Tear You Apart (23 page)

Viv sighed—and as her breath slipped out she recalled the feeling of her lungs being crushed by the tightening stay laces. Regina would try again, and her next attempt might be fatal.

What kept her here? Henley was dead because of her. She could hardly remember a world without him, and that’s all Beau Rivage would be now: the city where Henley was murdered. Every place she went would remind her of him and would be like a fresh accusation. If she’d let him go sooner,
if she’d trusted him instead of putting them through all this misery …

He’d died so that she could live. And if she stayed here Regina would kill her. Jasper had promised he could keep Regina out of the underworld. Maybe he could, maybe he couldn’t—but she had a better chance to survive there than she did here.

“I think I need to go to the underworld for a while. Not just tonight.”

“Are you sure you want to do that?”

“If Regina poisons me, I’ll either die or end up in the underworld, anyway.”

Jewel sighed. “I just don’t want you to regret—”

“I regret
everything
,” Viv said savagely. Tears burned in her eyes, then rolled down her cheeks when she blinked, leaving hot streaks in their wake. “Sorry. I don’t mean to take it out on you. I just—regretting staying with Jasper? That’s the last thing I’m worried about. I don’t even care about regretting that.”

“Okay,” Jewel said softly. “Okay.” Her eyes said
I don’t agree with you, but I don’t want to fight with you
. That was all Viv could ask for, really.

They met Rafe at his house. Blue, Mira, Freddie, and even Layla—who had never been to Rafe’s house before—were just getting out of Freddie’s car when Viv arrived with Jewel. She’d told them Viv was going to the underworld indefinitely, and they should meet here if they wanted to see her off. Viv had a feeling Jewel hoped they could talk her out of her decision, but she wasn’t going to be swayed.

It was both too dangerous and too painful to stay in Beau Rivage. Just being at Rafe’s house reminded Viv of the last time she’d been there with Henley. At a party. It wasn’t even a good memory. She’d been drunk and flirting hard with someone she couldn’t even remember now—and Henley had thrown an antique chair through a window, and Rafe had kicked them both out. She remembered being so pissed, stumbling down the driveway on her red espadrilles with the stacked heels … and Henley having to catch her and then yelling something like, could she at least stay sober so she could drive her own ass home? Then he took her keys, and they argued the whole way to her house, and all she wanted that night was for him to leave her alone.

Tonight, Rafe had left the gate to his enchanted rose garden open, and that was where they found him, drinking a Red Bull and watching something on his phone. He was a big guy with shaggy, dark gold hair and an affinity for Hawaiian shirts. He lived alone in his mansion, which looked like a museum that had been co-opted by a fraternity: ornate furniture, priceless paintings, kegs, random girls’ thongs hidden everywhere like Easter eggs.

Rafe gave Viv an awkward hug. Weirdly tentative, the way a cat person pets a dog—like he was trying not to grope her. She appreciated the gesture. With Rafe, you had to be impressed by the little things.

“Sucks about Henley,” he said. “That guy was always kind of a jerk-off, but he died doing a good thing.”

“Way to be sensitive, Wilder.” A ruby rolled down Jewel’s lip.

“I’m expressing my condolences. And …” He took five
black-and-silver invitations from the pocket of his shorts, fanned them out like a poker hand. “I came through for you. You can bring the whole gang. Well, except for Layla. I promised the guy who gave me these she’d pay him back with a lap dance.”

“You repulsive piece of—” Layla started.

Freddie drew his sword and pointed it at Rafe. The tip of the blade hovered about an inch from his nose. “Do not speak to her that way.”

“Whoa, simmer down, Knight.” Rafe took a step back. “We’re all friends here.”

Either Rafe hadn’t noticed that Freddie was now equipped with a sword all the time, or he was so used to Freddie’s polite requests that it never occurred to him to expect anything else. Although, to be fair, none of them had expected that. Certainly not Layla.

“Apologize,” Freddie said.

Rafe cleared his throat. “All right. Sorry. It was a joke. No one has to gyrate if they don’t want to. Satisfied?”

Freddie sheathed his sword but still looked like he was waiting for Rafe to slip up.

Rafe took a moment to recover—they were all a little dazed—then said, “There’s a theme. Some kind of angel thing. I bet there’ll be a million chicks wearing underwear and wings.… Too bad I’m banned or I’d take one of these invites for myself.”

“Banned?” Viv said.

“Yup. Check this out.” Rafe held up one of the invitations. Light glimmered across the silver
Yes or No?
“Yes,” Rafe said. “Yes, mofo, I accept.” But nothing happened. The invitation
remained intact. Rafe showed her his forearms. “See? No silver diddlies.”

“What did you do to get banned?” Viv asked. “I didn’t even realize you’d been there.”

“Eh, it was no big deal. I was pretty drunk—open bar all night—and I think I pissed in the punch bowl or something. I pissed
somewhere
I wasn’t supposed to. Nothing worth banning a man over, but they’re kind of prissy down there.”

“That’s disgusting,” Layla said.

“That’s nature. You think I won’t piss wherever I want when I’m a Beast? Get used to it, ’cause you’re gonna be seeing it all the time.”

“I hope you enjoy that perk,” Layla said, “because you’re going to be a Beast for the rest of your life. And I’m not going to be anywhere near you.”

“Yeah, yeah. You’re gonna be all over me,” Rafe said. “Just as soon as—”

The sword slid out again and this time Freddie’s jaw was clenched. “Blood is going to be all over you if you don’t start being respectful.”

“Jesus, Knight! Does this kid need medication?”

Viv stepped between them. “Could you stop before Freddie decides to use you for decapitation practice?”

“I don’t remember him being this high-strung. This is because of Mira, right? The thwarted happily ever after? You need to get laid, son.”

“When I said stop, I meant
now
.” Viv took the invitations from him. “Anyway … thanks for these.”

“No problem. People were happy to give them up when they heard it was for you.”

“You told people it was for Viv?” Jewel asked.

“Uh … was I not supposed to? They needed a motivating factor to part with those suckers. And kissing up to the new underworld princess was a pretty good one.”

“We didn’t want anyone to know whether or not she was alive,” Jewel said, wiping petals from her lips. “We didn’t want word getting back to her stepmom.”

“You think her stepmom doesn’t know everything that goes on here? She’s got that mirror to tell her Viv’s alive. ‘Hey, am I the fairest? Nope, still old and ugly compared to Viv.’ ”

“Well, Regina tried to kill her today, not yesterday, so maybe, if you’d kept your mouth shut—”

“Maybe a witch who works retail heard you asking if they had any black-white-and-red dresses in stock—ever think of that?”

“Guys, it’s fine,” Viv said. “It doesn’t matter how Regina found out. I just want to go to the underworld and … get out of here.”

“That’s right, Viv,” Rafe said. “Your life is not over. It’s just beginning. Go get it.”

“Uh, thanks.” She sighed and looked at her friends. “Are you guys coming with me? What’s going on?”

“
Can
we go like this?” Mira asked.

Her friends were dressed for a picnic, not a nightclub: Mira in a T-shirt and shorts, Blue in a T-shirt and ripped jeans, Freddie in khakis and an Oxford shirt with the sleeves rolled up, Layla in a sundress.

“You’ll stick out, but they’ll let you in,” Viv said.

Rafe grinned. “Ladies and gents, I’ve got tons of formal wear in the house. Smells like mothballs, ’cause some of it
was Granny’s, but a very classy array. You are welcome to any of it.”

Mira and Blue exchanged glances. “There’s no way your brother would be at that club, right?” Mira asked.

“No, that’s one place we definitely won’t run into Felix.”

“There are only five invitations,” Freddie said. “I’ll excuse myself.”

“No, I’ll bow out,” Jewel said. “I’ve already been there. You four should go. Just take care of Viv and make sure she absolutely, one hundred percent wants to stay before you leave—okay?”

“I’ve made my decision,” Viv said.

“Just make sure,” Jewel repeated.

Mira, Blue, Freddie, and Layla went into the house with Rafe. Layla seemed reluctant to enter the house that might be her prison one day, but Mira coaxed her inside.

Jewel paced back and forth on the driveway. “Are you sure? You’re really sure?”

“I don’t want to be here anymore. I don’t want to remember every—everything I did with him. To him.”

“Going to the underworld isn’t going to make you forget Henley. Or forgive yourself. What if he’s alive and—”

“He’s
not
. We both know that if he were alive, he would have come for me right away. Or let me know, somehow. I have to accept that I won’t see him again. It’ll be easier to do that if I’m not here.”

Jewel sighed. She pulled a string of bleeding hearts from her mouth and crushed it in her fist. “You’ll send invitations so we can come visit?”

“Of course.”

“And you’ll come back eventually? Or are you not going to come to any more of our shows?”

“Eventually,” Viv said. “Maybe you guys can play a gig in the underworld.”

“With our banned bass player?”

“I’ll vouch for him. Maybe I can get him unbanned.”

“I’m going to miss you.”

Viv nodded. She didn’t want to get choked up. It was too easy lately to cry over everything. She took a moment, breathing until the tightness in her throat relaxed. “I won’t be that far away.”

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

IT TURNED OUT THAT THE THEME that night was
Paradise
, not
Angels
, and though girls in lingerie were few and far between, plenty of guests wore wings, halos, and other ethereal attire. Lots of white and gold, sheer and shimmery fabrics, gladiator sandals, and flower crowns.

Viv was dressed for a cocktail party, Mira had found a skyblue dress from the 1950s, and Layla shimmered in a violet beaded evening gown. Blue and Freddie wore vintage tuxes. Freddie had been forced to leave his sword in the car.

“So I guess we picked the wrong outfits,” Blue said. “We should have gone with bedsheet togas.”

“I like you in that,” Mira said, touching his sleeve.

“Oh, you do, do you?”

Viv led them to the lakeshore where they waited their turn for the gondolas. As anxious as she’d been to get here, she wasn’t in a hurry to reunite with Jasper. She knew she wasn’t here as his guest or friend—not if she wanted to stay. That
wasn’t their story and never would be. She was supposed to come here as a lovestruck rescued princess, a future bride.

When Viv’s group reached the front of the line, Owen was just rowing back with an empty gondola. Viv waited until he’d made it to the shore and then climbed into his boat, leaving her friends to travel in pairs—Blue and Mira in one gondola, Layla and Freddie in another.

“You’re back,” Owen said with genuine surprise. “We didn’t know if we’d see you again. In fact, I distinctly remember your prince crying after the horseman returned alone for the third time. There was some fighting in the palace, too. A rare argument between father and son. Your prince wanted to go up, find out whether you were still alive. But that was a
no
. It wasn’t time, apparently. At least, that’s how the maids reported it.”

“I was in hiding. My stepmother sent a Huntsman after me.”

“Congratulations on getting him to spare you.”

“He didn’t. He—I got away. I don’t know if he’s still out there.”

“He won’t find you here. They have a way of keeping people out. If the king doesn’t want you in the underworld, forget about an invitation—you can’t even pass through the door.”

“Oh?” That was the first truly good thing she’d heard about the underworld king.

“Uh-huh. So who are your guests?”

As she gave Owen the rundown, half of her mind was floating forward into the future, trying to rehearse the conversation she would have with Jasper. She’d never really talked
to him about Henley and now she’d at least have to say that he was dead. She’d probably cry and if she did she wasn’t sure she’d be able to stop. Then Jasper would know how much she loved Henley, and how much she wasn’t ready to love someone else.

Viv had to do her best to hide that. Things wouldn’t be right between them—might always be tainted—if he knew her heart was gone. She had to heal privately, and when she was with Jasper she would have to play the part. If she wanted the safety her prince could offer her, then she needed to give him the romance he wanted. Pretend, until it became real.

At the club, guests were lounging on white divans shaped like clouds, feeding one another grapes, pretending to play miniature golden harps. They drank wine from glasses shaped like lilies and ate cakes cut and iced to resemble roses, narcissi, forget-me-nots. A shallow stream curved along the edge of the dance floor, its waters shining with gold and silver fish. The decor was a mishmash of heaven and Mount Olympus and the fairy tale “The Garden of Paradise.” As if no one, not even their hosts, could decide what the theme truly meant.