Chapter Six
Baxter
“Mr Branson, sir?” A formal but scared sort of voice interrupts my internet stalking. I’m reading through the intel Frost sent me on this Raven/Charlotte chick. It’s fascinatingly vague, which in itself piques my interest.
“What?” I snap, hating the distraction.
“You have a phone call, sir. Sorry, sir.” The terrified receptionist? Maid? – Fuck, I don’t know who she is, but I do remember sleeping with her a time or two – holds the phone out to me in trembling hands. I sneer at her and snatch the mobile up. Fucking pathetic.
“You didn’t really think you could hide from me?” A voice interrupts before I can say anything.
I stay silent.
“You can’t almost die on me and not tell me.”
Amelie.
Jesus, even on the other side of the world I can’t get away from her.
“I didn’t think you would care,” I say dismissively. And it’s true. Why would she?
“Are you fucking serious?!” she yells, sounding way angrier than I expected. It makes me smile. She’s always so hot-headed. The Order will hate that.
“You’re one of them now,” I reply, knowing that it’ll rile her up even more, just wanting to see her reaction. She’ll never be one of them, not really. She could be the best thing to ever happen to The Order. Which I would love to see, just from a distance. Regardless of who’s in charge or the changes they make, I can’t go back. Can’t get sucked in again. Not even for her.
“Again, are you fucking serious?! I’m still me, and the last time I checked you still had the same tattoo as them.”
Touché. I don’t say anything though. I’m too stubborn for that.
“Where are you?” she asks softly. I sigh. “In all seriousness, are you okay?”
“This line isn’t secure. We’ll talk when we’re back in school.”
“You’re coming back then? I was worried you wouldn’t.”
“For now I will. But I’m not making any promises to stay.”
“Thank you.” Her reply is so soft I have to strain to hear it but when I do, it does something strange to my chest.
“I have to go, but I’ll see you soon enough. Oh, and Amelie?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you for giving a damn.”
I hang up so she doesn’t have to reply and hand the phone back to the member of staff. A grin stretches across my face and I feel better than I have in weeks. Lighter somehow.
I decide I’ll go for a swim. It’s time to stop sulking about my attack and to start building my strength back up to what it was so that when I find the motherfuckers responsible, I’m able to actually make good on my threat to fuck them up.
On my way to the pool I bump into Cordelia who does a double take when she sees me.
“Has hell frozen over?” she asks in a cold, scathing tone she reserves for when my grandfather isn’t around. I wonder if he has the measure of her, really, or if he’d be shocked to see this side of her. I consider this to be her real face, rather than the one she shows my grandfather, but they’ve been together so long, maybe she doesn’t even know anymore.
“You’re still breathing so it can’t have,” I reply curtly.
“But you’re smiling.” Her face is a picture.
“Of course I’m smiling,” I reply smoothly. “Your granddaughter arrives today and I can’t wait to meet her.” I lick my lips, and the old woman shudders from head to toe. She doesn’t engage me though, which is surprising, so I push past her and head to the nearest pool, which just so happens to be my favourite.