Chapter Six – Giselle
Zander had to go with me, because, duh, he was practically glued to my side. I wore a fluffy white coat, zipped up to cover what lay underneath—a sleek black, strapless dress. A large tote bag sat on my lap. I would change in the car later tonight, switch out the shoes I wore with the ones I brought: tall black heels that matched the dress I wore underneath.
Couldn’t let my father see me leave the house like that for obvious reasons.
We didn’t head straight to the Playground. Instead, we did a little shopping, and Zander drove us to a diner after, where we got some food. Well, he got food, while I got a milkshake. It’d been ages since I’d had a milkshake, and it was the creamiest, most delicious thing I’d tasted in a while. If it was an omen for how tonight would go, it was a good one.
“I’m surprised you’re not saying anything,” I spoke, causing Zander’s eyes to flick to me. They’d been stuck on his food—a burger and fries—this whole time. “You’re always full of opinions on everything, especially when it involves me.”
He gave me a smile, but I could tell it was tight and uncomfortable. It fell away within seconds, and Zander was slow to say, “It doesn’t matter what I think. Your father told you what he wants you to do, and you have to do it.”
I watched his reaction. “Don’t tell me you’re jealous, Zander.”
“What? No, of course not. I’m not jealous. No way.”
“Oh, really? You want to try saying you aren’t jealous a few more times in the same breath again?” Even though smiling was not something I did often, I felt my lips curl into one all the same. Not saying I liked the idea of Zander being jealous, but… but it was kind of funny, especially with where we were going after this.
We’d already stopped at a few stores; bags were stacked in the backseat of Zander’s vehicle. Our next stop, once the hour grew late and the sun completely set, was the Playground, where I would take the next step in reclaiming my life.
If he was jealous my father wanted me to flirt with Shay’s boyfriends, what would he do when I was in the Playground and he was sitting in his car, waiting for me to come out? What would he be thinking while he sat there, while I was inside, perhaps getting to know a faceless stranger? It was fun to think about.
“I’m not… okay, maybe a little, but besides that,” Zander paused, chewing on a fry, “I don’t think it’s smart to send you after Shay Arrowwood’s boyfriends. I heard rumors. That girl is off the wall. She’s not afraid to take matters into her own hands.”
“Oh, yeah? What else do you know about her?” Maybe knowing more about Shay Arrowwood would help me in my quest of stealing a boyfriend or two.
Zander thought about it. He took a bite of his burger before saying, “You mean your father didn’t brief you on what happened?”
“All I know is Piper’s family was murdered, and that’s why she’s stepping down.” My father had been tight-lipped about it all, which I’d found odd. But, again, I hadn’t questioned him. The girl who questioned her father’s every move only hindered him, not helped him, and if there was one thing that had been drilled into my head these last eighteen years, it’s that I was here to help my father.
In other words, I was a pawn. Nothing more.
“Yeah, but the person who did it was another Black Hand member—it’s probably why they’re going so slow with this process. They want to make sure they choose the right person this time.” Zander grabbed his drink. “The Cobra was his name. The guy never showed his face, always wore a mask with a cobra on it. He went nuts. They say he killed the Arrowwoods years ago, but Shay got away. When she came back to Cypress to find out what happened to her family, the Cobra lost it. He killed the Lipmans, and he cut out Slade’s tongue—almost killed Nixon, too.”
I could do nothing but stare at Zander—nothing but stare and wonder why the hell my father hadn’t told me any of this. What purpose did it serve to keep me in the dark about the past of the Black Hand? Here I thought they were a family, so to speak, all taking care of each other, but in reality they were allies held together by a thin, fragile peace, a peace the Cobra had nearly taken down.
“What happened to the Cobra?” I asked.
“You know, everyone is so tight-lipped about what happened to him. Everyone. No one likes talking about the Cobra or what he did, so I’m not really sure. Maybe I can find out more tomorrow night, when all the heirs get together.” Zander still sounded a little bitter at that. “All I know is the Cobra’s gone, and Shay took her family’s place on the Hand again.”
Hmm. Maybe the fact that no one wanted to talk about the Cobra was the reason my father never mentioned him to me. Maybe my father knew hardly anything about him, in fact. It was kind of amusing to think that, because my father was the type of man who prided himself on knowing everything.
“Although, if Shay is there, you better watch your back,” he added.
“I’m not stupid,” I told him with a frown, taking a small sip from my straw and getting another wonderful mouthful of milkshake. “I’m not going to flirt with her boyfriends right in front of her. I have to wait for the right moment.” My father would understand that. You could not rush things; if you took your time, you were bound to have better results.
He stared at me for a few moments, almost unblinking. “And you’re still sure you want to do this tonight? Don’t you think everything is complicated enough without you going to the—” Zander dropped his voice to a whisper. “—Playground?”
I wanted to roll my eyes at him, but I couldn’t. My hands felt tight in my white gloves. Black leather gloves sat in my purse as well; I hadn’t decided whether I’d wear them in the Playground or not. “Why would going there make things more complicated? The whole point is you don’t know who you’re with. There are no strings. You go in, do what you want, and you leave. That’s it.” Or, at least, that’s what I thought it was. That’s what it would be for me.
I wasn’t looking for a permanent partner at the Playground. I wasn’t looking for anything steady.
“And that’s really what you want?”
At that, I had to lower my gaze to my milkshake. What the hell could I say to him? Zander didn’t know everything about me. He didn’t know what I’d been through, what I’d done… he didn’t know that I felt wrong in my own skin sometimes, didn’t know that my dreams were either black nothings or full of nightmares of a man my father’s age. He didn’t know my fear, my desires; he knew nothing.
The thing was, I didn’t know if that’s really what I wanted, either. But I had no choice. I’d given up Father Charlie’s cross, given up the idea of my mother and her idyllic perfection that I could never live up to. What I wanted… what I truly wanted was something I could never get, so I had to work with what I had.
I was going to take back my life, my choices, one night at a time, and hopefully my father would never find out—because if he did, he would certainly have a few choice words for me.