They invite Dana to come along, but she waves us away. “I need to thank my dad for what he did in person.”
Right. I quickly thank Dana again for getting her father involved in the first place. I draw the jackets over my shoulder’s tighter, and realize that I’ve finally stopped shaking. One day I’d like to know where the other kids end up, but for now, it’s enough just to know they’re out of there for good.
The thought of spending a holiday with both Wills and Blair is intoxicating; I can think of little else in the days leading up to our trip. I don’t think much else could make me feel closer to Blair than being in his home with his family there, and I definitely want to be closer to Blair. I know Wills is okay with it, more than okay with it, and that makes it even better. He positively glows over the next couple days, and it’s everything I can do to keep the duo out of trouble before we get out for the long weekend.
Chapter 18
The holiday finally comes, and I am delighted when Blair and Wills show up at my door early in the morning and carry my bag down to the front grounds of the school. A private SUV is waiting for us; big, black, and glossy.
Before we can start climbing in, I spot Victoria and Astor heading towards us from up the hill. Astor is as unreadable as ever, but Victoria is doing nothing to hide her fury at being pinned with me for the weekend.
I tap Blair on the shoulder and nod towards the pair headed our way. “For the love of god, please tell me I’m not sitting next to her.”
He chortles a laugh and sweeps me up in a kiss. “Don’t even worry about that. Wills and I already claimed dibs on you. You’re sitting between us.” He laughs again just as Wills comes up and wraps his arms around me from behind.
“Except you’re sitting closer to me than you are to him,” he teases, and kisses my neck. I giggle and smile at them both. I really hope Victoria is getting an eyeful of this. If she’s going to throw a fit, I might as well give her something to have a fit about.
“What am I going to do with you two?” I ask, knowing it’s a pointless question.
“Oh, I have a list.” Wills says, opening the door for me just as Astor and Victoria reach us with their bags in tow thanks to a gaggle of freshman following close behind.
“My list is longer,” Blair quips as he gets in beside me.
Wills nods at Astor and then gets in on my other side as their minions put their bags into the back. Astor climbs into the front while Victoria is still loudly complaining about one of her designer pieces getting scuffed up. He slams the door shut and stares irritably out the window with one hand to his temple. I bet he lives with a perpetual headache saddled with that witch all the time.
Victoria is left to open her own door and climb over the middle seat and into the back, a fact she loudly gripes about for the next fifteen minutes, and I smile to myself about it. Sometimes it’s the little things, and even though she’s there, and Astor and I are at odds right now, it almost feels like the good old days to me.
The car ride isn’t so bad. We fill the awkward tension with Christmas carols, and the boys are super impressed that I actually have a half-decent voice. They keep starting a song and then dropping out of it so that they can hear me sing, and Victoria has been doing nothing but sitting in bitter silence in the back the entire ride, which suits me just fine. She doesn’t dare try to pull anything with the boys this close, but that doesn’t stop me from feeling the death glare she fixates on the back of my head the whole drive.
When we pull up to the house a couple of hours later, I can’t contain myself.
I glance over at Blair in surprise and blurt, “I thought we were going back to the condo.”
I catch a glance from Astor in the side mirror as Blair throws the door open and offers me a hand out. “Nah, this is the only proper place for a party.” As soon as my feet hit the gravel outside the car, he pulls me close and whispers a quick warning in my ear. “I never told the others about that weekend. Just so you know … I couldn’t let them ruin it for me.”
His eyes rake over me, and I feel the heat coming off of him here in the cold. I know what part of that weekend he’s remembering, and it brings heat to my own cheeks.
Astor gets out of the car and slams the door so hard that it shakes. He stalks off without looking at any of us, and I’m sure he overheard some of that. Good. He should know what he’s missing out on by playing these twisted games.
Blair wraps an arm around me and smiles, looking up at the massive mansion. “Welcome to the family cabin. You like?”
I nod and then I realize that no one else is amazed by this ‘cabin’, and make an effort to keep myself in check. “Just so you know,” I say as Wills hops out behind us, all our bags gathered up in his hands, except for Victoria’s which he leaves her to deal with, “I’m kind of dying inside, but I’m going to try and keep my cool.”
Wills snorts and starts leading us up to the house after Astor. “Don’t. It’s completely adorable watching you freak out.”
Blair shakes his head. “I mean, it is kinda cute.”
“It’s disgusting.” Victoria grumbles as we head for the door. “I may vomit.”
“Whatever, Vic, just do it outside,” Blair tells her coolly.
She might be Queen back at school, but she isn’t here. His comment makes that painfully clear. Painful for her, great for me. I take his hand and give it a gentle squeeze, and he winks at me and lifts my hand to his lips, kissing the back of it.
I meet Blair’s parents, Heath and Darla Rashnikov, and I like them right away. They are very friendly and welcoming, the sort of people who make you feel like you’ve known them for ages even though you just met. They don’t even bat an eyelid when Victoria tries to not-so-casually hint that I’ve already seen their Manhattan house. Blair’s mother, Darla just gushes on about how she hopes I got a chance to use the master tub, and I have to hide the massive blush that rises in my cheeks.
Astor sees and his face grows even more stony, a muscle popping out at the base of his jaw.
“Careful,” I say, as I pass by on my way to being shown my room, “You’ll crack your teeth, clenching so hard like that.”