The Arrangement Anthology 2(36)
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.