A Place Called Home
Delores
The only things not destroyed by what was certainly an opening salvo from the Heathers and my ex’s crew of clowns are the things I brought with me in the car. Anything sent ahead or purchased for the school year by my parents is a lost cause. So I load up the cart given to me at the admin building, piling it high with the boxes containing my most important personal shit while Fitz paces at the end of the hall.
He seems agitated because he’s raking his hand through his long locks and his shoulders are tense. Whomever he’s contacting about finding me a temporary space must not be eager to have guests. I don’t want to put anyone out; it will make people hate me even more. However, I have little in the way of options. I wasn’t lying when I said the snippy admin women told me everything was full in a tone that said ‘get fucked’ as politely as possible.
Honestly, I don’t know what I would have done after my tantrum if Fitz hadn’t shown up. This nasty welcome was the ketchup on the shit sandwich that’s been my life since the night I emerged and I’m at my wits’ end. I was so fortunate that Luc gave me the job this summer, so I had an escape from the hell house, but even that didn’ t make the rest of it easy. Lucille and Bruno were in rare form every time I saw them and my cadre of bitchy friends worked hard to make sure I wasn’t safe anywhere preds gather.
That’s why I stayed around the prey from work despite always feeling like I didn’t fit—I didn’t have anywhere else to go.
Being ostracized gave me a few gifts, though. I had more free time than I’ve ever had in my entire life, so I spent every second figuring out who I am and what I’m going to do with my life. Obviously, I’m not marrying Todd and there’s no chance I’m sitting in the seat Lucille wanted me to. That meant for the first time, I could think about what I wanted to do—and it wasn't an English major, so I could run communications for my rich husband on the Council.
I also spent hours pouring over the social media of the Heathers in secret via the VPN Gold so kindly provided me with last year. She didn’t remember to cut off my access and since I created entirely new accounts to watch their exploits, no one was the wiser. Being an excellent student paid off in spades while I gathered copious amounts of intel on every shady thing they were involved in and every boundary they crossed. I’m still not sure if I’m going to attack them outright unless shit like the piss room keeps happening or if I’m holding onto it for the right moment, but if they knew what dirt I’ve compiled, they’d fuck all the way off.
Some people have no sense of self preservation and it’s always their downfall.
“...don’t care if you dislike visitors, you overgrown gnat!”
Fitz’s words make me cringe a little. This place he wants to stash me sounds less and less appealing with every shout. I’ve lived in a house where I wasn’t wanted for most of my life, but I hoped to have a safe space when I got to Apex. Well, as safe as it can be in a pred versus pred academy. If he forces someone to take me in, I’ll have people glaring at me every time I emerge from my room, just like at the mansion. I don’t know if I can handle that when I know I’m going to have to fight my way through everything every day here.
“Fitz…” He doesn’t hear me and I don’t want to interrupt, so I turn away.
Licking my lips, I pull the paper out of my pocket, looking at the names of the people I’m going to teach a fucking lesson. It’s a big ask, even with the data I gathered this summer, and I’m not sure I can do it on my own. Some people, like my parents, will be impossible to deal with until I find a replacement for my hacker friend, Clotilda, from the Growlvinchy shop. She could get a decent amount of rumors and gossip from the dark web, but we could never crack their systems to find real intel on whatever illegal crap makes them buckets of cash.
I stare at the words for a few moments, willing myself to hold on to the strength I found when I wrote this. It will not be a pleasure cruise here and I know that, but I can’t let basic bullying shit like peeing on my furniture make me lose the plot. The Heathers are dead set on making my life miserable because… fuck, I don’t even actually know why.
Maybe because I’m different? Or because I don’t fit into their perfect plastic world anymore?
Their fury was more puzzling than Todd’s from the start. He felt lied to and betrayed—join the club, asshole—but the Heathers had nothing to fear from me once they labeled me prey. In fact, it made their standing higher because it lessened the pools of heirs eventually joining the Council. Why spend all their time dragging me through the mud instead of letting me fade into obscurity?
I don’t have answers to that question except the Heathers have often launched vicious campaigns against people for reasons I didn’t understand. Because of our parents, they grouped us as friends from babies whether or not we liked it. It was fine until we hit middle school and emerging came up. They changed over the summer between elementary and secondary school—so much so that they were unrecognizable, both in physicality and personality.
Lucille told me to stop being a baby when I complained, then offered me similar plastic surgery to fit in better.
Maybe their behavior isn’t really that puzzling. They’ve always had their eyes squarely on getting ahead, marrying rich, and taking over their family businesses to the detriment of anything else. If they think I’m still a threat despite my handicap, they’ll stop at nothing to take me out. People shunning me for my species only makes that easier; I have to be more cautious while I work to take them down.
Fitz walks over, grinning ear to ear as he interrupts my musings. “Come on, Baby Girl. I’ll help you roll this shit to your new nest.”
I blink. It didn’t sound like he was going to be successful, but here he was. “Okay.”
Beggars can’t be choosers, I suppose.
As we approach the looming tower, I look over at him nervously. “Are you sure this place is safe? It looks kind of… not.”
Fitz barks a laugh. “That’s on purpose. The occupants of this overcompensating monstrosity do not want visitors.”
I frown. “What the hell are you bringing me here for, then?”
“The Tower is without a doubt the most secure place on campus. Unless you want to come home with me, Baby Girl?” He bobs his brows and my face flushes bright red.
I am not ready for that.
“Um, no thank you. I wouldn’t want to intrude. I mean, you have your… and uh, your brother.. and…”
This time he practically howls, then leans in to press a kiss to the top of my head. “It’s funny you think either of them would end up regretting me putting you in a room down the hall. You’re so cute I could eat you up.”
His eyes flash with a hint of the tiger I saw the night douchebag Todd tried to attack me, but it’s very clear he doesn’t mean for dinner. Or maybe he does… Desire sparks in my belly and I have to shake my head to clear the haze that forms over my vision. “You wouldn’t be upset by that?”
It’s a fair question. There aren’t many polyamorous families in the Council families anymore.
“Baby Girl, I’m game for anything you are when you’re ready.” His lips curve as he leans in to whisper, “But I’m well aware you’ve only played in the minors, so I’ll let you set the pace.”
That makes me blush harder and I swat his arm. “Stop flirting and help me get my shit inside. Classes start tomorrow and I’ve lost most of the day already. I don’t have a clue what I’m going to do about my goddamned uniforms and books that got ruined. This is a complete clusterfuck.”
“As you wish, Delores.” Fitz rolls the cart and shoulders most of my bags without breaking a sweat as we approach the front door. He pauses at the keypad, putting a finger to his lips and cutting his eyes to it. When I look down, he inputs a short code that he wanted me to see but not say out loud. “Too many pred ears.”
“Got it,” I reply as he pulls open the heavy metal door. The ground floor was open, and they covered most of the furniture in dusty sheets. It seems like no one lives here, which is confusing.
“The Tower has eight floors and I’ve secured the second floor quarters for you, baby girl. You’ll enter the front and use this set of stairs to the right.” He points at the opening right next to us. “ Do not come in the back, go up the back staircase or even go on any floor that is not yours. My friends are grouchy ass loners and even I’m only allowed on the top floor—well, until now.”
I give him a suspicious look. “Again, you are absolutely certain they didn’t say ‘no’? I heard a little of your side of the argument.”
Snorting, he shakes his head. “Despite their dickish need for total mystery surrounding their rooms and their diet, the guys aren’t awful. They were sympathetic to your plight; I just had to make them see it from my point of view.”
“Which is?”
“I’ll make their lives miserable if they tell me no and mean it,” he says with a shrug. “Now let’s get all this stuff upstairs so I can make a list of what you need to survive living in Castle Cockwaffle.”
That makes me giggle, and he looks thrilled.
Maybe this won’t be so bad, after all.