After Jared mocked Darcy with 'Her Highness Darcy of House Schemes' and stuff, she decided to create a short span of silence; to stress on the fact that she was not having his sarcastic bullshit anymore.
Then, after a few seconds, Darcy blew a lazy plume of smoke and narrowed her eyes. "You done?"
Jared stepped closer, voice theatrical. "Nay, Your Grace. I merely ask: what treachery shall Your Majesty command next? A glitter bomb? A public exile? A duel at dawn?"
Of course.... He sees me as wretched and quarrel-loving, boys like him always see woman like that! But hell, this is not a small matter. Not for me, not for him!
I need to crack open that nut head of his into earnestness; making him stop talking so cool and collected! Like I'm some vile queen and he some accomplice who is drawn - reluctantly, involuntarily - into my evil web of intrigue. That's not the case: I'm just mobilising the forces and planning a military operation to regain land— my dignity! And my pride! How dare he behave like I'm some knotted ball of misery?!
Darcy snorted. "Keep talking and I'll add jester to your titles." Then she said in serious and very real tone: ''May I point out to you that what I am doing is justice and that I have no choice but to protect my honour, my worth. These past few months Jake treated me like furniture— like something he could use when it suited him and ignore when it didn't. And he dared.... dared to parade around like the hero in his little redemption story— randomly going to university, acting like mommy's favourite good-boy. And now he ditched me completely and he is going to erase me from his life, like I didn't exist in the first place— you know.... he blocked me on everything and deleted all my pictures on social media; it apparently didn't cost him any effort or time, because after he dumped me this morning he quickly and swiftly wiped away all traces of me, within five hours, a mere five hours! So, to him I was a chapter he could paint over, something that was little to him. Like I, no.... We are low-life trash, low-educated scum that is not worthy of the high and mighty likes of him. Apparently not even worth to be remembered!"
Jared snorted very angrily and indignantly, his face was set in a tense balance, eyes narrowed in hatred. Darcy turned to him and said: ''You and Jake. You two weren't just friends. Oh, no, you two.... had a raw, messy romance buried under layers of bromance and denial! Late-night confessions, drunk kisses, silent mornings that spoke louder than any word. I know it, I have seen it all, sometimes I was even a bit jealous of you. That was stupid of me.... Now look! How he treats us both. Jake ghosted you, just like me now, erased the past like it was graffiti he could paint over. Apparently the both of us were - in the end - equal to him, yummy chewing gum he could use for a while and then spit out! Just as easily!''
Jared had waited out Darcy's dialogue filled with confronting sentences in boiled-up anger, but now that she fell silent, he could not hold himself back; he stood himself towering over Darcy in a deliberate act of threat.
''Enough bullshit spoken,'' he whispered threatening. ''I want to take on Jake because he acts like a reformed poster boy. Because he thinks he's better than us with his higher education and university stuff. I want him to squawk. Like a pathetic chicken. In front of everybody.''
Darcy put her face in a smug. ''Yeah, sure big boy, but I know that him being a poster boy now, is not the main reason you want to get on him. Maybe you're the one who hates him the most out of everyone here; you've known him since you were four. And maybe even loved him since you were four.''
Jared grabbed Darcy's neat, soft blouse of white silk. ''Stop talking crap.''
''You loved Jake more than you loved me,'' Darcy said high-spirited, her eyes sparkling, in her voice resided a tone that resembled the sound of hurt. ''You only desire female flesh because it can give you status.''
Jared pulled Darcy closer to him; they were now almost face to face— she did not shriek in surprise, neither did she tremble. ''Careful, Darcy, you're crossing a line.''
''You too, get your hands of me, I did not give you permission.''
''Well, you made me grab you,'' he said loud, and then he followed up, whispering in low voice: ''you're wounding my pride you know.''
''All that tough-guy posturing. The lip ring, the 'I don't give a fuck' hoodie look, the girls on your arm like accessories. You're terrified someone might see through it." Darcy tilted her head, now speaking more serious. "I think you cared a lot when Jake stopped looking at you the way he used to. When he stopped inviting you to parties. When he stopped letting you crash on his bed."
"You're pushing it— why?! Who do you think you are? A queen who thinks she can safely speak out her mind?"
''All good, Jared, let's cut it for now,'' Darcy said in triumphant, vicious tone. ''You are now well psyched up and in good mentality, perfect for the operation.... We can't take on this feud with half-assed attitude.''
Jared's voice cracked, but it came out fierce. "You don't know what you're talking about." He then let go of her as he clenched his jaw, chest heaving, walking towards an unfortunate, rusty barrel, fisting his fist tight and then hitting the barrel hard-on with a loud clang; the innocent, sin-free object fell down from its place and rolled towards the rocks below, colliding on them with a loud bang and eventually landing in the water.
''Whoa,'' Rudolf said in awe. Lash smiled darkly; she loved strife and discord, a condition she as trickster thrived on.
Darcy said in pleased voice: ''Our alpha of the pack, needs to steam off some of his temper, nothing out of the extraordinary. Now throw that anger on Jake, show him how you really feel and stop pretending like this whole situation doesn't care you in the slightest; you just as much as I want revenge! Stop being an unconcerned weakling! Jake dumped you too! This feud needs to be settled!''
''It will get settled,'' Jared said with a tone set in crepuscular twilight. ''But for this endeavour I want a reward, I am not doing this cartoon-like scheme without due compensation.''
He stepped again forward towards Darcy. The vicious queen said with a pragmatic tone like handling a business deal: ''What are your terms?''
He leaned in, his voice rough in her ear now: ''You.''
Darcy chuckled presumptuous, her eyes flared. ''Deal.'' She opened two buttons of her blouse, revealing a part of her bra. ''You better give some good passion, some real love. Not just dog-like thirstiness and quick smashing to prove— no deceive yourself that you are a heterosexual-only male, such pathetic showing-off I won't accept, give me real love.... Like you once loved Jake.''
Darcy smirked vile and thought: Got you, my sweet insecure Jared.
Jared smirked, but it didn't reach his eyes. He stepped forward, swaggering like a guy trying to make the ground remember who it belonged to.
"You think you've got me figured out?" he asked, voice low and flirtatious now. "Maybe I'm just into chaos. Into you."
Darcy tilted her head, studying him like a cat watching a mouse pretend to be a lion. "Oh? Suddenly I'm your sexual awakening?"
He chuckled, stepping closer, placing his hand above her hip. "Maybe I like fire. And you, Darcy, are a goddamn inferno."
She smiled slowly, lips curling like smoke rising from an open flame. "Flattery? Cute. Trying real hard to act like you're not offended."
"I'm not offended," Jared said fast, too sharp. "You just don't get to define me."
"I'm not defining," she said, voice like silk on a blade. "I'm observing. You puff your chest like some alpha dog, but the bark's covering a whole lot of confusion, isn't it?"
Jared's hand slid down her leg just a few inches— not enough to provoke, just enough to test. "You saying I'm confused while practically purring under my touch?"
Darcy laughed, low and rich, tilting toward him like a benign queen tolerating a jester's advance.
"Oh, Jared," she whispered, brushing a finger down his cheek, slow as honey. "You mistake my play for surrender. I like the game. That's why I let you touch."
He leaned closer, but she caught his wrist, holding it with just enough pressure to make a point. Her voice dipped, mocking and intimate. "You want me to say you're straight? Fine. You're very straight," she teased. "So straight you sleep with girls to prove something to the boys."
Jared's jaw clenched again, his bravado flickering.
Darcy leaned in, lips brushing his ear. "But you know what, baby? I don't care who you want. As long as you stay useful to me."
He exhaled sharply - half breath, half growl - but didn't pull away. "I hate how you do this," he muttered.
"You love how I let you," she corrected.
''You vile woman,'' Jared said in very low voice, adding with frantic wrought-up: ''You are more crooked than a crescent moon.''
Darcy laughed: ''Always in a bad mood? You don't know me well Jared.... It's always sunny at my court. The moon doesn't get his chance to appear. Never! My mood sometimes..... Vibrates a bit, yes, but it always goes back up fast, it never rolls into darkness.... No, it always bounces back into the place I desire it to be the most; under the radiant light of the sun!''
Jared kissed her on the mouth, a wet French kiss and after the long connect saying: ''Your tongue is like that of a snake, you don't talk, you spout poison.''
At this point Lash intervened, saying in bored voice: ''Do this power struggle with tongues somewhere else.... Spare me from it, please. By the way I want my reward in cash, Rudolf too I presume?'' She looked diagonally to Rudolf - who was watching the two's quarrel with vicarious embarrassment - and saw that he just nodded like a soulless being unable to say anything or to move his head towards her. Lash continued: ''Let's go our own ways now, you and Jared buy some feathers, paint and fishing line— a delightful concept for a first date, don't you think? I'll do my part camping on the rooftop and climb down the balcony to pull that fishing on exact the right moment when Jake is beneath it, sniping that bucket straight up his head.''
''Yes, thank you for keeping us at the lecture,'' Darcy said. ''You and Rudolf will get your cash reward, and.... Me and Jared will have our date,'' she counted on her fingers. ''A mesh bag of feathers, one industrial mop bucket, a fishing line, some yellow paint.... Hmm, doesn't sound so complicated, me and Jared will collect that stuff within no time— I know all shops in Ardenburg, I know which shop sells what.''
Lash went her own way. Rudolf stayed and said: ''How late tomorrow? How late are we going to the mansion to rig the bucket and fishing at its places?''
''At 15:00 lets gather outside Sami's mansion and give her a before-party,'' Darcy said swift.
''Okey,'' Rudolf said dry. ''I will take my leave than.'' He did not want to stall the loving foreplay any longer.
''Don't be too late,'' Darcy said.
Then, she turned again to Jared and said with a spice-rich voice sweet of covet and lust: ''Let me fulfil your reward.''