XXXII
Syn
I punch Gemini’s arm. Hard.
“Ow,” he cries, clutching his arm as he glowers at me. “Can’t you take a joke?”
Without dignifying his stupid question with a response, I turn to Royal. “My father is handling it. If you want to spend the night waiting, go ahead. I’m getting a shower and some sleep.”
Royal runs a hand through his hair, turning his attention to Tori. “Everything happened so quickly. Are you okay? Did Preston hurt you?”
As Tori shakes her head, more locks of blue tumble free of the few pins she had holding it back. “I’m fine.”
That’s not entirely true. She keeps rubbing her thigh, and there’s a fresh mark on her temple that looks like it’s going to develop into a bruise.
“We’ll all do better after some sleep,” I say.
“Sounds like a plan.” Gemini agrees.
Before he can take a second step towards my bed, I grab his shoulders and point him to the door. “You and Royal can take the guest room at the end of the hall.”
“What about Vixen? You don’t get to keep her for yourself.”
“I’m not anybody’s to keep,” Tori tells him, firmly.
Gemini pouts, then he looks at Royal and shrugs. “A twosome can be as fun as a foursome.”
Royal slowly walks over to him, swallowing the cap until his chest is pressed against Gemini’s. Slowly, he leans towards his ear. “Gemini…” He stands up, stepping backwards and holds up the roll of duct tape he’s just pulled out of Gemini’s suit jacket pocket. “Try me, and I’ll tape you to the couch.”
“See what I have to put up with?” Gemini asks Tori. As she opens her mouth to respond, he leans in and kisses her, taking full advantage, sliding his tongue in. When he pulls back, Tori’s cheeks are pink. “My room will be at the end of the hall if you want your other lips to ride my tongue.”
He saunters out of the room before I can throw him out.
Royal looks like he wants to do the same thing as Gemini, but for some reason, he hesitates. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning,” he says instead. “Sleep well.” Then he leaves my bedroom, closing the door behind him.
Tori lets out a long sigh, then she reaches down and pulls her shoes off, tossing them gently to the side. As her feet lay flat on the carpet, she lets out a low moan. “That’s better.”
She stands there, in the middle of my room, eyes closed. I’ve had her image burned into my brain for weeks, but for some reason, it’s like I’m seeing her for the first time. She’s still wearing my tuxedo jacket, and even though she’s not much shorter than me, it drowns her. Beneath that, the black and white ballgown is still damp, covered in splotches of dirt, and full of rips and tears.
Her makeup is smeared slightly around her eyes, and her hair is a mess. At some point, she lost one of her earrings, but both the watch and tennis bracelet are still securely attached around her wrist.
Once I’ve made my mind up about someone, no one’s been able to change it.
Except her.
Tori opens her eyes and catches me staring. “What?” she asks, suspicious.
“The Greatsons aren’t staying here tonight. I’ll take the other guest room. There’s no need to keep up the pretense of being engaged anymore.” I start to walk towards the door.
“Wait.”
I turn back.
She frowns. “Do you have a first aid kit?”
“There’s one in the bathroom.”
Is her thigh causing her pain? I hurry into the bathroom and pull open one of the cabinets. It gets used more than I’d like to think about, but because of this, I make sure it’s kept stocked.
When I turn around, Tori’s in the doorway. She bites her lip then goes to the chair. She picks it up and carries it over to me, setting it down beside the sink. “Sit.”
“Me?” I ask in surprise, not moving.
She bites her lip again and then she takes the first aid kit out of my hands and puts it down on the side. Without any hesitation, she turns and pushes me onto the chair.
“What are you doing?” I ask as she grabs my hand.
Carefully holding onto my wrist, she maneuvers my hand in front of my face. The back of my hand is smeared in dried blood. Each one of my knuckles has a cut that’s starting to scab over.
Even though I’ve not noticed until she points it out, suddenly, my hand is throbbing.
“I can deal with this.” I try to pull my hand back, but she doesn’t let go.
“You can, but this time, I am, so shut up.” She glares at me with her stubborn eyes, waiting for me to object.
“Fine.”
Eyeing me suspiciously, she lets go of my hand. If she’s expecting me to walk out, I don’t.
Though I don’t know why I’m not…
Tori turns her attention to the first aid kit, pulling out a few supplies. After arranging everything on the side, she takes my hand again. “Does it hurt?” she asks as she gently dabs at my hand.
“You may not guess this about me, but I like to fight. This isn’t the first time I’ve split my knuckles.” I’m not sure why I’m telling her this.
“He deserved worse.” She doesn’t say anything else. Instead, she keeps diligently cleaning my hand as I bite the inside of my cheek to stop myself from wincing when she touches a tender area.
When my hand is clean, she grabs a roll of gauze and proceeds to wrap it around my knuckles. Once she’s finished securing the fabric in place, she quickly gathers up the bloodied swabs and tosses them in the trash can.
She turns and looks at her reflection and lets out a long sigh. “God, I look a mess.”
I stand but she doesn’t move. “I’m sorry,” I tell her.
Without moving her body, she turns her head to look at me.
“I’m sorry for a lot of things,” I say before she can ask. “I truly believed your brother killed mine, and I took a lot of anger out on you. I’m sorry that the only option I gave you was to endure the Elite initiation alone, and I’m sorry I was harsher with you than any of the others.” My gaze drops to her neck where the makeup she used to cover the line is starting to fade in places. “I’m sorry, Tori.”
Tori stares at me for the longest time before she eventually nods her head. “Thank you.”
The next breath I take seems easier somehow.
Straightening my back, I cast my eyes over her until my gaze falls where her thigh should be, hidden beneath the dress. “What about you? Are you okay? I thought I saw you favoring one of your legs. Is the other injured?”
Tori’s weary eyes look at me through the mirror. “I’ll be fine.”
That’s not a no.
“Tori…”
There’s a small squeak as Tori’s grip on the marble counter tightens, and her fingers slide across the smooth surface. “All I need is to take a shower, Syn. I’m fine.”
“Fine,” I snap. If she wants to be awkward about it, so be it. I leave her in the bathroom and walk out of my bedroom, closing the door behind me.
Of all the residences my family owns, this one is probably the closest to being our family home. Attending school in Manhattan, it made sense that JP and I spent most of our time here, but since JP died, I’ve only been here when absolutely necessary.
Aside from the background thrum of the heat, the house is silent. I walk down the hallway to the opposite side of the apartment where the two guest bedrooms are. I doubt Royal and Gemini are asleep yet, but I’m not in the mood for their company. Royal will just question what my father’s doing, and Gemini…
Gemini—and Royal—are my best friends. We grew up together, and I do trust them with my life. Gemini has always been… off… My mother thinks he’s a mental deviant. Considering she doesn’t know a single percent of the things Gemini does, she’s not entirely wrong.
He’s too smart for his own good and gets bored easily. Blurting out the first thing he thinks is done as much to get a reaction as it is because he’s not willing to learn social cues. Very few people know how to handle him, which helps, with who we are.
When he remembers to take them, his meds calm him. They seem to put a filter over his mouth. As spacey as he can get, when it comes to it, he will know what he needs to do, and he’ll get it done.
Right now, he’s going to be doing a hopscotch back and forth over a line, seeing how far he can push Royal.
It’s a distraction.
He’s trying to distract himself as much as he is Royal. And he’ll do the same with me.
It’s the last thing I want right now.
I enter the other guest bedroom. What’s left of my tuxedo gets thrown over a chair, and then I head into the bathroom. Mother ensures there are supplies in here for every guest, and like the place has been turned down by a hotel maid service, miniature toiletries and fresh towels are already there.
Inside the shower, I reach to turn on the water, but my hand hovers over the lever as I stare at the stark white bandage. Given the chance, I would have beaten Preston until my hand was nothing but bone.
Royal and Gemini pulled me off him too soon.
The blood Tori cleaned away was mostly his. While my knuckles were cut, they didn’t need the dressing.
But I do my best not to soak the bandages anyway as I shower.
Once I’m finished, I wrap myself in a towel and investigate the closet. Like with the bathroom, my mother ensures a portion of the closet contains some essentials should a guest need them. I’m not sure why she bothers because who the hell stays somewhere without bringing their belongings with them?
Except tonight, both Royal and Gemini’s stay was unplanned. And all of my things are in my room.
Too tired to care, I pull on a pair of pajamas and then get into bed.
Only, I can’t sleep.
Before I know what I’m doing, I’m walking back down the hallway.
There are six bedrooms on this floor; three on either side. Unless we have guests, my parents sleep in rooms on opposite sides of the apartment. It’s been like that for as long as I can remember.
My mother had the interior designers in six months later, and what little I remember from when I used to play in these hallways with JP has completely disappeared. It’s all changed again since I’ve been in college, including my own room.
Warm air is blowing out of the vents, but there’s a chill that’s settled over me. Instead of heading to the guest room, my feet seem to take me to the room I visited last night: JP’s bedroom.
After walking into my room, I’d been so distracted that I didn’t recognize anything. The custom-built vivarium for Basil was removed and replaced with a TV unit. While I was in China over the summer, I had him moved to my room at JKU where Moran had looked after him.
Later, it occurred to me that if my mother could wipe the existence of my pet away, then what had she done to JP’s room? Last night, I went to his room to make sure she hadn’t destroyed everything in there too. Now, I’m back in here again.
Everything is the same. And yet, it isn’t.
The walls were still JP’s favorite color, but the red is deep, like every wall has been coated with a fresh layer of paint. The bedding held no wrinkles until I laid on it last night. After all this time, I know it’s impossible for the fabric to smell of him, but there wasn’t a hint of him.
When I thought I was losing my mind, I started seeking out all the damages JP and I caused when we were young. The curtains no longer had a small burn from when JP stole one of Father’s cigars one Christmas Eve when I was eleven, yet the curtains hanging from the pole were identical to the ones that had always been there.
The inside of the closet door didn’t have the lines drawn up the side from where seven-year-old me tried to convince JP I was catching up with him in height. He laughed before spending the next two years marking our heights before I sulked and stopped. My growth spurt had hit the year after, and we stayed the same height. As far as I know, me and JP were the only ones who knew about this, but now, that story has been painted over.
Around the room, the collection of memories I’ve had with JP have all been erased. And yet, his photographs are still on the wall, his trophies and accomplishments on the shelves, and all his clothes still hang in the walk-in closet.
I walk over to his desk, but as I pass his bookshelf, the digital photograph cycles onto the next picture.
It’s a picture of JP and Preston, both in their hunting gear. Between them is a large, dead boar.
Grabbing the frame removes the picture as I kill the power to the device, but it doesn’t stop my rage. With a roar, I hurl the frame as hard as I can across the room. It shatters as it hits the wall, but the destruction doesn’t make me feel any better.
But I know what might…
I turn on my heel and hurry out of JP’s room, crossing the hall to my own door. Without any hesitation, I walk straight in.