“I’m happy when I’m with you, Ezra,” I told him.
“You are?” he asked, a worry line forming on his forehead.
I laughed at his obvious insecurity. “I am. I’m happy without you, too.”
“Thanks,” he told me, laughing.
“Let me finish.” I giggled. “I mean, I’m a happy person, but with you? It’s elevated tenfold. It’s a sweet peace with you.”
His brows drew together as he swallowed. “Jupiter, I-I have something to tell you,” he began, but Kai came swooping into the kitchen, interrupting us.
“What are you two doing under there? You’re both a bunch of weirdos,” he claimed, bustling through cabinets, searching for something. “You guys hungry? I’m freaking starved. Everyone’s pretty much left except for Cameron, and I have a feeling she’s just hanging around here for—” Kai stopped talking. He turned toward us.
My expectant expression changed something in his.
“Heh, heh. Uh, you know what?” His voice rose with every word. “I just remembered something. I, uh, I have to get something from my room,” he said.
It would have been halfway believable if he hadn’t escaped the kitchen while prowling like the Pink Panther.
“What’s up with him?” I asked.
“It’s Kai,” Ezra offered.
“True.” I yawned.
“Let’s get to bed.”
“You wanted to tell me something, though.”
He sighed and ran his hands through his hair. “Don’t worry. We can talk in the morning.”
I studied his troubled face. “Are you sure?”
He forced a smile. “Yes. Come on,” he said, dragging me from underneath the table.
He walked with me down the hall to the guest room, kissed my cheek, and I went inside, closing the door behind me. Peeling off my borrowed outfit, I hung it up in the closet, threw on the most comfortable pair of yoga pants and T-shirt I could find, brushed my teeth, and fell into bed. Just as I was drifting to sleep, I remembered that I’d never gotten my phone replaced that day. I’d have to call Mercury and Frankie by landline again in the morning.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Knock. Knock. Knock.
There was the faintest knock on my door, causing my heart to leap to my throat. I smiled. Ezra, I thought. The room was too dark to see the analog clock over the room’s fireplace mantel. It was still pitch black outside when I looked out the window.
Slowly and as quietly as possible, I crept out of bed, smoothed down my clothing, and opened the door with a giant smile. Immediately it fell.
“Cameron?” I said, surprised. I looked into the hall around her. It was empty. “What’s up? You okay?”
“Yes,” she said, “can I come in?”
I hesitated. Did I want Cameron to come in? Not really. Did I really have a choice, though? “Uh, sure,” I reluctantly allowed, moving to the side.
She brushed past me and sat at the corner of my bed. I left the door cracked open, letting her know I didn’t want her to get too comfortable.
“What’s going on?” I asked.
“I found out something, and I think you should know about it,” she stammered.
“Okay, just say it then,” I urged her, patting her hand.
“Well, it’s just… it’s hard to say it, but, well,” she said, sitting up, “I overheard Milo and Kai arguing at the party.”
“Oh, I see,” I said, not really seeing.
“They were fighting back and forth about a bet between Milo and Ezra, actually, and Kai was pissed about it.”
“Okay,” I said. “It was probably nothing. It seems like they have a healthy sense of competition between them all.”
Cameron shook her head. “No, Jupiter, it was about you.”
“Me?” I asked. My heart started to pound. “What are you talking about?”
“Milo bet Ezra that he could get you to sleep with him this week before you left for Seattle.”
“What the hell?” I asked, feeling shocked.
“And Ezra said that he could sleep with you before Milo.”
My throat went dry; I shook my head. “No, Ezra wouldn’t do that.”
Cameron’s hands flew up, palms out. “Hey, I’m just the messenger, but that’s exactly what Kai and Milo were arguing about. Milo was pissed that Ezra was making ground and Kai was berating him for being an ass and making the bet in the first place.”
I stood up and walked to the door, holding it open for her. “Cameron, it’s late. I’m sure what you heard was a misunderstanding. Thank you for your concern, though.”
She nodded sullenly and stood as well. She shuffled toward the door but stopped right in front of me.
“I know what I heard,” she whispered and tiptoed down the hall toward the main living space.
I was torn between knocking on the boys’ door and demanding answers or going back to bed, because it was, in my mind, a ludicrous possibility. I closed the door and climbed back into bed, edging toward the wall with the vent, listening for signs of talking, but heard none.
“I trust him,” I said out loud to no one. I looked at the vent. Then why are you listening here?
Feeling guilty for even entertaining the thought that the bet existed, I burrowed into the center of the bed and pulled the covers over my head. Doing something I hadn’t done in a very long time, I prayed for peace and got it a few minutes later.
I didn’t remember falling to sleep, but I do remember waking up.
“Dude, stop making it a bigger deal than it is!” Ezra practically yelled through the vent.
I sat up, my heart racing, and scrambled down to press my ear to the vent.
“It is a big deal,” Kai accused. “It’s a shitty bet.”
“I’m winning, aren’t I?” Ezra asked.
There was a pause. “How is that supposed to make it okay, Ezra?” Kai said.
“It’s Milo,” he told Kai. “I couldn’t let Milo win. It would crush her when she found out.”
“And when you win?” Kai asked. “What happens then?”
“Let me worry about that,” Ezra answered. “I’ll figure something out.”
“Just be careful. She’s a cool chick,” Kai said.
I heard his door open and footsteps sound down the hall.
Son of a gun! Cameron was right!
Blood boiling, I threw the covers off and rushed to the bathroom to get ready then grabbed all my stray belongings and stuffed everything in my suitcase, not caring to pack with any finesse at all. Get your crap and go! After a quick glance around the room, satisfied I wasn’t leaving anything, I grabbed two sheets of stationery from the corner desk and sat down.
Dear Rosie,
Please forgive my abrupt departure. I apologize profusely. Ezra will be able to explain better than I will.
Thank you so much for your incredible kindness and generosity. It was amazing to stay with you. You’re an incredible hostess and you made me feel so welcome here.
Thank you again and again.
Best wishes,
Jupiter Corey
P.S. Please let Melissa know how thankful I am to her for letting me borrow her outfit.
I waved the thank-you note back and forth so the ink would dry then pulled out the second sheet of paper, a quote from Shakespeare bleeding from the tip of my pen.
Dear Ezra,
“For I have sworn thee fair and thought thee bright,
Who art as black as hell, as dark as night.”
- Jupiter
I stuck Rosie’s thank you in a bright pink envelope that went with the cream stationery and wrote Rosie on the front. The other, I held in my hand as I stood from the desk stool, and strolled toward the door with my bag in hand. As quietly as I possibly could, I left the room and walked next door to the boys’ room. My heart pounding in my chest, I bent and slipped Ezra’s note under the door.
I moved down the remaining hall, past the bustling kitchen, propped Rosie’s thank-you note agains
t the base of a vase on their foyer table, and discreetly opened then closed the front door behind me.
I bolted for the elevator and jumped inside, pressing the button for the lobby floor. The ride down was long, the tears I’d been holding burned to spill out. When the elevator doors opened, I hefted my bag and ran for the main building doors, throwing them open.
When the outside air hit my skin, when the morning sun fell across my face, and when my boots hit Chicago sidewalk, I finally let go of everything I’d been holding in.
I cried all the way to the bus station.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Ezra
I can’t wait to see Jupiter, I thought as I dried myself off. I took the quickest shower possible just so I could see her as soon as possible. I searched through my bags, spotting my HAVE YOU SEEN THE BRIDGE? T-shirt and pulled it on along with a ratty pair of jeans. Not wanting to bother with shoes, I stomped barefoot toward the door, eager to wake Jupiter. I stepped on a piece of paper, peeled it off my heel, and threw it in the trash. Milo and Kai never kept a clean room.
I practically sprinted to Jupiter’s door and knocked softly. I gripped both triceps with my hands and bounced up and down on the balls of my feet, anxious for her to answer. I knocked again, a little louder.
“Jupiter?” I whispered.
She didn’t come to the door.
“Jupiter,” I spoke a little louder. My hand gripped the doorknob. “I’m coming in,” I told her. “I hope you’re decent. But not really. Just kidding.” I laughed. “Really, though, I’m coming in. Fair warning. One. Two. Three!” I said, opening the door.
My smile fell. The room was empty. Damn, she beat me, I thought, and headed for the kitchen.
I needed to talk to her, but I knew everything would work out. It had to. Everyone, including Cameron, was running around the kitchen getting breakfast ready.
“Morning, Aunt Rosie,” I said, kissing her cheek and stealing a piece of bacon from her platter.
“Oh, child!” she said, slapping at my hand, and making me laugh. She didn’t stay mad for long and gave me a sweet smile. “Morning, Romeo.” She looked around me. “Where’s Juliet?” she asked.
I looked around the room. “I thought she was in here.”
“No, darlin’, we haven’t seen her anywhere.”
I glanced at my cousins. “Haven’t seen her,” Kai said, reaching for a blueberry waffle.
“Milo?” I asked.
“I swear,” he said, holding up his hands. “Haven’t talked to her since last night.”
I could feel my heart batter at my ribs. “She’s not in her room,” I told them.
Cameron studied her plate. I remembered that piece of paper and put it together. I ran for Kai’s and Milo’s room and dug through the wastebasket, pulled it out, and held it in front of my face.
“No! No, no, no, no, no!” I bellowed, throwing a fist into a wall.
I walked with purpose back to the kitchen and slammed Jupiter’s note on the table in front of Cameron.
“What did you do!” I yelled at her.
She began to cry. I thought Rosie would shout at me to be kinder, but she only stood there, her mouth gaping.
Milo stood up. “What are you yelling at her for?”
Pointing at her with as much vehemence as I could muster, teeth gritted, I told him, “Jupiter is not in her room. She’s gone. And she left me this.” I slid the paper over to him to read.
Kai, Rosie, and Bear leaned over to read the message.
“For I have sworn thee fair and thought thee bright. Who art as black as hell, as dark as night?” Rosie asked. “What does that mean?”
Shame inundated my face and chest. “It means that the stupid thing Milo and I did got back to Jupiter, that’s what it means.”
Rosie looked at me, her brows already narrowed in anger. “What stupid thing?”
I sank against the tabletop. “I’m too ashamed to even tell you.”
Rosie dropped the platter of bacon and sausage she’d been holding onto the table. “Somebody better start talking, and it better be now,” she said, folding her arms.
I cleared my throat, but Milo spoke over me. “We made a bet,” he explained.
My uncle came into the kitchen, shuffling his slipper-clad feet, his hair a mess on top of his head, and making a beeline for the coffee.
“Mornin’, honey,” he told Rosie, clueless to the drama unfolding before him.
“What was the bet?” Rosie asked. Milo’s face turned bright red. “Milo!” she shouted.
Uncle Mike finally caught on and sat down at the head of the table.
“Well, you know guys,” Milo offered vaguely.
I rolled my eyes. “Milo bet me that he could get Jupiter to sleep with him before we left for Seattle.” Rosie’s face looked livid, as did Uncle Mike’s. “And I bet him that he couldn’t.”
“No,” Kai corrected, making my own face heat up. “Ezra bet that he could do it before Milo could.”
“That’s not true!” I insisted. “I bet that Milo couldn’t do it, because I could win her over first, not that I could sleep with her first.”
Rosie’s face turned the angriest shade of red I’d ever seen.
“Let me get this straight,” Uncle Mike said with an eerily quiet tone. “You,” he said, pointing at Milo, “bet that you could get Jupiter to have sex with you by the end of the week?” He pointed at me. “And you thought that you could get her to become interested in you before Milo succeeded?”
Thoroughly embarrassed, I nodded, but added, “I only did it because I wanted to keep her from making a mistake with Milo.”
“Wrong!” Kai said with bravado and a mouth full of waffle. He swallowed. “You did it because you like her but refused to act on it before because you’re as yellow as a daisy but the mere idea of Milo getting with her scared the crap out of you.”
I didn’t answer. Wouldn’t answer.
Rosie stood up, took Milo’s fork and plate from him, and placed it in the sink. She leaned her hip into the lower cabinets of the island.
“Never, not even in my wildest nightmares, would I have thought that you were capable of something like this, Milo.”
The blood in Milo’s face drained into his neck. “I’m sorry, Mom.”
“That means nothing to me right now, Milo,” she replied.
“What kind of a man would make a bet like that, Milo?” Mike asked him.
Milo kept his mouth shut as Mike looked on him with sad disappointment.
“Cameron,” Rosie addressed, “did you speak with Jupiter about this?”
“Yes, I did,” she said, her hands folded in her lap.
“What exactly did you tell her?” Kai asked.
“I, uh, I told her,” she cleared her throat, “that Ezra and Milo had a bet going on who could bag her first.”
I folded my arms, sinking into myself. “Why?” I asked her.
Tears bubbled up in her eyes. “Because I was jealous.”
“Dear God,” Mike said, burying his face in his hands.
“I’m so sorry,” Cameron told the room. “I thought telling her about the bet would be the perfect thing to get her out of here.”
Kai looked at her as if she’d grown two heads but fixed his expression. “Okay, well, Cameron?” She looked over at him. “I’m thinking you should go ahead and get yourself home.”
She nodded, tears falling down her face. “See you in class, Milo,” she said, then stood, and walked toward the kitchen alcove. Before she left, she turned around and said, “For what it’s worth, I am sorry.”
We all waited until the front door closed then all turned to Aunt Rosie when she sighed. “Milo, I don’t really know what to do with you right now. Go. Get in the shower. Your dad and I will be in there in a minute to talk to you. “
“Yes, ma’am,” he said, going to his room.
“Ezra,” Rosie told me, “I suggest you do some growing up. Maybe not become entrenched in bets where intimac
y with a girl is considered a boon? Maybe have a little bit more respect for women?”
My face grow hot. “Aunt Rosie, I really meant what I said. I had no intentions like that toward Jupiter, I promise. I only got caught up in the threat that Milo might succeed and panicked.”
“Except now that poor girl is hurt, isn’t she?” Mike asked.
My gut ached and twisted. “Yes, sir.”
“What were you plannin’ on doing when she fell for you? Let her down easy?” Rosie asked.
“I-I don’t know, really.”
“Again, a lie,” Kai said, taking a big bite of bacon, his conscience obviously feeling clear as glass.
“No, it’s not,” I insisted.
“I don’t mean you’re lying to us, Ezra,” he pressed. “I meant you’re lying to yourself.”
I dragged my hands through my hair and sighed.
“Exactly,” he said.
“Exactly, what? I can’t be with her,” I told him.
Mike and Rosie each took a cup of coffee down the hall toward Milo’s room. Bear followed to eavesdrop, no doubt.
“Why not?” Kai asked, swigging a gulp of orange juice.
I turned around and sat on the bench just as Bear came galloping back into the kitchen.
“They kicked me out of that part of the house,” he explained. “Threatened to ground me.”
I smiled at him. Bear sat down again and became engrossed in a comic book.
“Why. Not,” Kai repeated. I grasped both triceps again and studied the ceiling. “You really are quite the pansy. You know that?”
“Whatever, Kai.”
“Whatever, Kai,” he mock whined.
“You can be a douche sometimes,” I told him.
“Why? ’Cause I point out the obvious and you don’t like that? ’Cause I call you out on your weird baby hurt-feelings crap?”
I felt myself losing control of my emotions, something I prided myself in keeping in check. “That’s an asshole thing to say. Jessica screwed me up, Kai! Do you know what it’s like to be cheated on? I wouldn’t wish that shit on my worst enemy,” I said, slamming a hand on the table. “I’ve had compound fractures in both my legs, intense and painful physical therapy for almost a year, and the pain I experienced was nothing compared to what it felt like when I walked in on them! Nothing. I can’t go through that again. I can’t risk it.”