting on me.”
Tanner shrugged like it was no big deal. “He can hit on you all he wants. Clearly you were just flirting with him to try to get info about Rosalie. I know you’d never actually fall for a peasant like Cole.”
A peasant? I laughed. But I wasn’t so sure Tanner was right about my intentions.
I mean…I was kind of already falling for Cole.
Or at the very least I was flirting back for real.
As far as I was concerned, the bet we’d made was a win/win.
Either he’d take me out on a date, or I’d get to see him naked.
“So how were you planning to figure out if he knew Rosalie?” Tanner asked.
“I guess I’ll just show him a picture of her.”
“But what if he was involved in her disappearance?”
“Hmm…I hadn’t thought of that.” The thought that Rosalie’s killer could be anyone at this camp sent chills down my spine. “How can we find any clues if we can’t ask people about her?”
Tanner gestured to the wall of the mess hall. It was covered in more art than the wall of a TGIF. But instead of random album covers and canoes, these were pictures from the camp. Jackpot!
I jammed the rest of my waffles in my mouth and ran over to the wall. With so many photos, she had to be in at least one of them.
But…she wasn’t.
We spent hours looking, but I didn’t see a single girl that could possibly be her.
“Are you sure you looked at all of those?” I asked, gesturing to the half of the wall that Tanner had been responsible for searching.
Tanner nodded.
“Even the people in the background?”
“Yup. I checked them all twice. She’s not in any of them.” He pulled a photo off the wall and checked the back. It was from two months ago. We checked a few more, and they had all been taken within the last year.
“Well that explains it,” I said. “Think they have an archive of old photos?”
“Maybe.”
“Don’t you like…have access to their databases and stuff? Shouldn’t you know?” I was pretty sure he’d said that on the way here, but his face had been very distracting…
“No. And even if I did, what kind of horrible micromanager do you think I am?”
Oh God. The word micromanager reminded me of Mr. Frost and his promise to come up with something better than the binder. Just thinking about it reminded me how thoroughly exhausted I was. If I was going to get any solid detective work done, it would only happen after I got some rest.
“Let’s call it a night,” I said. “I’m sure something will turn up tomorrow. And I want to make sure we’re well rested so we can kick Cole’s ass.”