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I walk to the wall of windows at the back. The night is clear and the water calm. The beacon light scans the horizon warning any ships that may be in the nearby waters not to come too close. Those cliffs mean business. I know.
I sip from my glass as I take in the lighthouse, making myself look at it, see it. Maybe it’s the circumstances that have changed or this new weight of a brand-new life that will depend solely on me for the next seven plus months. For the years to come. But as I stare at it, it’s just a lighthouse. A building with a shitty past. A shitty present. But it can’t hurt me. It, like Evelyn Augustine, has no power over me.
“Should you be drinking that?” comes a soft voice from so close behind me that I feel breath on my skin. The hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, and I turn to find Ana standing just a few inches from me. She has cut her hair at a sharp angle and has a new, thick fringe of bangs that come to the tops of her eyebrows almost like someone took a ruler to get them so precise. It’s freshly dyed blue-black and flat-ironed so straight I swear I can smell how she’s fried it.
“You like it?” she asks, brushing her bangs down with her index finger.
“You look great,” I say, turning away.
She grabs my shoulder and gives me a stupid smile. She raises her eyebrows at my drink. “Isn’t that bad for the baby?” she whispers loudly.
“What are you talking about?” I ask, because how the fuck does she know?
“Don’t worry, I’ll keep your secret,” she says, curling her fingers around my hand. She comes to stand shoulder to shoulder with me and looks out toward the lighthouse.
“I heard you and Caius broke up.” I pull my fingers away with effort.
She shrugs a shoulder. “He’s come over since. Don’t worry about us. We’ll sort it out. He can’t resist me. Or my bed. You know men,” she says with a wink, then gestures to the looming structure of the lighthouse. “You must worry you’ll be like your mom.” She smiles that cruel little smile of hers. “It must be on your mind that fear that you’ll hurt the little bundle?”
I can’t quite form a response out of sheer shock that anyone would say something like that.
“I mean,” she starts, shrugging her shoulders. “It runs in families, right? Mental illness?”
I watch her, not believing what I’m hearing.
“Don’t worry. Caius and I can adopt it. Take it off your hands. Keep it safe.” I don’t miss how she refers to the baby as an it. “I mean, I know Caius will want to have our own, but he’ll need this one. Sad fact.” She makes a mock sad face. “I’ll treat it as if it were my own, don’t worry.”
Now that, that makes me angry. I pull out of arm’s reach because I can’t be near her for another second. “Jesus. What is wrong with you?”
“What the fuck are you doing?” Caius says, grabbing Ana roughly by the arm and jerking her away.
Ana looks surprised, then cocks her head and smiles that stupid, fake smile. “I was just talking to my friend. You’re hurting me, Caius.”
He twists his hand around her arm and walks her away from me, backing her against a wall. He gets right in her face, and I see a side of Caius I don’t see often. Because when he’s being an asshole to me, which is often, he’s controlled. Almost enjoying himself. Now, though, he’s violent. Furious. And I can see what it’s taking him to master himself.
“Do not fucking go near her. Do you fucking hear me, you crazy bitch?” he hisses the words, and Ana looks shocked and then terrified. I take a step toward them to stop him but a cold hand wraps around my wrist. I turn to find Camilla Avery at my side.
This must be my lucky night.
“He’s very protective of you for a brother-in-law. You’d almost think he’s your husband.”
“Oh my God. Get off me!”
Her grip tightens. She smiles and holds up the book she borrowed from my room. “I have your book! It wasn’t as good as I hoped but you know how these things go. I did promise to return it. Here.”
She holds it out to me just as Caius returns, minus Ana. “For fuck’s sake.” He gets in Camilla’s face, and she backs up, right into Liam. “What is this, Grand Central Station for freaks?”
I look at him, see how he doesn’t look like he usually does either. The stubble on his jaw is not as neat, his hair is messier than normal, and I smell alcohol on his breath.
“No need to be rude, Caius,” Camilla tells him. “I was just returning a book.” She turns back to me. “Page seventy-seven is where it gets interesting. Byeeee!” She exaggerates the word, waves, turns and walks off, and my mind is boggled.
“Fucking freak,” Caius mutters. He looks me over. “You okay?”
“I’m fine. I don’t need you to rescue me.” I look down at the book that looks like it’s been through a war. “And don’t be a jerk to Ana. She’s just…” I shake my head because I don’t really know what she is.
“She’s a cunt to you. You don’t need to defend her.”
“And you’re my friend suddenly?”
