Breaking the Broken
Nine
Bad Meets Evil
---------------------------------
The quivering liquids in your stomach
Will eat away at the bad habits that have made you
A real character in the story of your now distant life
The Spill Canvas, Black Dresses
---------------------------------
A maniacal laughter echoed down the long hallway of the dormitory at Prestridge University. It could even be described as a cackle, and quite frankly, it was freaking Jason Argyle out. Tip-toeing down the hallway gingerly in pursuit of the sound, he paused with a sigh at his own door. He should've known…
"What the fuck are you doing, man?" he asked, shutting the door behind him. Plopping down onto the faded plaid of his bedspread, he propped his head up on his tanned and muscular arms and aimed his gaze at his roommate. Tears were flooding down Patrick Bale's face, but judging by the otherwise gleeful expression, they were tears of joy. Embarrassed for his new friend, Jason averted his eyes elsewhere. Anything to avoid looking at the moisture currently making its way down his face. But Jason's soulful brown eyes opened wide and his jaw dropped when he took in the sight of the only other occupant of the bed.
"Seventeen magazine?" he gasped, kicking out at it, as if it would contaminate him.
This seemed to snap Patrick back to reality. Though his eyes were still full of tears and he couldn't wipe the ridiculous grin off his face, he explained to his roommate, "Yes. There's something I think you'll find very interesting in there."
"I don't need the latest dating tips from Jonathan Taylor Thomas, thank you very much," Jason sneered, rolling onto his back.
"Heh. Turn to page sixty four," Patrick persisted. Rolling his eyes, Jason reached for the magazine and flipped to the designated page.
"A Virgin's Manifesto? Yep, I find this super-de-dooper-ly interesting. Dude, we both know the only way virgins are interesting is if…" comprehension dawned on his face as he took in the image of the smiling blonde, peering up at him from the center of the article. She was attractive in a common way, but certainly nothing special. However, there was something special about this particular girl…
"Is if they've been pursued by Sebastian Valmont? Yes, my thoughts exactly," Patrick said with a smirk. Jason could see the other boy's eyes scanning over the girl's profile, a predatory gleam in his eyes. It was almost frightening what the scrawny boy was capable of. If Annette Hargrove had been there in person, Jason may have even been a little alarmed for her. Glancing at the photo smiling innocently up at him, he called seeing the exact same one peeking up at him through the torrid pages of Cruel Intentions. He knew she'd looked familiar…
"Valmont. We owe him so much," Jason said in a somber tone, and both let a moment of silence pass for their deceased role model.
"Anyway," Patrick chirped, breaking the respectful quiet, "we both know that I've read that damn journal from front to back and have it practically memorized."
"Yes we do. Unfortunately for you, thinking like Sebastian won't make you look like Sebastian," Jason quipped.
Patrick shot him a death glare, but continued on as if he had never been interrupted. "And while I can find pages mentioning Miss Hargrove, there is not a single one claiming to have fucked her. Valmont wrote down details from every other girl, but not the infamous Seventeen virgin. Do you know what this means?" he asked, excitement in his voice and the fervor back in his eyes. Jason cowered away, almost imperceptibly.
"What's that?"
"He didn't get her! Sebastian Valmont didn't get Annette Hargrove to give it up before he died!"
"Hey! He would've if he had more time," Jason stated defensively. There was something almost sacred about the gorgeous blonde's memory, and it seemed necessary to defend it from the tarnish Patrick seemed to be implying.
"Of course," Patrick nodded, waving away the statement. "But he didn't live longer. He didn't. Which means that her cherry is still up for the popping."
Jason's dark eyes widened with the realization over what his friend was implying.
"Her dad just took a job at Prestridge… supposedly can't get any work in New York anymore. Not that that's surprising. Fucking idiot. But that means that Annette will be around…
"Do you have any idea what this will do for my reputation?" Patrick mused aloud. Inadvertently, Jason's mind flew to Cruel Intentions's record of Kathryn saying the same thing to her stepbrother. This couldn't end well…
However the darkly handsome boy couldn't say that he wasn't intrigued. Figuring that at least he was the 'Kathryn' in this situation, he humored his roommate.
"You don't stand a chance."
A cruel smirk twisting his light lips, Patrick turned his intense gaze upon Jason. "Care to make a wager on that?"
---------------------------------
Shiny varnish on the floors and surfaces made the entire house shine like a museum. In a way, it was a museum, preserving the memories and triumphs of the Merteuil family. It was kind of bizarre, and more than a little haunting, the way that the sparkling veneer seemed to trap all the emotions and events and secrets and lies beneath it, compressing the past into a hard, glossy finish. If you knew what it truly held, you would probably be afraid to be alone there. But Isabelle Merteuil was never alone for long…
The long black limousine had been out of sight for about an hour. Isabelle had watched it's slow decent down the mountain, mind full of possibilities of what could be going on inside and hoping that it was R-rated. No, she was no ordinary grandmother. While other people would be bored instantaneously by this activity, Isabelle had never been one of them. Her mind was churning with thoughts of her family, particularly the beautiful granddaughter who had just left her presence. The house didn't haunt her the way it did others, she found that it actually rather suited her on occasions like this. Isabelle was an expert at waiting. Like Kathryn, she was content to lie in wait and watched the prey fall victim, to watch all her plans fall into place. She had determined long ago that she would wait her entire life if it meant that she would succeed. It was just who she was.
Delicate fingers wrapped around an old-fashioned black lacquer phone, lifting it gently off the glass table. These were aristocratic fingers, ones that had never done a day of work in their lives.
Depending, of course, on your definition of work.
Waiting a moment to hear the slight buzz of the dial tone, she pressed down on the number two. A deep, masculine voice on the other end picked up, but she said nothing, a small smirk playing across her lips.
"Are they gone yet?" he persisted with a slight whine in his voice.
"Yes, they're gone. You can come in from the guest house now."
"About time," he said, and the following clicking signaled disconnection.
Moments later, the doorway filled with an impeccably dressed gentleman, about her age and about as attractive. Sandy blonde hair and green-blue eyes, he was rather good looking for a man of any age. Crossing the room in three brisk steps, his arms wrapped around Isabelle's waist, and although her gaze was still locked onto the outside world, a soft smile graced her aging face.
"Why didn't you tell me he was alive?" she lightly smacked his hand.
"Hell if I knew. I barely saw him when he was publicly living," he chuckled softly, but a little sadly, as his lips found their way to her neck.
"Why don't you seem more surprised?" she asked suspiciously.
"There's not a thing that Sebastian could do that would surprise me," he stated, hands wandering. Off her confused gaze, he added, "only impress."
"Why don't we continue this upstairs, Madame Merteuil?"
"Lead the way, Monsieur Valmont."
---------------------------------
"Stop ignoring me, Kathryn. I want to know where we're going," Sebastian whined from the other side of the roomy limo, and Kathryn found herself experiencing déjà vu. She could've sworn this already happened. Oh yeah. Last time they were on a trip. Rolling her eyes, she crossed her legs and looked pointedly out the window.
Twenty minutes of incessant whining later, and the limo found itself cast into merciful silence. However, Kathryn wasn't as pleased as she thought she would be. Casting a wary glance in her stepbrother's direction, her jaw dropped when she saw him gazing disinterestedly out at the scenic view from their car. He was going to ignore her now? Oh no.
"Sebastian?" she inquired, waiting for his eyes to snap onto her in that familiar way that always made it seem a tiny bit harder to breath. They never came. He responded with a "hmph?" noise, made from deep inside his throat, and she could feel her vibrant eyes narrowing angrily before processing the actual irritation.
"Don't you dare ignore me Sebastian," she spat. His left eyebrow raised a fraction of an inch, and a smirk seemed to tug at the corner of his pouty lips, but that was the only indication that he had heard her at all.
"Sebastian Valmont, you incorrigible bastard! If you don't speak to me right now, I will never speak to you again!" Kathryn shouted, venom dripping from her words. She could vaguely see the silhouette of the driver's head turning in alarm, but she knew that he would never take down the wall that separated the two compartments.
"Bet you didn't think you'd ever say that after the beginning of the trip, huh?" Sebastian asked, laughter in his own voice. He was fully smiling now, and Kathryn's own lips twitched upwards slightly as a reflex.
"Jerk," she mumbled, regaining her composure. Sebastian's light eyes lit up at the challenge.
"Aww Kat… don't be like that," he cooed. Green eyes narrowed in false malevolence, Kathryn relished the fact that she was back in control. Sliding across the aisle, Sebastian was sitting next to her now, and she found herself with very little personal space.
"Kaaaaathryn…" he continued in a sing-song voice. His large hand came up, gently stroking her cheek. Feeling her warm skin under his fingers, and no reaction on her part, he softly continued downwards, nails skimming her collarbone. Shivering slightly, her eyes locked onto his, but made no motion to stop him. Proceeding downwards, his hand slipped under her top, tracing dizzying patterns across her chest. Her breathing became labored, but she watched him as if entranced.
Max Santini had always been suspicious of the stepsiblings. While he knew of both their reputations, he knew perfectly well that you never knew what went on behind closed doors. However, every once in a while, something would happen between them that would make him question if it were more than just an unhealthy dose of lust. Yet despise how sickeningly taboo it was to have a sexual relationship amongst people who were siblings, by law if not by blood, he found himself kind of rooting for them. Mr. Valmont was surely a hoot, and Miss Merteuil just seemed to sparkle a little bit more when she was around him. So while some people would be disturbed by the fact that the bickering in the back seat had subsided, and all that could be hear were a few gasps, then a quiet moan, he wouldn't turn around. This driver's lips were sealed.
Tossing his black button-up shirt to the floor, Kathryn wondered what the fuck she was doing. She knew that this was wrong, that this wasn't something she should be doing right now. It was kind of hard for these thoughts to sink in with Sebastian half-naked, pressed against her. Kathryn Merteuil was a woman who had always been in complete control, mind over heart at all times. Now she found that just for a little while, she wanted to just do instead of think about it and calculate her next move. A limousine on the way back from a hidden mansion on a large mountain in an obscure location seemed like the perfect place to do so. Hands tracing his sculpted abs, Kathryn knew that she wouldn't fuck him in the limo. But as his hand made their way up her thighs, she thought that that didn't mean they couldn't have some R-rated fun in the meantime.
---------------------------------
Techno music blared and neon lights shined. It was typical of the nightlife for students at Prestridge University, and this fateful night found Jason Argyle standing on line outside the city's "hippest" club with the object of his not-so-secret affection.
Cassidy Merteuil found herself in the middle of a crowd with a brilliant fake smile, standing next to the one person she would most like to strangle. Yet she had to laugh a little bit at the irony that Jason thought he could fuck her over so thoroughly and then they'd be cool again. Wrong. Clearly he didn't remember Cruel Intentions in as much clarity as Patrick did. Keep your friends close, and your enemies closer. Cassidy would fake her smile and the witty banter that the two 'friends' usually engaged in, but she was just biding her time. They would get theirs in the end.
Smiling slightly as her thoughts wandered into the various things she would to do pay back the boys, it was a nice change from the typical blank expression it usually wore. However her wandering mind quickly snapped to attention when Jason seemed to inadvertently mention her favorite and least favorite subject—Kathryn.
"If you want so much to be like Kathryn, at least let me be your Sebastian," he said, tenderly caressing her hand, with a surprisingly hopeful look in his eye. While Cassidy would normally be amused or confused by this turn of events, she found herself growing exceptionally resentful. She actually wanted him to get away from her, as quickly as possible. Cassidy felt a loathing that she had never felt before at his words. He thought he could be Sebastian? He could replace Sebastian? Was he on drugs?
"Aw. Kathryn and Sebastian. Where are they now? Oh yeah. Methadone Clinic… and dead," Cassidy spat out, forcing her voice to retain the cold, mocking, detached fact it usually had effortlessly. However, the mention of Sebastian's name had put her on edge, and it was a challenge to keep the ice in her eyes and keep her mind on the conversation. Sebastian…
But now that her cruel words had been said, Cassidy could hear one thing. Or more accurately, it was one thing she could no longer hear. The sharp click-click of expensive sandals was now absent, and though there were a hundred girls there that night that could've been wearing them, the Merteuil could feel her entire being fill up with lead. Sensing someone's presence, she spun slightly on the spot and what she saw shook even the usually unflappable Cassidy Merteuil.
"Miss me, Cassie?"
A voice she had been hearing more and more in her dreams at night. Eyes that she could recall perfectly. Everything about him remained the same, maybe a bit more muscular. Yes, he was still gorgeous, and he was smiling at her like he used to. But the next thing she felt was a pang at her heart, as if she had been kicked in the gut. Yes, they were still dressed in coordinating colors, black this time. As if anything else really suited them.
His strong tan arm was wrapped around her dainty waist, and her perfectly manicured hand was tucked into his back pocket. Normally this would've caused quite the scandal, but they were miles from home. Here in California, they just looked like the hottest couple there. Only Cassidy and Jason saw it for what it really was.
The return of Kathryn and Sebastian.
---------------------------------
Hey everybody. I'm very sorry if that sucked. I'm glad that you guys liked the last two chapters. I've just been dying to get this update out. And, you know, they all had to meet sometime lol.
Wicked vamp- I hope you don't consider this waiting too long. I tried. Heh. You totally stumbled upon something huge for the plot later…
Ocfan108- I'm glad that I could make you a little happier )
J- You crack me up. I seriously love your reviews. Unfortunately, Cassidy doesn't think the way you do.
Katie- love hearing from you, as always.
y-x- stop reading this. Now. Go update. NOW. Hahah. Wait, review first. And keep in mind what I said about the Cassidy-Belinda connection in my review lol.
And thanks to everybody else who reviewed. Seriously, you made my day.
And now, for some important announcements:
Thanks to everybody who read and reviewed Fade to Black.
Keep an eye out for a one-shot Cruel Intentions story that I'll be posting soon
Anybody who likes this story would probably also like my Cruel Intentions inspired One Tree Hill story Beyond Good and Evil. So please check it out and let me know what you think.
And now, for some major advertising lol:
Katie (Valmontmerteuil) and I are starting up a Cruel Intentions Writer's group. It's for anybody who is currently writing, and it's a place for all of us to just trade ideas and help each other out. It's also a huge way to fight writer's block. Anyway, it's going to be really cool, and we already have a few great fanfic writers (pennames y-x, Cayster and Buffymaniac) on board. If you've read their stories, you'll know why I'm so excited about that. So any writers interested, please e-mail me or mention it in your review.
Thanks for reading!
Xo Sam