Tacet a Mortuis Read online

  “Are you okay, sweetie?” Elena asked me, her arm snaking around my shoulders. Since I first met her almost a year ago, I instantly warmed to her. She was much like Nate in that aspect. Warm and inviting. Something about their aura just had you craving to be around them.

  “I’ll be fine once she’s gone.”

  Elena’s lips pinched together. “I understand that, Madison, and I’m sorry.”

  I offered her a small smile, appreciating how well she was taking my dad’s ex coming back from the dead. A lot better than I took it, that was for sure. I sat down on the sofa as Nate stretched out beside me, his arm coming to the back of my neck, cradling my body into his more. He was relaxed by the naked eye, but I could tell the stance he had smoothly shifted into he was ready to jump on my mom at any given moment, and I loved him for it even more.

  “Can we hurry this along because I had a big night last night.”

  Nate stiffened slightly, but I ignored it, hurrying my parents to get this bullshit over with.

  “Madison, first of all, your father and I never wanted you to hate us. We—”

  “—Wait!” I corrected her with a raise of my hand. “Correction, I hate you, I don’t hate Dad—never will. He did his best, still does his best, and even though he’s...” The words frizzled out in my throat, threatening to choke me. I hadn’t spoken them out loud since finding out. Before I could stop it, a single tear leaked out, slipping down my cheek. Nate caught it with his finger, and my gaze locked with his. Slowly, he brought his finger to his lips and sucked the tear off, while his arm tightened its grip around me.

  I looked back to Dad and Elizabeth. “Not my biological father,” I cleared my throat. “He is more of a parent than you will ever be.”

  She flinched, then sat back in her chair. Running the palms of her hands down her hair again, I noticed her eyes darting around the room faster as if she was trying to pull something from thin air. She let out a breath of air. “I get that you’re angry about Bishop.”

  “Don’t say his fucking name,” I seethed, my eyes narrowing on her.

  “What about Bishop?” my dad inquired, looking at her sideways.

  I leaned into Nate, a grin on my face. I was smug as fuck—with good reason. She looked at my dad, and then back at me. “It’s not important. Listen, there’s something you don’t know about him—”

  I snorted. “Oh, I’m sure there’s a lot that I don’t know about him. I gave up trying to work that shit out months ago.”

  My dad interrupted again, just as Elena sat beside Nate. Her hands rested on her knees delicately.

  Elizabeth looked between my dad and me again. “I was his initiation.”

  Dad turned rigid.

  Elena visibly paused. It never crossed my mind to wonder exactly how much she knew.

  I leaned toward her and whispered, “Did you know about all this crazy shit?” I didn’t know why, but I just had never thought she did, but then again, her son was a King.

  She gave me a somber smile. “Yes, sweetheart.” She didn’t elaborate, and I could understand why. Time and place and all that, but I did really want to know who Nate’s dad was. He never spoke about him, actually, no one spoke about him, and I think that made me more curious, but I respected his privacy, and hers. If they wanted me to know, I’d know.

  “Get out.” My dad’s eyes were focused in the distance, then his head snapped back to her.

  Elizabeth swallowed. “I need to talk to you about something.”

  “Well, hurry up before I put a bullet between your eyes for real this time, woman.”

  “Or me. My aim is a lot better now. Must be from all the anger I’ve caged in,” I deadpanned.

  She winced again, before stumbling around with her words. “Listen, what Lucan was going to tell you right before your lot killed him, was that Bishop and Madison were destined to be together.”

  “That’s a bit dramatic, even for you.” I rolled my eyes.

  Nate growled, “Who told you.”

  Her eyes went to Nate, and they softened, but I tilted my head to block her view. “Touch him, so much as flutter those fake eyelashes in his direction, and I’ll kill you myself.”

  Nate’s thumb started doing circles on my bare arm, sending shivers over my flesh. She diverted her gaze. “I’ve known since she was born. It was part of the reason why we took her. Johan and Jimima couldn’t keep her, but before Hector allowed her to come to us, he made us swear on a blood oath that she and Bishop would unite one day and continue the legacy.”

  My eyebrows pinched together, then I slowly collected myself again. Well, appeared to collect myself. When she noticed no one was about to interrupt her outburst of honesty, she continued, “So we all took the blood oath. Your father who you trust so purely included.”

  “And if she didn’t end up with Bishop? Hmm? What if she ended up with me? ‘Cause I’m telling you now, she was fair game for a bit there, and there have been a couple times—no offense, Pops.” He gave my dad an apologetic smile, and it was the first time I had noticed their easy banter. Had they become friends? My dad smiled weakly at him before cutting his glare back to Elizabeth.

  She shook her head. “No, it wouldn’t have worked. He had to be with her in order for her to live a normal life.”

  “What the hell do you mean a ‘normal’ life. This is the twenty-first century, not the fucking stone ages. These people have no power to do such things.” But even as the words left my mouth, I knew that that wasn’t entirely true. They had far more power than what was visible to the naked eye.

  Elizabeth let out another breath, and I fought the urge to ask her if she needed a nebulizer. “Madison,” she said sadly, and I looked to my dad for reassurance. Nate’s grip tightened around my thigh. Reassuringly, or warningly, I wasn’t sure which.

  My dad’s eyes dropped low, and that was when everything started shutting down. First, my eyes zoned to the glass tiled floor, and then my knees buckled. Had I not been sitting, I would have stumbled to the ground. “I’m sorry, Madison, but he was ordered to be with you. At first, he didn’t care. He swore that he’d kill you himself if you didn’t comply. Then something changed, he must have realized you were pretty, or interesting, and he tried to hide you from Hector—they all did. They were under the assumption that Hector only knew what you looked like by a photo of you at age ten, so they thought they could get away with it. Only, he...” She paused, and everything zoned out.

  My memories started crashing into me like a bad movie on repeat. I heard Nate’s voice faintly in the background, attempting to bring me back to the now, but it was too late, everything she was saying was already making sense in my head.

  “You goin’ explain or should I?” Nate murmured smugly from the backseat. Bishop gave Nate a death stare into the rearview mirror. “That night you were with me.”

  “Which night?” I added.

  “The race.”

  “I’m following.”

  “You remember how I said something vague like, ‘he won’t recognize you’?”

  “Yes…”

  “Well, he recognized you.” He dropped the gear into second and floored it onto the main highway, away from the city.

  “And who is he?”

  Bishop looked into the rearview mirror at Nate before bringing his eyes back to the main road. “My dad.”

  I sucked in a breath and shot from the sofa. Nate’s arm snatched out to me, his fingers grabbing mine. “Madison, it’s not exactly as she—”

  I shook my head, my eyes going to my mom. “I don’t even care anymore. Regardless of whatever this bullshit life is.” I swiped the tears away from my eyes, my heart aching in my chest. I was a fucking pity bitch. “It doesn’t matter because I’m used to it.” I glanced at my dad. “Why did you bring me back here? You knew the risk.”

  “I love you Madison.” His hands dove into his pockets. “But I have an obligation to this life. I hated it, hated it so bad that I couldn’t be here to watch it unfold.
” He sighed, massaging his head. “I quickly recognized the look in Bishop’s eyes. It was obvious his feelings were real, and then I witnessed the way you were with Nate and the rest of the Kings. I knew that something was about to change.”

  I was speechless. The words I wanted to scream were caged in my mouth, leaving me parched and pleading for air.

  My dad stood and pointed to the door. “Get the fuck out of my house, Elizabeth, and don’t ever come home.” I didn’t entirely understand why he was upset with her because he must’ve played a part in her faking her death, but whatever, I no longer cared.

  I marched up to my room, dialed Tatum and sunk into my bed.

  “I hate my life.”

  “What?” she asked groggily. I must’ve woken her. “I’ll be there in a few.”

  “You don’t have to,” I choked out, struggling to contain my pain.

  “Fuck,” she cussed, then the line cut out. Dropping my arm to the side of my bed, I let the tears silently run down my face. My life was so messed up. Just when I thought I had something good going, something else was thrown from the left field. My chest tightened every time I thought of how stuck with me Bishop had been, and how he said his dad was one of the main reasons why I wasn’t killed. It all made stupid sense now and I hated it. I wished I was back to not knowing anything. There’s a light knock on my door.

  “Mads, it’s me.”

  I slid off my bed and opened the door for Tate, then shut, locked, and sunk back to my bed, wiping my tears angrily.

  Once the blurs had disappeared, I pointed to the bags in her hands. “Whatcha got there?”

  She held up the bags, and it was when I realized she was wearing her cotton pajama pants with little unicorns on them. Fluffy slippers covered her feet, and her blonde hair was piled on top of her head in a messy bun. I smiled, grateful, once again, for my best friend. She jumped onto my bed, took my phone from me and turned it off, and then snuggled into the covers.

  “This is everything we need for at least a couple days. Thank fuck for summer break, or else imagine having to go to school. It’s Monday tomorrow, by the way.” She gestured at my clothes. “In case you’ve forgotten the day just like you obviously have the shower.”

  “Tate!” I scolded her through a laugh.

  She shrugged. “What?”

  I dug into the bag and took out a bag of potato chips. “I found out some shit tonight.” She didn’t say a word, just sat with a tub of ice cream resting on her thighs as I yapped away. At the end of my rant, she handed me the ice cream and went back to digging into the bag.

  “Thoughts?” I was worried. Usually, Tatum had a lot to say. Had I broken my best friend? That was it, she finally had had enough of my crazy life. She pulled out a spliff, and put it into her mouth, lighting it up.

  “Tate!” I looked at the door. Usually, I would care, but we were on the other side of the house, and anyway, my dad probably wouldn’t care. I mean, you can’t not bat your eyelashes at murder but scold me for smoking weed.

  I took it from her and inhaled. I hadn’t smoked since we were out in the forest.

  Tate lay back on the bed. “And you and Bishop?”

  I shrugged, handing it back to her. “I don’t know. I got him a present for his birthday, though.”

  “Lemme see it! When’s his party?” she asked, sucking on the smoke.

  “Tonight.”

  “Then we go and fuck shit up.”

  I nodded. “We go and fuck shit up.”

  I stretched my arms wide, feeling a little better than last night.

  Tatum’s ass pressed into me. “Quit it, you know how I get morning horny.”

  I chuckled, swinging my legs off the bed. “I don’t forget. What do you feel like doing today?”

  “Mmmm.” She pressed her index finger to her cheek. “Avoiding the guys is one, but other than that, whatever you want to do.”

  Her mentioning the guys had me slowly drifting back to reality. I was… hell, I wasn’t entirely sure how I felt. I guessed I felt betrayed. None of them thought to mention this to me earlier, which is what hurt. If it never played a big part in Bishop being with me all those times, and us being, well, us, then why didn’t he tell me? I slipped into the closet and pulled down my bikini.

  “I really want to go shooting. Maybe go back to the place where I met Katsia.”

  “Nope,” Tate muttered, getting out of bed. “That’s way too heavy for today. We can do that next week. Today?” She pulled out a little red bikini from her bag. “We lounge by the pool and day drink.”

  “We can’t get day drunk, Tate, we have a party to crash tonight.”

  “Shit.” She massaged her temples as though she had just remembered. “Okay fine. She stripped naked and slipped on the tiny little… bikini? Looked more like a hoochie outfit for a Mardi Gras. “We start drinking at a more appropriate time, and we go slow, start with cider, and then we hit it hard before we roll up.”

  I laughed, shaking my head. “I like this plan.” Then I took out my white bikini. We were heading downstairs just as Nate was coming out of his room.

  “Hey!” he snapped, but I rolled my eyes, ignoring him. “Madison!” he repeated. “You can’t ignore me forever.” I flipped him off over my shoulder, going into the kitchen.

  “We can skip food,” Tatum says, pulling her oversized glasses down over her eyes.

  “Speak for yourself,” I muttered, reaching for the bowls and pouring some of Jimmy’s famous homemade granola in. Best. Ever. I headed out the kitchen doors, the sun kissing my skin instantly.

  I inhaled the fresh morning air. “Today is going to be great.”

  “It better,” Tate whisked. “I need to get laid, stat!”

  I chuckled, wiping my mouth and taking a seat on one of the lounge chairs. “What’s happening with you and Nate?” I was sort of rooting for them in the beginning, but I had witnessed how Nate was with Tillie to how he was with Tatum. There was no denying he was only using Tate, but Tate was starting to catch feelings. With Tillie disappearing for the past months, Tate and Nate managed to come to an agreement, but nothing else has happened between them after their little “talk.” Nate probably got cold feet.

  “Don’t make me laugh. I’m not working out my abs today.”

  I snorted, my head tilting back. “We will get you laid tonight. Have you seen Bishop’s cousin, Justin? He’s not bad at all.”

  “We have different types.” She gestured to me with her free hand as her other rubbed oil over her leg.

  I shook my head. “I don’t know, I think you’ll like him.” I placed my empty bowl on the ground and hit play on the sound dock. “Everybody’s fool” by Evanescence starts playing, and I lay on my back, letting the sun seep into my pores.

  * * *

  “Mads!” Someone was shoving me in the arm, my eyes slowly peeled opening to the bright sun. I raised my head up to see Tatum passing me a J. “It’s two P.M, you slept most of the day away. I thought about waking you but thought better of it. What’d you do this weekend to warrant such lengthy sleepy time?” She stood up and dived into the pool.

  “Jesus, I don’t know, get absolutely wrecked by trying to save Bishop, and then ended up getting this.” I pointed to the tattoo that was over my ribs.

  Tatum swiped the water off her face and started laughing. “Girl, you are owned.”

  I shrugged. “His is bigger, and he has two.”

  “He has two?” She quirked her eyebrow, pushing herself up and out of the pool.

  I nodded and then chuckled. I thought I was wide awake before, but that has nothing on how I’m feeling right now. Tatum dipped behind the little Bahama hut bar we had tucked away at the side of the pool and grabbed out some bottles. “Your dad and Elena are gone, Nate is gone, it’s just us and these poor, innocent bottles of wine.”

  I bit my lip. “Hand it over.”

  She gasped. “No way, we’re at least going to be classy about this.”

  “When are we ever cl
assy?”

  She paused, pondered over it for a few beats, and then nodded. “Good point, but, I do want to try my hand at some of these cocktails I saw on Pinterest.” Oh no, Tate and her Pinterest addiction.

  “Fine.” I walked to the edge of the pool and dove into the cool water, pushing off the hard floor and coming out the surface. “Just make sure mine is strong!” She started dancing, and shaking, and then dancing more, and changing songs. Tatum moved at speeds that made my head spin. I dried off, straightening my tits in my bikini and headed back to her.

  Sinking the first cocktail she had made, I moaned at the taste of silk sliding down my throat. “Damn, that was so delicious. What was it?”

  “It was a milky way, be careful, that shit has enough liquor in it to put you on your ass.” She made another one, and then we went back to the lounge chairs, cranking the music higher.

  “You know” —she waggled her eyebrows at me— “I think you should talk with him, maybe a little later.”

  I shrugged. “I will, just not right now. Right now, I want to be a little angry at them.”

  She lifted her glass. “I’ll drink to that.” Tate pulled out her phone, and she shuffled closer to me for a selfie. I pulled my tongue out and crossed my eyes, pulling a silly face as she pouted her lips. She uploaded with a grin on her face.

  “What was your caption?”

  Tate was famous for her captions. They were either extremely dry or over the top. There was no in between, but either way, they always managed to make people laugh. I wasn’t that active on Facebook or any social media. I had only just started using Snapchat, and even then, I almost always forgot to upload photos and videos.

  “Beauty and the Beast have all the treats, with a little cocktail emoji.”

  I cracked up, clutching my tummy. “You’re a dork.”

  She shrugged. “Maybs, but you love me anyway.”

  She was right, I did.

  Around four cocktails later, we both began climbing up the stairs. We weren’t wasted, but you could definitely notice that we were under the influence. I think. No, I felt fabulous. Laughing about something Tatum had said, we stumbled into my bedroom. “I need something to wear. Something I know will drive Bishop crazy.”