Chapter Six #2
I watched the interaction with a curl of my lip as August preened under the other boy’s attention. “Yeah! Yeah, I mean, you could say that.”
I went to close my door before Wolf slipped past with an arrogant smile, boxing us all in. I turned to August with a scowl. “We didn’t plan anything. You were leaving… Both of you.”
I sent, with the last drops of energy left in me, the meanest glare I could muster, but August, ever the suicidal, only shrugged with another one of his grins. “Oh, come on. It’ll be fun. You’re new… We could show you the ropes around here.”
I scoffed. “Looks like you yourself don’t have a handle on the ropes around here.”
He rolled his eyes, not the least bit offended, as if my words were water sliding off a raincoat. “Fine. Wolf will show you–or rather tell you the ropes around here, and I’ll… hang around.”
Wolf, who was too busy looking around, chuckled and shook his head. “For someone so academically brilliant, you don’t always make sense, Myro.”
I turned my narrowed eyes to him before giving thought to August’s proposal.
They’ve both been in Castle Hill long enough to know something. I needed information, and August, stupidly, was in need of company.
For the small price of my patience, I would be willing to have my curiosities sated.
“No, now get out.”
August threw his head back with a groan and stared at the ceiling, as Wolf made his way over to my nightstand and picked up the lighter, I’d forgotten to put away.
With a tilt of his lip and a wave of his hand, he pointed with the lighter to my lower half. I looked down and found the packet of cigarettes protruding from the pocket of my pants.
He tilted his head towards August, who’d still had his head thrown back and was sighing like a southern belle who’d been refused a visit to the seamstress.
With a final glare sent his way, I swallowed my satisfaction. “Fine. Fine, you can stay and… do whatever it is you planned on doing.”
At my words, August threw his head forward, a grin growing across his lips. “Really?”
“I said fine, didn’t I?” I spoke harshly and stomped forward to pluck the lighter out of Wolf’s bony fingers. The latter smiled like the cat that got the cream.
I didn’t protest when August threw off his jacket and shoes before bouncing onto my bed like he owned the place, getting as comfortable as possible on a bed fit for one.
I only sent him a look to stay away as I went to join him with my back against the wall, leaving much space between us.
Wolf chose the quilted leather chair tucked under my desk, turning it around and plopping down before he groaned softly like he’d just completed a full day’s work. Though I doubt someone like him would ever know what that feels like. “This should be fun.”
We both turned to August, but only I glared before hissing out, “Well?”
Unlike August, I wasn’t a complete idiot.
I could sacrifice Wolf’s knowledge of my cigarettes as a means to get what I want. Let him believe that my compliance came from his slight blackmail. However, it’d be unfortunate if he knew I had no intention of throwing him and August out.
And I wasn’t an amateur to jump at the offer the moment August proposed it.
“What?” August looked between us like he hadn’t the slightest clue this was all his doing.
“This charade was your idea. Now what? Do you even think three seconds into the future before doing something?”
August didn’t seem to mind my rude language as he shrugged. “I–well… What do you want to know about Castle Hill?”
Like I said, an idiot.
I shook my head in exasperation and pulled out another cigarette before lighting it, careless of the attention I was garnering.
Wolf had his own secrets to keep, and August…
I’ll deal with him if he tries to say a word.
I could feel the pair watching me as I drew in the first breath before blowing it out, lifting a knee to rest my arm on. “Do you enjoy getting bullied?”
That seemed to hurt him, and I wasn’t mindful enough to say I felt bad to watch the sadness swim in his eyes. It made me almost want to smile.
“Don’t listen to him, August. People like Callum Queen are only intimidated by you.”
I pointed the lit cigarette at Wolf but spoke to August, “He is not your friend–or… I doubt he even thinks of himself as such.”
Wolf turned to me with his eyebrows set. “You’re quite rude.”
I took another drag before letting out the smoke in a deep sigh. “Fine. Let me rephrase. Why does Callum Queen find himself in the liberty of picking on others?”
The silence was heavy, and August took to wringing his fingers, lost in thought as it took a moment for him to speak, “Well… Callum’s father… He’s on the board, so he walks around like he owns the place.”
I’ve never met a Queen before.
“Hmm. I’ve heard a lot about this board. What’s so great about it anyway?”
The words came out carelessly, like I only spoke to fill the silence. It had the desired effect, I suppose.
The way in which Wolf spoke, jumping at the first opportunity to speak with contempt, reminded me of Ajax when he spoke of Fenlon Hall, “It’s stupid, really. Just a big ploy to have us all under their thumbs.”
August scoffed, but it sounded sarcastic.
I turned and found him, under the glow of the dim room light, gesturing at my cigarette pack.
I only raised my brows for a moment before relenting and handed him the lighter along with a single cigarette.
He watched my outstretched hand before scowling, again sarcastically.
“Cheapskate. Well anyways. It’s easy for Wolf to criticize the board so openly; his family’s on it. We regular folk can’t speak a–”
I turned to Wolf with a scrutinizing look. “Your dad’s dead.”
The boy in question reared back. “Thanks for the words of kindness. Except, I’m not the oldest.”
I shrugged, undeterred. “You wouldn’t want my words of kindness anyway.” The words of Callum Queen, only a day ago, came back to me, the meaning no longer lost on me. “Callum said you returned a king. What does that mean, then?”
August went to take a drag of his cigarette, but Wolf stood up and plucked it from his hands before sitting back down. “What–Hey, get your own.”
I huffed out a breath. “He’ll return it when he turns into a coughing fit, don’t you worry.”
Wolf rolled his eyes before taking a drag, exhaling the smoke without so much as a hitched breath.
I pursed out my bottom lip in mock surprise.
Color me impressed.
“Callum assumes what he wants, and I’m not in the business of handing others complimentary access into my private affairs.”
At least he wasn’t as dim-witted as the idiot to my side. I curled my lips and sent August a sideway glance.
The boy in question did a double take at the heat of my stare. “What? What did I do?”
When I didn’t answer him, he continued to pester me, but I spoke over him, “So who else is on this board? Or should I say, are your sister-wives? Considering you rich people are always up to creepy arrangements.” I narrowed my eyes suspiciously.
Wolf glared, but August barked out a laugh. “He’s not wrong.”
The former handed August his cigarette back. “It’s not really a big secret. There’s the Queen family, the Kingleys of course, the Jetts–”
I leaned forward. “Jetts… As in Rain Atlas Jett?”
August whistled. “I see you’ve met your new puppet master. I must say, she works fast.”
“What’s her deal, anyway?”
Wolf was oddly silent, suddenly finding interest in the smoke dancing up to the ceiling.
It was August who filled me in, “Her grandmother is on the board. A crazy bat, that one–not the grandmother, I’ve never met her.
” He shook his head quickly before pausing.
“Er… I also don’t insult any old folk, on principle. ”
I leaned over and tapped the ash against the edge of the soap tray before sitting back against the wall, this time placing my pillow behind me for comfort. This was going to be a long night. “I’m sure. So, the board is only made up of three families? That doesn’t seem fair.”
Wolf came back to life at that. “Well, if you’d let me finish, you’d know it’s made up of eight, actually. There’s also the Fenlons, but I think after what happened, they might be looking to take a step back.”
I perked up. “What happened?”
August shoved my shoulder with the weight of the news he was willing to share.
“Oh, it was a tragedy. Well, I never liked Malakai Young, just imagine Callum Queen except worse, but it was truly heartbreaking to watch his mother crumble under the weight of the news of her only son committing suicide.”
Why does he speak like a novelist?
“So, he was a Fenlon on his mother’s side, I’m assuming.”
Wolf hummed in confirmation.
So, did Ajax find suicidal people weak? Is that why he hates the building so much?
Does he hate the sight of weak people, or does he hate Malakai for being weak?
Perhaps they were friends?
Perhaps they were enemies.
But I was getting ahead of myself. Maybe Ajax simply found the building to be an eyesore.
I rather liked it. It was rustic yet stood proud in its historic glory.
Wolf continued like the news wasn’t at all tragic, yet again, I didn’t find it so either.
I never knew the Fenlons or their son, but Wolf seemed to have known the boy, and so did August; neither of them held any love for either.
“There’s… the Jetts, the Fenlons… Ah, yes, there’s also the Vales.
The youngest niece of the old patriarch graduated a few years prior.
Nice woman, she was. The Osei clan, the Saltford-Windors, though their bloodline is rarer and…
complicated. And lastly, the Letums. Dark family.
They closed ranks after their matriarch died five years ago.
Not a single appearance, let alone a word. ”
“What’s the complication with the Saltford-Windsors?”