Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX
Bennett
I wouldn’t say Rhodes is the most talkative person I’ve ever met. He’s good with his mouth, for sure. He can hold a conversation and doesn’t only give basic answers. I appreciate that he asks questions as well.
But something changes when we step off the plane and he looks at the second, smaller one that was there. He doesn’t exactly close down, but it looks as if there’s a veil over him now. Focus. Also something that feels… chilly.
I keep up with him, and his dogs surround us, each with their bags in their mouths. “Oh. We didn’t grab our luggage,” I say.
He looks at me with a subtle smirk that has my insides jumping. “It’ll be brought to the truck.”
Ah. We’re that kind of rich right now. I see. I’m surprised he doesn’t have a butler at his house. Actually, I didn’t go inside. Maybe he does.
The dogs pile their bags into the open back, where I see our luggage is already waiting for us. These people are freaking stealthy. I didn’t even see them pick it up, never mind somehow pass us to load the truck. I wonder why they didn’t deliver the dogs’ bags, too.
Once again, Rhodes opens the passenger side door for me. I try not to read too much into it. That’s probably how he was raised. You open doors for people. It’s polite.
I’m once again not surprised when we’re driving down the road in the middle of the woods. We’re not even passing roads that lead away from the main stretch. It’s a highway, I think, though it’s only two lanes.
“Music?” I ask.
Rhodes nods absently. I’m not sure he heard me. I turn the radio on and once more go through the process of pairing my phone with the truck’s Bluetooth. Thankfully, technology has advanced so it doesn’t take long at all.
The woods around us make me feel like I should be putting on some haunting music. To keep the ambience. I think I’ll regret that later, though. I have a feeling that this school is going to be surrounded by dense forest. At this rate, it seems to be a vibe.
My girl, B, comes on, and I happily sing along as I watch out the window.
“All the single babies, all the single babies. Put your hands up, down on my toosh, ’round to grab my thing.
Do a little dance, give a little shake, rub my hole and sing.
Mm hmm mm. If you liked it, then you shoulda put your thing in it.
If you liked it, then you shoulda put your thing in it. ”
I glance at Rhodes and smile when I find him grinning. “Do your dogs not know the words to this one?”
“Sing along if you choose,” Rhodes says, and immediately all seven dogs begin howling. I sing louder with them, smiling all the while. Everyone likes B. How can you not? It’s catchy and makes you want to shake your ass. Shake your dick. Whichever. Maybe both!
I’m glad I have Rhodes smiling again. Music just does that.
His smile lingers through another few songs until we finally come across a road that pulls off the highway. There are gargoyles on the tall stone pillars holding up the iron sign that arches across the driveway.
It stretches forever through the trees, winding gently, until we’re pulling up to an enormous building. “It looks like an old castle got together with a haunted mansion and had a baby,” I comment.
Rhodes snorts. “It does. Just wait until you see inside.”
“I’m guessing you didn’t make this trip daily.”
“There are dorms in the back split up by the first two years and the last two years.”
“Are they nice?”
He nods. “Not bad. The younger class shares. Every two or three students share a common living space. In the upperclassmen dorms, they’re all individuals set up like one-bedroom apartments. You’ll see. That’s likely where we’re staying.”
“Huh. I imagined something more like a hotel room.”
He smiles. His smiles aren’t nearly as genuine as they’d been before we landed.
He doesn’t want to be here. Once again, I’m dying to know why.
Was high school bad for the uber-wealthy, too?
I imagine it like that movie that came out years ago, where there are six people in a giant room with enormous solid-wood desks and a French tutor.
This time, we grab our own luggage when we get out of the truck. I sling my backpack over my shoulders and extend the handle on my carry-on. Watching the dogs take their bags has me grinning hugely. I can’t help myself. It’s the most adorable thing I’ve ever seen.
I don’t see another person until we get closer to the school. The sun is beginning to set early in the woods as it falls beyond the canopy of the dense forest surrounding us, so the grounds are filled with long shadows. It gives the entire area an even more haunted feeling.
There’s a man in the doorway. He has black hair, flawless Black skin with shining white teeth, and dark eyes. He’s wearing a suit that fits him snugly in all the places. All. The. Places. Does he wear that to an office, or is it just for the benefit of the reunion?
“Van Doren,” the man greets Rhodes with a big smile. The smile wavers as his eyes move over the dogs.
“Lloyd,” Rhodes returns coolly.
I’m distracted from whatever else they exchange as I look at Rhodes. Wow. I feel like an idiot. He is a Van Doren. He isn’t close to the family and therefore able to borrow a plane. He is the family. Oof. He must think I’m stupid.
His hand on my lower back makes me blink out of my internal horror at making a fool of myself. “This is my partner, Bennett,” Rhodes introduces. “My frenemy, Lloyd.”
Lloyd responds with a loud, hearty laugh. “Frenemy, indeed.” He offers me his hand, and I give him my biggest smile.
“You’re staying in 409,” Lloyd says and holds up a key on a black ribbon for Rhodes to take. He looks at the dogs, who remain at perfect attention, staring at Lloyd. A couple have set their bags down. One licks his jaws as Lloyd looks her way. I think that’s Lovey Cakes. She feels like a mama bear.
“When you said nine, I thought you meant people,” Lloyd comments.
“While I’m not opposed to eight lovers, that’s not the case. One is enough for me when it’s the right one.”
I beam. Even knowing that we’re putting on the show, I like how that sounds.
Lloyd chuckles again. “That’s fair. I’m guessing you’ll want the meals from those seven additional reservations, though.”
“Yes. My pack doesn’t eat processed food bits.”
“Good man,” Lloyd says. He looks at the dogs again and frowns. “No leashes.”
“They have their leashes in their bags, but I assure you, they don’t need them. They haven’t been on a leash since they were puppies.”
Lloyd hums. I wonder if Rhodes is going to be given a hard time. It seems not when Lloyd smiles again. “All right, Van Doren. Go settle in. Dinner is at nine.”
Nine! What the hell is this? Why do we eat at bedtime around here?
I keep my smile wide on my face as we pass through the doors and into the haunted mansion castle.
It’s as ornate inside as you’d expect, with rich wooden walls, marble floors, and luxurious drapery.
I try not to crane my neck as I look around.
I’m guessing as the boyfriend of a very wealthy man, I should be used to places like this.
Not for the first time, I’m wondering what the inside of his house looks like. It must have cost his father a mortgage to send Rhodes here.
We pass by people milling about as we make our way through the corridors to the opposite end of the building. They hush as we pass, all eyeing the dogs nervously. No one greets Rhodes. I wonder if perhaps they don’t recognize him. Does Rhodes look different from how he did as a teenager?
It isn’t long before we’re outside again, and I see the two dorms. They’re not much different in terms of outward appearance from the main building. What must it have been like to go to school here? When we step inside, I find it’s also the same as the primary building.
Huh. There’s an aesthetic here.
We take the stairs to the fourth floor, and I’m thankful that I tend to be on my feet a lot. However, is this how they carry their luggage to their rooms? They take the stairs?
“I’m not complaining, but are there no elevators?”
Rhodes chuckles. “There’s a single elevator that’s used for furniture. Otherwise, we take the stairs.”
“Disabilities?”
He shakes his head. “Those rooms are on the first floor.”
“Ah.”
“I’m told the rooms are no different, though I imagine they may have wider doors and such. I’ve never been in one.”
“You didn’t have any friends with disabilities,” I note.
He shrugs. “When you’re a teen, all you’re trying to do is fit in with the least amount of negative attention.
However, I’ll be honest and tell you I don’t think there were any people with physical disabilities in my grade, as far as preventing them from using the stairs.
I may have minded my own business, but I’m quite certain that’s something I’d have noticed.
When Harper Young broke his leg, they set him up in one of the first-floor dorms until it healed, and I noticed that. ” Rhodes shrugs again.
“How big was your class?” I ask as we move down the hall of the fourth and top floor. It’s like an ostentatious hotel. How they were in the twenties and thirties, when you knew you were walking into a hotel for the rich and famous.
“Sixty-three, I believe.”
“Wow, that’s small.”
He nods as we come to a door. It uses an actual key.
No fobs or key cards. No biometric locks.
A simple key. Rhodes lets us in, and yeah, the rooms are just as ornate as the rest of the building.
As I peek into the bedroom, I find that the bed is made with a luxurious, fluffy comforter.
I shake my head. How much did it cost to attend school here? Seriously.
“Okay,” I say, turning to face him. “You let me believe you were friends with the Van Dorens.” I cross my arms over my chest.
At least I earn myself an actual smile. “I did. It was cute.”
“The time to correct me was when we were getting to know each other on the plane, if you didn’t want to when I made a fool of myself.”
Rhodes laughs quietly. “You were going to find out soon enough. No one ever called me Rhodes here. I was always Van Doren.”
I frown. “Why?”
He shrugs. The dogs make circuits around the space, smelling and settling in. Maybe claiming their spots. Rhodes watches them almost absently. “I guess that’s how you keep an arm’s distance from everyone.”
“That sounds sad.”
“High school sucks no matter where you go to school. Don’t think for a second it sucked any less here than wherever you went. The difference is, all these people have a lot of money, which means they get away with a fuck ton more shit.”
I don’t like the sound of that at all. It’s cryptic, and yet I have a feeling he’s thinking about specific things.
“Rhodes?”
He meets my eyes.
“It’s clear that you don’t have any fond memories of this place or your classmates. So why are we here?”
He chews the inside of his lip, and I have the distinct feeling that he doesn’t let someone see him do that often. I’m not seeing vulnerability precisely, but I am peeking into a frosted window and catching a rare glimpse of something true.
Rhodes sighs. “Let’s go for a walk. I want to see how much this place has changed.”