The Arrangement 12

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“What’d she say?” Sean asks. “What were her exact words?”
“Her voice isn’t panicked, it’s creepy, smooth as glass, and she says, ‘You have no idea what you’ve done, you little cunt. Everything was perfect, and now they’ll all…’ Her words get garbled and I can’t understand her. Her face contorts in pain and she starts screaming. That’s a horrible way to die, and with the amount of blood pouring from her like that, she was as good as dead. She started begging me, so I ended it. Then I grabbed my stuff and ran. They must have found the body when they brought in the food.”
I can’t breathe for a few seconds and Mel won’t look at me. Sean is watching the side of my face, waiting for my reaction. A few things stick and I blurt them out. “Someone was trying to frame you for something else—otherwise why would that woman be dressed like you?”
“And?” Sean prompts, watching me closely.
“The bracelet didn’t work. Either someone tampered with it or it never worked to begin with. Black says she checks them every time we check in, so that shouldn’t be it.” I glance over at Mel. “What do you think?”
When Mel glances up at me, I want to throw my arms around her and tell her that everything will be all right, but I know it won’t be. “I think we’re fucked. Someone was using me to get to you and they’re doing it through Black. The problem now is that none of this will lead back to her.”
“But the transmitter?” I ask, still not getting what they’re trying to tell me.
Mel’s brow is pinched with worry when she looks over at me. Her hand grabs at the hair on the sides of her temples and I hear the distress in her voice. “Avery, there was no fucking transmitter. When the cops look at the bracelet, they’ll think it was junk jewelry. It won’t lead back to Black, it’ll lead to me.”
CHAPTER 13
Sean isn’t tense for once. Sometime while Mel was talking, his shoulders relaxed and he’s sitting back in his chair like it’s a throne. His lips are straight, there’s no curve to the corners of his mouth. He stares straight ahead, lost in thought.
I’m still piecing things together and don’t like the way the puzzle is forming. If someone was impersonating Mel, then what was she there for? It feels like Mel left pieces of the story out, but for the life of me, I can’t imagine what they could be. I find myself staring at the side of her face.
Mel is leaning back in her chair with her neck resting, looking up at the ceiling. “What?” she finally snaps.
“Tell her,” Sean suddenly says, and glances over at me. “I already told you that I’ll tell her if you don’t.” Mel doesn’t move. Instead she stiffens and seals her lips. “Avery—”
Mel darts upright. “I’ll tell her! You don’t say a word.” Pain is painted all over Mel’s face. “Someone’s been screwing with you, right? Asia told me that you had her in your room one night—that something spooked you.” My jaw drops. I’m about to deny it, but both of them give me a look that shuts me up. “Tonight, before everything went to hell, I got a text with a video attached. It was you. He said to come get it or he’d post it online. Avery, I was supposed to leave the room and you guys were supposed to be there. I didn’t leave because I thought he was messing with me at first, and then I said I was coming but the food was supposed to be there. I figured he’d wait, so I didn’t leave—I just told him I was on my way.”
I blink at her. “Wait a second, someone told you they had a sex video of me and that they’d post it if you didn’t come down, but you didn’t go because you wanted dinner first?” I give her a shocked look and don’t know whether I should yell and scream or hug her.
Sean glances at me. “There’s another player, and you’re his target.”
I can’t process what they’re trying to tell me. I laugh and shake my head, like they’re both nuts. “You think someone is trying to kill me?” What a stupid idea. I laugh too much and too hard, but when I look up, Mel and Sean are watching me. Neither of them thinks it’s funny—they both believe someone is trying to hurt me.
I roll my eyes, refusing to believe it. “The guy was in my room when I was alone. Why didn’t he do it then? And what would he have to gain? I have nothing and I’m a nobody. I have no family and no one loves me, except you.”
Sean watches me with those dark eyes and terror drips into my stomach like acid. It’s because of him. Someone is trying to hurt me to get at Sean. Oh God. My jaw drops open and quivers.
Before I can say anything else, he scoops me up in his arms and holds me to his chest, crushing me with his strong arms. “I won’t let them touch you.”
CHAPTER 14
I sit with Mel while Sean tries to talk to his brother one last time. It doesn’t go well. I can hear them yelling from where I sit. Trystan is back, looking like a spring daisy.
He arches an eyebrow at me. “What?”
“Are you nocturnal, or one of those weird people that thrives on two hours of sleep?” I’m slumped back in my chair with a nauseous headache, propping up my face with my hand. Otherwise I’d be lying on the floor, since it started to look comfy a few hours ago. Trystan looks uncomfortable and absentmindedly touches the ring under his shirt. I get it. “Ah, you’re neither, which means you’re mental too. Welcome to the club.”
He chortles and presses his fingers to his temples and seems to relax again. No one speaks and I keep wondering the same question. I know I shouldn’t ask it, but I do anyway. “Mel?”
“Yeah?” she says from the floor. Her arm is over her face and she’s lying flat on her back.
“What’d it feel like?” She pulls her arm off her eyes and sits up a little.
“You don’t want to know that for real, do you?”
I’m stupid. I nod. The thing is, if I had to defend myself, I wonder if I could. I’m squeamish around blood, so how could I inflict enough damage to keep someone from killing me? I wonder if it’s like some other part of the brain takes over and that’s that.
Mel sits up and puts her arms around her knees. “I knew what I was doing, if that’s what you mean. The moment I saw her, I knew something was wrong—like way the fuck wrong. When someone threatens you with a knife, gun, or whatever—there’s no time to second guess anything. It’s you or them, and I’m not dying.”
Trystan’s eyes flick between us as we speak, but he says nothing. I wonder what horrors he’s seen because he doesn’t react to anything we say. He just sits there, listening, like he knows what Mel’s talking about.
“But how can you do it? I don’t think I could.”
That’s when Trystan speaks up. “There’s something inside of you that will wake up if you need it. I hope to God that you never do, but don’t doubt that it’s there. Like Mel said, your body will want to act—to protect you. Don’t think. Just do it, and you’ll live another day.”
Mel and I stare at him. There’s a second where his words are frightening, but then I feel nothing but empathy for him. He must have learned that from living with his father. The guy beat the shit out of him when he was a kid. It was in the papers and all anyone talked about for a while. Trystan Scott is a beautiful, charismatic, and charming singer. Everyone who meets him, loves him. He doesn’t seem to have a violent bone in his body, but he came from a bloody and battered past. There’s more story there, things I’ll never know, secrets he’ll never tell.
I nod, and am saved from finding an answer when Sean appears. “Let’s go. Jon can deal with his own shit.” He glances at Trystan and seems like he wants to tell him off, but doesn’t.
“Wait, what about Mel?” I ask, as Sean’s leading me toward the door.
“She knows what to do. Don’t worry about her. Come on, I have the jet waiting at McArthur Airport.”
The jet? Where are we going? I know better than to ask, so I say nothing and follow him outside. There’s a limo waiting. We duck inside and take off. Sean is still angry from whatever happened with Jonathan. He lets out a rush of air and says, “My brother’s an idiot.”
I smile at him, trying to lighten the mood. “Which one?”
Sean smirks and glances over at me, before wrapping his arm around my shoulders and pulling me to him. He kisses the top of my head and starts talking. “Jon thinks I abandoned him when he was a kid, but that’s not what happened. Pete seems to understand better, but not Jon. He won’t forgive me, and he acts like his childhood was hell and it’s my fault. The guy has everything, including the family fortune, then he goes and does things like this. I could understand this behavior from Bryan or Trystan, but not Jon. He’s got too much on the line and our mother isn’t exactly forgiving. There are things he doesn’t know.” Sean sighs and stops talking. It seems like he’s going to say more, but he doesn’t.
“I wish I had a brother or a sister, even if we didn’t get along. I envy you.” Sean makes a sound of disbelief. “No, I’m serious. Having crappy siblings is better than having none. You’re not alone. I am. Besides, Peter seems to have forgiven you. Jon will understand sooner or later.”
Sean doesn’t say anything, he just holds me tighter and stares out the window until the limo pulls up to a little jet parked on the tarmac. The lights glow softly from inside and the door is open with a staircase beckoning us to board. Sean takes my hand and leads me onto the plane. When I step inside, I don’t know what to do. There are eight huge leather seats that look as if they spin around. There’s a table, a bar, and a huge paper-thin television on the back wall. Everything looks pristine and has that new car, uh, new jet, smell.
“Sit wherever you like.” Sean gestures for me to continue into the back by myself. He disappears behind a curtain in front and speaks to the pilot before returning. By then I’m sitting in the last row and looking out the window.