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Chapter Six

Spiral

Chase

I watch as Tate swipes the dead plants and empty planting pots to the ground. His chest heaving, black tendrils falling over his face as he chuckles darkly.

“CORDELIA!” he shouts into the soil his fingers digging deep into it as if his sheer will power could drag her back to him.

But it won’t.

The man is almost feral… makes me question if one day, out of hate, or maybe love, he will just snap her neck. However I don’t get in between their games, I’m here to soften blows; this is how we work.

As expected, the Queen never misses, he should have seen this one coming.

Cordelia is calculated.

Careful.

Traitorous little thing.

We never stood a chance. Once we got caught in her web, we were fucked.

I like the power play between them. It’s truly magnificent being caught between a tornado and a volcano, holding your breath while you watch each piece fall into place.

Picking up the unlit joint from the mossy ground, I glance over at Tate, who is still angry.

Once again, he’s lost.

I don’t get it, their rivalry. Why won’t he just give in like his body and heart already have?

But when Tate loses his shit, you have to ride the wave, and let him pump the poison out of his system. But this one is lethal…

He’s infected… a dead man walking, and so am I.

There’s no cure for a poison like Cordelia. The only cure… is to let her consume us like she has since we were too young to understand her coldness. But I guess that’s what happens when you’re warm inside.

Your warmth attracts the cold.

Bringing the joint to my lips, watching my beautiful monster watch with shock and excitement. It’s a look you would expect from an evil genius. Those two are madness and genius personified.

Beautiful.

Mine.

Tate leans in closer, inspecting the plant before looking over his shoulder as if he just added pieces to a puzzle I wasn’t privy to, which happens more often than I care to admit.

But that didn’t matter to me. I know where her heart is, and that’s with me... I didn’t need to be smart when I had her heart. The softness, I was completely and irrevocably consumed by her, and I was okay with that. Accepting was less painful than fighting it.

“What did you discover?” I ask as I inhale the herby smoke.

Tate scoffs softly before smirking and running a hand through his hair to push it back. His black shirt is still bunched up from her fisting the fabric.

We smell like her, and that’s what I enjoy. It feels like a haunting.

One minute she’s here, something feasible… in our grasp to obtain, and then all that’s left is the aftermath–the wreckage of the tornado. Leaving us sated and empty with the smell of her. Tate snatches the joint from my lips.

“Connection, Chase,” he says with a smirk as he takes a long, deep inhale. His head tilts back as he looks up at the night sky.

Connection.

I wonder what that means, but his short answer tells me he’s done speaking. He’s bleeding from his wound... His heart and his mind are at battle. One wants to win, and by the looks of it, the mind is losing. At least in a week, we will be on Luna Island.

Drunk, sun burnt, and fucking on the beach like the world hasn’t ended.

Partying and living.

That’s my job.

To make sure they don’t forget to live while they are busy destroying each other.

If only they’d realize that they will work better with each other.

“Sucks that the blackmail didn’t work.”

I close the distance with Tate, careful not to be too touchy; he didn’t need my affection. Right now, he needs a friend. Smacking his shoulder, I add, “She wanted to be here. With us.”

Tate exhales his smoke in my face.

“She played us.”

“Well yeah, but that’s Cordelia.”

He takes another inhale before he places the joint between my lips, his thumb brushing against my bottom lip, then pulling it down. I taste the soil from the garden, the marijuana.

“You’d look much better with my cock stuffed in your mouth.” He leans in, exhaling the smoke into my lips. “I don’t want to talk, not right now. I need to bleed a little before I can close it up.”

Once again, his ego and his pride are torn to pieces by the one he loves the most. And that’s why the hate wins–keeping them apart. But there’s no talking to people who love so strangely... So detached from their own hearts because logic wins.

We smoke in silence before Tate quickly storms out of the greenhouse. As always the heart is put to the side. Sometimes, I wonder if I could just detach myself from them…

I cling to them like a parasite leaching their nutrients …

Crave...

Sometimes. I wonder if they would ever leave me behind. I don’t offer much besides some really good sex, listening, and fun. Still, I wonder when will it stop being fun? When will they grow out of their rivalry?

Who am I kidding?

I want it to continue because at least then I remain relevant and am still wedged between the storms… weathering it. I’m their glue, and I will do everything and anything to keep this moment going. My phone buzzes in my pocket. Pulling it out, I read the no tification.

SUBJECT: LUXOR LAB – Project Queen B

Expansion Approved.

“Funding authorized for Music Festival Luna Island.”

The confirmation from Elias with the tickets attached to the email.

Gently, I tap the phone on my forehead, taking a deep breath in because this trip will make us or break us.

But there’s nothing like a drug-fueled trip to get them moving out of this stagnant energy.

Letting out a breath, I run my hand over my hair.

Cordelia isn’t fond of drugs, but I still made sure to secure the party favor.

DUST.

The drug will induce a hive mind mentality. Maybe, while under the influence of it, we can connect like before–they can finally stop the war. I can finally belong to them.

For once we just vibe–one of the reasons I picked to go here, and I guess I outsmarted everyone because they both agreed. The easy part is over but the hard part will be on the ferry. I will have to become a snake in order to help them both.

After all love doesn’t come without sacrifice. Something I know all too well.