arbitrate (daynight) (29 page)

“I am so proud of the great people of this country. You answered the call to serve—to
Stand Up
for what you believe. You
Stood Up
for
more
security, better education, better healthcare, and zero unemployment. You
Stood Up
and you were heard. And now we, your humble elected officials, will deliver to you everything needed for a secure, healthy, educated, and employed people.” All delivered to your doorstep, SCI-style. Conform to our every demand and you’ll live. Don’t, and we’ll shove you in an oven and use you to fight wars on our sister planet. But wherever you are, we’ll control you. That’s a promise you can take to the bank.

I’m so caught up listening to Henry’s deceiving words that I’m caught unaware as worlds collide. I stop and consider the threat to my very existence and happiness. Alexa’s here.
Of course she’s here. I’m so stupid.
I haven’t told her about Kira. All Alexa knows is that I lost a girl that I loved. I never used Kira’s name because then it would have felt like I was cheating on her memory, defiling her.

I wait too long to escape the confrontation. Alexa closes the distance, throws her arms around me, and kisses me long and hard, more passionately than she ever has before. It has been a while since I’ve seen her. She has probably been missing me, waiting for me to come back, wondering if I was okay while I’ve been getting to know my son and trying to woo back my ex-Cleave.

Kira’s watching, you idiot
. I pull back from the kiss. I don’t know what to do, how to handle this. I look back and forth between Alexa and Kira. I’ve screwed up so royally. Kira looks like she would pay any amount of money to disappear. I can’t blame her, given that I invited her here as my date, and the girlfriend I never broke things off with showed up and kissed me.

 
“There you are, love. I’m so sorry I’m late.” Jax has shown up to bask in the afterglow of my most humiliating moment. He has given Kira a dimple-laden smile that says everything.
I’m here to save you from that imbecile. I’d never disrespect you like he has. Just let me make you mine forever.
He shoots me a look of utter disgust and then turns his attention back to her, leans forward and
kisses
her.

The kiss takes Kira by surprise. I can tell in that moment that it’s the first time. And I can tell that she enjoyed it—really enjoyed it. Her entire body quivers with delight at the short-lived contact. When he pulls back he winks at her and grabs her hand. His signal is clear.
You dug your own grave. She’s mine now. Back off.

“Ethan. Alexa,” Jax’s greeting is cold. “Ethan, you know Kira Donovan. But, Alexa, I’m not sure you’ve met her…or even heard about her. And Kira, this is Alexa Knight.” Please do make it even more apparent that I screwed up, Jax. You are ever so helpful, as always.

Kira studies Alexa to see if her name rings a bell. But of course it doesn’t.
Last nail in the coffin.

 
“Oh hey, it’s nice to meet you, Kira. I didn’t know that Jax was with anyone.” Alexa and Kira shake hands.

Jax has his hands in Kira’s hair, which exposes her back. “You should have worn your hair up. This dress is lovely, as are you.” It’s another dig at me, I’m sure of it.

I want to kill him. I wish I had done it when I had a chance. I long for the feel of metal in my hands, a trigger beneath my finger. He wants to steal my family from me.

Kira says, “Jax, why don’t we get a drink and let Ethan and his
date
spend some time together.” She’s upset. Really upset.

I have to explain myself. I can’t let her leave thinking that I wanted Alexa to kiss me. Sure, I hadn’t taken the time to come back and tell Alexa we were done, but it was because things had been so hectic on Thera. And because I wanted to make sure that Kira would give me a chance. “Kira, can I talk to you for a second first?”
 

“No. Not now.” Her frigid expression says, “Not ever.”

She walks away from me and doesn’t look back. Now Jax has his hand on the small of her back. I watch them walk all the way to the back of the room. They’re exchanging words, and then he presses against the wall. He’s making his pitch. I screwed up and Jax is running with it. And from what I can tell, Kira’s running right alongside him.

I curse under my breath. How did things go from me imagining all the ways I wanted to kiss Kira, to Alexa kissing me, to Jax kissing Kira in just a few minutes time?
 

“You look upset, Ethan. I take it that you and Jax are still fighting? Do I need to have the hotel hide their crystal?”
 

Oh, that’s right. Alexa is still here.
 

“Yes, on the fighting with Jax, no, on the crystal-hiding.”

“So what’s his deal with that girl?” Alexa asks.

I deflect. “Good question.”

“How long have they been together?”

Five minutes. Or maybe I should count the stolen year. “I’m not sure.”

Joshua walks up to us at that point. This is perhaps the first time I’ve actually been happy to see him. He looks like a mini-me of his dad in his black suit and SCI-logoed tie though he hasn’t bothered to tame or trim his messy curls.
 

“Don’t you look like the perfect little heir to the CSC throne?” I mock. “Did your mommy dress you?”

Disappointingly, Joshua doesn’t take the bait. “I’m here to party. And to
Stand Up
for what I believe and all that.” He chuckles and then looks appreciatively at Alexa, running a hand down her arm. “Hey gorgeous, who dressed you? You are looking mighty fine tonight. I love the necklace.”

Alexa fidgets with the hefty necklace after he mentions it. It looks like it might weigh a few pounds. Personally I think she should have gone without it. Her red dress alone makes a plenty bold statement without the extra bling. “I’m perfectly capable of dressing myself, Joshua.”

“Son, a word?” Brad taps me on the shoulder.
Could this night get any worse…?

I follow him over to a relatively quiet area at the back of the crowd. He is nursing a Scotch and seems to be more agitated than usual.

“Ethan, I’m concerned about Jackson being here…that the Arbiters will figure out a way to mar tonight’s victory.”

It takes effort to hold back an eye roll and a groan at the reminder of why Jax is really here. “I think the only reason he is here is to keep an eye on Kira, not because he and the Arbiters have some grand plan.”

“It looked like he had more than an eye on Kira earlier.” Pour salt in my open wound, why don’t you.

I clench my teeth. “Exactly my point. I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”

“I make it my point to worry about everything and plan for every possibility.”

“Of course you do.”
 

He finishes his drink in one large gulp. “Just keep an eye on him tonight. I don’t want anything messing up my plans.”

Two months, one week prior: Anaheim, California

“Why did we have
to bring him along?” I asked Alexa as we stood in line for Space Mountain. When Alexa suggested spending a rare day off at Disneyland to let off some steam, I didn’t know Joshua would be coming.

“Shush. You know your aunt and uncle have him watching me. Can’t you guys get along for one day?”

“Round and round on the coaster he goes…deep into the pitch black hole. Such a shame when his belt comes loose and he hits a large steel pole.”
Joshua had been singing about all the ways I could meet an untimely death for several hours.

I rolled my eyes. “I’m pretty sure we can’t—unless you brought a muzzle.”

Joshua chuckled and then started a full on drumbeat on the railing of the ramp down to the ride.
“De-cap-i-ta-tion. Oh yeah, castration. Bit
’
o sedation. Asphyxiation…”
 

I pushed him up against the rail, so that he was half-hanging over the cars below. “Shut up. Seriously. Who sings about the different ways he wants his cousin to die?”

Joshua pushed back and shrugged me off him. He removed his baseball cap, ran his hands through his curls, and then replaced the hat. “You are so paranoid.”

“And you are so psychotic,” I responded. “Can’t you just hold normal conversations with people instead of singing crazy songs all the time?”

He looked at the people in front of us and in back of us before saying, “Awww, how sweet. You want to have a conversation with me. So…hey…it looks like our Uncle has a lock on things.”

Great. To get Joshua to stop singing, I had to talk work on my day off. “It does look that way.”

“What’s he got planned for D-Day? Some big shindig?”

I motioned for him to move down the ramp. We’re approaching our turn. “Of course he does. He has both the public party and then the post-party.”

Joshua cocked his head. “I don’t get it. Why two?”

“There’s the televised event with the big speech and then the after-party with all the people he knows—friends, family, and
party
constituents. It’ll be a very controlled environment if you know what I’m saying. Only a certain type of person can attend.” SCI-only, though I didn’t say it out loud. I didn’t have to.

“Is it happening in town, or will he be on the road?”

“Some swanky hotel downtown. Party one’s in the ballroom, and party two’s in the top floor restaurant.”

Joshua nudged Alexa. “Sounds like quite the bash. Since you are the face of the Clean Slate Complex and Henry’s campaign success story, I’m going to make sure you get to wear something totally hot.”

Alexa punched his arm. “I am
not
letting you pick what I wear. I don’t even want to go. Celebrating
that
seems completely and totally wrong.”

“Well, I’m going. It’ll be memorable as hell watching Henry be all smug about his win. Plus, I’m sure the spread’ll be sweet, and I’m sick and tired of Complex food.”

The Disney attendant pointed us to two back-to-back rows. Alexa and I got in the first car, with Joshua directly behind me. The ride was a blast, and there were no steel posts or decapitations involved. But when we got off the ride and saw our pictures, Joshua had his hand shaped like a pistol directly behind my head. Alexa laughed it off. Joshua shrugged and said, “I was just joking around.” I really wondered what his deal was. My guess was that he had a thing for Alexa and couldn’t deal with us dating. As far as I knew, he’d never lost anyone close to him, so he couldn’t possibly understand the bond Alexa and I shared.

When we exited the Space Mountain building, it was like we’d entered an alternate universe. As far as we could see, the park visitors were lined up in formation for one of Henry’s “Stand Up” impromptu rallies, all holding hands. Several “ringer” singers broke out in a moving rendition of
The Star Spangled Banner
in true flash mob style.
 

Most of those coming off the rides joined the line. We didn’t. Instead, we watched the spectacle from the sidelines with foreign visitors and staunch anti-Henry King Republicans. But even we got caught up when tens of thousands of Disneyland visitors sang
America the Beautiful
together. It was moving and my eyes filled with tears—both for the beautiful display of patriotism and because my uncle planned to take away every blessed benefit of democracy from the American citizens who so staunchly supported him.

Joshua’s fists were balled tight at his side. “What he’s doing is wrong. While they’re singing about freedom, he’s snatching it right out from under them. Look at all those kids. What kind of future are they going to have? Will they even be able to bring their kids here one day? He has got to be stopped, man.”

After the song everyone shouted, “We’re Standing Up for what we believe!”

I muttered, “Yeah, I think it’s time we do the same.”

Present

Kira and Jax manage
to avoid us for the rest of the “public” party. The after-party is an SCI-official only affair being held in a more intimate setting. They’ve taken over a restaurant/bar on the top floor of the hotel and have spared no expense. The view is stunning, the champagne is flowing, and the mood is upbeat. If there were a magazine dedicated to SCI celebrities—those from Earth and Thera—a red carpet would be rolled out, and the paparazzi would be having a field day. I can’t think of any prominent Daynighter on the political scene who isn’t here.
 

Jax and Kira are being cornered by Brad and Blake. My mother is noticeably
not
with her Cleave and is entertaining the rest of the Ten. Victor and Violet are congratulating Henry and his family. I think I see Joshua but then realize the guy is actually a member of the Secret Service assigned to protect Henry. I’m sure Joshua is around here somewhere. He never seems to be far from where Alexa is.
 

In addition to my screwed up family, everyone Henry plans to give a cabinet spot to is here. There are also several DNT-blooded, A-list celebrities who gave early endorsements to Henry and helped create a social media buzz that has never died down.

Alexa looks really uncomfortable in this crowd. I can’t blame her. Just a few months ago, she was homeless, and now she’s mingling with some of the country’s most powerful people. “Hey, I’m going to get a plate of food. Can I get you anything?” she asks.

“Nah, I’m not hungry.”
I lost my appetite the moment you kissed me in front of the girl I actually wanted to be kissing tonight.

She gives me a peck on the cheek. “How about I meet you in the back of the restaurant in ten? It looks less crowded back there.”

“Sure.” The moment she walks away, I stride purposefully towards Kira.
 

My mother intercepts me. “Sweetheart, I haven’t seen you all evening.” Her words are slurred. I think she has been partaking liberally of the free champagne. “Have you congratulated your uncle yet?”

“I haven’t had a chance. He has been pretty swamped with well-wishers. But I promise I will soon, okay?”

Her eyes are sparkling when she says, “I thought you came here with Kira? Why has she been with Jax all night?”

I give her a weak smile. “Just a misunderstanding that I plan to go rectify now. I’ll catch up with you later.”