“She’s tried everything else. She has nothing to lose at this point.”
“She’ll be okay,” Preston promised. “If this has to stop with one of their deaths, it’ll be his.”
A shiver went up my spine. It was a dark, unforgiving thing to say. A comment of a man who looked his cousin’s murder in the face and had been willing to let it happen.
This was what existed behind Preston’s beauty and charm.
Perhaps it should’ve scared me. If I was any other person, it would have.
But I knew a real monster.
The twisted depths of Mal’s soul didn’t allow him to give mercy to tears. Trade his choices for his family. Or reveal his true self to a random girl in a garden.
Preston was tough, mischievous, wounded, dark, kind, forgiving, and protective. The swirl of light and dark in all of us on display for me to weigh and judge.
I carded my fingers through his hair, eyes falling shut.
I made my final judgment. For this last summer, the only thing Preston Du Pont-Desai needed to be was mine.
NATHAN
“It’s a good day,” Abraham said. “The appointment went well and she asked for you as we got out of the car.”
“Is that Bug?” I heard her ask.
“Yes, Mrs. Prince.”
Shuffling on the other end and then Mom came on the phone. “Nathan, where are you?”
“Dodging jellyfish on the beach of Citrine Cove,” I replied. “How are you, Mom?”
“You know me, Bug. Nothing can get me down.”
She does sound good today.
“How are you?” she asked. “Have you met a nice girl?”
“Met loads of nice girls. And it sucks how much I like them.”
“Sucks? Why?”
“Because they’re so nice, they shouldn’t be saddled with me.”
“Nathan,” she scolded. “Don’t be ridiculous. Anyone would be lucky to call you husband.”
A husband who doesn’t love them and is using them for their money. Most wouldn’t call that lucky.
“I sent you something,” I said, changing the subject. “Margaret said she put it on your bed. Did you open it?”
“Hmm. Let’s see.”
More shuffling and the sound of tape.
“Oh, Nathan,” she said. “This is great. Vanilla orange soap, orange sugar scrub, honey orange body wash, and vanilla orange candles.”
“This place is lousy with orange stuff. I thought—”
“What’s going on in here?”
The bellow invaded my ear.
“What are you doing in my daughter’s room, Abraham? How dare you!”
I heard faint apologies and explanations on the other end.
“Father, calm down,” Mom said tiredly. It was eerie the draining effect he had on her. Seconds in his presence and the life, cheer, and color leeched from my mother like a painting drenched in turpentine. “Abraham kindly let me use his... his...” She trailed off, losing the word.
“Who are you speaking to?” His voice was closer. “Hello?”
“Colonel.”
“Nathaniel.”
We both spat the names out like they were poison on our tongues.
“I see,” he said. “You’ve roped the driver into sneaking you phone calls. I hope it was worth his job.”
My eyes flared. “You can’t be serious. You’d fire a man that worked for you for ten years because Mom asked him to call me? What the hell is wrong with you?”
“Watch your language!” he roared. “What my daughter asks for is irrelevant. Yesterday she asked for a spaceship. I told you you’re not to speak to her outside of the designated times when I’m available to observe the phone calls. Speaking to you causes her unnecessary upset. Imagine being told you have a son that you can’t remember? All the progress she’s made won’t be undone by your selfishness.”
My grip tightened fit to break the phone. “She may not remember me, but I am her son. You can’t stop me speaking to her.”
“As always, Nathaniel, you’re wrong.”
“Colonel—”
“I’m afraid Abraham needs his phone to begin his search for a new job. Think about this the next time you con an employee of mine into disobeying the rules. Goodbye.”
“Don’t—!”
He hung up.
“Arrghh!” I flung the phone into the sea. The piercing glare off the waves blinded me. The splash let me know it found its new home.
“Yo, Nathan.”
The guys on the beach stared at me. I wasn’t alone. I rarely was these days.
“You okay?” Pedro asked.
“Fine.”
He glanced out over the waves. “What about your phone?”
“I’m rich, Arroyo,” I replied, stalking past him. “I’ll buy another one.”
I stormed upstairs to wash off the sand and change for special projects.
It wasn’t the best day to sit me down and drone in my ear about excess and long-term thinking. But skipping out on activities might get me the boot. I had to be here.