Bridges Burned (Entangled Teen) (Going Down in Flames) (22 page)

“Did you need something, Mrs. Sinclair?”

“Yes, Jaxon. I would appreciate it if you’d ask my granddaughter to dance.”

“Of course.” He turned to Bryn. “Would you like to dance?”

“My grandmother would like us to. Is that the same thing?”

“Yes.” Her grandmother’s tone was teasing with a bit of edge. “Go out there and pretend to enjoy each other’s company.”

“Let’s get this over with.” Jaxon took her hand and they moved onto the crowded dance floor. “You’re responsible for what happened to Liam, aren’t you?”

“Karma is responsible for what happened to him.”

Jaxon shook his head, but he was smiling.

“Are you friends with him?” she asked.

“No. Quite the opposite. His father and mine rarely agree, and he always acts so smug. It’s annoying.”

Jaxon’s calling someone else smug caught her off guard, and she laughed.

He glared at her. “What’s so funny?”

“Nothing.” She tried to maintain a straight face, but couldn’t.

“Are you saying I act like him?”

“You used to act like him. Now you’re not nearly as annoying.” He did not look appeased. “Now you’re downright charming. Warm and fuzzy, almost.”

He laughed and gave her a fake haughty look. “I’m a Westgate. We don’t do warm and fuzzy. It’s against our genetic code.”

“Someone at your house better do warm and fuzzy, because your mother is only going to become more hormonal.”

“I’m counting down the days until we return to school. She’s redecorating the entire estate to make it baby-safe. My father pointed out that the baby won’t be walking for a year, and she burst into tears. Now he’s ordering every babyproofing item on the internet and having the staff install them. She even put them in my room. It’s absurd.”

“It’s nice that your dad is trying to help her.”

“Please. He runs out the door on Directorate business at every opportunity, leaving me to pretend to be interested in baby blankets and strollers.”

“I wouldn’t mind spending time with your mom.”
Where had that come from?

“Why would you want to spend time with her?”

“I like your mom.” And it’s not like she had a mom of her own to hang around. “Don’t worry, this isn’t a plot to walk you down the aisle. I could use a friend right now, and it sounds like she could, too. Unless you want to spend time looking at baby clothes.”

“No. You’re more than welcome to take over that duty. I’ll tell her you asked about decorations for the nursery, and she’ll take it from there, I’m sure.”

The song ended, and Jaxon stepped away from her. Another girl caught his eye, and he abandoned Bryn without another word. And it bothered her. Not that he was dancing with someone else, but that they’d been having a friendly, or so she thought, conversation, and he must have been counting the minutes until he could dance with someone else.

She stood there, unsure of what to do as couples started dancing around her. Did anyone else approach and ask her to dance? Of course not.

Fine. Holding her head high, she walked back to her table, which was empty again, damn it. Time to visit the bathroom. And she’d do it with a smile on her face. No reason for people to see that she’d been tossed aside again.

The losses in her life kept adding up. Zavien had been her emotional rock. Now he was gone. Her parents…best not to think about that right now. That left her with Jaxon. She’d been stupid enough to think they might be friends. He’d just proven that they might be allies, but nothing more.

Somehow, being rejected by her former nemesis was the final straw for the evening. She was done. If there were any way to have her feelings removed, at this point she’d be willing to look into it.

Chapter Thirty

How long could she hide in a bathroom stall before people noticed or someone came looking for her? Ten minutes ago she’d taken refuge in the ladies’ room. After five minutes of hiding in the stall, she came out and washed her hands multiple times.

Time to suck it up and head back out to the damn party where she felt like a social leper. She grabbed the door handle, and then backed up as it swung inward.

“There you are,” her grandmother said. “I was beginning to worry about you. Are you all right?”

“I’m fine.” That was a big fat lie.

“It’s time for us to adjourn to the small ballroom to open gifts.”

Aw, crap.
She’d left the gift certificates for the gardening club and dessert-of-the-month at school. “I left your gifts in my dorm room.”

“Don’t worry, we can send for them later.” She waved Bryn out into the hall.

“What happens after the gift opening?” Was it too much to hope that everyone would go home so she could collapse in bed?

“After the presents are opened, we say good-night and guests are free to leave or mingle for a while longer over hot cocoa.”

Was she included in the list of people allowed to leave? The only way to find out was to ask. “Does that mean I can go lie down? I’m exhausted.”

“Normally, the answer would be no. But I know you’ve had a hard time this evening, so you can leave when the guests do.”

“Thank you.”

“All right now. Chin up. We are going to walk into that ballroom smiling like we don’t have a care in the world. Understand?”

No, but that didn’t matter right now. “One smiling granddaughter, coming up.”

Plastering a grin on her face, she accompanied her grandmother into the small ballroom, where families congregated around individual Christmas trees. It looked like a scene out of a movie rather than something in real life.

Her grandfather stood there surveying his domain like the lord and master he thought he was. “You’re late,” he said without changing his facial expression—like a ventriloquist who could talk through a fake smile.

“No harm done.” Her grandmother reached down and pulled a shoe box–sized rectangular package from under the tree and handed it to him.

Why did he get the first gift? You’d think they’d let the little kids go first.

He carefully opened the package without ripping the paper. Inside was a box of cigars that reeked from three feet away.

“Thank you, Marie. This is perfect. I was running low.”

“You’re welcome.”

Stepford wasn’t a strong enough description for this exchange. Disingenuous might be better. Was this the same thing her grandfather said to her grandmother every year?

Her grandfather pulled a small blue velvet jeweler’s box from his pocket and handed it to his wife. She popped the lid and smiled a smile that didn’t reach her eyes. Turning the box so Bryn could see, she said, “Aren’t they lovely?”

The teardrop sapphire-and-diamond earrings were amazing, but they didn’t seem to mean anything to either of her grandparents.

“They’re beautiful,” Bryn said. She wanted to add,
and you people are crazy
, but that wouldn’t help the situation.

Her grandfather nodded, like her response was appropriate. He pulled a long thin blue velvet box from his other pocket and handed it to Bryn. The plant-of-the-month and dessert-of-the-month club memberships she’d bought for them seemed vastly inappropriate now.

Popping the lid open on the box, her breath caught in her throat. A sapphire-and-diamond bracelet winked at her from the box. “It’s gorgeous.”

Both grandparents seemed pleased by her reaction.

“Let’s see what it looks like on.” Her grandmother removed the bracelet from the box and fastened it around Bryn’s left wrist, where it fit snugly enough that it couldn’t come off over her hand. She moved her wrist back and forth in the light, watching the stones sparkle.

“I love it. Thank you.” Without thinking about it, she leaned in and kissed her grandmother on the cheek and then did the same thing to her grandfather. He appeared embarrassed, but something in his expression softened.

Were they not supposed to do public displays of affection? She didn’t care right now. “You’ll probably think my gifts for you are lame. I can tell you what they are if you want, or you can be surprised.”

“What did you buy?” her grandfather asked.

“Since you seem to like food as much as I do, I bought you a dessert-of-the-month-club membership.” She shrugged. “You’re kind of hard to buy for since you seem to own everything already.”

He grinned.

To her grandmother she said, “I knew you loved gardening, so I bought a plant-of-the-month-club membership for you. I hope that’s not stupid.”

“I think it’s thoughtful,” her grandmother said. “And we can take care of the plants together so I can teach you how to garden.”

“I’d like that.”

“I’m not sharing my dessert,” her grandfather said in a deadpan tone.

Bryn laughed. For a moment, all was right in her world, or if not right, at least not bad.

Waitstaff rolled in silver carts covered with steaming china cups of hot cocoa. Half of the drinks had a large marshmallow floating in the chocolate-colored liquid. The others were plain.

The scent of chocolate mingled with the fresh-cut-pine scent of the trees and created a happy smell.

“Cocoa?” her grandmother asked.

“Yes.” Bryn headed toward a cart and arrived at the same time as Jaxon, who actually wore a genuine smile on his face.

“Was Santa good to you this year?” she asked.

He held out a set of car keys dangling from a key fob with an emblem she didn’t recognize.

“You got a car?”

He looked at her like she had two heads. “Not just a car, it’s a Bugatti Veyron. There are only three hundred made a year.”

Okay. So it was a fancy elite snobby car. “Oh, that’s great.” She tried not to laugh, but he continued to glare at her.

“I’m sorry. I don’t know anything about cars. I’m sure yours is the best car ever invented and everyone will be jealous. There, is that better?”

“That’s what you should’ve said the first time.” He reached for a cup of cocoa with a marshmallow and offered it to her. “I assume this is what you want.”

“How did you know?”

“I’ve seen you eat. ‘Less is more’ isn’t an adage that applies to your diet.”

She opened her mouth to argue and then stopped. “You’re right.”

“Your grandmother takes hers plain.” He handed her another cup, which she accepted with her left hand. He didn’t let go of the cup.

“Are you planning on taking it back?” she asked.

His breath caught. “That’s a Vanleigh.”

“What’s a Vanleigh?”

“Your bracelet is a Vanleigh.” He released the cup and then pointed to the bracelet. “See the signature
V
on the clasp?”

She set the cocoa down to look at the mark he indicated. “Does that mean this is a limited edition one-in-three-hundred bracelet that your friends will be jealous of?”

“No. It means it’s a one-of-a-kind bracelet that most of the women in this room would kill to have. And you had no idea.” He shook his head like he was astounded.

“Do you know what I see when I look at this bracelet?”

“I hate to ask.”

“I see a pretty bracelet that sparkles when I do this.” She moved her wrist back and forth so it caught the light. “The person who made it, or how much it cost, doesn’t matter.”

Jaxon dramatically touched his forehead. “Take that back before my head explodes.”

Boom!

The teacups on the tray rattled. The Christmas trees shook, and everyone froze.

“I don’t suppose that’s fireworks?”
Please, please, please let it be fireworks.

Kaboom!
Boom. Boom
.

“It’s lightning,” Jaxon said. He set his cocoa back on the cart and scanned the room. Bryn shoved her china cups on the cart and ran to her grandparents.

“Is this another attack?” she asked her grandfather.

“So it would appear. Marie, take all the women and children into one of the stormproofed rooms. I’ll gather our forces and launch a counterattack.”

“It’s Christmas Eve, damn it.” Bryn said to no one in particular.

“They don’t appear to care. Come with me,” her grandmother said.

No way. She wasn’t a sit-on-the-sidelines-and-let-the-men-fight-for-her kind of girl.

“Bryn.” Jaxon grabbed her arm and spun her around. He placed his white-lipped mother’s hand into Bryn’s hand. “Take care of my mother.”

Double damn it. “Sure.” She looked at Lillith’s terrified face. “It’s okay. We’re going somewhere safe.”

“I can’t lose this baby, too.” Lillith’s eyes were huge.

As if by some unspoken word, all the women gathered in the center of the room while the men stalked the perimeter.

“If you’d all follow me, we’ll head into the storm shelter,” her grandmother announced in an “Isn’t this a lovely change of events” voice.

Bryn put her arm around Lillith’s shoulders and guided her along behind her grandmother. She wanted to ask questions, like, is this a storm shelter or some kind of bunker they’d had built in case of attack? Asking that question might upset Lillith even more. What had Lillith meant when she said she couldn’t lose this baby, too? Had she lost other babies? How far along was Lillith and how delicate was a dragon pregnancy? She knew humans had to be careful to avoid certain things during pregnancy, but she had no idea how their dragon counterparts worked.

She itched to join the men in the ballroom, to help plan a counterattack. Even if she didn’t fight, she wanted to know what was going on. Damn Jaxon for putting her in this position.

Chapter Thirty-One

They walked down a hallway toward the library and then turned down a smaller hall, which led to a set of enclosed stairs.

“Be careful on the stairs,” her grandmother called out. “They aren’t very wide, and we don’t want anyone to fall.”

The steps ended in a well-lit room, or rather, many rooms which flowed into one another through giant archways. There were several sets of couches and chairs in various areas. Floor-to-ceiling bookshelves covered one wall, and a row of shelves contained toys for children of all ages. At the far end of the room, wait staff set trays of cocoa out on what looked like an enormous buffet table. Platters of cookies and bottled drinks were also set out along the buffet.

“Is this some sort of bunker?” she asked her grandmother.

“It’s a shelter that can keep out weather or enemies, as the need arises.” She cleared her throat and spoke in a loud voice. “Please help yourself to cocoa or snacks and make yourself comfortable. Children, help yourselves to the toys. We have our own fully stocked kitchen. If you’d like anything besides what is being served on the buffet, just ask.

“Bryn, come with me,” her grandmother said in a normal tone of voice.

She followed, bringing Lillith with her. They stopped at a set of cream-colored couches. Once they were seated, her grandmother took Lillith’s hand.

“This shelter has enough food and provisions to last six months. The walls are designed to be earthquake-proof so that even an Orange dragon can’t blast through. You and your baby are safe.”

Lillith blew out a shaking breath. “Thank you. I know it’s ridiculous, but twice before this I lost—”

“No need to explain,” her grandmother said. “I understand better than you know.”

Her grandmother had lost a baby, too?
What the hell?

“Can I get either of you anything?” Bryn asked.

“Why don’t you bring us some cookies and cocoa,” her grandmother said.

Bryn did as she was asked. After she approached the buffet, other women did the same. Had that been her grandmother’s plan?

Back at the couches, Bryn kicked off her shoes, which made her grandmother’s eyebrows shoot up.

“If it weren’t for my current obligation, I’d be up there helping with the counterattack. Consider shoes off to be a small rebellion by comparison.”

“Then it’s good Jaxon asked you to take care of me,” Lillith said. Her color seemed to be returning.

“If he hadn’t, I would’ve dragged you down here kicking and screaming,” her grandmother said. “And I could do it.”

“I have no doubt about that.” Bryn laughed. “Now I know where my stubborn streak comes from.”

The sound of women talking and eating drifted through the room. Bryn glared up at the ceiling. “We can’t even hear what’s going on, can we?”

“Sonic wave–proofing has the side effect of soundproofing. Which isn’t bad.”

Unless you wanted to know what was going on. Bryn tried to focus on what she could do, which was talk to Lillith and keep her calm.

“Have you picked out a theme for your nursery?” she asked.

“Theme?” her grandmother said. “What do you mean?”

Okay, so she’d never decorated a nursery herself, but she’d seen nurseries on television and seen the things for sale in the stores. “You know, some people decorate with ducks or Disney characters.”

Lillith pressed her lips together like she was trying not to say something.

“Most of the nurseries I’ve seen are decorated either blue or pink,” her grandmother said, “None of them had a theme.”

“Jaxon’s room had the cutest teddy bear theme,” Lillith gushed. “Ferrin didn’t think it was masculine enough but I loved it.”

Bryn filed that information away for later. For right now, she’d keep Lillith talking to keep both their minds off the attack. “Have you picked out something for Asher yet?”

“I can’t decide. There are so many cute things but I can’t ask Ferrin, because he’ll say none of them are masculine enough, and Jaxon practically runs from the room whenever I ask him to look at anything baby-related.”

“I’d be happy to look at baby things with you. It sounds like fun.”

“Really?” Lillith grinned like she’d just received the best Christmas present. “That would be wonderful. Maybe we could go shopping one day and have lunch.”

“I’d like that.” The funny thing was, she meant it. Lillith was fun to hang around with and she laughed at Ferrin’s pretentiousness. How she lived with the man without killing him was a mystery.

Lillith leaned back on the couch and sighed. “Would it be all right if I closed my eyes for a bit?”

“Of course,” her grandmother said. “There are bedrooms down the hall if you’d like to lie down.”

“Thank you, but this will do just fine.” Lillith kicked off her shoes and tucked her feet up underneath her.

“I’m going to make the rounds and check on all my guests. Bryn, why don’t you stay here with Lillith so I know you won’t wander off.”

“Yes, ma’am. I can do that.” Her grandmother floated from group to group, checking on the women and children scattered throughout the shelter. Through all of it, she remained calm and composed, projecting confidence like there wasn’t a thing to worry about. How did she do that?

Lillith’s breathing became regular. Now that she was asleep, could Bryn run upstairs to check on the situation? Not without her grandmother finding out and kicking her butt. So she stayed where she was, working her way through the plate of cookies.

Were Clint and Ivy having a fun Christmas Eve? They lived next door to each other, so they were probably celebrating together. Valmont was probably knee-deep in homemade food. What else had he told her they did on Christmas Eve? Some kind of tournament. Ping-pong, that was it. His family had a ping-pong tournament. Which was kind of strange, but in a fun, wholesome family values kind of way.

What she wouldn’t give to have Valmont here right now. Not that she couldn’t stand on her own two feet, but having backup in the form of a handsome knight would be a bonus.

Boredom and a full stomach made her eyelids heavy. How long had they been down here? An hour? Women and children slept on the couches. Her grandmother sat across the room speaking with the ladies who’d shared their table during dinner. They looked to be the same age as her grandmother. Maybe they were her friends.

Falling asleep on the sidelines while Jaxon fought upstairs was not an option. Time for caffeine. Standing up, she made her way over to the buffet and asked for coffee. While she was there, she grabbed another plate of cookies.

Now what? Polite conversation with strangers would be awkward. She walked over to a bookshelf and spotted a sudoku book. Maybe that would keep her mind off how little control she had at the moment.

Five completed puzzles later, a phone rang. Everyone turned toward the sound. The phone, which Bryn had overlooked, hung on the wall by the entrance into the shelter. Keeping a sedate pace, Bryn’s grandmother crossed to the phone and answered it as if it were any other phone call.

Bryn moved to the edge of her seat, clutching a throw pillow while she watched her grandmother. The set of her jaw and her relaxed stance gave nothing away. After hanging up, she turned to face everyone.

“The attack is over. The Directorate has everything under control. Even though they feel it’s safe to return to your homes, you are all invited to stay the night. We have more than enough bedrooms for everyone’s comfort.”

Women picked up their children and headed toward the steps. No one ran or panicked. They walked at a leisurely pace. All she wanted to do was race upstairs and demand answers. Was she the only female who’d wanted to fight? How was that possible? Ivy would’ve joined the battle if she were here. Was it a Clan thing or a class thing?

Who knew? Either way, it was damn irritating.

A hand touched her arm. “Don’t march upstairs demanding answers,” Lillith said. “Even though the men will appear calm and act as if they have everything under control, they’ll still be on high alert. I’m sure your grandfather is ready to rip someone’s head off over this incident. His Christmas Ball was disturbed by an act of war.”

“Act of war?” Chill bumps broke out on Bryn’s arms.

“What else would you call attacking the estate where every single Directorate member is known to be?”

She hadn’t thought of it that way. “Will you stay the night?”

“Ferrin will make that decision, and I’ll let him because it will give him the sense that he is in complete control of something. A Blue male with wounded pride is one of the most dangerous creatures on the planet. Remember that in your dealings with Jaxon.”

“Are you afraid of your husband?” Uh-oh. Boredom must’ve turned off her filter.

Lillith stared off in thought. Which was scarier than an outright answer. “I never fear for my safety or Jaxon’s. However, I do fear for the safety of others.”

And suddenly Ferrin seemed scarier than he’d ever been. Great.

Bryn stood. “The crowd has cleared. We better go find Jaxon before he accuses me of losing you.”