Chapter 21

Mady

"And there's supposed to be something going on here?" Larissa sounded skeptical as she glanced back and forth between the glowing orange sign that read Midnights and the wooden one with a raven on it, swinging peacefully back and forth.

"There's always something going on here," I laughed, pulling the girl through the door, into the inviting campus bar, where several students were already sitting at the wooden tables, playing some sort of drinking games, eating something, and talking excitedly.

"Are we even allowed to be here?" it came from Bayla, who looked around nervously. "I just turned eighteen."

I whirled around. "Relax. British Columbia is different from California. Nobody gets kicked out here." I led the two girls through the raised walkway that surrounded the bar. "Besides, you're a student now, and that means a new phase of your life is starting, and that means you're going to have to go out and party hard."

"I like her," Larissa laughed as Bayla continued to look around at Midnights.

Just then, Love Is a Bitch by Two Feet stopped playing, and the stereo started playing Eat Your Young by Hozier .

"Mady, honey!"

Frustration spread through me and – suppressing a sigh – I turned to Jenny Bexley.

The tall reporter girl was smiling, and the iPad and accompanying pen in her hand indicated nothing good.

"Would you like to make a statement about the DeLoughreys' arrival?"

"I don't even know them," I replied, confused.

"But your boyfriend..."

" Ex- boyfriend," I corrected her, and she pressed her fake lips together in frustration before rolling her eyes.

"Oh, come on, you guys were such a cute couple. And I'm sure he told you what was going on between his family and the DeLoughreys" Determined, she opened the note app on her iPad and passed her glittering handbag to her younger sister, who was hiding next to her. "Penny," Her sister took the purse. "Hold."

I sighed, absolutely not ready to make a statement to Jenny.

About what , anyway?

"Why don't you just ask him yourself?"

Jenny looked up in surprise but then began to chuckle oddly.

"Don't be ridiculous, Mady" She waved her hand away. "Nash has never allowed himself to be interviewed before."

For good reason.

I sighed and looked at her apologetically. She'd find someone to interview eventually.

"Ugh," she snorted, slumping her shoulders. "Alright , " She snatched the purse from Penny's arms. "Let me know if your mind changes." Then she smiled at Larissa and Bayla and turned on her heel. "Come on, Penny. Someone has to know something ."

I had tried to like Jenny more than once, but it just didn't work. A few times, I had been to Lola's Diner with her, desperate to connect. Then, one day, I had read rumors about Nash and me breaking up that were worse than the sad reality.

Jenny was a gossip and if you talked to her, you could be sure that her newspaper was priority number one of the conversations, not you. And Penny let Jenny take advantage of her to play the gossip messenger quite often.

I turned to Larissa and Bayla. The first had her arms crossed and her brows raised, while the second looked thoughtfully after the Bexley daughters.

"Is she always so pushy?" Larissa asked.

"That girl doesn't miss a beat," I laughed dryly, looking around for available seats. "The campus drama here must be a feast for her."

Everything around us was bustling. I myself still couldn't believe that I was already old enough to be a student. Shortly after the accident, I had to repeat a year in high school, as my grades had dropped drastically.

"Vivienna at 9 o'clock," Larissa suddenly whispered in my ear, and I looked at the side, where my former best friend was lounging on the edge of the pool table. Next to her were her friends, flirting with some older students from the basketball team.

"Please let us sit as far away from them as possible," Bayla sighed, linking arms with Larissa.

"Don't worry."

I pointed to a side niche on the other side of the room, which was thankfully still empty.

We crossed the rustic bar, lit with vintage lamps, and sat down.

"And you don't live on campus?" Larissa leaned forward.

I shook my head. "No, too expensive. I live at home." Neither of them said anything, and Bayla's pitying look hit me uncomfortably hard. "Would you guys like to come visit me sometime soon? You're welcome to sleep at my place, too."

It had been years since anyone had slept over. Back then, it had been Julie and Grace, or Vivienna. But then Nash had come into my life – the guy they'd all warned me about. They had stopped being my friends, and Mia and I had only known each other for two years.

"Yes, please free us from this bitch drama for one night," Larissa begged, and Bayla gave her a punishing look.

"Come on, we were planning on giving the Blair cousins a chance."

"Grace and Julie are actually okay," I sighed and started playing with my car keys.

Larissa was about to say something when the waiter interrupted us.

"Since when do you have friends?"

Surprised, I looked up at Ezra and then rolled my eyes.

"Sorry, who are you and..."

"It's all right, this is Ezra, my brother," I reassured Larissa. She let herself fall backward and eyed him in silence.

Ezra just smiled, as he always did at work. But I could see that he had been working all day. I quickly looked around for Jenny, who was fortunately distracted by a group of girls. But something told me that Ezra was the reason she had come here in the first place.

"What do the pretty ladies want?"

Now, Larissa grinned confidently at Ezra. "A beer, please."

Ezra just nodded with a smile and looked at Bayla.

"Fries will do."

As he turned to leave, I called his name in frustration, to which he turned around. "Nothing for you."

Annoyed, I groaned, and he laughed.

Visibly annoyed, I turned back to the others.

Larissa was still grinning.

"Your brother's pretty hot."

My jaw dropped. First Mia, now Larissa, too.

Bayla rolled her eyes. "Larissa thinks every second guy here is hot."

"Because every second guy here is hot!" Larissa laughed.

A little while later, Ezra returned with the order and placed a strawberry ice cream with pink heart sprinkles in front of me.

"You're serious?" I laughed, and Ezra disappeared, smiling in amusement without another word.

"And such a cutie, too," Larissa continued to gush, earning a punishing look from me.

What I needed now was not ice cream but a proper drink. But he wouldn't give it to me, as I knew him, even though I was already nineteen.

The door to the bar swung open and I, like most of the people in the bar, watched curiously as the DeLoughreys entered the bar.

While the black-haired one looked around in an examining way and the blond one was busy with his phone in his hand, the brown-haired one casually strutted across the room, over to the bar and waved at the bartender to order a drink.

While he smelled like a lot of trouble and the blonde looked handsome as hell, the black-haired one seemed rather cold and sexy. And indeed. All the girls in the bar had turned to the young men. Jenny was striding toward the blonde with her iPad pulled out, and two blondes were already giggling their way toward the brown-haired pretty guy at the bar counter.

I stopped breathing.

He looked directly at me...and winked, a smirk on his even lips.

I wheeled around to Bayla and Larissa with warm cheeks.

"Did you guys see that?"

Bayla just nodded, and both girls grinned, but Larissa's gaze shifted the next moment to the black-haired man who was already walking across the room toward the bar, his gaze lingering on our table for a second.

God , this was uncomfortable.

"Who are these attractive guys?" Larissa murmured in a low voice, not without taking her eyes off the young man, who was definitely a bit older than we were.

"They walk around like undercover FBI agents?" Bayla chuckled softly.

"Ugh, I'd volunteer to be arrested by that one," Larissa whispered, taking a sip of her beer.

This time, Bayla looked disturbed at Larissa. "What did you take today?"

The door flew open again, and faces all too familiar to me entered the bar—Nash and his guys in tow, Emely in their midst.

"I think I need that for a minute," I groaned, reaching for Larissa's bottle to take a big sip.

"Them again," Bayla sighed, forcing me to look back at them.

I had been hoping that Nash had gotten uglier, but he had the same golden blond hair, the slight dimples when he smiled, and those deep blue glossy eyes, which, when you looked at them up closely, reminded you of foreign galaxies. His tan had become more golden, which he definitely owed to the indigenous genes, even if they were not as dominant in him as they were in his sister.

My heart tightened when he turned in our direction and spotted me. It was like earlier. Just a brief moment, but too intense. So many unspoken words, so much lay between us.

His buddy Caleb patted him on the shoulder and gestured toward the bar. He stared for another second before turning away.

I began to breathe again.

"Well, look who missed us," the brown-haired DeLoughrey laughed, raising his glass toward Nash.

And while the blond gave him a warning look and turned away from Jenny, the black-haired one eyed my ex-boyfriend with coldness.

Nash, as usual, clenched his fists and marched toward the DeLoughreys with his head held high.

I knew he only disliked them because his father had problems with their family, as he had with me being with his son even though Dr. Copeland had never met me in person.

"Wasn't my warning clear enough?!" Nash pressed out.

The brown-haired DeLoughrey turned to him, the two female blondes beside him.

"That warning was directed at your rebellious lapdog, wasn't it? What did you say his name was? Julian?"

Emely's eyes snapped open.

"Stay away from him," Nash growled angrily. "You better get the fuck off our campus right now!"

"Relax, we were just about to invite you guys for a drink," the brown-haired one continued to laugh, holding up his hands while looking at his brothers.

Emely crossed her arms and gave him a hostile look. "Which we gratefully decline."

The DeLoughrey raised his brows, unimpressed yet curious before smirking at Emely as if this was all a game.

"Your sister?" he asked Nash, eyeing Emely closely. "She's quite sassy."

Emely blinked at him dismissively and Nash, I knew, was about to explode.

The black-haired DeLoughrey seemed to notice that, too, because he stepped forward.

"We have no intention of disobeying your rules, as long as you leave us alone."

It sounded anything but compliant, more like a threatening, hostile statement.

Nash seemed to consider, then stepped toward him and lowered his voice. "You know I don't give a shit? I don't want you here."

I swallowed.

"That's right, get the fuck out of here!" Noah bellowed behind him.

Miles drank from his drink and raised both brows. "How rude."

And in the next instant, his fist sped forward into Nash's face.

I winced, and a murmur went through the bar.

"Damn it, Miles!" The black-haired man roared, and was already about to pull this Miles backwards, when Nash's fist flew at Miles, hitting him right on the nose.

Miles stumbled back.

Students jumped up and backed away. Jenny held up her iPad, probably to film.

"Nash!" Emely gasped, and she went to pull her brother out of the ring that had somehow formed, but someone pulled her back. Hunter.

To get a better look, I stood up, still holding Larissa's bottle, and made my way through the crowd.

"Not bad, Copeland," Miles laughed, straightening up with a bloody nose, only to deliver another unpredictable punch to Nash's chin.

I held a hand in front of my mouth, and before I could hesitate, I stumbled forward into the circle and leaned down to Nash.

"Nash?"

Nash snapped his eyes open and stared at me, literally piercing me with his gaze. Now I could see those beautiful eyes again. Only at this very moment did I realize how much I had longed for them.

Suddenly, Nash pushed me aside and jumped up on his own.

"Stay away from me, Madelin."

Madelin.

My heart stopped.

Madelin.

"I just wanted to-" I stammered out, overwhelmed.

"I don't need your pity." He pressed out with a desperate look. "Are you spying on me again?"

Exhausted and humiliated by these accusations, it took me some seconds to find the appropriate words, but nothing came out. And then Ezra appeared next to us.

"Hey. What's going on?" He stepped toward Nash. "I told you to stay away from my sister!"

Nash looked back and forth between me and him, turned away from me, and finally hit the table next to him, making me wince again.

Ezra wheeled around to face me. "Mady, you better go."

It sounded cold. Like it wasn't my brother who said it, but that black-haired DeLoughrey. And everything about this situation, Nash's look, his words, his guys' looks, and my brother's pitch sent me stumbling backwards and finally out of the bar into the night, upset.

Tears burned in my eyes, but luckily for me, I wasn't alone, or I would have broken my most important principle.

"Shit, I didn't mean to get you involved," someone cursed, and I realized it was that Miles DeLoughrey guy.

I saw the glass in his hand, and before I could really think, I reached for it.

"This will..." he began, but it was already too late. I spat out the sweet liquid. "...not satisfy you."

"Who drinks apple juice, for God's sake? In a bar?" I complained with a laugh, handing him back the glass. "I would have expected more class from you DeLoughreys."

He laughed indignantly. "Hey, what's that supposed to mean?"

I grabbed my throbbing temple. "Nothing, I just...I should get going."

"Are you here with the car?" he asked, and I couldn't help but look at him in hesitance.

"Yes," I replied, confused, and he looked around observantly with a serious expression.

"Let me walk you to the car. You never know who's walking around here at this hour."

My head hurt too much to refuse him the offer, so I just nodded and walked straight ahead.

"And you don't drink?"

Miles didn't say anything for a while.

"It's complicated," it escaped him curtly.

Weird guy.

"I really need alcohol right now," I sighed, and he just laughed.

I missed the summer parties everyone had thrown to say goodbye to Blairville or their friends. I had gone to every single one, even though I hadn't spent time with anyone at any of these. I'd drunk a lot to forget about Nash, and luckily, he hadn't shown up anywhere either. But now it hurt even more to see him again.

"Devil's poison."

I looked at Miles, who took the bottle from my hand as I stopped in front of my car before I could take another sip. Then he looked at me with a serious expression.

"If I may give you some advice...Nash is a jerk. Whatever history you guys have. Stay away from him."

I looked at him with a sigh. "Are you now going to accuse me of stalking my ex, too?"

"No," he laughed, as if he'd already had a lot to drink, which was clearly not the case. "But his family is in pretty deep shit."

I said nothing. Whatever he meant, it had something to do with this town's politics.

"You should go now."

Again, I looked at Miles, whose gaze had lingered on my neck. He squinted his eyes for a moment and then took two steps back as if something was bothering him.

"Thanks," was all I said, and I got into my car, head still throbbing.

The steam rose in the form of warm mist, settling on my skin like a damp layer and fogging up the bathroom mirror as well as the window, which otherwise offered an extended view of the forest. Even though I had felt like I was being watched more than once, it was clear to me that there was no one out there. This was Blairville . And I had become paranoid over time.

I tried to get my legs completely under the water, but I hadn't been able to do that for years. I was no longer the little girl who dreamed of her first great love. My heart had been broken several times, but only really mended once.

He had helped me out of there. He had pushed me back there.

They weren't quite as visible in the candlelight, but I still recognized the many little stripes on my thighs. Each one represented a moment of weakness. Until I had to promise him to be strong.

I no longer hurt myself. But my tears flowed into the hot bath water. My vision blurred until the lights of the candles were only orange dots in my field of vision and I began to sob.

Ezra wasn't home yet. And so, I was alone with my thoughts. Alone in that place where I was allowed to cry, where my tears became one with the water that surrounded me. The only place where I still felt close to him . Even if every time anew my heart broke into countless pieces.

Mayor's Office

"Tell me that the Copeland Alpha has made a bad joke," it escaped from the mayor, who usually knew how to control herself. But an hour ago, the chief physician had shown up here and given her the startling news. "You sent your offspring to Vanderwood?"

The pretty lawyer took a deep breath and stared at the carpet as if she were heading for a nervous breakdown, while Laurent, the DeLoughreys' brown-haired bodyguard, took his gaze from her and looked at Bastien. Bastien stood in front of the desk, his arms folded behind his back, his gaze a mask.

The mayor had trouble looking into the man's gray eyes without thinking of the old days.

Three of them in her office. Three!

"You have nothing to worry about, Ms. Blair," Bastien assured her formally, even though they had once been closer.

"If one of your guys breaks the contract, it's not just a problem for you or the Copeland pack..." the mayor continued tensely. "The Circle will be affected as well."

"The three of them are well-behaved," Bastien countered.

The mayor thought she saw a smirk cross the lawyer's lips, but ignored it with a troubling gut feeling.

"I understand if you have doubts. The situation is tense. However, it will resolve itself quickly."

"Was this your idea, Bastien?" the mayor accidentally broke the formal tone, and the lawyer looked up in surprise.

The mayor quickly collected herself and kept eye contact with the agent in front of her.

This man was running the DUIO. The DeLoughrey Underground Information Organization , a department of the FBI that was responsible for keeping order in places with high supernatural occurrences. Thanks to it, forums about supernatural occurrences in Blairville disappeared.

But with this move, the family risked confrontations with their enemies on a campus full of mortals.

"In the long run, I'm doing this town a favor."

The mayor was speechless. What he was doing was risky, and she knew where this interest in peace came from. From the same source as with the Vanderwood director.

The two men left the office without further comment, and the mayor sank back into her chair.

The lawyer was about to turn to leave, but the mayor stopped her.

"Camille," she said. "Maybe you can talk some sense into Bastien."

An indistinct expression spread across Camille's face.

"Bastien is the most reasonable man I know," she replied to the mayor.

This one bit her tongue, knowing something Camille did not.

"He has noble intentions, Ms. Blair."

Noble intentions.

The lawyer gracefully walked out of the office, leaving the overwhelmed mayor behind.

She looked at the Blairville Daily headline screen. And all she saw in her mind's eye were the mistakes they had all made back then. A disaster like that could not be allowed to happen again.