Seeing the expression on his face, she closed her mouth and stepped aside.
Jayden stalked to the playroom, where the girls were taking turns screaming. He walked in, and they stopped briefly, facing the door to see who it was.
“Stop!” he ordered when Chelsea took a huge breath. “Were you guys in my closet?”
Silence.
“Let me rephrase. I know you were,” he said and approached them.
Their playroom was a disaster, with toys and stuffed animals scattered across the floor. He searched it visually for the key.
“Did you take anything out of my room?” he asked sternly, folding his arms across his chest.
“No, Jayden,” Chelsea answered in a small voice.
“No, Jayden,” Izzy echoed.
“So if I search your playroom, I won’t find anything that belongs to me?”
“No,” they chorused.
Jayden saw Chelsea trying to be discreet about hiding something under her shirt. He always found it funny how hard they tried not to get caught and how obvious they were. Was he like that as a child?
He couldn’t smile, though, not when he was playing the daddy role.
“Okay show me your hands,” he directed.
“Jaaaaaaydeeeeen!” Chelsea whined, an indirect admission of guilt.
“Now. Both of you.”
Izzy looked at Chelsea, waiting for the leader of the small gang to go first.
Chelsea stuck out her lower lip in a pout but held out her hands. A black, fuzzy cat paw keychain was in her hands.
Jayden plucked it free. “You’re turn, Izzy.”
His sister held out one hand. It was empty.
“Izzy, don’t be stubborn,” he told her.
She held out her second hand. In it was the skeleton key.
Jayden didn’t expect the sight of his sweet little sister holding a dark piece from history to scare him the way it did. His thoughts raced back to the story his dad had told him. He couldn’t imagine the amount of lost or enslaved lives the key saw during the generations it sealed away people to horrible fates.
“Izzy,” he said, taking his sister’s shoulders. “Don’t you ever, ever, play with this again. Do you understand me?”
He didn’t realize how harsh his words were, until her eyes watered. Instantly, he felt guilty for scaring her. Jayden released her and took the key. The heaviness and coldness of the metal distressed him.
Chelsea was staring at him uncertainly, and Tara was silent.
“I’m sorry, Izzy,” he said, forcing himself to calm down. “This is just a very bad toy. Okay? No playing with it.”
Izzy nodded, as did Chelsea.
Jayden sensed his short rant had hurt the feelings of everyone in the playroom. He pocketed the key and left, wanting to hide it where Izzy would never find it again.
He pushed the door to his room open and went to the dresser.
“What the hell was that?” Tara asked from his doorway.
He gave her a harried glance. Jayden peeled off his polo and tossed it into the hamper.
“You always jump all over me for raising my voice with them and you yelled at them like you were crazy or something, Jayden.”
“I know. I don’t know what got into me.” He reached for the key and stared at it briefly before putting it in the top drawer of his dresser, outside the reach of the twins.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Nothing.”
“You just screamed at everyone over it and it’s nothing?”
He sighed. “It’s a long story, Tara.”
“We’re already two hours later.” She crossed her arms. “I want to know what made you freak out.”
Jayden hesitated. His father claimed he’d tell Tara eventually. Jayden didn’t want to discuss the dark family legacy, but his guilt – combined with Tara’s angry look – made him reconsider. He pulled the key out of his drawer and tossed it to her.
Tara caught it, studying it.
Jayden pulled a clean t-shirt out of the dresser and tugged it on.
“What does it go to?” Tara asked.
“Slave chains.”
“Seriously?”
“I guess it’s your history, too, since Daddy adopted you. Apparently, my ancestors sold whole villages into slavery. That key went to the chains that locked up the first slave.” He paused once more then told her the tale his father told him, down to the bizarre curse. Jayden shook his head ruefully when he got to that part.
Tara listened in rapt attention, quiet for a few moments after he finished.
Jayden waited for her reaction.
She fiddled with the key then tossed it back. “Okay. I get why you were upset. I don’t blame you.”
“Kinda makes me sick to look at it,” he said. He tucked it back into the drawer. “I’m sorry I went crazy. When I saw it in Izzy’s hands, all I could think about was a little girl like her being put in chains.”
“I understand.” Tara was unusually quiet. “I’ll make sure they don’t get a hold of it again, either. Something like that should be destroyed.”
“It wouldn’t make my past any less true,” he pointed out. “Daddy said it’s a reminder for me to do what’s right and to try to make amends for what my ancestors did to my people.”
“Jay, that’s an insane amount of pressure,” Tara objected. “You didn’t do those things.”
“I get that. No offense, Tara, but it’s different for you,” he said gently.
“Because I’m white.”
“Yeah. You’ve got less to prove.”
“You’re still a rebel where it counts.” She smiled at him. “So I take it you didn’t bring up Adrienne.”
“Who?”
She laughed then stopped, brow furrowed.
“Oh, hey, can you see if Izzy has my dog tags, too?” he asked, patting the place on his chest where they should be. “I gotta finish getting ready.”
“Yeah, sure. Did you ask Adrienne to come tonight?”
“I have no idea who Adrienne is,” he said curiously. “One of your friends?”
Tara didn’t seem to know how to respond.
“I’m meeting Kimmie and Mickey tonight. Like usual,” he added. He walked into his closet once more, this time to grab jeans.
“Kimmie?”
“I thought I was bad with names,” he teased. “I’ve only been dating her for like, two years.”
“I thought you broke up.”
“What? No. She’s beautiful. Smart, nice. Daddy approves of her,” he added, rolling his eyes.
“Is that why you’re dating her? Because your daddy wants you to?” Tara sounded angry.
What is with all these women tonight? There were days he thought he was cursed and days he knew he was.
“No, Tara. I’ve been in love with her since third grade.” He sighed. “Can you go get my dog tags?”
There was a moment of silence. She didn’t answer but slammed his door on the way out.
Who on earth was Adrienne? Someone Tara was trying to hook him up with?
Jayden changed clothes then checked his emails to find the address for the party. Oddly enough, an email from an Adrienne St. Croix was waiting for him. He opened it.
J-
Thank you so much for today. You’re the only good part of my life right now. I’ll see you at school Monday.
A.
He read it twice. He didn’t know any Adrienne, and certainly wouldn’t spend the day with anyone but Kimmie. Was Tara pranking him?
The email seemed too personal, genuine. He felt the emotion behind it. Tara wasn’t that convincing when she tried to lie. He doubted her friends were capable of much more. If anything, the email was probably sent to him by mistake.
Still, the note disturbed him, maybe because he wasn’t able to remember what exactly he did today.