(unedited)
If the weapon is your love,
I got my hands up.
If you're gonna take me down,
I surrender.
I'll give you anything you want.
"Hold Up" -Demi Lovato
Tap. Tap. Tap.
I waited a moment before pushing open the door to Kaden's office.
"Hey Elena," he said, glancing up briefly.
I took a second to look around before answering. It was rare that I was in his office. It wasn't at all where we held family meetings and while I was curious, I wasn't desperate enough to invade his privacy. I remember when I had first come here; the floor to ceiling wall of bookshelves had been so intimidating. They didn't look as scary now, since papers were scattered all around his office.
"What do you want for dinner?" I asked, turning back to Kaden.
He shrugged. "I'm fine with anything."
Before I turned around to leave, I shot a glance at some papers on the desk, though they were too far away for me to read. I don't know how he did it, since he hadn't been looking at me, but Kaden had somehow caught my action without looking up.
"Is it just me or have you been more curious recently?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
I blew out a sign and leaned back against the wall. "It's my last year of high school and I still don't know what I want to be." I shrugged. "I like guessing people's secret's, though."
He chuckled. "Careful, Lena, you're starting to sound evil," he teased.
I rolled my eyes and continued as if he hadn't spoken. "The only jobs that would be useful would be a lawyer or a psychologist."
"What's wrong with Devon's job?" he asked, leaning back in his chair.
"Nothing. I just don't think I'd be able to sit and listen to people talk about their problems all day," I replied.
"Devon thinks you'd be good at it."
"Devon has too much faith in me."
I had thought about it for a while, and I didn't mind Devon's job, but I meant what I said- after a while, I'd get bored. I'd get tired of hearing the same things over and over again from the same people. I was curious by nature; I always felt the need to figure out any secrets being kept, even if they had nothing to do with me. But once I knew everything, I lost interest.
I was sure if I asked Devon and let him do a full analysis on me, he could tell me why. But I didn't want to go digging around my mind or past, which I knew would be necessary to figure out why I felt the way I did about secrets.
Kaden sighed. "Okay, if you really want to, I'll bring you some witness cases and you can give your opinion on them-" Victory! "-But after I'm done the case I'm working on now." Damn.
"Why?" I asked curiously. I knew it wasn't really any of my business. But the sudden secrecy with the case he and Daniel were working on had piqued my interest. Not that Kaden hadn't been secretive about his cases before, this time it seemed like he was trying harder to keep everything under wraps.
He rubbed his temples. "This case could get very public and very ugly very fast. I don't want you getting caught up in it."
Maybe his words had been meant to discourage me, but they only served to do the opposite. I knew better than to push it, though. "Okay, thanks, Kaden."
He looked up, probably shocked by my easy surrender. "No problem, Lena," he said with a tired smile. I flashed him my brightest grin, then left his office, closing the door on my way out.
I kept dinner simple. I didn't feel creative today, so I threw some potatoes and chick in the oven to go with the leftover salad from yesterday. They had just finished cooking when my phone buzzed.
I picked up and put it on speaker as I took the pans out of the oven. "Hello?"
"Elena," a low voice greeted from the other end.
I almost dropped the potatoes. "Ashton?" Why was he calling me? And how had he gotten my number? Well, the last question wasn't really a mystery, considering he was Ashton Sinclair, though it was quite stalkerish if he had done what I thought.
"I'm gonna guess you forgot about our plans tonight?" he asked.
What? I set the food down before I could drop it. "I thought you were joking."
I could practically see him raising an eyebrow from the tone of his voice. "You seem to think I'm joking about a lot of things, Elle."
And there it was.
The strange nickname he had given me.
Over the past week or so, I had found I could guess what kind of mood Ashton was in by what he called me. If he was actually feeling happy, or something like that, he would use that nickname. If not, and usually it was not, it was just 'Elena'. I had also found that Ashton was one of the most unpredictable guys I knew. He could be glares and stony expressions and cryptic messages one day, then nicknames and jokes and teasing words the next.
It made my head spin.
I had no idea what I was supposed think of him.
I shrugged, even though he couldn't see me. "Well, I thought with everything that had happened..." I trailed off, knowing I didn't need to finish my thought.
If what I said got to him, he didn't show it. "I believe you owe me." His tone was still light, teasing. I guess he was in a good mood tonight. No telling how long that would last, though. I preferred the more cheerful version of Ashton, though it was pretty rare. Or maybe it was just me.
"It was a joke," I protested.
"You agreed," he reminded me.
"I'm busy," I lied.
"You're lying," he countered.
"You don't know that," I said.
"Are you really?" he asked.
"No," I admitted.
"Exactly."
Now I was confused. What I didn't get was why Ashton wanted me to go out with him so much. Shouldn't it be the other way around? I got the feeling that this was a game to him. It probably was. This whole thing was a game, I knew that. What I didn't know was what he expected to win from it.
"You owe me," he added when I didn't reply.
I sighed. "Fine." I turned off the oven and left the pans to cool as I walked upstairs.
"What's your address?" he asked.
I thought of Kaden downstairs. "I'll drive myself. What's the address?"
"Una Noche Bella. Know where it is?" he asked.
Well, shit.
Una Noche Bella was serious. It was an upscale chain restaurant that specialized in custom dishes. And pretty formal. I moved to the back of my closet, where all the fancy, misfit things I had rested. I pulled out a deep blue dress that still had the tag attached.
Good enough.
"Yeah. Give me... Half an hour?" It was a fifteen to twenty minute drive. I switched back onto speaker and threw my phone onto the bed, then hunted for a pair of scissors. I wouldn't have time to put on makeup or anything, but maybe if I didn't go all dolled up, he would see that I wouldn't play along. Which would hopefully lead to him explaining what the hell him and his friends were trying to do.
"Alright." I could practically see the smirk that was probably on his face from the tone of his voice. "See you then.
"Hey Ashton?" I said before he could hang up.
"Yeah?"
"How'd you get the number?" I asked.
"Vanessa gave it to me," he replied.
Well, at least I know Ashton Sinclair doesn't stalk me.
♡ the trouble with love ♡
"You know," I said as I walked into the private room the waitress had lead me to. Ashton looked up as I entered. "That was the first time I had to pull out an ID to be let into a restaurant."
He chuckled. "I guess it's because they love me that much," he joked as I sat down. "You look nice."
I raised an eyebrow. "You're in a good mood."
"Ouch," he said. "Am I usually not, Elle?"
"Do you really need me to tell you?" I asked.
"I'm hurt you think so lowly of me," he told me.
I shrugged.
"I already order, if that's okay," he said, changing the subject.
"It's fine." The conversation stopped for a moment when a waiter came in to give us each a glass of water and a small basket of bread rolls. Neither of us made a move to touch the food.
"So," he said once we were alone again. "Tell me about yourself."
I glanced at him. "Way to be cliché."
"Okay, tell me something I can't find with a simple background check." I wasn't really sure whether or not he was joking. It sounded like he was, but I knew that it would be very easy for him to get his hands on whatever he wanted to know.
I blinked. "Careful, or you'll sound like a stalker."
"Hey, I believe you know a lot more about me than I do about you," Ashton said.
I blinked again. "I don't stalk you, Ashton."
He rolled his eyes. "Will you get off the stalking thing, Elle?"
I shrugged. "I don't know any more about you than you do about me," I replied. "I doubt gossip magazines and rumors tell the whole truth."
"Fair point," he said.
"I hate the saying 'curiosity killed that cat'," I told him after a couple moments of silence.
He shot me a confused look.
"You wanted to know something about me," I reminded him.
"That's it?" he asked.
I shrugged. "I don't think we're at the point to be spilling secrets, Ashton."
"Okay." He paused, seeming to think for a moment. "Skylar hated me when we first met," he said finally.
"But you guys are best friends now," I pointed out. "What happened?"
Ashton grimaced. "I had to let her do some things before she let me be friends with her."
Judging by the tone of his voice, those things had probably been embarrassing. And a chance to see Ashton Sinclair admit something like that? Yeah, I wasn't giving that up. "What kind of things?" I asked.
Ashton shook his head. "That's a story you won't be hearing," he told me.
I got a sense of déjà vu, then. A different member of the Elite had said almost exactly the same thing just a couple days ago. "You and Jacen are a lot alike, you know," I remarked.
The change was instant. He stiffened, his expression hardening. "Maybe to you."
I blinked at the sudden change of mood. Gone was his light, teasing tone. Instead he sounded sharper, colder. "Are you usually like this?" I asked, keeping my tone casual.
"Like what?"
"You switch moods faster than someone can change their clothes," I told him.
"Do I?" His raised eyebrow told me this wasn't a surprise to him. His icy tone was starting to creep me out, ever so slightly. It made me think of mind games and twisted secrets, two things that were probably a norm for the Elite.
I didn't let my unease show, though. "Yeah, I'm starting to think you have multiple personalities or something," I said, rolling my eyes.
My flippant remark pulled a response I definitely hadn't expected. His expression hardened and his words came out even sharper than before, something I hadn't thought was possible. "I don't."
I stared at him. "Are you just going to give short answers all night?"
"If I do?"
"Doesn't make a good conversation." Thankfully my works came out calm. Casual. The opposite of how it felt in this room. It was tense. I wasn't sure what exactly I said to make it this way, but it seemed as if any traces of a good mood had been sucked away.
Ashton didn't say anything, just watched with dark eyes as I glanced down to carefully take a sip of water.
"I wouldn't remember," he said when I kept my eyes down.
I glanced up. "What?"
"If I had multiple personalities, I probably wouldn't remember what I did or said in one of them when I switched to another one," he said with a shrug.
What? "You know a lot about it," I replied, instead.
Another shrug. "We had a project in health."
I wasn't sure whether or not I could believe him. Yeah, there has been a unit on mental illnesses, but something told me I shouldn't be so quick to accept his words. "So people with multiple personalities don't remember when they're in a different personality?"
"Usually." He smiled, but it wasn't a nice smile. "We're not robots. It changed with every person."
This just kept getting weirder and weirder. "Why do you hate Jacen so much?" I asked, abruptly changing the subject.
If didn't throw him off, not enough to get him to reply, at least. "You said so yourself. We're not at the point to be spilling secrets."
"Sorry," I replied lightly. "I just thought you guys would get along with how similar you are."
"We're nothing alike," he said.
"You're really against the idea," I noted.
"What are you playing at?" he demanded.
I blinked. "What do you mean?"
He shook his head, glancing at me suspiciously. Hey, if I were to ask you the same question, I'd probably get an answer that's not really an answer back, so I can do it too. Of course, I didn't voice my thoughts.
"You know," I said quietly. "I'm starting to believe you and your friends have a lot more than one secret each." His dark grin told me I couldn't be more right.
Before he could say anything, though, a small buzz filled the room. Ashton pulled his phone from his pocket and glanced at the screen. "Sorry," he said, standing up. "It's Nate," was his only explanation before he left the room.
As I watched him leave the room, I knew this dinner would be a bit of a waste. Ashton wouldn't go back to the teasing version of himself he had been earlier today. The rest of the night would probably be forced conversation, and riddled answers. If not that, then just silence.
It was frustrating. Pretty much every time I talked to anyone from the Elite, I would walk away with a million questions and no answers. I knew I should walk away; somehow find a way to never talk to them. Except I couldn't. Not just because of Jacen's subtle threat, the first day, but also because of the mysteries that surrounded the Elite.
I was deep enough that I wasn't sure I'd be able to walk away.
I hated it.
The look on Ashton's face when he came back was a little worrying. Though he kept a blank mask on his face, the glint in his eyes and the tension in his body told me he was far from calm. "We're going," he said, his tone short and clipped.
"What happened?" I asked, standing up.
"It's Skylar," he said. "Someone tried to kill her."
-- ♡ --
Kaden --->
Teaser: "Unless," he said. "That person didn't need to sneak in. They could've been let in." It didn't take long to figure out what he was saying.
Ashton thought one of his friends had done it.