Remember it, because you’re not getting another hit.
I open the shower door and the wind gets knocked out of me.
“Skyla?” I whisper, stunned, as she sits up on the counter, her hair rising from the humidity, skin glistening. Her eyes are bright and clear, and she’s biting down on a nervous smile the way I’ve seen her do a million times.
She shakes her head. A pitiful look in her eyes is in stark contrast to that grin expanding on her lips. Her arms wrap themselves around my neck as she pulls me in close, and I don’t fight it. She lands a careful kiss to my lips, and it feels like magic, like the medicine I so desperately need to get me through this hell.
“I’m not Skyla. I’m her sister, Rory.”
“What do you want?”
“I’m here to worship you.” Her finger glides straight down my chest. “My precious, precious king.”
7
Logan
Christmas with Skyla. I need no other gift. But at this point I feel more like a stalker, a voyeur into her world—a world which she might just wish to give me the boot from. We haven’t spoken much since that infamous night, the night that Gage entered into an abomination of a union with the devil herself. I can’t blame Skyla for unraveling. I certainly can’t blame Skyla for wanting revenge. But I wish to God she’d open up to me. Let me help her. Let me be the shoulder to lean on. I want to wipe away her tears. I want her to wipe away mine.
The Landon house, despite its many occupants, and some of those I could do without, holds very real memories for me. My memories of this place are vastly different from those that Skyla holds. Without asking, I’m sure that if given a choice she would burn this place to the ground and curse its ashes.
Gage Oliver had done this to her. Turned all of the good they had, they could still have had, and threw it into the shitter. For what, I may never know. Demetri owns him now. It is worse than grieving a dead man to see him resurrected and completely unknowable to me anymore. And worse than that, there is no disease, no brain tumor, no mental decomposition we can look to for answers. He is whole and aware, and ironically perfectly screwed up. It’s a mind-bender. At this point in time, my questions have questions. He is flying his lunacy high like a kite, waving it in our faces, making us smell his shit. How impenetrable he’s become, irretrievable. I simply don’t understand any part of him. But I understand Skyla. And I most certainly understand her pain. I want to help her. I just need for her to allow that to happen.
Mia lets me in and both Nathan and Barron run over, happy to see me, their dimples going off like flashing lights. Their husky laughter guts me. They are the exact representation of their father. No sign of Skyla in sight in either one of them, and I mourn that fact a little.
I chase the boys into the family room much to their giggling delight, and Bree pegs me in the head with a wad of wrapping paper.
“Merry Christmas, Oliver.”
“Merry Christmas to all,” I say and the rest of the room chants the holiday greeting albeit without as much vigor.
Em and Bree corner me a moment while Drake and Ethan sock the crap out of one another over a fouled move on the video game they’re playing.
Emily grunts as she rubs her belly. She could easily have an entire litter of babies in her overgrown stomach. “West is having a fundraiser to buy smart boards.”
“Great.” I nod as thoughts of West Paragon High come crashing back and I mourn Gage all over again. If I think about it long enough, it truly feels like a blink of an eye that we were there—that Skyla walked into the bowling alley for the very first time. What in the hell happened? “I can donate a few free passes to the bowling alley and the gym.”
Bree offers a silent applause. “That’s all fine and dandy, but they need bodies. Tickets are one hundred dollars a person, and you need to be there.”
“Be there? Be where?” That all too familiar knot that lived in my stomach the entire time I was a student at that institute has decided to make a reprisal.
“Prom.” Em gets right to the nitty gritty, and it’s something I’ve always appreciated about her. “It’s on Valentine’s Day. But they’re calling it the Comeback Prom, open to alumni.”
“Great, we qualify.” I’m not really sure it’s all that great, but it’s happening. For a second, I envision Skyla in a hot dress, that smoking body pressed to mine. I approve. Gage and Chloe will be there, no doubt. Where there is potential for drama, you can rest assured Chloe is driving the bandwagon.
Bree leans in, her mouth agape. “Do you think you’ll take Skyla?”
“Hell yes, I’m taking Skyla.” As in transporting her. Just as I’m about to do now.
“Ah-ha!” Tad limps over. Mr. Gimpy, Mr. Grumpy, Mr. Five Figure Lotto Winner with his ever questionably faithful Lizbeth by his side. “You think you’re just going to step right in, doncha? Park your rear right in front of my refrigerator, ain’t that right? The Oliver baton was passed to you, and now you’re taking Skyla and all the Landon spoils that come along with her. Well, let me tell you,Loki”—Tad wags his finger in my face while Drake and Ethan howl with laughter at the moniker I’ve been gifted—“this is not freeloader central. Tad Landon does not run a charity. There is no sign out front that readsCome one Oliver, come all, and bring your greedy, needy appetite.Bring me your weary sweatpants wearing, jobless Emma Oliver discards.When you are under my roof, you are under my dictatorship.”
Em groans, “You got that right.”
“Tad, please.” Lizbeth does her best to pull him away, but he breaks free from her stranglehold.
Tad waddles in close until his face is inches from mine. “Like it or not, I’m the man around here. I’m a homeowner who happens to have five big ones in my bank account. I’ve got a sedan, a wife, and thirteen mouths that depend on me for survival. I’m the fifty thousand dollar man. What do you got, buddy? Nothin’! Hasta mañana.” He lifts his chubby fingers to his cheek and waves.
“What do Igot?” I fold my arms across my chest. “I’ve got a house that sits on Silent Cove worth just under two million. A bowling alley, gym, and a bona fide working farm—all three generate a total income of over a million a year. And if I sold the land, I could probably get three. So I guess that makes me the five million dollar man.”
