Drake gives me the finger—and honestly, it feels like old times.
Tad nods over to my mother. “I’ll be in and out of the big house until my lawyers untangle me from this snake pit—that or they lock me up and throw away the key. But the good news is, Demeet here has pulled a few strings and they’ve agreed to house me right here on the island. You can visit any time you like.”
Demetri sheds his signature laugh as he slaps a hand over Tad’s back. “And I’ve arranged for Tad to have a handful of day passes—so birthdays, holidays, select weekdays, he won’t miss a thing.”
Oh my God. I shake my head as Demetri’s scheme becomes evident. He’s going to integrate himself into this household, into my mother’s life, back into her bed under the guise of Tad’s blessing. As long as Tad isn’t dead, his Femtastic hands are clean.
“You’re not really falling for this, are you, Lizbeth?” I belt it out like a threat as I look my mother square in the eye.
Good going, Messenger,Chloe snorts.At this rate, you’ll out yourself before dinner.
“Chloe is right.” Mom narrows her gaze over at Tad. “I’m not buying this. You, Tad Landon, are going to be found innocent. Nobody is locking you up and throwing away the key. But in the meantime…” Her features soften, her lips curve with naughty delight as she zips over to Demetri and wraps her arms around him. “We can’t thank you enough for stepping into my husband’s shoes.”
“Mee-maw! Mee-maw!” Beau gives the back of my mother’s sweater a tug. “Is—is Defeetrigoing to be the new Tampon?”
“Yes,” I say, and Logan shoots me a look that saysclam up right this freaking minute.
Em belts out a laugh. “Tampon 2.0.”
Wow, Em has a death wish. Who knew?
Bree does her best to scoop Beau Geste into her arms. “No, honey, no one will ever take your Tampon’s place. Tampon is special, but you can bet your little tush, Demetri will make sure you have all of the toys you want under that Christmas tree.”
I can’t help but roll my eyes. She’s not wrong.
Demetri lifts a finger. “This is true, but first, there is a wedding to be had.” He looks over at Rory and sheds his signature greasy grin. “Whatever you need, Skyla, to make your big day special, consider it done.”
I can think of a few things.
Hey? I wonder if I could get Demetri to expel Rory and land me in my rightful place?
Logan shakes his head over at me as if he knows just where my mind went.
Soon, everyone is back to their natural states of being—Drake and Ethan belching in front of the oversized television set, the kids sitting at attention and watching the two of them as if they trumped whatever that one-eyed monster had to show them. Bree, Rory, and Em are plotting the bachelorette disaster, and Logan is busy feeding Jaxson.
I watch as Gage and Demetri walk down to the foyer together, murmuring their wicked intentions to one another. Demetri becomes animated, and Gage looks as if he’s being put in his place. Demetri storms out the door but Gage—he turns my way and his eyes latch onto mine.
“Goodbye, Skyla,” he says it brazenly before ducking out the door.
Whatever the two of them were talking about seems to have ruffled both of their feathers.
And I’m left to wonder exactly what it is they’re up to.
Whatever it is, it’s not good.
Much like my sister, it’s wicked.
Brody calls and texts Chloe nonstop, and I love him even more because of it. Laken has called, texted, and dropped by to speak to me, but Rory keeps brushing her off. I know the bit about the phone because apparently Rory doesn’t know how to use it—password or not, she’s not dealing with technology. I’ve swiped the phone a few times since she’s left it to rot in the living room. I thought about texting Laken, but seeing that I’m wearing different skin these days, I’d rather be honest and speak to her in person.
That’s exactly why I’m seated at that round table down in Ezrina’s lair, in the Wonderground at Whitehorse.
Logan, Wes, Ezrina, and Nev are in the next room installing the new glass tubes—tall enough and wide enough to qualify as a casket—that just arrived. We needed to replace them all because Gage or his goons took a baseball bat to them all the same night he saw fit to kill me.
Marshall is seated directly across from me and between us is Gage Oliver’s head, right back in one of Ezrina’s glass boxes filled with baby blue keeping solution.
He’s become a pet of sorts down here. Ezrina’s favorite mascot.
I thought Gage would amount to so much in this life. I had no idea the one thing I would treasure about him one day would be his severed head.
