Love-in-Idleness (19 page)

             
Miles didn’t seem the least bit caught off guard by the question. “My boys will have to be told soon. I have to be honest, I love them both, but they’re spoiled. Puck is so controlled by petty jealousy of Cam that he can’t even follow a simple instruction without letting his ego interfere. Cam is a great kid, but he’s never had any responsibility of any real importance. I was hoping to wait a while before sharing all of these details with them.”

             
“But you have to tell them because you told me?” Grace asked.

             
“Yes. I should have known that I wouldn’t have to trick you into listening to me. I’m not used to dealing with teenagers who are capable of thinking rationally.”             

             
“Is that why you tried pimping Cam out?” Grace knew it sounded a little harsh, but when she thought about it, that’s how it seemed.

             
Miles shook his head and laughed. “Oh, Grace,” he said. “I wouldn’t put it into those terms, exactly. I did think I would have to bait you with something you’d want, and I’m guessing Cam was a good choice for that purpose.”

Grace blushed. “So what was going on in the park?”

“Trying to eliminate Ryder was my way of easing the path for you and Cam. I’m quickly learning that my logic was flawed in many ways. It was foolish to trust Puck. No matter how much he wants my approval, his impulse control is minimal. Think about your evening before I picked you up in that park, when everyone was behaving erratically. Puck may have caused the general ruckus, but he was following my instructions, at least for the most part.”

             
“Tell me,” Grace said. In light of recent revelations, the whole boyfriend fiasco seemed a lot less important than it had a couple hours ago. She should have been furious that Miles worked some magic on Ryder, but her emotions were spread pretty thin right at that moment.

             
“You’re not going to like it,” Miles warned.

             
“There’s a lot about tonight that doesn’t thrill me. I’m still here.”

             
Miles pulled two items from his pocket. One vial held a small amount of purple powder. The other held a clear liquid. “It’s been an illuminating evening. At this point, I’ve decided that you might be the only person in my family with the sense to make her own choices. So, I’m going to give these to you,” he said. “Once I explain what they can do, you will have the freedom to do with them as you will. You are now officially in charge of your own destiny.”

             
Cameron and Ryder were exactly where Puck assumed they would be, a few blocks from the penthouse, outside Chloe’s apartment building. Both boys were sitting on a bench, one on each end, staring at the building as if they were waiting for something. Puck wondered how Ryder had managed to follow Cameron here, but was glad he had. Both boys looked completely disheveled and thoroughly exhausted. Puck didn’t think it was possible for them to seem more pathetic than they did at that moment, sitting and waiting for a girl to reappear and reject them some more.

             
Puck took a moment to think through the situation. With Chloe presumably upstairs in her apartment and therefore inaccessible, the first task would be to draw her out. That would take a small amount of finesse. These two dolts, on the other hand, were easy. If they thought Chloe was at the penthouse, they would run there.

             
Puck’s main talent was that of persuasion. If he could get Chloe to think of what she really wanted, he could encourage that desire until the craving for it was stronger than the obstacles that were making her run away. For anyone who spent any time with Chloe in recent weeks, there was no question as to the root of her true desire. She wanted Cam; she was just too confused by the events of tonight to embrace the fact that he was suddenly chasing her. If Puck could clear away some of the muck and mire of the evening and get her refocused on the original goal, she would do whatever he wanted her to do. True, Puck couldn’t allow Chloe to be with Cam in the long run, but if temporarily playing to her weakness for Cam got her out of hiding, he could go from there. By morning, Cam would need a dose of the antidote. Puck didn’t really care what happened to Chloe.

             
Before he could get to Chloe, he would need to get past Cam and Ryder without being seen. Neither of them had any idea that he was involved in the strange events of the evening, and it was fine with Puck if they never knew.

             
Puck pulled out his phone and typed a text to Cam.

COME GET CHLOE OUT OF THE PENTHOUSE. SHE’S DRIVING ME CRAZY.

              Cam’s phone rang and he pulled it from his pocket. As soon as he read the message, he was on his feet.

             
“Where are you going? Is that Chloe?” Ryder stood up as well.

             
“Sit down. Relax. It’s just my brother,” Cam lied. “I’m going home. Good luck with her.”

“You’re lying. You wouldn’t leave without seeing her. You know where she is, don’t you?” Ryder made a move toward Cam, who lifted both of his hands to Ryder’s shoulders and gave him a solid shove, knocking him onto his butt.

              “Damn. Why’d you do that?” Ryder asked.

             
Instead of answering, Cam walked away, toward home. As Cam moved away, Ryder followed. Puck could hear the boys alternately cursing at each other. Within moments, he was approaching the front door of Chloe’s building. Through the glass doors, he could see that the doorman was asleep behind the desk. Puck lingered only long enough to make the door unlock and tiptoed gingerly through the lobby to the elevator.

             
He had been in Chloe’s apartment one time. In an effort to keep up the public appearance of brotherly love, Puck occasionally accepted one of Cam’s requests that they play nice and spend an evening in public together. Puck was fairly certain that these were really thinly veiled attempts to make Puck stop tormenting him for fun. A few weeks ago, when Cam decided to see what it was like to have Chloe as his girlfriend, he convinced Puck to go out with them. It was no secret that Puck and Chloe despised each other. Cam said that he didn’t care about that. In fact, he admitted that this was one of the few times he could be sure that Puck wouldn’t try to swoop in and “convince” Cam’s girl that Puck was a better option.

At that point, Cam was already sleeping with Chloe occasionally, but
not exclusively. He told Puck that he felt like was ready to be with one girl for a while. He asked Puck to bring a girl so that they could double. Cam wanted someone to tell him how he and Chloe looked together, whether or not they could be a convincing couple. “So, you’re auditioning her?” Puck asked.

             
“You make it sound bad,” Cam answered. “I just haven’t decided whether or not this is a good move for me.”

             
It wasn’t. Cam, Puck, and Puck’s date, a vapid blonde sophomore, had all shown up at Chloe’s for a drink before they went out. From the moment they walked in the door, it was clear that Chloe already thought she was in. She held Cam’s arm as they walked and gave Puck’s date nasty looks if she spoke to Cam. By the end of the night, she was locking Cam down as her guaranteed escort for future functions. Puck knew that Cam would be rid of Chloe within a few days and that he wouldn’t consider commitment again for a while. That was before Grace came along.

             
The elevator stopped on Chloe’s floor, and Puck effortlessly unlocked the door of her apartment and crept in. While Chloe’s family didn’t have the kind of money the Oberons had, they were extremely well off. Their apartment was expansive and housed abundant antiques and shiny white upholstered furniture that glowed in the faint light of outside streetlights. The floor to ceiling windows showed a dimmed view of Central Park, just north of the view Puck enjoyed from his own apartment.

             
When he was here before, he had not seen Chloe’s bedroom, so he didn’t know which room he was looking for. However, it would be easy enough to make sure that no one woke up as he opened their doors and simply looked for Chloe. He walked carelessly down the hardwood floors of the hallway, unconcerned by the sound of his footsteps. The evening had left him feeling confident and powerful. His father was not cross with him, and he had been exposed to deeper magic than ever before. There would be no consequences for his rash decisions tonight. All would be well as soon as he completed this one last task.

             
Chloe’s bedroom was behind second door he tried. As he slowly pushed the door open, he saw that she was not asleep. She was sitting up in her huge white bed, still dressed, boots and all. She was leaning against the oak headboard, her feet on the bed. The only hint of color was her dark green eyes, which were fixed on Puck as he entered. When his eyes met hers, her harrowed expression didn’t change at all. She didn’t speak, but just stared at him as if she were expecting him, which was impossible.

             
“Sit,” she instructed, pointing to a spot on the end of the bed. She moved her foot back a little, as if to ensure that every part of her was far from him.

             
He did as she instructed.

             
“What are you doing here?” she asked. Her quiet self-control was creepy, considering that he had just broken into her house. She should have been screaming for help or demanding that he leave. Instead, she was taking control. Puck admired that.

             
“I’m here to make sure you get what you always want.” Puck firmly believed that the best way to make someone do what you want them to do was to convince them that it was the thing they wanted most in the world. Then threaten to take it away.

             
“What is it that you think I want?” Chloe leaned toward him. Puck could see circles under her eyes from crying and lack of sleep. She would be much better off when this was all over.

             
“I think you want Cameron. He’s the only thing in your life that hasn’t been simply handed to you.”

             
“But he’s been awful tonight. He and that other boy are saying they love me when I really know they both want Grace.”

             
“But it is,” Puck lied. “Everything Cameron said tonight has been the absolute truth. We spoke earlier, and he’s seen Grace for the little gold digger that she is. He’s been trying to tell you all night, but Ryder confused you. When they both started saying the same things, you assumed they were both lying.”

             
“What’s Ryder’s deal, anyway?” Chloe asked. “He’s such an idiot.”

             
Puck put his hand on the foot of her boot, and she didn’t pull it away. The white leather was stained with grass and dirt from the evening, but it was still the softest leather he had ever felt. “Forget Ryder. Cam’s pretty upset. He thinks he’s lost you, and he can’t seem to shake Ryder. I guess the guy was waiting outside when Cam got home from parking the car. He followed Cam here.” There was no way Puck could have known such a thing, but it was a sound theory, and Chloe seemed to be buying it. “Cam asked me to help him,” Puck continued. “He needs to see you alone, but we’ve got to shake Ryder. Go to the penthouse and I’ll have Cam meet you there. I’ll get rid of Ryder.”

             
Chloe hesitated. “Why should I believe you? You hate me,” she said.

             
“Yes, I do. And Cam drives me insane with all his vanity and charm.” Puck was feeling very proud of himself. He hadn’t even given her an extra mental push, and she was falling right into line. “But I do have to live with him for the time being, and it’s annoying as hell when he mopes around about you. It’s pathetic.”

             
Chloe brightened. “He mopes?” Every ounce of stress and pain vanished from Chloe’s face. Puck could see it in the instant she believed him. At that precise moment, she was once again the fierce, confident Chloe who had stormed the penthouse just a few hours ago.

             
“He did. He broke up with you because he was worried that he was becoming obsessed.” Puck wasn’t even buying his own line of crap, but he could tell that Chloe was. She was positively beaming. “Then Grace came along. I’m afraid that if you don’t talk to him tonight, he’ll give up and choose her. I don’t want that to happen. As much as I truly deeply dislike you, I hate her even more. She’s an outsider. She has no place with us.”

             
She stood up and gave Puck a little poke in the arm. “Well, get up! Let’s go!” She started toward the door without him. “Cam is waiting for me. We need to hurry.”

             
Puck willingly followed her to the door. Stupid people made his life a lot easier. Chloe was being exceedingly accommodating in that regard. “Just go the penthouse,” he said. “I’ll make sure he meets you there.”

3:30 AM

Miles waited for Grace to process what she had been told. While he knew that most teenagers would trade anything for the ability to control the forces of love, very few of them would ever be handed the means by which to do so. The vials in her hands were small, but she held them as if they bore great weight, her arms resting on her legs for support and her brow furrowed, staring at the little bottles. Miles was painfully aware that they were running out of time before the sun rose, but it seemed unwise to rush her.