Chapter 29 – Reese #2
Val’s face was getting redder and redder, and the sounds he was making were freaking me the fuck out. He pointed a shaking hand toward the corner of the room, by the stage—
I raced to his bag and ran it over to Dakota, who dug through it until he found the EpiPen. He pulled it out of the tube, flipped something open, then pressed the orange tip to Val’s thigh. He held it there, murmuring, “It’s okay, you’re gonna be okay.”
Albert was pacing back and forth behind Val, talking with someone on the phone, glancing at Val every few seconds.
He actually looked concerned now, which I thought was probably a monumental show of feeling for someone like him.
I’d only ever seen him look authoritative, menacing, and entirely in control.
Dakota pulled the pen away and rubbed the spot he’d just injected, his eyes moving over Val’s face, which had started to relax, the redness dissipating.
His breathing became less shallow as the epinephrine worked its way through his body, and he squeezed his eyes shut as a tear spilled down the side of his face.
I glanced over at Evelyn, who was watching the situation with scrunched brows, like she was confused, and Everett, who was—
Scrolling on his fucking phone and looking entirely bored with it all.
What a fucking piece of shit.
“Dr. Burns will be here in fifteen minutes,” Albert said, sliding his phone into his pocket. “Are you alright, Valentine?”
Val nodded, looking completely sapped of energy and like even doing that took the last of his strength.
Albert leaned over Val and pressed a kiss to his head. “Good.” His dark eyes flashed to the food on the table, and he said, “I’m going to have a word with Nell.”
I was guessing that was the person in charge of the food.
Albert strode toward a door on the right, shoving it open almost aggressively.
I felt sorry for whoever would be on the receiving end of his vitriol.
Or maybe I didn’t, considering what Val had just gone through.
Shouldn’t the family’s chef know to be careful with their ingredients if one of the members had an allergy like that?
I glanced at Everett again. He was still looking at his phone, but there was a tiny smile on his face.
Smug. He looked fucking smug right now, and why? Because he enjoyed seeing others suffer?
“Come on. I’ll take you to your room so you can lie down,” Dakota said, urging Val to his feet.
“Yeah,” he said breathlessly, holding Dakota’s arms while he stood on shaky legs.
“Do you want me to come? Or…” I had no clue what to do here.
Dakota turned his tired eyes to mine and said, “No, it’s okay, stay here.
He just needs to rest for a bit. I’ll be right back.
” He was so distraught over what had just happened, he couldn’t even smile at me.
He tried, and fuck, I wished I wasn’t so useless right now, that I could actually do something for him.
All I could do was sit there and say, “Okay.”
I watched him slowly walk Val from the room, an uncomfortable itch of anxiety swarming beneath my skin. I tugged at the hem of my sweater, staring at the door they’d gone through. Some people stared and whispered, but most people were too absorbed in their own little bubbles to notice.
When I finally dragged my eyes from the door and turned my attention back to the remaining two family members, that distressing buzz of unease only intensified.
Everett was still on his phone, looking at god knew what, and Evelyn was—
Evelyn was watching me.
Her light brown eyes shone in the light, pupils very obviously dilated.
How different would things have been had her son not died? How different would all their lives have been if their family was whole and not this broken mess it had become?
They never would’ve adopted Dakota, though. He wouldn’t be here now, I never would’ve met him…
I smiled at her, and when she smiled back, my heart started to race.
I wondered how someone who looked halfway decent could have spawned someone as horrible as Everett.
I felt bad for her. And then I felt bad for feeling bad for her, as if pitying her was an unkindness.
She made me think of my dad and how the grief of losing a wife and daughter had changed him. How one person’s sorrow could have such a horrible, long-lasting impact on so many other lives.
It was no wonder Dakota hated being around his family. There was this overwhelming disconnectedness between all of them that was heavy and uncomfortable and felt impossible to fix.
I wanted to go after Dakota, to be with him and Val, to make sure Val was okay, but he’d told me to stay here.
Still, I needed a break, no matter how small.
“Um, where’s the restroom?” I set my napkin on the table and glanced at Evelyn, then Everett.
Evelyn said nothing, and her son gave me a strange look, then smiled and pointed toward a hall to the left. I really hated his smile. “Down that corridor, then turn right. It’s the first door on the left.”
“Thanks,” I said, this pit of unease in my stomach deepening. That had been almost too easy.
I got up and followed his directions, hoping it wouldn’t actually lead me to a snake pit or something. Knowing him, I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.
I walked slowly since I doubted Dakota would be back anytime soon.
The floors were a polished hardwood that gleamed in the light, and every window I passed had these ridiculously heavy drapes with tasseled ropes tied around the middle.
Ornate vases and glassware sat atop side tables and hutches placed at seemingly deliberate intervals, and I had the strongest urge to pick up one of those ugly vases and hurl it at the wall.
To destroy all these fake niceties that meant absolutely nothing.
This whole entire week I was feeling all out of sorts. This awful, impending sense of doom had settled across my shoulders and seeped into my lungs like a toxic cloud, making it hard to breathe.
I was trying to act like everything was fine, but I thought maybe I wasn’t fooling Dakota very well. He always seemed to see right through my lies.
Had he seen through the biggest one of all? Wouldn’t he have said something if he had? He wasn’t the type to let things go without a word. He had no qualms about pointing out the most uncomfortable details he picked up, so if he knew about my spying, he’d have said something.
Right?
I rounded the corner, pulled the first door on the left open and stepped inside.
The door slammed shut behind me, and it took me a long moment to realize I was just standing here in the dark. So lost in my own head I was barely aware of my surroundings.
“Shit,” I whispered, reaching my hands out to feel for the wall so I could find the light switch. My foot banged into something on the ground, and it made a tinny noise that echoed loudly.
Way too loudly for this to be just a small bathroom.
I held my hands in front of me, trying to feel for the wall, and when I finally found it, I slid my hands all around for a switch.
When I didn’t find a switch, I turned back to the door I’d come through, guided by the sliver of light at the bottom. I grabbed the handle, but it didn’t turn.
Everett.
That fucking asshole.
I banged on the door. “Hey! Is anybody there?”
I was about to pull my phone out to use the flashlight when the lights suddenly came on, illuminating the big open space around me. I blinked against the brightness and let my eyes adjust, and when they did, my brows scrunched together in confusion.
“What the fuck…?”
Everett was leaning against the wall across from me. “Never took you for the gullible type.”
What? How long had he been standing there?
“What the fuck, Everett?” I snapped, walking toward him. “Shouldn’t you be checking on your brother instead of playing games with me? What the fuck is wrong with you?”
He pushed off the wall, his smile growing wider. It was unsettling and made my skin crawl.
“Seriously, fuck you,” I muttered. When I took a step to leave—there was another door at the far end of the room—he moved in front of me and blocked the way.
“That was exceptionally rude. And my brother will be fine, he’s always been one for dramatics. Loves the attention, I think.”
Was he joking? No, he really was this much of an asshole.
“Just like Dakota in that regard. Such an attention whore.”
Something in me snapped, like I’d been walking a frayed tightrope for too long. I took a step forward and balled my hands into fists, denying myself this intense urge to claw that smug smirk off his face.
“You know what’s rude? Disfiguring your brother and then telling everyone he did it to himself.
Or locking him up in a crawlspace for two days while he screamed himself raw and practically died.
How’s that for rude? Actually, I’d call that fucked up, twisted, demented, psychotic, and just plain evil. ”
Everett’s brows flew up, and his eyes sparkled with an unhinged, disgusting delight.
“Oh, I see Dakota’s been hard at work. And you believe his lies?
” He tsked and frowned in a deeply exaggerated manner, sticking his bottom lip out in a faux pout.
“I’m sorry to be the one to break it to you, but he’s not quite right in the head.
You know he spent some time in the nuthouse, right?
He loves to blame me for his issues, sadly, but I’m just a victim here.
It seems you’re another victim. Why don’t we commiserate, hm? ”
“I think the only one who’s not quite right in the head is you.” And because I wanted to shut this prick up once and for all, I dug my phone out of my pocket and pulled up Jared’s recording. “And sorry for you, because I’ve got something that contradicts all the lies you’ve spread.”
His smiled wavered as he glanced at my phone. “I highly doubt—”
I hit play, and Jared’s voice filled the room.
“Look, Everett forced me to say Dakota did that because otherwise he’d tell everyone that I was sleeping with one of the professors.”