The next few weeks are some of the hardest of my life. My punishment for pushing Julia down the stairs is I have to take over her party heir chores as well as my own. It would’ve been a lot worse if my uncle had proof I acted deliberately, but I lied through my teeth, insisting I tripped over my heels on the stairs, causing me to lose my balance and knock into Julia. She was spitting blood, stating it was no accident, but without evidence, my uncle had no choice in the matter.
I got off lightly by Luminary standards.
Still, carrying her duties on top of mine is no picnic.
I’m running on fumes, barely getting four hours sleep most nights.
At least I’m too busy to think and too tired every night to lie awake, lamenting my lost loves. The other bonus is I don’t have to spend any time with Julia although I know that’s only a temporary reprieve.
Chad has returned to campus, and he’s attending classes. He’s permanently off the team, but at least he seems to have stopped drinking, and he’s focusing on his studies.
If our breakup helped with that, then I’m glad.
I miss him.
I miss him so much, and I wish things could be different.
But maybe it happened like this for a reason.
I don’t see how there was any future for Chad in my world. Perhaps it’s best that he hates me and glowers at me any time we bump into one another on campus. At least I can’t put him in harm’s way anymore.
Unfortunately, I bump into Jase at parties a lot, and he’s usually with different women. He is discreet in fulfilling his responsibility, slipping upstairs when no one is watching so he doesn’t tarnish his rep or Julia’s now everyone knows they are engaged.
He always pretends like I don’t exist, and I ignore him too. I hate how much I miss him and how I’m going to be reminded of it all the time because he’ll be my family when he marries Julia, and there is no getting away from it.
Ares and I living together is a constant test of my willpower. He has stopped his daily naked routine and taunts about Chad, Jase, and Julia in favor of a new routine. I’m calling it “killing me with kindness.” He’s trying to be nice to me while flirting at the same time. He has breakfast ready for me each morning, rushes home from work to cook me dinners, and plies me with hot chocolate at bedtime. Hera obviously taught him how to cook because he knows her full repertoire. But it doesn’t matter. I don’t have much of an appetite these days, and even though Ares nags me until I’ve eaten at least a few mouthfuls, my clothes hang off me now.
He even insists on watching movies with me, and he hasn’t been going out as much. I have spotted him hanging around some of the parties I attend. On other occasions, he is outside when I’m leaving in the early hours to whisk me home on his bike. It’s like every time I turn around he is there, and it’s borderline stalking.
I think I preferred it when he was mean to me.
If I didn’t know better, I’d say it’s remorse and guilt. But Ares’s mantra is guilt is for the weak-minded, and he proudly boasted to Chad that he doesn’t suffer a guilty conscience, so I’m not sure why he is going overboard. Perhaps Dad and Hera asked him to do it. That’s the only explanation that makes sense.
On weekends, when I manage to find some downtime, I train with my new trainer Vincent, or I drive off in my car with my Nikon and take pictures. Sometimes, I head to the lake, or go into the forest, or hike a mountain, snapping pictures of everything I see. Other times I walk around downtown, capturing interesting people, or chalk murals on the sidewalk, or birds converging around the fountain as little kids throw them pieces of bread, or tourists throwing coins into the well along with their unspoken dreams.
I attended the photography expo, but it wasn’t as enjoyable going alone.
Sundays are alternated between visits to see Dad and Hera and Mom and her new family. Relations are still frosty between me and my mother, and I mainly visit to spend time with my cute little sister, Emilie.
I’m still not talking to Bree. I’m so hurt she was keeping secrets from me. I understand, to a point, but she was still deceiving me even if she believed her motives were justified. So, I’m wandering in this weird space, devoid of the people I love and those I came to rely on, living with the person who helped to derail my life, and socializing with a bunch of strangers I am only befriending as part of a job that aims to hurt them and their families.
I handed in my first report recently, and I hated it. I don’t want to issue regular lists of so-called weak people to be punished. But if I don’t,I’llbe punished, and I know next time my uncle won’t be so lenient.
ChapterForty-Seven
Ashley
“Are you heading next door?” Ares asks on Saturday night as I slip my feet into my heels in the hallway.
“What’s it to you?” I snap, still pissed at my stepbrother and riled up because my uncle personally called to tell me I had to attend the pre-Christmas party Julia is hosting at the townhome she shares with Jase, Chad, and Bree. I would rather yank my eyelashes out with pliers than step foot in that house, but I’m sure the punishment would be worse.
Mom called and warned me to go, spouting appearances and the need to mend bridges, yada, yada. She has truly embraced her inner Luminary, and she’s fully back in the fold.
“Woah, no need to bite my head off. I just thought you could use some moral support.” Ares holds up his hands, flashing me a flirtatious grin, and I try not to notice how totally hot he looks in a plain white and black tee with ripped jeans and biker boots.
“From you?” I snort out a laugh. “I’m well and truly screwed if relying onyouis what my life has come to. Or have you forgotten how you destroyed my relationship with my boyfriend and fucked my archnemesis? And that’s before I mention all the other shit you’ve pulled over the past year. Fuck you, Ares. I don’t need moral support from the likes of you.”
His black hair falls in sexy waves across his brow, and his hazel eyes are smoldering as he drinks me in. It’s like he didn’t even hear what I just said, or it just rolled off his back. Man, what I wouldn’t give to be that indifferent. “Stop eye fucking me!” I snap, clasping the strap at my ankle and standing.
