“Elaine!” The shrieked word sounded across the clearing and tendrils of fog reached into it along with the echoes. They quickly retreated to their normal boundaries, but the fact that they could come into this seemingly protected place at all left him reeling.
“You must go now,” she told him looking again as she always did before she went running off to the trees. “You must go while she’s distracted.”
“Come with me,” he begged. “It’s not safe here.”
“I am as safe as I choose to be,” she replied resting her hand on his shoulder as she smiled. “Your place is by Prince Roderick’s side in this battle. My place is here.”
Connor Ridley, Shadows Fall
It wasn’t so much that the engagement party was uncomfortable; it was mostly just boring. She had gotten used to being surrounded by people she didn’t know over the years (being periodically trotted out for photo ops and fundraiser dinners for as long as you could remember tended to do that to you). Being used to something, however, didn’t mean that you had learned to enjoy it. The forced smiling always got to her after a while. She did not have to do much of that this evening -- it was Meredyth’s night (strangely it should have been Wyatt’s as well, but most people didn’t seem to see it that way), and she was mostly able to melt into the background without too much trouble.
Meredyth was every bit as graceful on this night as she generally was on such occasions. Lia had been awed by the manner in which Meri carried herself in these situations ever since she was old enough to realize that not all grown up women exuded the same vibe as her older sister. Clever and witty might not be appropriate descriptive terms for Wyatt, but the man was not stupid. The fact that Meredyth looked amazing in a formal dress was not the only reason that the man had started looking her way. She worked a room better than anyone Lia had ever seen (including their father who was pretty impressive in his ability to talk people into parting with their money in his own right).
Meredyth was a different kind of smooth. People walked away from her with a look of near awe in their expressions and went off to do whatever Meredyth wanted absolutely convinced that they were the ones who were getting the favor. It wasn’t a universal response to exposure to her, but it was a fairly common reaction.
Wyatt lacked the charm to operate in that manner. No, he was definitely not stupid. He needed Meredyth’s charm. What Meredyth needed from him was something that she hadn’t quite figured out yet. There had to be something. Meredyth wasn’t mercenary (in the common usage of the term), but she never would have given Wyatt a second glance in the first place if there hadn’t been something practical to catch hold of her attention. She might be able to figure it out if she didn’t spend most of her time trying to not think about the two of them -- which just went to demonstrate how bored she was at this particular party.
The why of what started the Meredyth and Wyatt coop on its way was unimportant. Figuring out how she was going to adjust to living in a home with Wyatt Walsh was something she would put off for as long as possible. Finding some way to get through the remaining hours of this party mumbling platitudes about the happy couple every time someone bothered to look in her direction was what she needed to work on right now.
Was it weird that she was having McKee family sofa withdraw? It was probably bad that she wanted to sneak out and run over and curl up in her corner of the cushions. It hadn’t been that long ago that she could cope with her life without an outside crutch. Meredyth would mark this development down as a weakness. Lia, however, wasn’t Meredyth. The older she got the more she realized that Meredyth’s disapproval wasn’t something she wanted to care about.
She might not be able to get out of the house (there was too much potential for questions that wouldn’t be from Meredyth alone), but that didn’t mean she had to stay in the ballroom. Slipping up to her bedroom would be too obvious (and she wasn’t in the mood to be subjected to a lecture about ungracious displays on important occasions), but she could probably find somewhere quiet on this floor to hide out for a little while (a place where she could make a quick reappearance when necessary and legitimately claim that she had just “slipped out for a moment” if someone questioned her).
What had sounded simple enough in her head turned out to be easier thought of than accomplished. Some of the party goers had spilled into various nooks and crannies to discuss who even knew what. There was a time when she would have listened in just because she could. That was a time when she was younger and hadn’t hit a growth spurt (it was a lot easier to be unobtrusive when one hadn’t gotten six inches taller in two years). That was also a time when she had been looking for ways to not be bored (and had thought stealth was a skill that would be fun to improve upon). She wasn’t any of those things right now. She just wanted a little bit of quiet solitude.
She finally found it in Meredyth’s office. Even roving guests weren’t going to intrude in there. Meredyth’s immaculate habits made it a most unwelcoming kind of a room. It felt unnaturally sterile (at least in her mind). Meredyth just wasn’t the knick knack kind, and her taste in furniture tended toward minimalist. No one was going to wander in and kick back on the comfy chairs because there weren’t any (just one very stiff sofa). That worked for her.
She sank into the desk chair and let her head rest on the desk. She didn’t usually come in here. It wasn’t a comfortable room, and Meredyth didn’t like anyone in her space. She had considered doing some file snooping from time to time (more so since Connor had made his reappearance in their lives), but she always ended up vetoing the idea because it seemed like crossing some sort of invisible line. If she overheard things from Wyatt and Meredyth, then that was one thing. If they left things sitting around where she could see them, then that was a result of their carelessness. Actively going in and invading Meredyth’s privacy felt different. If Connor had asked her to, then she would have because Connor would have had his reasons. He hadn’t, so she hadn’t. Besides, Meredyth always knew when someone had been in the room. It was part of the immaculate air of the place. It was too easy to notice that something was out of place.
She was, however, discovering some things to like about the room in her current circumstances. It was dark (which made it an excellent place for a nap if only it had some more pleasant furniture), and it was quiet. She hadn’t realized that Meredyth’s office was mostly soundproofed. She must have had something done to the walls that muffled the sounds from the rest of the house.
The desk wasn’t that comfortable of a place, but she must have been more tired than she thought. She didn’t even realize that she had fallen asleep until the harshness of the manner in which she was woken brought her crashing back into the reality of the conscious.
“Where’d you stash him? Is he in here? Think we would all be too busy to notice you slipping him in?” It took her a moment to realize that the person talking (if talking was an appropriate description for the manner in which she was being addressed, which it likely wasn’t) to her was Wyatt, and it took her a further moment to realize that the stinging sensation that had woken her was caused by the fact that he had wrapped his fingers in her hair and yanked her head up by it. He hadn’t let go either. He was holding her head tilted back so she was forced to look up at him while he ranted.
“Wyatt?” She questioned. She didn’t know what else to say. She had been woken suddenly (and painfully), and her brain hadn’t quite caught up with the situation yet.
“Shut up!” Wyatt was right in her face. “Is he in here, Amelia?” He repeated. “Are you letting him snoop through Meredyth’s files so he can run off to tattle?”
Her brain caught up with what the man in front of her was implying just as he tightened his grip on her hair pulling her head back further.
“There’s nobody else here!” She gasped. He looked almost frantic for a moment as he scanned the room. Meredyth’s style of dec
or didn’t really leave options for hiding. She felt the grip on her hair loosen.
“Huh, there isn’t.” He stated before dropping his hand from her hair. His eyes narrowed as he looked at her.
“Got recruited to do it yourself, did you?” He demanded. “What have you found?”
“What’s wrong with you?” She demanded in turn starting to stand.
Standing was one step closer to a run for the door, and everything in her was focusing on that goal. She had never liked Wyatt much. He had made her uncomfortable on multiple occasions, but she had never been literally scared to be in his presence. Fear was something she usually reserved for Meredyth, but something was deeply wrong with Wyatt. It was like the veneer of calm he usually displayed had melted off and left behind something sinister. Wyatt slammed his hands down on her shoulders and shoved her back in the chair. She winced as she landed. That felt like it was going to bruise.
“You haven’t looked through anything, have you?” He sounded less angry and more like he was asking for reassurance. His eyes were tracking over Meredyth’s undisturbed desk.
“No.” She told him. Something told her it was really important to her personal safety that she answer that question. Besides, she hadn’t been snooping through Meredyth’s things.
“What do ya know?” Wyatt’s hands came off of her shoulders. He chuckled (it wasn’t a pleasant sound). “You’re completely useless to everyone, aren’t you?”
“Sit down, brat.” He told her. She wasn’t sure why. She hadn’t made another move yet. “Even when you aren’t doing anything, you’re always in the way,” he began to rant. “Do you know that? Nobody wants you around. Your parents didn’t even want you. I sure don’t want you.” He began to pace back and forth in front of her.
She was more focused on her chances of making it to the door than the words he was saying, but the gist of it still sunk in and found a place to tuck itself in the back of her head. Wyatt’s voice jumped an octave in what she could only guess was supposed to be an attempt at mimicking Meredyth’s voice.
“We can’t move there,” he whined. “What about Lia’s school? Oh, no! We should just stay here. It’s Lia’s home. I can’t, Wyatt. I have to make plans for Lia. Not now, Wyatt. I have to handle a situation with Lia.” His voice dropped back into its normal register.
“It’s always you. Always Lia, Lia, Lia. You’re always in our way. You’re always in everyone’s way. And you aren’t even grateful. You would turn on her in a heartbeat.” His pacing had brought him to the far corner of the room, and he was leaning against the wall looking at her with an expression that could only be taken as disgust. Lia decided it was the best moment she was going to get. She made a dash for the door. He didn’t make a move to follow her. He just called after her.
“You know what I will never understand? Why didn’t she just leave you in that fire?”