(unedited)
And roll out your maps and papers,
Find out your hiding places again.
The only problem that I got with the club,
Is how you're severed from the people,
Who watched you grow up.
"The Love Club" -Lorde
The rest of the week passed without any more incidents. We went into town a couple times and went on the yacht as well, but they were pretty uneventful. Or at least, as uneventful as they could be with Jacen hung-over and grumpy half the time.
And he says he's not an alcoholic.
There was another dinner with the parents, in which Mr. and Mrs. Sinclair announced that they would be going away for the next two weeks on a business trip. The last night was a girl's night, per Vanessa's insistence.
It was a little awkward since Skylar seemed to be in a bad mood, Keira and Vanessa didn't speak much to each other, and I was fairly certain that Keira hated me. But Vanessa did bring people in to do our nails, and we got a spa treatment as well.
Since it was only about nine-thirty when we finished, Vanessa insisted that we watch a movie, then share secrets. Keira suggested 'Fear Island', and since no one else voiced an opinion, that was what we ended up watching. It was about a group of teens who were stranded on an island. They were slowly getting killed off because of some big secret and someone in the group was the killer.
Ironic, I know.
The share secrets thing didn't really work out, though. Before the end of the film, Vanessa and surprisingly Keira as well, were asleep.
"You know," Skylar said as the end credits rolled. "I think we're a lot more fucked up than they are."
I turned to look at her, and noticed that her eyes were a little glazed over. I had noticed Skylar drinking from a dark green glass. I had assumed it was juice, or water, or something, but looking closer now, I realized that it was definitely something with alcohol. She looked a little tipsy.
I swear half the Elite are secret alcoholics.
"What do you mean?" I asked, even though I knew perfectly how messed up the Elite was. I didn't expect Skylar to have a lot, if any, information about what was going on. Knowing Ashton, he had probably kept his best friend out of the loop. But I had to play my part, even if she was intoxicated and might not remember anything tomorrow morning.
She giggled. "It's kind of a funny story actually."
"What's a funny story?" There wasn't really anything funny about one of the Elite being a psychotic killer so I had a feeling we weren't on the same page now...
"Love is pretty stupid," Skylar muttered, looking down, then taking a sip from her glass.
I nodded. "What's the funny story?"
She clapped her hands together and sat up straighter. "Is it story time?"
I stared at her. How does anyone keep up with Skylar when she's drunk?
"You're telling the story, remember?" I reminded her.
"Oh yeah," she giggled, then stopped. "What story am I telling?"
I give up. I shook my head. "Never mind."
She clapped her hands together. "But I want to hear a sto- kidding. I'm not that drunk, Elena," she said, dropping the tipsy expression on her face.
I blinked.
What. The. Fuck.
"Eventually you get tired of waking up with a hangover," she explained, probably reading the expression on my face. "Besides, people tell you a lot more when they think you're drunk."
I am never underestimating Skylar ever again. Thank god I had kept up my not-knowing anything act.
"Now," Skylar said. "Do you want to hear the story or not?"
"About how fucked up the most exclusive group of teens in America is? Sure," I replied, genuinely curious now. If Skylar could fake being drunk so well, then maybe she wasn't as oblivious as I had thought she was. She had a point, when she said people tell you more when they think you're drunk. Hell, I had lowered my guard around the Elite when I thought they were drunk, because I had figured they wouldn't remember much.
Yeah, I'm never doing that again either.
Skylar laughed and rolled her eyes, then sobered up. "Well, Vanessa and Nate used to date, for one."
I blinked. "What?"
But thinking about it now, it made a little sense. Nathan did worry over Vanessa a fair bit, though I had passed that off as just the kind of person he was. Except, there wasn't much from Vanessa's end, as far as I knew.
"Yeah," Skylar said, nodding. "During middle school and most of freshman year. Then Ashton introduced Keira to Nate. And Nate and Vanessa broke up. That's when everything changed."
"Everything changed?" I repeated.
"Well Jace liked Vanessa who didn't like him back so Keira didn't like her for breaking her brother's heart-"
Wait, what? "Jacen liked Vanessa?"
"Yeah. You know, I love Keira and..." She paused, then wrinkled her nose. "Yeah, I can't say I love Jacen..." She shook her head. "It's not their fault, I guess, but ever since we all became friends, we've drifted apart."
"You guys still seem pretty close to me," I pointed out.
"Not really. Keira and Nathan are practically joined at the hip, yeah, but I think Ash knows more about his brother's girlfriend than his brother does," she said.
"Jacen said Nathan doesn't know as much about Keira as he thinks he does." I remembered him saying it when we had gone to look for Keira. Keira kept a lot of things from Nathan, that I had noticed for sure, but I had figured that was just part of her personality. She seemed like a secretive person. Yet, Ashton seemed to know where she was when his brother didn't, which was a little suspicious.
"Ash has gone all mama bear protective. Jace and Vanessa are... Jacen and Vanessa..." She glanced up at me. "Sorry, I shouldn't be dumping all of this on you."
"It's fine. I feel I don't know a lot about you guys and it's been almost two months," I told her, shaking my head. That wasn't a lie. Every time I thought I had the Elite figured out, something came up, some new piece of information, that made me revaluate everything. It made me wonder if I'd ever be able to figure out anything about them. "You're a secretive group."
"Yeah," Skylar muttered. "But at this point secrets are the only thing holding us together."
♡ the trouble with love ♡
It was still early when I got home, so Raine and Kaden were awake. They came out of the kitchen as I opened the door, straightening their clothes and mussed hair.
Yeah, there's a reason why I don't eat on the kitchen counter anymore.
"How was it?" Raine asked.
I shrugged, stifling a yawn. "It was alright. Fun, I guess. A little tiring."
"Did anything happen?" Kaden asked.
I shrugged. "I went Jet-Skiing," I replied, fully aware that wasn't what he meant by the question. I was careful to keep my breath steady, and blink regularly. One of the first things I had learned from Devon was the signs that someone was lying so I could avoid doing them when I lied. There were infinitely more things I could do to attempt to appear more innocent, but I knew Kaden knew them as well and I didn't want to overdo it.
He gave me a flat look. "I didn't mean like that."
"Be nice," Raine scolded, nudging him in the side with her elbow.
He muttered something under his breath that I didn't quite catch. I wasn't sure if it was directed at Raine because I don't think she heard either. He glanced back at me. "So nothing happened?"
I resisted the urge to squirm under his intense stare. It was almost like he already knew. "I fell off my Jet-Ski making a too sharp turn, but that's all." I fed him the same story Jacen had told Ashton and the rest of the Elite. I knew I probably should've told Kaden what happened, but I knew he would probably ship me off to Australia or something.
"And it was just a coincidence that your Jet-Ski was tampered with?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.
He knows. He knows. He knows. How the fuck does he know?
Still, I played clueless. "What do you mean?"
He sighed. "Lena-"
"I didn't know that." It wasn't a lie. I hadn't known for sure. After all, I had only heard from Jacen was a potentially -and somewhat suspiciously- accurate guess. It wasn't like I was a hundred percent sure it hadn't simply been an accident.
That wasn't what I was focused on, though. The gears in my mind were spinning, trying to figure out how Kaden knew. The most logical conclusion was that Ashton had told him. But hadn't Ashton said Kaden had threatened to castrate him if anything happened to me? I doubted that Kaden would actually do that, but he'd be mad. That was something Ashton should've known just as well as I did.
So why would he tell Kaden?
Was Ashton scared of what would happen if Kaden somehow found out that Ashton was keeping something from him? Except, that didn't really make sense either. How would Kaden find out? Yeah, he had pretty freaky all-knowing powers, but they didn't extend that far. It wasn't like any of the Elite who suspected foul play talked to him, and their parents, the ones he did talk to, had no idea it had happened.
Kaden gave me a flat look. "Stop lying, Lena."
"I'm not," I insisted.
"Yes, you are!" he exclaimed. "I can tell when you are!"
What? I crossed my arms over my chest- screw subtlety. "How?"
"Because everything you're not supposed to do when lying you avoid like plague. So much that your reactions and gestures come out a little stiff," he replied.
Raine nudged him in the side. "Kade," she said quietly. I wasn't sure if she was reminding him that he was going off topic, or if she was on my side and telling him to go easy.
"How did you find out?" I asked. Ashton must've told him. There was no other way. Unless he had secretly attached some kind of waterproof microphone or camera to me.
"It doesn't matter how I found out," he said. "What matters is that you didn't tell me."
"I thought it was an accident!" I lied. "I didn't think it mattered."
He raised an eyebrow. "Did you really think it was an accident?"
I hesitated, then nodded.
"You trust them," he said.
"I don't trust them!" I exclaimed. I kept digging myself deeper every time I tried to fix this, I swear. There was nothing I could say that would make Kaden calm down.
"You guys, please," Raine interrupted. She turned to me. "He was just worried."
"You didn't call," Kaden added.
"I'm not twelve. I'm going to university soon. I'm not going to call every two minutes to check in," I told him. "I texted you every couple of hours."
"Texts can be forged, Lena. You could've been lying in a ditch and I wouldn't know," Kaden said.
I bit my lip. "I'm sorry."
He ran his hands through his hair and sighed, glancing at Raine, then back at me. "Do you remember our cottage in Los Angeles?"
It was more like a mini-mansion than a cottage, but I nodded. It was where Kaden's parents stayed.
"I think you and Raine should go and stay there for a couple months," he said. Months? I could understand days, or maybe even weeks but months? Why-
It took me a moment to understand what he meant. "You want me to move to Los Angeles?"
He nodded slowly. "It's temporary."
"What about you?" I asked.
"I have to stay and sort this out," he replied. I should've known. Kaden never walked away from a case unless he absolutely had to. Especially not a case as serious as this.
"I'm not going."
"They wouldn't be able to get you there, Elena," he said. I glanced at Raine and wondered if this had been pre-decided since she didn't look all that surprised.
"I'm not gonna just... Run away," I told him. It would drive me crazy not knowing what happened. And as stupid as it was, I didn't want all of them getting hurt. The one orchestrating this deserved it, yeah, but Ashton had said that not everyone involved was willing.
"You're going," Kaden said.
"You can't make me."
"I'm your legal guardian, I can," he shot back. "I will drag you there if I have to."
"Why is it so important now?" I demanded. I couldn't say he had been willing to let me hang out with the Elite before, but this was a new extreme. Moving to LA all of a sudden? Something had to have happened for him to be like this all of a sudden. Something bigger than the Jet-Ski thing.
"I made a promise to Blake that I would keep you safe," he said. "Letting you sleep with the danger is not keeping that promise."
What the hell? "I'm not sleeping with any of them!"
"I wouldn't know that!" he retorted.
"We can go to the doctor and get a fucking check or something! Would that make you happy?" This was getting ridiculous. I turned to Raine. "And you're okay with moving to Los Angeles?"
She sighed. "I'm not happy that we're splitting up, but if it's for your safety, then yes, I'm okay with it."
"Raine..." I trailed off. I knew her and Kaden didn't like to be separated. They were sometimes, due to the fact that her films were sometimes filmed in other locations and he sometimes had to represent international clients, but they didn't enjoy it.
"Lena, I want you to be safe," Kaden said. "Not just because of my promise to Blake but because you're my daughter."
Awww. Raine and Kaden were some of the nicest people I knew- and I wasn't just being biased because they had taken me in. But even with their kindness, family bonding had always been a little awkward since I had been thirteen when I first came to them and past that stage of growing up.
"I want to finish the school year at Blaire Academy," I told them quietly. "I have friends now."
"You can make friends at a new school," Raine said.
I hesitated, then gulped. I had a feeling Kaden wouldn't be happy with my response. "I like the friends I have now."
"Ashton and his friends?" Kaden demanded, his tone hard. Yep, I had guessed right. He sounded pretty mad.
I nodded slowly.
"You're going," he said. "No arguments."
"Kaden-"
"No. There wasn't the option of staying before, but now it's definitely off the table."
Holy shit.
I had never heard Kaden sound so mad.
I stared for a moment. "Fine." I ran upstairs to my room and grabbed my backpack from beside the door. I'd said I would go. Though I had never agreed to going to LA. I heard the shower turn on as I threw some clothes in. I hoped it was Kaden so I wouldn't have to deal with avoiding him but I knew it was probably Raine, instead.
Before I left my room, I Googled one last thing, just in case.
Then, I crept downstairs.
Damn it, the door's open.
Of course, the first time Kaden actually left his study door open would be the time I wanted it to be closed.
"Elena?" he called as I unsuccessfully attempted to creep past undetected. "Where are you going?"
I leaned into his office. "You told me to go."
"Melissa Elena Jordan-Evans!" he stumbled a little over the last part. I knew he wasn't sure which last name to use. Honestly, I wouldn't have been either in his place.
"Hard to use my full name when I don't really have one, huh?" I yelled back. I slammed his office door shut, then grabbed the closest chair to me and shoved it under the door handle. It wouldn't hold, I knew that, but it would give me some time to jam the door better.
I gathered the pennies in my hand and shoved them in the door frame. I wasn't sure if it would work, but advice from Yahoo Answers was all I had. It wasn't a perfect solution either, as soon as Raine was out of her shower, she'd be able to take out the pennies and pull away the chair. But it would hopefully be enough time that I could get away.
There was a thud, I think it was because Kaden stood up too suddenly, knocking down his chair. As I moved away from the door, I heard him walking towards it on his side. Then an angry cry, followed by a little bit of pounding. "Elena!"
Yeah, now would be a good time to go.
"Sorry, Kaden," I muttered. It was more to myself than to him since I knew he wouldn't be able to hear me. I rushed out the front door and stepped into the garage.
Then I froze.
I wasn't sure what to take. My car would be faster, but I wasn't sure if Kaden maybe had a tracker on it, since I knew he did on his car and Raine's car. In the end I decided to take Raine's bike. There was the new one Kaden had given me for Christmas, but being paranoid as I was, I wasn't sure if there might be a tracker on that as well. Kaden always felt the need to keep track of everything.
Maybe it's a lawyer thing.
It wasn't until I reached the end of the driveway that I realized I hadn't planned out where to go. Shit.
I had my wallet, but the hotels around here were over a hundred-fifty per night- something I didn't have in cash. I had a debt and credit card but those could easily be tracked. It wasn't like I wanted to run away, but I did want to get away for a little while. I couldn't go to Devon and Shawn's, they'd take Kaden's side on this.
There wasn't any friend's house that I could go to- this was when being so anti-social really came back to bite me in the ass. I could maybe go to Vanessa's, since her dad probably wouldn't be there, but while I'd avoid questions from an adult, Vanessa would probably be curious as to why I wasn't home. Vanessa knew I was living with Kaden and Raine- all of the Elite did. But most of them didn't know about how he knew one of them was a murderer and didn't want me to hang around them.
There was always the option of going somewhere and making stuff up if they asked, but there wasn't much I could say. I could say I got into a fight with them, which was the truth, but I didn't want to cause any suspicion. I may have gotten into a fight with Kaden, but that didn't mean I wanted to ruin the case. I was determined to make sure I didn't ruin anything, which meant I couldn't go to someone who would ask questions. And I could only think of one person who wouldn't.
Do I really want to go there, though?
I checked my phone. It had been almost five minutes since I had locked Kaden in his office. I wasn't sure how long Raine's shower would be, or how long it would take Kaden to unjam the door -if he could do that without her help, that is- but I had to get going if I didn't want them to catch me. I glanced up at the sky, which was slowly turning dark with clouds, then shifted back onto my bike and started pedaling down the road.
I headed towards the Sinclair's house, even though I wasn't really sure I actually wanted to ask to stay there. It was getting late, though, and I had to figure something out.. It wasn't like it would be permanent. Maybe it'd only be for tonight, at least until I figured something else out.
I just had to hope that Ashton wouldn't take Kaden's side on this.
If he did... Then, I was back to square one.
Ten minutes later, it started raining.
You have got to be kidding me.
I considered stopping at a shop and waiting it out, but at this time of night, I wasn't sure if very many shops were even open. Also, a glance up at the sky told me it didn't look like it would be letting up any time soon. It was probably better to just continue, than stop, wait a bit, get kicked out when the convenience store on the corner closed and have to continue biking in the rain at night.
It took me another ten minutes to get to the Sinclair's. Their house wasn't too far from the Fleming Mansion, they were in about the same area, but all the houses were huge, and the streets were long so by the time I arrived, I was soaked and shivering.
Surprisingly, I didn't have any trouble getting in. There was a guard, yes, but he seemed to recognize me, so I was let in. I parked my bike along the side of the garage then walked up to the doors. They seemed daunting now, tall and dark, since I wasn't sure what I could say to the people who stood behind them.
Maybe this isn't such a good idea.
Before I could turn away, though, the door opened. "Elena?" Nathan asked.
Well, there's something I didn't consider. How am I supposed to explain this to Ashton's brother who didn't know anything about the case? "Hey," I replied awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot.
"They told me someone came, but I thought it was Keira or 'Ness," he said. "You're soaked. Did you walk here?"
I shook my head. "I, uh, biked."
"Do you want me to get Ash?" he asked, finally noticing my awkward tone.
I hesitated for a moment, then nodded. "Please."
"Come on in," he said, taking a couple steps backwards. "I'll send him down."
I stepped in, careful to try and keep from dripping everywhere. Did marble have the same effect as hardwood, where it stretched or got ruined if it was wet? Would the Sinclairs care if I ended up dripping rain water all over their floors? Actually, it didn't matter if they would care, it was still rude.
"Elena?" I glanced up to see Ashton in the door way, a part-confused, part-concerned expression on his face. "What's wrong?"
"I got in a fight with Kaden." I hesitated, biting me lip. "Is it okay if I stay here for a day or two?"
-- ♡ --
Teaser: Why the hell did he have a methanonel syringe?
QotC: How did you find this story? Genre Lists, Friend, Wattpad Recommended, etc.? (Pretty please answer? I'm curious about this)