The Arrangement Anthology (81 page)

My body tenses as Mel speaks. I’m afraid for her even though I know she survived. After Sean and I left the room, things spun out of control. Mel ordered her dinner and when there was a knock on the door half an hour later, she thought nothing of it. Mel yanked the door open without looking, and there stood a woman with her complexion and caramel eyes.

Mel explains, “She looked like a fucking twin. It was creepy. The chick was about the same height and weight, and—get this—wearing the same dress.”

“That’s weird.” My face scrunches up because I don’t like where this is going.

“No shit. So I’m like,
‘What do you want?’ She laughs and manages to get into the room, but I don’t let her in very far. It was like she was looking for something.” Mel shakes her head and bites her lower lip, thinking before adding, “So, she can’t get past me. The woman thinks there are other people in the room. I left the TV on in the bathroom and the tub was filling. I planned on vegging and watching TV, eating dinner while I soaked. Anyways, the girl steps up to me and smiles this creepy, toothy grin and I feel a barrel press into my belly. The bitch had a gun. She’s not two steps inside the room and she pulls a fucking gun on me. After that, things get blurry.”

“Mel,” Sean scolds.

“I’m telling the truth, white boy.” Mel huffs and deep frown lines cross her face. “Avery, everything happened so fast. I went from having the gun in my guts, to ripping her hair out and rolling around on the floor. The bitch pulled my bracelet off, so I crushed the stone thinking Black would send her ninjas, but they never showed. So, I realize I’m on my own and use my knife on the bitch. She had me pinned.”

“You had a knife on you?” I sound stupid for asking, but where the hell was it?

Mel nods once. The normal smile that’s on her lips is gone and her head hangs between her shoulders as she buries her face in her hands. “I always have it strapped to my thigh. When I’m doing it, I hide the blade, but it’s still in reach—under the pillow or shoved into the side of the mattress. I take care of me. I always have.” Mel glances up and doesn’t blink. Her eyes are cold and hard, like she’s emotionally shut down in order to tell me the rest of the story. “Before the bitch knows what happened, I stabbed her in the side. She starts muttering about something that makes no sense, after cursing me out.”

“What’d
she say?” Sean asks. “What were her exact words?”

“Her voice isn’t panicked, it’s creepy, smooth as glass
, and she says, ‘You have no idea what you’ve done, you little cunt. Everything was perfect, and now they’ll all…’ Her words get garbled and I can’t understand her. Her face contorts in pain and she starts screaming. That’s a horrible way to die, and with the amount of blood pouring from her like that, she was as good as dead. She started begging me, so I ended it. Then I grabbed my stuff and ran. They must have found the body when they brought in the food.”

I can’t breathe for a few seconds and Mel won’t look at me. Sean is watching the side of my face, waiting for my reaction. A few things stick and
I blurt them out. “Someone was trying to frame you for something else—otherwise why would that woman be dressed like you?”

“And?” Sean prompts, watching me closely.

“The bracelet didn’t work. Either someone tampered with it or it never worked to begin with. Black says she checks them every time we check in, so that shouldn’t be it.” I glance over at Mel. “What do you think?”

When Mel glances up
at me, I want to throw my arms around her and tell her that everything will be all right, but I know it won’t be. “I think we’re fucked. Someone was using me to get to you and they’re doing it through Black. The problem now is that none of this will lead back to her.”

“But the transmitter?” I
ask, still not getting what they’re trying to tell me.

Mel’s brow is pinched with worry when she looks over at me. Her hand grab
s at the hair on the sides of her temples and I hear the distress in her voice. “Avery, there was no fucking transmitter. When the cops look at the bracelet, they’ll think it was junk jewelry. It won’t lead back to Black, it’ll lead to me.”

Sean isn’t tense for once. Sometime while Mel was talking, his shoulders relaxed and he’s sitting back in his chair like it’s a throne. His lips are straight, there’s no curve to the corners of his mouth. He stares straight ahead, lost in thought.

I’m still
piecing things together and don’t like the way the puzzle is forming. If someone was impersonating Mel, then what was she there for? It feels like Mel left pieces of the story out, but for the life of me, I can’t imagine what they could be. I find myself staring at the side of her face.

Mel is leaning back in her chair with her neck resting, looking up at the ceiling. “What?” she finally snaps.

“Tell her,” Sean suddenly says, and glances over at me. “I already told you that I’ll tell her if you don’t.” Mel doesn’t move. Instead she stiffens and seals her lips. “Avery—”

Mel darts upright. “I’ll tell her! You don’t say a word.” Pain is painted all over Mel’s face. “Someone’s been screwing with you, right? Asia told me that you had her in your room one night—that something spooked you.” My jaw drops. I’m about to deny it
, but both of them give me a look that shuts me up. “Tonight, before everything went to hell, I got a text with a video attached. It was you. He said to come get it or he’d post it online. Avery, I was supposed to leave the room and you guys were supposed to be there. I didn’t leave because I thought he was messing with me at first, and then I said I was coming but the food was supposed to be there. I figured he’d wait, so I didn’t leave—I just told him I was on my way.”

I blink at her. “Wait a second, someone told you they had a sex video of me and that they’d post it if you didn’t come down, but you didn’t go because you wanted dinner first?” I give her a shocked look and don’t know whether I should yell
and scream or hug her.

Sean glances at me. “There’s another player
, and you’re his target.”

I can’t process what they’re trying to tell me. I laugh and shake my head, like they’re both nuts. “You think someone is trying to kill me?” What a stupid idea. I laugh too much and too hard, but when I look up
, Mel and Sean are watching me. Neither of them thinks it’s funny—they both believe someone is trying to hurt me.

I roll my eyes, refusing to believe it. “The guy was in my room when I was alone. Why didn’t he do it then? And what would he have to gain? I have nothing and I’m
a nobody. I have no family and no one loves me, except you.”

Sean watches me with those dark eyes and terror drips into my stomach like acid.
It’s because of him. Someone is trying to hurt me to get at Sean. Oh God. My jaw drops open and quivers.

Before I can say anything else, he scoops me up in his arms and holds me to his chest
, crushing me with his strong arms. “I won’t let them touch you.”

I sit with Mel while Sean tries to talk to his brother one last time. It doesn’t go well. I can hear them yelling from where I sit. Trystan is back, looking like a spring daisy.

He arches an eyebrow at me. “What?”

“Are you nocturnal, or one of those weird people that thrives on two hours of sleep?” I’m slumped back in my chair with a nauseous headache, propping up my face with my hand. Otherwise I’d be lying on the floor, since it started to look comfy a few hours ago. Trystan looks uncomfortable and absentmindedly touches the ring under his shirt. I get it. “Ah, you’re neither, which means you’re mental too. Welcome to the club.”

He chortles and presses his fingers to his temples and seems to relax again. No one speaks and I keep wondering the same question. I know I should
n’t ask it, but I do anyway. “Mel?”

“Yeah?” she says from the floor. Her arm is over her face and she’s
lying flat on her back.

“What’d it feel like?
” She pulls her arm off her eyes and sits up a little.

“You don’t want to know that for real, do
you?”

I’m stupid. I nod. The thing is, if I had to defend myself, I wonder if I could. I’m squeamish around blood, so how could I inflict enough damage to keep someone from killing me? I wonder if it’s like some other part of the brain takes over and that’s that.

Mel sits up and puts her arms around her knees. “I knew what I was doing, if that’s what you mean. The moment I saw her, I knew something was wrong—like way the fuck wrong. When someone threatens you with a knife, gun, or whatever—there’s no time to second guess anything. It’s you or them, and I’m not dying.”

Trystan’s eyes flick between us as we speak, but he says nothing. I wonder what horrors he’s seen because he doesn’t react to anything we say. He just sits there, listening, like he knows what Mel’s talking about.

“But how can you do it? I don’t think I could.”

That’s when Trystan speaks up. “There’s something inside of you that will wake up if you need it. I hope to God that you never do, but don’t doubt
that it’s there. Like Mel said, your body will want to act—to protect you. Don’t think. Just do it, and you’ll live another day.”

Mel and I stare at him. There’
s a second where his words are frightening, but then I feel nothing but empathy for him. He must have learned that from living with his father. The guy beat the shit out of him when he was a kid. It was in the papers and all anyone talked about for a while. Trystan Scott is a beautiful, charismatic, and charming singer. Everyone who meets him, loves him. He doesn’t seem to have a violent bone in his body, but he came from a bloody and battered past. There’s more story there, things I’ll never know, secrets he’ll never tell.

I nod
, and am saved from finding an answer when Sean appears. “Let’s go. Jon can deal with his own shit.” He glances at Trystan and seems like he wants to tell him off, but doesn’t.

“Wait, what about Mel?” I ask
, as Sean’s leading me toward the door.

“She knows what to do. Don’t worry about her. Come on
, I have the jet waiting at McArthur Airport.”

The jet? Where
are we going? I know better than to ask, so I say nothing and follow him outside. There’s a limo waiting. We duck inside and take off. Sean is still angry from whatever happened with Jonathan. He lets out a rush of air and says, “My brother’s an idiot.”

I smile at him, trying to lighten the mood. “Which one?”

Sean smirks and glances over at me, before wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me to him. He kisses the top of my head and starts talking. “Jon thinks I abandoned him when he was a kid, but that’s not what happened. Pete seems to understand better, but not Jon. He won’t forgive me, and he acts like his childhood was hell and it’s my fault. The guy has everything, including the family fortune, then he goes and does things like this. I could understand this behavior from Bryan or Trystan, but not Jon. He’s got too much on the line and our mother isn’t exactly forgiving. There are things he doesn’t know.” Sean sighs and stops talking. It seems like he’s going to say more, but he doesn’t.

“I wish I had a brother or a sister, even if we didn’t get along. I envy you.” Sean makes a sound of disbelief. “No, I’m serious. Having crappy
siblings is better than having none. You’re not alone. I am. Besides, Peter seems to have forgiven you. Jon will understand sooner or later.”

Sean doesn’t say anything, he just holds me tighter and stares out the window until the limo pulls up to a
little jet parked on the tarmac. The lights glow softly from inside and the door is open with a staircase beckoning us to board. Sean takes my hand and leads me onto the plane. When I step inside, I don’t know what to do. There are eight huge leather seats that look as if they spin around. There’s a table, a bar, and a huge paper-thin television on the back wall. Everything looks pristine and has that new car, uh, new jet, smell.

“Sit wherever you like.” Sean
gestures for me to continue into the back by myself. He disappears behind a curtain in front and speaks to the pilot before returning. By then I’m sitting in the last row and looking out the window.

“This is weird.” I’m on a plane—a really posh one—and without going through the airport or dealing with security.
No one groped me as if my underwire could be used as a weapon. The TSA confiscated my cannoli once because it wasn’t sealed. I think the organization has a serious pastry problem. As soon as Sean is seated, we’re taxiing down the runway. No waiting.

He smiles at me
, enjoying my amazed expression. “I’m going to spoil you to the point that you don’t think anything is unusual.”

“I don’t think that’s possible, but I don’t mind you trying.” A lazy smile lines my lips. It’s nearly sunrise and I’m exhausted.

“Sleep. I’ll wake you when we get there.” Sean hands me a blanket and a pillow, and I snuggle up and before I can badger him about where we’re going, I doze off.

The constant vibration of the plane has stopped and roused me. Okay, it’s more of Sean’s fingers poking my ribs. “Avery, wake up.”

I want to roll over and stay here. I must mutter something to that effect with an
expletive on the end for emphasis, because Sean laughs and says, “You can’t stay here. Come on.” He scoops me up and I get a dopey grin on my face. He’s going to carry me like a bride over a threshold. Internally I sigh, because he’s the most awesome man alive, but it’s short lived. Sean drops my legs so I’m upright. They slam into the floor of the plane and jar me awake. I thought he was going to drop me.

“Hey!” I rip my shoulders from his grip and spin around in time to see a light smile lace his lips. Damn it. Why does he have to look so
beautiful? I bite back the slew of nasty things I was going to say and resort to something less insulting. “Asshat.”

That makes him laugh, full dimples and all. Sean must be hysterically tired because
that wasn’t all that funny. “I’ll wear your ass any way you’ll let me.”

My face flames red and I glance around, assuming that we aren’t alone, and we’re not. The pilot heard him
, and whoever is standing in the open doorway of the plane. I punch his arm, which makes him laugh more.
Note to self, stop calling Sean an ‘asshat.’
Apparently it makes him think about doing sexy things with my butt. Psh. What a child. The expression must cross my face, because Sean’s blue eyes go wide.

“Did you just roll your eyes at me?”

“No, Mr. Jones,” I answer sarcastically, “I’d never roll my eyes at you. Once I started, I’d just keep going and God knows they would have fallen out by now.”

Sean’s smile vanishes as he leans in close to my ear, “You’ll pay for that.”

“I’m looking forward to it.” We’re eye to eye, nose to nose, and a kiss apart. Sean is charged, like a huge magnetic field and it feels impossible to keep the tiny bit of space between us. As he breathes, the rise of his chest brushes against mine and shoots tingles through my body. A smug look crosses my face, and I tilt my head to the side and whisper in the most seductive voice I can manage, “Asshat.”

His eyes darken and this primal look comes over his face, before he presses those lids shut. I want to kiss both of them and hold him in my arms, but the look he has says things won’t be like that tonight—or today. I’ve lost track of time.

When his eyes open, there’s a jolt that travels through me when that wicked smile lines his face. Sean raises his fist to his mouth and bites it for half a second and then gives me a gaze that makes my heart pound fast and furious. “Let’s get your ass inside, Miss Smith, and I’ll see what I can do.”

Girlish giggles
erupt from me even though I try to swallow them down. My emotions shorted out hours ago. My hands cover my mouth, but I can’t stop. Suddenly I see Sean’s hand fly and the next thing I know, he slaps my butt hard. My hands move to cover my stinging hindquarters and I turn to stare at him, gaping.

He grins, “What? I thought you want
ed to stop laughing?”

Oh God. That makes it worse.
More incoherent thoughts tickle my stomach, stopping only after Sean helps me down the steps from the jet. I stop abruptly and look around. There are tall rafters and, hay? “Are we in a barn? Seriously? We hopped in your private jet to hide out in a barn?” I must look bizarrely worried, because Sean is kind to me. Maybe he thinks my brain broke on the plane.

“It’s a hanger.”

I point to the corner, “There’s hay.”

“Yes, it’s for the horses. Where
else should I store the shipments when they arrive?”

I shrug and start giggling again. “I don’t know, in a barn?”

Sean doesn’t reply. Instead he grabs my arms and pulls me from the hanger and out into the open. “Smart ass.”

“Ah, back to my ass again.”

“Your ass is going to be sore if you keep talking about it.”

“
Psh, so is yours.” Yeah, I have no idea what the hell I’m talking about, but it sounded good.

That makes him look over at me. Amusement dances in his tired eyes. “I look forward to it.”

Oh, shit. It figures he’d be into anything and everything. Why didn’t I keep my mouth shut? I change the topic. We’ve been walking through a field. The grass is knee high, and early morning sunlight makes the dead grass look golden. It’s pretty, but it appears that we’re going to walk on forever since there’s nothing to see but grass and trees.

“Where are we?” Just as the question slips out of my mouth, I see a beautiful house. It’s a log cabin with huge shimmering windows. There’s a stream that runs behind it, cutting the golden grass in two like a long blue ribbon. My jaw drops at the same time
that my feet stop. It looks like something from a ski magazine, and not one of the exclusive tailored penthouses where Sean Ferro normally resides.

“One of my homes.” His voice softens
, and almost sounds somber. “Come on. I’ll show you around.” We walk up to the front, and go up the steps to a wraparound porch. As Sean puts a key in the door, I survey the area. The view from here is breathtaking. I can see the clearing we walked through, the stream, a gleaming lake in the distance, and it’s all nestled between mountains that look positively blue in the early morning sun.

Sean pushes the door open and holds it for me. It
’s almost like he doesn’t want to go inside. My chest constricts as I walk past him and step into the cabin. I’m barely inside before I spurt out, “Wow.”

My neck cranes back and I stare at rafters that are twenty feet or more above my head. One end of the cabin is made from glass—twenty feet of glass. It’s insane. The view from the porch
is nothing compared to the one from this huge window. I’m drawn to it, and slowly cross the cabin. The floors are dark, hand carved wood with a distressed finish. There’s a state-of-the-art kitchen with butcher block counter tops and rustic cabinets, but I don’t stop. The window is amazing. I pass a pristine white bed with a wrought iron canopy and velvety drapes that look soft enough to sniff. I bet they smell like the Snuggle bear. I’m totally smelling them later.

Stopping in front of the window
, I look out and can’t help but smile. But something is way off. This seems so unlike Sean, and he’s barely stepped through the door. He’s standing there with it open behind him, like he might bolt. Turning, I ask, “What is this place?”

Sean’s eyes lock with mine for a moment, then he looks down and shakes his head. He steps through the
threshold, and pushes the beautiful carved door closed without a word.

“Sean?” I’m worried about him. I’ve neve
r seen him like this before. It’s my Sean, but he’s broken. Sometimes there are no words. I cross the room and throw my arms around his neck and hold him tight. To my surprise, he doesn’t pull back, but he buries his face in my neck. I hold onto him for a while, the way I did at the club, and wonder what ghosts haunt this place. What was this cabin supposed to be?