Page 111 of Fish Out of Water

“Are you going to try to keep the peace?”

“Fuck no.”

Jake couldn’t help but smile.

The Eatons had moved quickly from their car to a table, where they sat picking at the cheese and fruit platters laid out as if they were poisoned. Madeleine sniffed a cube of cheese, raising one eyebrow before depositing it in her mouth.

“It’s that prepackaged slop from Sandway,” she told her husband after she had finished chewing and swallowing.

Robert Jr. was not listening to her, however. He had his attention trained on someone else.

“Hello, Father, Mother,” Robbie said calmly. He stood on the opposite side of the narrow table, looking down at them. Finally, for the first time in his life, the power imbalance wasn’t nearly as lopsided.

“Robert,” said his father, “how delightful to see you. I take it you’ve changed your mind since we last spoke?”

Robbie’s face paled. Jake felt his heart racing, picking up pace by the second, as he stood behind Robbie, half-obscured so as not to disrupt the family reunion just yet.

Come on, Robbie, he thought.Don’t back down now. Stay your ground.

“No,” Robbie said. “Of course I haven’t.”

“But you’re standing here right now,” Madeleine said, feigning surprise.

Never in his life had Jake wanted to smack someone more. He would never, of course, but that hint of a smirk, the one that looked frighteningly similar to Robbie’s, was enough to send waves of silent rage coursing through him like venom.

“Surely you would be planning to leave now if you really weren’t staying.”

“I’m not leaving Eventide,” Robbie said.

“Was that not the plan before?” Robert asked.

“It was, but I realized that’s not what’s best for me. I was reacting to some unsettling developments in my life, and I understand now that retaliating in spite is not the best way to manage something.” How Robbie was able to keep his voice so calm, Jake had no idea. It was an enviable quality, especially with parents like these. “I want to stay in Eventide.”

“You’re not living in the Eaton Manor,” Madeleine said. She made it sound like a threat, but Robbie merely shrugged.

“Oh, I know. I bought a house.”

“Excuse me?” Robert looked at Madeleine, then back at Robbie, then his gaze flickered toward Jake for a brief second, and Jake stepped out from behind Robbie.

“I bought Isabel Haver’s house,” Robbie explained.

“Youwere the one who bought it out from under us?” Madeleine raised her eyebrows in sheer surprise. Robbie had really, truly managed to catch her off guard this time.

“Isabel wasn’t going to accept your offer anyway,” Jake told her. “You had no chance.”

“You do understand that you’re giving up your inheritance if you do this, yes?” Madeleine asked.

“Yes, Mother. We already talked about this.”

“And your future children will be cut off, too.”

“I’m not having any children.”

Madeleine’s jaw twitched. This was clearly a sore subject for the family; even more so than Robbie and Safiya had made it out to be in their brief mentions of it.

“Do you really want to do this, Robbie?”

Jake’s blood turned to ice. He’d never heard Robbie’s parents call him by his nickname before, and he hated how it sounded from them more than he could have ever imagined.