Scorch (Virtues & Lies 2)

“Just put him down, god-fucking-dammit. You’re making a scene.” Stepping back from them, Fleur turns to me. Bottomless black eyes drowning in tears, she takes a deep breath before she says, “You knew my mum. You know why she did it.”

The truth is that yes, I remember Grace’s episodes. She used to disappear for days or weeks at a time, Mum would be worried sick, and Dad would send someone to find her. There were moments her manic episodes would verge on psychosis.

Fleur would come stay with us, and we would all avoid the reason why she was there.

Still, Grace was hyperintelligent and extraordinarily kind for someone that lived in a constant battle with her own shadow.

Nodding, I shuffle closer to her. Sheepishness makes my heart swell uncomfortably in my chest when she shakes her head and backs away from me.

“It’s my grandmother’s cottage. The number and the name. It was Mum’s favourite place,” she says quietly. The tip of her nose flares red like her cheeks and teary eyes.

Before another tear falls, she walks around me to the door.

Throwing Freddie back into his seat, Casper starts for her. “Wait.”

Fleur doesn’t look back. She doesn’t stop, and his frustration is evident in the way his hands clench at his sides.

“Will you stop? Please?”

“I want to go home, Casper.” Turning in the doorway, she takes another deep breath. “I’m done, okay?”

“No.” The grit in his tone has our conversation form earlier flitting through my mind. Every word changes context the longer I watch their exchange.

What the fuck?

My feet move before I can stop myself, but Arabella is quick to tug me back. She looks just as befuddled by the scenario in front of us. Leo looks indifferent, almost like he’s had time to adjust to whatever is going on.

Eyes rushing to meet the floor, he crosses his arms in front of his chest. His stance is far too square and defensive.

Son of a bitch!

“You’re staying here.” Casper leaves no room for argument with the finality in his voice. “With all of us.”

Fleur’s irate laugh echoes around him. A part of me wants to protect her from his hulking frame. Side by side, he swallows her small stature.

“It’s funny that you think you can tell me what to do, big man.” The soles of her shoes slap softly on the wood, getting lower the farther she walks away.

Fists clenching, he goes after her, only stopping to scowl at us. “Figure that shit out.”

Awkward silence fills the room when he disappears.

“Fucking Spanish…so archaic in every way,” Freddie grumbles. “Incest is so outdated.”

“The English and Germans were the incestuous prats.” Arabella shows him the finger as she turns to Leo, hands on her hips and a hard set to her delicate features. “We’re fucking even.”

“Nowhere fucking close.” Snapping right back at her, he begins pocketing the balls left on the table, smashing them hard into the netted holes.

“Why didn’t you say anything?” I plug the pocket he aims for, catching the ball with an audible crack to my palm. The polished sphere reflects a distorted and squished panorama of the room. “Huh?”

“It’s none of our business.”

“It’s every bit of our business,” Arabella barks at him. “He’s my brother and…and…”

The anger radiating from her is bright and hot. Her chest is heaving.

“And if your suspicions are right,” I sigh, trying to diffuse their argument, “we can’t have him chasing the wrong tail.”

“Jesus! Will you stop trying to make her out to be the enemy? Fleur’s been there for everything.”