Chapter Six
Baxter
“Mr Branson, sir?” A formal but scared sort of voice interrupts my internet stalking. I’m reading through the intel Frost sent me on this Raven/Charlotte chick. It’s fascinatingly vague, which in itself piques my interest.
“What?” I snap, hating the distraction.
“You have a phone call, sir. Sorry, sir.” The terrified receptionist? Maid? – Fuck, I don’t know who she is, but I do remember sleeping with her a time or two – holds the phone out to me in trembling hands. I sneer at her and snatch the mobile up. Fucking pathetic.
“You didn’t really think you could hide from me?” A voice interrupts before I can say anything.
I stay silent.
“You can’t almost die on me and not tell me.”
Amelie.
Jesus, even on the other side of the world I can’t get away from her.
“I didn’t think you would care,” I say dismissively. And it’s true. Why would she?
“Are you fucking serious?!” she yells, sounding way angrier than I expected. It makes me smile. She’s always so hot-headed. The Order will hate that.
“You’re one of them now,” I reply, knowing that it’ll rile her up even more, just wanting to see her reaction.
She’ll never be one of them, not really.
She could be the best thing to ever happen to The Order.
Which I would love to see, just from a distance.
Regardless of who’s in charge or the changes they make, I can’t go back.
Can’t get sucked in again. Not even for her.
“Again, are you fucking serious?! I’m still me, and the last time I checked you still had the same tattoo as them.”
Touché. I don’t say anything though. I’m too stubborn for that.
“Where are you?” she asks softly. I sigh. “In all seriousness, are you okay?”
“This line isn’t secure. We’ll talk when we’re back in school.”
“You’re coming back then? I was worried you wouldn’t.”
“For now I will. But I’m not making any promises to stay.”
“Thank you.” Her reply is so soft I have to strain to hear it but when I do, it does something strange to my chest.
“I have to go, but I’ll see you soon enough. Oh, and Amelie?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you for giving a damn.”
I hang up so she doesn’t have to reply and hand the phone back to the member of staff. A grin stretches across my face and I feel better than I have in weeks. Lighter somehow.
I decide I’ll go for a swim. It’s time to stop sulking about my attack and to start building my strength back up to what it was so that when I find the motherfuckers responsible, I’m able to actually make good on my threat to fuck them up.
On my way to the pool I bump into Cordelia who does a double take when she sees me.
“Has hell frozen over?” she asks in a cold, scathing tone she reserves for when my grandfather isn’t around.
I wonder if he has the measure of her, really, or if he’d be shocked to see this side of her.
I consider this to be her real face, rather than the one she shows my grandfather, but they’ve been together so long, maybe she doesn’t even know anymore.
“You’re still breathing so it can’t have,” I reply curtly.
“But you’re smiling.” Her face is a picture.
“Of course I’m smiling,” I reply smoothly.
“Your granddaughter arrives today and I can’t wait to meet her.
” I lick my lips, and the old woman shudders from head to toe.
She doesn’t engage me though, which is surprising, so I push past her and head to the nearest pool, which just so happens to be my favourite.
My favourite pool is down by some of the beach huts but rarely used.
It’s secluded, surrounded on all sides by thick vegetation.
It feels like my own slice of paradise, especially when I enter the clearing and see the still water glistening in the sunlight.
It looks cool and inviting, just what I need.
Stripping my clothes off quickly, I chuck them carelessly onto a sun lounger and stand at the water’s edge. My toes curl over the edge, and I take a moment to breathe deeply before launching myself into the pool in a sleek dive.
The water is a refreshing wake up call. I need to get my head out of my ass.
Grandfather is right, I have been sulking, but that ends now.
Since when has Baxter Branson ever been a victim?
Never. So I’m not about to start now. Smoothly swimming laps, I take time to clear my head and come up with a plan of action.
Of course what I told Amelie is true. I will go back to Knox.
I’ll finish my sentence, get my degree and graduate.
Hopefully, if I tell Grandfather I want to concentrate on his businesses for a few years, he’ll let The Order stuff go, for a while at least. Plus, being close to Order HQ will put me in the best position possible to find how deep the corruption runs.
I need answers. Not only about the blast, but about who targeted me and why.
Can’t do that from a sun lounger sipping an Old Fashioned.
And then there’s Amelie. I guess she’s going to need someone to look out for her still. I wasn’t lying when I told Frost to trust the Knox brothers – I do trust them where she’s concerned – but do I trust them to take over the running of The Order with Amelie at the helm? I’m not sure.
They profess to love her, but they have fucked her over before.
And is love enough? I’d easily argue it isn’t.
Not if their daddy dearest wants to pull the strings.
Let’s face it, his ‘sons’ have always been his puppets, so why would that suddenly change?
I’m fairly sure Monty wanted to pull Amelie’s strings, but once he found she wasn’t so easy to control, he used his sons to do his dirty work.
Sure, they might have real feelings for her, and may even love her, but would they choose Amelie over their dear father to whom they owe everything?
I think not.
So it’s decided then. I’ll go back after Easter Break, finish the school year, keep an eye on Amelie and the Knox family, find out what’s going on with The Order, and hopefully find out why someone tried to kill me. Easy.
I actually feel surprisingly better after I’m done with my swim.
I think the planning helped, but I definitely need some time in the gym.
That can wait til tomorrow. I won’t be any use to anyone if I start by overdoing it.
I’ll grab some lunch back at my beachside pad, and then I’ll scope out the new chick and see what she’s like.
There was a disturbing lack of photos in the information Frost sent me, so I’m not sure what to expect. I’m guessing a little miniature version of cuntface Cordelia, with an equally large stick up her ass. I snort at the image. Be fun to fuck her with it though.