“Carrigan.” I hear my sister’s voice a moment before she barrels into me, her arms reaching around me as she pulls me in for a hug. I freeze, the physical contact from her unexpected and a little weird. Our family are not huggers, in fact we’re not tactile at all. I can probably count on one hand how many times either of my parents has hugged me. But then Tallulah has never been like the rest of us.
When I don’t reciprocate her embrace she pulls back, melting into Arlo’s arms when he appears behind her. “Are you okay? Where are you staying?” she asks.
“I’m fine, I’m at a hotel for the moment,” I tell her stiffly. Even though we’ve become less hostile toward each other the last month or so, I don’t feel comfortable being around her like this, when she’s being so nice. I deserve her hate; I want her hate. I have no idea what to do with all this concern she keeps showing me.
“What hotel? Why don’t you come and stay with me and Arlo? That’s okay isn’t it?” she asks her fiancé.
“Of course,” he says, looking down at her with so much love I feel a little sick. It’s not that I begrudge my sister and Arlo their happiness, it’s more that I don’t know how to deal with it. I never thought I’d have that. Marriage was always going to be an arrangement for me, so to see them actually fall in love seems odd. “I’m fine, but thank you for the offer,” I say, shouldering my bag and turning to leave, not wanting to spend more time than I have to with the happy couple.
“Wait, where are you going?” my sister asks.
“Lunch,” I say, not turning to look at her as I continue to walk away.
“Why don’t you sit with us?” she says, and I can practically hear the hope in her voice.
If I was a nicer person I’d embrace her olive branch. In fact most people would be overwhelmed by how generous my twin is being toward me, considering my behavior for the last few years. But the truth is that I’m not a nice person. “Look,” I say, spinning around to face her. “I know you think I’m just like you, and that now we have this bond or whatever. But nothing’s changed Tallulah. We’re not friends, all this didn’t unite us. I did what I had to do to save myself, and it worked out that it saved you too. So let’s not pretend that we’re real sisters or that we’re going to skip off into the sunset together, because we’re not, okay.”
I turn to leave and gasp as I almost slam straight into Carson, his brows furrowed together, his eyes hard. Without another word I step past him, my head held high, and make my way into the cafeteria alone, leaving my sister and her new family in my wake.
I’ve always enjoyed the feel of the envious glances from the other students, knowing they were looking and wishing they were me. But today all I feel is the lack of eyes, no one’s looking at me anymore, no one gives a crap about me. Because now I’m the poor relation of Tallulah Archibald, the fiancé of Arlo Lexington, part of the power alliance that will see him, Watson Hilborn, Oliver Montgomery, and Carson Windsor take the business world by storm when they come of age.
I’m invisible, unimportant, unremarkable, and for the first time since I gave Carson my virginity and broke the will, I regret my decision. I regret walking away from a fortune. I regret ignoring my parents and I regret making myself forgettable again.
13
Carson
Anger bubbles up my throat so hot I can feel it burning as Carrigan brushes past me and walks away. I have to fight the urge not to reach for her and drag her back to me, demand she apologize to her sister, demand she be the girl she was with me, not the harpy we all expect of her.
But right now making sure my friend is okay is more important and so I focus all of my attention on Tally. “Are you okay?” I ask, watching as Arlo pulls her into him, wrapping his arms around her tightly.
“I’m fine. I should have known better than to expect her to have changed because of this. I just sort of hoped she would,” she admits quietly.
“She’s a bitch,” Arlo hisses angrily.
“Maybe the reality of what’s happened has hit her now she’s back at school,” Olly says, but it’s pretty obvious he doesn’t believe what he’s saying.
“Let’s go get some lunch, they have the gnocchi you love on today,” Arlo coaxes, pressing a kiss to Tally’s forehead and leading her toward the lunchroom while the rest of us follow.
I make a point not to look for Carrigan when we enter the cafeteria as a group, I’m angry and if I see her, I’m not sure I’ll be able to hold my tongue, so instead I focus on my friends. We sit at the table we always sit at, and Olly places all of our food orders while we chat shit and wait for it to be delivered.
Tally is to my right, her blazer hanging over the back of her seat. My eyes catch on the small inside pocket and before I can stop myself, I’m leaning forward and sliding the old key that’s hidden in there free from the fabric and concealing it in my hands.
The first time Arlo saw Tally she was sneaking out of the old disused dark room. She used it as a place to hide from her sister, and the rest of the school when none of us had any idea she even existed.
I haven’t really thought about that room since the day I stood guard outside of it, after Arlo proposed to Tally publicly in front of half
