Page 1 of Vice
PROLOGUE
THEN
“Are you kidding me? You’re the one up here, finger fucking some twenty-one-year-old, and you’re giving me shit?”
These are not words I ever expected to hear coming out of my sister’s mouth, and yet as I climb the stairs of the Aubertin mansion, on the hunt for her and my best friend, Jamie, these are the words I hear.
Jamie speaks, his voice thick with amusement. “What’s wrong? You never been caught in flagrante before, Laura Preston? Never been caught with your panties down?”
Oh, boy. The ball Jamie’s father is hosting downstairs is in full swing, his guests chattering and laughing loudly like the rich, over-fed, over-stuffed hyenas that they are, so they can’t hear the conversation taking place in one of the guest rooms on the second floor. I can, though, and it sounds like the shit has just hit the fan. I creep along the hallway, hugging the wall, not making a sound as I approach the open bedroom door. Lore and Jamie stand on opposite ends of the room, Jamie’s hair tousled all over the place, the top button of his shirt undone, Laura’s cheeks bright red, her brow creased in anger.
“No!” she cries. I nearly burst out laughing when she stoops down, snatches one of her golden pumps from her feet and launches it across the room at Jamie’s head. She misses the first time, so she yanks off her other shoe and hurls that, too. This time she hits the huge mirror hanging on the wall behind Jamie’s head, and the thing shatters into a million pieces.
“What the fuck, Laura?” Jamie yells.
Jesus wept. I have no idea what they’re fighting about, but they need to calm the fuck down. I should go in there. I should knock on the door or something so they know I’m here.
“You! I can’t—” Laura covers her mouth with her hand, and even from here I can see her eyes are wet with tears. “I can’t fucking believe you,” she says softly.
Jamie’s outrage at the smashed mirror melts away as concern overtakes his features. “Hey. Hey. I’m really fucking confused. Do you want to tell me what’s going on, or should I go and get Cade?”
My sister looks like she’s about to explode. “Don’t you dare go and get fucking Cade. You and Cade, joined at the hip, twenty-four-fucking-seven. You and Cade, vanishing off to fucking Afghanistan, leaving me here on my own. I waited here for you for four goddamn years, Jamie. Four years of waking up in a cold sweat every single night, wondering which one of you was going to die first. And then you come home and hardly even…hardly even look at me, and…”
What? No. No way. I must be imagining things right now—the way Laura looks like her heart has just been crushed. The way she’s looking at Jamie like it would all be okay if only he took her in his arms and kissed her. How did I not see this before? She has feelings for him? It seems impossible. My sister is many things: stubborn; self confident; beautiful; fiery as all hell. I never thought she was stupid, though. Falling in love with Jamie must be pretty similar to falling off the top of the Empire State Building. The whole way down, you’re praying you’re going to survive the experience, but in your head you know you’re gonna be fucking destroyed by the impact. Jamie doesn’t date girls. Jamie doesn’t fall in love with them. He has sex with them, and then he leaves them. In fairness, it’s not as if he ever lies to them. They know what to expect from him from the very beginning, he’s honest to a fault. Laura’s seen him screw so many girls and then never call them again, so why the fuck would she be dumb enough to develop feelings for the guy? Jamie looks pained, like he’s pondering the same question.
“Laura…” He reaches out, trying to tuck a curl of her shockingly bright blonde hair back behind her ear, but she shies away from his touch.
“No. Don’t! Fuck, Jamie, you just had your fingers inside some girl’s vagina.”
Ouch.
Jamie tenses, clearly not knowing what to do. “Lore, is there something you want to tell me?”
“Fuck you, Jamie. I shouldn’t have to tell you. You should already know! Ahh! Men! Why are you all so fucking oblivious? How can you be that completely blind to what’s been staring you in the face since we were kids, Jay? I just…I gotta get out of here.”
Shit. I was about to knock, to put an end to this train wreck, but now it’s too late. Laura’s heading for the doorway, and I’m about to be busted eavesdropping. Quickly, I open the door next to me, slipping silently into another of Jamie’s father’s bland, soulless guest bedrooms, drawing the door almost closed behind me. Almost. I can still see into the hallway through the inch-wide crack. Laura storms into view, and the gold sequins from her dress cast fragments of golden light over the walls and the ceiling like scattering fireflies. Jamie’s only a second behind her. He grabs her by the wrist, and her face is a mask of pure rage as she spins around and slaps him. Damn. That looked like it hurt. Jamie jerks back, releasing his hold on her.
“Shit.” Lore covers her face with her hands. “Shit, I’m so sorry. I just…”
Jamie shakes his head. “It’s okay.”
“I just can’t—”
“It’s okay,” Jamie repeats. “It’s fine. We can talk about it tomorrow.”
She’s crying. Laura and I are always at each other’s throats, but at the same time we’re close. She’s my sister. My only sister. Seeing her upset is like a knife in the gut. For a second, I want to knock Jamie the fuck out. It’s not his fault, though. I know that. Laura’s been hanging around with us since we were kids. He thinks of her as a sister, just as I think of him as a brother. Hitting him would be fucking pointless.
Laura nods. She wipes a tear away with the back of her hand and sniffs. “Tomorrow.” She turns and hightails it, racing down the stairs before he can stop her. Jamie stands there, watching her go, his hands on his hips, frozen like he can’t believe what’s just happened. He bows his head, sighing, and then slowly goes down the stairs, leaving me staring at an empty hallway.
I find Laura around the back of the house, leaning against the crumbling brick wall of an old outhouse, where Jamie’s grandfather used to store cattle feed back when the mansion wasn’t just a mansion but the main house of a huge farming estate. Jamie and I always used to hide from her here when we were younger, climbing up into the rafters of the outhouse, lying as still as we possibly could while she shouted at us and called us names below. Now, she’s smoking a cigarette, eyes still swollen from her tears, her mascara streaked halfway down her face.
“Your hands are shaking,” I tell her.
She nearly jumps out of her skin. “Jesus, you nearly scared me half to death, Cade Preston.”
I hold out my hand and she passes me the cigarette. Taking a deep drag, I close my eyes as my head starts to spin. Been years since I smoked. I didn’t even smoke when I was deployed. Leaning back against the wall with her, I nudge her with my shoulder, passing back the Marlboro.
“Wanna talk about it?”
