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“We’re here,” Julien said, as he wound down his window and punched in the code to the iron gates. As they yawned open, Julien felt like a chasm as wide as the Grand Canyon had appeared before him, as he inched the car forward into the courtyard.
Robbie peered out the windshield at the enormous house that was lit up in front of them, and then he muttered, “Holy shit.”
Julien drew the car to a stop and stared at the stone steps that led up to the double glass doors that were the back entrance, and his stomach tightened just as his hands did around the steering wheel.
For a few minutes on the way out there, he’d forgotten why they were all back in L.A. But as he sat there now, with the engine cut, and silence the only thing in the car, it all came roaring back.
Priest’s hand on his shoulder made Julien jolt in his seat.
“You ready?”
Julien looked at him in the rearview mirror and said, “No.” Then he felt Robbie’s fingers wrap around his and squeeze. “But I want it over with.”
Priest gave a clipped nod. “Princess?”
“Yes?” Robbie answered, his face now a mask of seriousness, his understanding of the mood in the car a testament to their burgeoning relationship.
“No matter what happens tonight with his parents, no matter what is said, remember that you’re here because Julien asked you to come. He wants you here. He wants you to understand this part of him. Okay?”
Julien knew what Priest was doing. He was warning Robbie. He was trying to prepare him for what was about to come. It was something Julien should’ve been doing himself, but he couldn’t seem to find his voice.
“Okay,” Robbie said. “I understand.”
Julien swallowed, wishing that were true. But really, there was no way to prepare someone for the disgust one’s parents had for a son who had killed their only daughter.
Chapter Eighteen
CONFESSION
You’re everywhere.
But nowhere at all.
“COME ON. LET’S go,” Jacquelyn said as she pushed through the back doors of the house and headed inside.
“You better go with her,” their mom said to Julien, as Jacquelyn charged off ahead. “Make sure she stays out of trouble.”
“As if that’s possible.”
“You’re right,” she said with a laugh. “But at least with you I know she’s safe, mon cher petit. And in a new country, that will ease me and your dad.”
Julien grinned and headed off after Jacquelyn, who had just disappeared down a corridor to the left, her dark hair the only thing he caught as she ran off in search of her new bedroom.
As he followed behind, Julien’s eyes swept over the huge room directly off to his right, which appeared to be a living room of sorts, but then he continued on, figuring he’d come back to that after he claimed a room of his own.
He rounded the corner he’d seen Jacquelyn run down, and when all he saw was an empty corridor, he called out, “Jacquelyn? Where’d you run off to, petite poulette?”
When all he got in response was silence, Julien sighed and headed down the hall. He looked into several empty rooms on either side, and when he finally reached the end of the long walkway, he spotted her inside the final room up on the right.
She’d pushed open a set of French doors and was standing outside on a large balcony that overlooked a pool and the reservoir their mom had told them about. The afternoon sun was just now beginning to set, and as Julien stepped outside onto the balcony, Jacquelyn turned to face him with a brilliant smile.
“Whatever fantasies you’re having about Romeo and Romeo, Julien Thornton, you stop right now. I saw this room first.”
Julien rolled his eyes and walked over to where she stood, and as they leaned down and rested their arms on the stone handrail, he said, “Do you think you’ll like it here?”
“In this house? Umm, have you seen it?”
“Non, not the house. America? Abruti. L.A.?”
Jacquelyn looked out ahead of them and shrugged. “I guess. I mean, it’s totally different to France.”
“Oui, it is,” Julien said. “It’s very…I don’t know, loud? I didn’t think I’d miss the old house as much as I do.”
“Well, you always liked it there—the villa too, since it was more secluded and you could hide away. I keep telling you, you need to get out more, stop being so shy. Live a little.” Jacquelyn bumped her arm up against his, and then said in a soft voice, “This is L.A., Jules, not some backward-thinking town out in the country. No one is going to care that you like boys as much as I do. In fact, I’ll probably be fighting you for them.”
Julien gave her a shut up look and shook his head, making her laugh. But then she sobered and slipped her hand through the crook of his arm.
