Chapter 49

Atwood

After my incident with Ruby the night before, I decide to spend my Sunday working in my study. However, with my condition worsening as rapidly as it has been, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to focus on my work.

Edith suddenly prancing into my study doesn’t make focusing any easier. She’s been practically stuck to me like glue since she got here, and it’s only gotten worse since I pulled Ruby out of school that day. I suspect that my mother has something to do with this, but I’ve been polite nonetheless.

“Good morning, Lycan Atwood,” Edith says with a little curtsy. She wears a short pink dress with ruffles around the neck, thigh high white socks, and a pair of heels. She looks like a silly pinup girl.

“Morning, Edith,” I say coldly, averting my gaze back to my work as I try to make myself appear too busy to socialize.

Edith walks around my desk to the window behind me. When I turn around to see what she’s doing, she’s sitting on the windowsill with her legs crossed, looking at me with a sultry look in her eyes.

“Did you need something, Edith?” I ask, setting my pen down and swiveling my chair to face her with my arms folded across my chest.

Edith hops off of the window sill and shrugs. “Oh, nothing,” she says with a sigh, turning to look out the window. Her back is arched slightly, which causes her skirt to reveal a bit more of her thighs.

“It’s just…” She walks over to my desk and picks up one of my glass paperweights, turning it over in her hand and holding it up to the light. “Well, it’s a little boring around here, isn’t it?”

“Boring?” I say, furrowing my brow. “There’s plenty to do here. We’ve got a library, a movie theater, a garden-”

Edith sets the paperweight back down with a dramatic sigh and starts off toward the door. She swings her hips the whole way. “You’re right,” she says with a sniff. “I suppose I shouldn’t bother you…”

When she gets to the door, she pauses for a moment before twirling back around on her toe to look at me with a toothy smile. “Perhaps we could go out? You and me?” she says.

I pick my pen back up with a frown and get back to work. “No,” I say, matter-of-factly. “Ask someone else to take you.”

“Oh, but please, Atwood? It’s Sund-”

“No!”

Edith jumps at my sudden outburst and runs out of the room. She leaves the door open as she runs away, and I can hear her sobbing as she runs down the corridor.

I don’t particularly care whether Edith cries or not, so I get back to work with a shake of my head and pretend that that entire interaction never happened.

I’m finally able to work in peace for awhile, but that peace is quickly broken by another visitor to my study.

My mother.

“Hello, mother,” I say, not looking up from my work. “Do you need something?”

My mother storms over to my desk and rips the pen out of my hand, slamming it down on the table. I look up to see her standing over me with her arms folded and an angry look on her face.

“What the hell was that for?” I ask, standing from my desk.

“You know perfectly well,” she says, poking a finger into my chest.

“Is this about Edith?” I say with a groan. I walk over to the fireplace, rubbing my tired eyes.

“It is certainly about Edith,” my mother says, following me. “She is a guest in your home. Treat her as such.”

“I told her that there’s plenty to do around here, and she’s welcome to ask someone to drive her to Greenwood,” I respond, turning to face my mother. “What do you want me to do, personally take her on a… a date?”

My mother smirks. “Not a date,” she says, “but you owe it to her after what Ruby did to her. Besides, you look like you need a break.”

I look over at my desk, which is piled high with half-finished documents, and sigh. Maybe my mother is right. Perhaps my condition would improve a bit if I took a break and had some fresh air. I’d much rather go out with Ruby, but she obviously doesn’t want anything to do with me right now.

“Alright,” I say, walking over to the coat rack and grabbing my coat off the hook. “Just for an hour.”

As though she were waiting right outside the door, Edith suddenly pops in, all ready to go with her coat and scarf on and a wide grin stretched across her thin face.

“Let’s go,” I say with a huff, brushing past her and toward the stairs.

I decide to have a driver take us, since I want a witness around in case anyone gets any ideas of what Edith and I might be up to. When we arrive at Greenwood, I buy myself a coffee and follow Edith around to all of the stores, ignoring her incessant chatter about teenage bullshit that I frankly don’t care about.

“Wouldn’t this look lovely on me, Attie?” she says in one store, holding a pink dress up to herself in the mirror.

Attie? Seriously? If I had any energy, I would protest this nickname, but decide to just let it go.

“Uh, sure,” I respond with a shrug, taking a gulp of my coffee.

It would look better on Ruby, my wolf says to me. This bitch is too skinny for something like that.

My wolf’s words almost cause me to spit out my coffee.

Edith doesn’t hesitate to spend my money at all of these stores, and by the time we leave Greenwood, the back of the car is packed with overflowing shopping bags. She’s not even thankful for everything that I bought for her, much unlike Ruby, who was so hesitant to let me spoil her at all that day that I brought her here. When she’s no longer mad at me, I’m going to bring her back to Greenwood and spoil her again.

The drive back to the castle is far too long, especially with Edith talking so much that it gives me a migraine, but eventually we arrive.

When we pull up and get out to unload the car, I look up to see Ruby’s face looking out at me from one of the windows. Even from here, I can see the pain on her face. She shuts the curtain abruptly.

“Attie, where are you going?” Edith calls as I suddenly take off toward the castle. I ignore her, running up the steps and bursting through the entrance, to see Ruby running up the stairs toward her room.

“Ruby, wait!” I say, taking the stairs two at a time to follow her. She runs down the corridor and into her room before I can catch up, slamming the door.

“Ruby, it’s not like that,” I say through the door.

No answer.

“Ruby, please,” I say quietly. I try the knob, but she’s locked the door.

I stand there for a while longer, trying to get her to talk to me, but it’s no use.

Ruby is even more angry with me than before and I’m not sure if she’ll forgive me at this point.