Surprise flickers in my chest at how different he looks from Wendy.
His chin juts out. “Who’s asking?”
I smile. I think I’ll quite like this kid. “I’m James, a friend of your sister’s. She asked me to be here.”
His eyes narrow before he finally nods, walking over to me and sticking out his hand. “Good. She needs a friend.”
My palm connects with his, and a small admiration grows for the boy, his loyalty to his sister something I respect. He doesn’t drop eye contact for a second, and his grip is strong and sure.
“Oh,” Wendy’s voice comes from the entry to the office. “You guys have met. Great.” She glances around. “What are you two doing in here?”
I open my mouth to answer, but before I can, Jon intervenes. “I was just showing him around,” he says.
My brows lift in surprise.
She grins. “That’s nice. You ready to go?”
His eyes dim, his finger pushing the glasses up his face. “Yeah. Let’s go.”
As we make our way to my Audi, my phone vibrates in my pocket. I pull it out, glancing at the caller ID, Ru’s name flashing across the screen.
I brush my hand down Wendy’s hair, reaching around her to open the passenger door. “I have to take this call. I’ll only be a moment.”
She nods, her and Jon settling in as I walk a few paces away.
“Roofus.”
“Kid, where are you? We’ve got a business meeting in three hours. I’m gonna tell him that we’re out. Another one of our investments didn’t come through, and I don’t trust this new guy as far as I can throw him.”
My stomach cramps as I glance back at Wendy and Jon, her head thrown back in laughter. “I’m rather tied up at the moment, but I should be done by midday. Where are we meeting?”
“Same as before. I’m heading there in a couple hours, but I’ll take one of the boys, don’t worry.”
My teeth grind so hard I fear they’ll break, my mind warring with indecision. I don’t want Ru to go without me, but I gave Wendy my word, and if I back out now, I’ll lose all of the ground I’ve gained.
Huffing out a breath, nausea churns in my gut. “I’ll meet you there as soon as I can.”
“Alright, kid. And don’t make plans tonight, I’m done playing games. We’ve got work to do.”
He hangs up, and I’m stuck staring at the phone, my mind going over all of the possible scenarios that can get me there in time. Rockford Prep is an hour drive both ways, and Cannibal’s Cave is another thirty minutes, but if I hurry, I can make it.
Slipping my phone back in my pocket, I head to the car, unease swirling like a shark in my gut.
First, I’ll deal with Wendy.
And then I’ll deal with her father.
23
Wendy
I hadn’t realized the school was on an island. For all of the worrying I’ve done the past few days, it didn’t even cross my mind to Google the actual building.
As our car was loaded on the ferry, my nerves ramped up, to the point where I could barely focus on the small talk between James and Jon—the two of them taking to each other like ducks to water. But once we’re back on land, I’m able to focus in, and my chest warms as I listen to James give attention to my brother, the way I always wished our father would. And at some point, I know I’ll need to give up my naive view of him. I’ll have to stop remembering him as the dad who lifted me on his shoulders and told me I could help him run the world and start seeing him as the stranger who likes to keep me small and useless.
It’s just hard to let go of someone, to let them drift away until they only exist in your memories. Once I do, I’ll have to admit that maybe he never really existed at all.
“Are you alright, darling?” James’s voice snaps me from my thoughts, our car pulling into the lot of Rockford Prep.
I force a grin, not wanting to focus on the absence of my father, choosing instead to think about how it’s James here now, making sure Jon and I don’t do this alone.
The school itself is large, looming over us like a castle with steepled towers and arched windows, but the air surrounding it is heavy. Suffocating. I brush off the feeling, hoping it’s just my volatile emotions giving me a skewed view.
Maybe he’ll love it here.
“Looks nice,” I say, trying to infuse a lighthearted tone into my voice.
Jon stands next to me, his eyes taking in the building.
James’s hand rests on my lower back. “It looks rather dim, doesn’t it?”
Jon grins at him. “I looked it up before I came. I knew what to expect.”
Surprise flows through me, my heart pinching at the fact that he so easily shared with James what he hasn’t shared with me.
We move inside, a melancholy grip squeezing my lungs. I don’t want to leave Jon here, if for no other reason than I’ll miss him. Family has always been the most important thing in my world, and now it feels as though I’m in the middle of a riptide, watching as everything gets washed away, and I’m left struggling against the current.
The air in the main office presses around me with every step, and it’s only when I feel James’s hand on my back that I straighten my spine, allowing him to infuse some of his confidence into my bones. I lean into him for the support.
There’s a woman sitting behind the front desk, her gray hair pulled into a tight bun, glasses pinned to her shirt with beaded straps.
“Hi,” I start. “I’m here to drop off my brother. He’s supposed to move in today.”
Her lips pinch as she takes me in, then moves her gaze to Jon, before finally resting on the man at my side. “Headmaster Dixon will be available shortly,” she says. “Until then you can sit down, I’ll let you know when he’s ready.”
“Okay, thank you.” I turn to go, but James’s strong grip at my back keeps me in place.
“I do apologize, Miss…” He leans in over the top of the desk.
The woman’s eyes grow round, her lips turning up in the corner. “Mrs. Henderson.”
“Right. Of course, you’re a Mrs.,” he purrs. “Pity.”
“Oh, now.” She glances down, her cheeks gaining a rosy hue, and amusement dances through my chest at the fact he seems to be flirting.
“I understand you and Headmaster Dixon must be extremely busy people,” he continues. “But we are rather in a hurry.”
My brows pull in. We are?
“You’d be doing me a great favor if you would let him know we’re ready now.”
Her grin drops, and it’s no surprise, because while he sounds nothing less than a gentleman, there’s an undercurrent of command in his tone, one that leaves no room for argument.
She nods slowly, reaching out and picking up the phone, before speaking a few words and hanging back up. “I’ll take you back.” She smiles.
“Wonderful.” James claps his hands together.
Jon and I share a look, and James’s palm comes back to rest on my lower back, propelling me into the hallway.
Headmaster Dixon is a short, stocky man who sticks out his chest, and smiles so wide you can see his wisdom teeth. He goes through the curriculum, and promises Jon will be in good hands, especially being Peter Michaels’s kid; who he reminds us no less than thirty times that he’s friends with. But for as much posturing as he exudes, he can’t command a room the way James does just by existing within it, and for every question that James asks, Headmaster Dixon’s voice grows tighter.