Elena’s eyes lock onto her son. “Do you know everything you need to know about the whereabouts?”
He nods. “Yeah. We’re ready to go.”
“Already? I answer, nerves wreaking through me. How can they already know where she is? How can he be so confident? Something doesn’t add up.
Joseph enters the room, going straight for Madison and kissing the top of her head. It was a shock to find out that he wasn’t Madison’s biological father, but that fact hasn’t come between their bond. “The Circle is not your issue. We can handle them.”
“The Circle are a pack of old Kings who have gone rogue by choice.” Brantley must see the confusion on my face, and again, he frightens me. He’s always watching everything that is going on around him without actually watching.
“Right,” I answer. “Well, at least that’s something I didn’t know yesterday.”
Joseph nods. “We’re handling it. The Circle are not our enemies, but they’re not our allies either. In the meantime, another thing that you all need to know is that the new generation is starting Riverside prep after the new year. There will obviously be the ceremony that will start them off that will be happening after Christmas in a few months. Though I shouldn’t have to remind you…”
A new generation of Kings. That doesn’t sound fun at all. Are they all scary brats like these fuckers?
I keep my thoughts to myself.
Nate chuckles. “Good times…”
My mind wanders back to Daemon, like it usually does. The book I found last night, I almost completely forgot about. Obviously, Madison doesn’t know about it, and I know that I might not be able to decipher it on my own, but a selfish part of me doesn’t want to share it with anyone yet. Maybe after we get Micaela back, I can show it to her and we can look more in-depth to find out what it means.
I ignore everything going on around me until my phone vibrates in my pocket.
“Hello?”
I can’t hear the voice on the other end, so I excuse myself, blocking my other ear with my finger and quickly dash out through the glass slider that opens onto the backyard and pool. Once I’ve shut out the noise, I repeat myself. “Hello?”
“Tillie!”
“Oh my god!” My hand goes over my mouth. “Ridge?”
“Yeah, babe, it’s me. You’re a hard girl to get hold of these days.”
I exhale, flopping down onto one of the sunbeds beside the pool. “You have no idea. Seriously.”
“Are you okay? I know we haven’t spoken in a long time and we have so much to catch up on.”
“Actually, I don’t think I am okay, but I’m trying to adapt to it.”
“Well listen.” He clears his throat. “I’ll send you an address in town, so we can catch up.”
I smile, the mid-morning sun hitting my cheeks. “Sounds like a good idea. Text me.”
“Will do. Stay safe, Tills.”
“I’ll try,” I whisper, hanging up and clutching my phone in my hand.
Growing up, Ridge and I were inseparable. He was my first kiss, my first—everything, really. When we were fourteen, we decided we may as well be each other’s first “time” too, you know, get the deed over with so we could move on. Only he was like a bad habit and I was addicted. We sort of continued to sleep together right up until I met Nate, actually. When he was with a girl, or I was with a guy, we wouldn’t. It wasn’t something we agreed on or anything, it was just natural. If we were single, we were probably having sex.
“Hey!” Madison shuts the door behind herself and skips over to me, her long dark hair flying all over the place. My eyes go over her shoulder and land on Bishop, who is standing behind the glass, watching her closely from the sitting room.
They went through some crazy and survived, maybe I can too. I mean, it’s not like I can get it worse than she did, right?
“Hey!” I pile my hair on the top of my head, twisting it into a knot.
She hands me a mug of coffee. “Are you hungry? When was the last time you ate?”
I shake my head, blowing inside the mug until steam hits the tip of my nose. “I can’t.”
She sinks down beside me, tucking her feet under her butt. There’s a long stretch of silence that lies between us before she says something. “I know Nate is struggling a lot with whatever goes on inside that messed up head of his, but you didn’t see him when you weren’t here.”
I nod. “And I’m glad I didn’t. Can’t imagine enjoying him and Tate parading their relationshit around for me.”
Madison’s eyes go to my hair. “It wasn’t like it was with you, though,” she snorts. “It was actually hard to watch because I wanted to kill him most of the time for the things he did to her and how he treated her.”
I shake my head. “I don’t really want to hear about it, Madz.”
“Okay,” she sighs and then stands back to her feet. “But we need to refresh that hair, so let’s do a girl’s day while these guys prepare for tonight.” If I really thought Micaela was in trouble, would I really be off getting my hair done? The answer is no. But maybe it will take my mind away from the fact that people are about to die tonight, and anyway, everyone knows what Madison is like when she gets her heart set on doing something. Like Nate, for example. Don’t go there, Tillie.
“Deal. But if Ridge texts me, you’re coming for lunch.”
We make our way back into the house just in time for Nate to be walking down the stairs, a joint hanging out of his mouth. He looks freshly showered with more clothes on than he did this morning.
“You move your shit?”
“What? No. I said I wasn’t going to sleep in your room.”
He looks at Madison, ignoring me point blank. “She needs to be in there before I
