Page 29 of Worse Than Wicked
“I thought you quit smoking,” Mabel says, nodding to the circle of butts on the ground around my feet.
How long was I out here this time?
“I did,” I say, pocketing the gold pack, the same ones her brother smoked in another life. “Mostly.”
“We’ve been looking for you,” she says. “Baron closed up shop.”
“Damn,” I say. “Sorry. Must have lost track of time.”
“You really shouldn’t take so many of those.”
“Don’t smoke, don’t take Alice,” I say. “You don’t want me to have any fun.”
I stomp past her, but she catches my elbow. “Duke,” she says. “I don’t mind if you have fun. I’m worried about you.”
I look down at her, those blue eyes so convincing, and I melt. I cup her face in my hands and kiss her, and she lets me, even though I’ve been smoking and she hates that.
“I’m okay, Duchess,” I say, drawing back and sweeping a strand of hair back from her cheek. “I don’t take that many. It’s just something to pass the time. It gets boring being in there all day.”
“Promise?” she asks, searching my eyes.
“I promise.”
We’re not supposed to lie to each other, but how can I know she’s holding up her end of the bargain? And if she’s not, then I don’t have to, either.
“Good,” she says, stepping in and wrapping her arms around me, pressing her ear to my chest. “Because I don’t think I could live without you.”
She doesn’t think Baron would let her live. That’s what she means. That I’m the only thing keeping him from going too far, like he almost did that day he found out about Blue. I like knowing her survival depends on me. That’s the only thing either of them really need me for.
“I have a surprise for you,” Baron says when we slide into the car.
I don’t answer because I think he’s talking to Mabel, but then they’re both looking at me in the back seat.
“What?” I ask.
“We’re going back to Faulkner for the summer,” Baron says.
I wanted that so much at Christmas, but it’s not Christmas anymore. It’s the last day of classes for the students, which means Baron and Mabel are done with the school year.
“But… What about the operation?” I ask, gesturing back toward Wonderland as Baron pulls away.
“I found someone to run it,” he says. “A couple people, in fact. It’s past time you were out of there, anyway. You shouldn’t be making the product. We’re too big for that now.”
“I don’t mind,” I say, trying not to panic at the thought of leaving without grabbing a handful. If I’d known we’d be leaving, I would have taken more than that. A handful won’t last me all summer. I need a whole bag. I have some at home, but I would have been stockpiling if I knew he was going to pull me out.
“I know you don’t,” Baron says. “But you should be in a higher-level position. You’re joint owner. You shouldn’t be in the trenches with the stuff. Besides, it’s not good for you to be around that all day.”
Fuck. I try to calculate how many I have at home against how many I’ll need, how many I take per day, and how many days of summer I’ll need to make them last.
Did they plan this, make sure I wouldn’t go back in and grab some on the way out? Is that why Baron closed up, and why Mabel didn’t tell me we weren’t coming back tomorrow?
“Aren’t you happy to be going home?” Mabel presses, turning around in her seat to look at me. “You haven’t seen your family in a year.”
“I thought Royal wouldn’t let you come back,” I say to my brother.
“We worked it out,” he says, like it’s all inconsequential, though I know it’s not. Family matters to Baron more than anything else.
“How?” I ask, narrowing my eyes at him.
