He gives me a dark look which I return, but then Heather’s skipping down the stairs with Alyssa Hart just behind her.
“Bernie, guess what?” Heather says, pausing as Hael and Callum come back up the basement stairs, cackling together and hugging over a dozen bottles of wine in their arms. She rolls her eyes and ignores them, reminding me that even if it feels like I’m her mother, we are less than a decade apart in age. “Alyssa says she’s a really good swimmer. She says her mom tries really hard to make sure there’s a pool at the motels they stay in.” She pauses, even as the bone-deep sadness of that statement washes over me. “So … can we go swimming?”
I reach out to touch the side of Heather’s face and she bats my hand away like I’m annoying the fuck out of her.
“I don’t see why not?” I say with a loose shrug of my shoulders. “Go dig through all the drawers upstairs, see if you can’t find something for Alyssa to wear in the pool.” I lean down with a smile on my face, hands on my thighs. “Don’t worry about making a mess: we’re on vacation.”
“Where did Alyssa come from again?” Heather whispers, leaning close to me and giving me a very skeptical sort of look, like she can’t possibly fathom why I’d ask her to ruin a house she thinks is an Airbnb rental.
“Oscar’s cousin,” I say loudly, when he finally deigns to step inside the house. The energy shifts in a very strange and violent sort of way. Can’t wait to have it out with that bastard sometime soon. We’re already overdue for a scuffle. I look up at Alyssa and smile. “I know you’ve never met him, but don’t worry: as soon as we find your mom, you can go home.” I stand up straight as Heather eyes me with suspicion. I fucking hate lying to her, but this is one of those situations that will go south quick if I don’t give my little sister some sort of answer. Imagine if she went to school and told everyone we just found some random kid at an Airbnb.
“You better not yell at me for making a mess when you told me to do it,” Heather murmurs, but then her mouth splits into a grin and she grabs Alyssa’s arm. The two of them take off up the stairs together. Thankfully, the Vincents’ bedroom is locked, so they won’t stumble on anything they shouldn’t.
“Red or white?” Hael purrs, holding two wine bottles up by their necks. I point at one at random and he sets both down on the counter, taking the cork out of the one I selected. He hands it over and I take a long swig, tasting blackberry, plum, and currant on the back of my tongue. The red color of it stains my lips like blood, and I swipe the black sleeve of Aaron’s hoodie across my mouth to clean it. “Good?” Hael asks, grinning like a maniac. “That’s a hundred and twenty dollars of overpriced. Give me a bottle of Everclear any day and let’s just get fucked up for twenty.”
I stare down at the bottle while Callum hops onto the counter and crouches like a monster in the night. He’s swigging some white wine, his hood up, lips curved into a mischievous smile. When I look up at him, his blue eyes crinkle at the edges, bringing that mirth up from his mouth and into his gaze.
“You know what I want, Victor. It’s what I’ve always wanted: Bernadette.”
I mean, I knew how he felt. It was obvious, even if Callum Park is subtle and sometimes strange. I take another gulp of my wine.
“Come on, teetotaler,” Hael urges, shaking another full bottle of wine at Oscar. “You never smoke and drink with us. It’s annoying as shit. Have some fun for once. We’re on a honeymoon here and even if Vic is the only asshole in this room getting pussy, we can still party.”
Oscar ignores him, but at least he isn’t gazing at his iPad with undying love. He’s just sitting there in his perfect suit, legs crossed, hands wrapped around his knee. He tilts his head just enough to look at Hael.
“Why don’t you party, since that’s what you’re good at? I’ll sit here with a clear head and make sure you don’t fuck something as dangerous as Brittany Burr.” Oscar’s jab cuts right through the heart, but