The Broken Vows: Zane and Celeste’s Story (The Windsors)

“How much longer are you going to stay at Mom and Dad’s?” my brother asks over video chat, and Mom gasps as she snatches her tablet out of my hands to glare at Archer. It’s a silly move on his part, to ask that during our weekly cooking lesson with Mom. It’s a tradition we started when Archer left home and I moved to London for college, and it quickly made Saturday my favorite day of the week.

“Archer Harrison! Don’t you encourage your sister to move out,” Mom chastises.

I shake my head at him from behind her before mouthing soon. I’ve been looking at houses, but none of them have been quite right. It won’t be much longer now, though. Every viewing makes it easier to determine what I want.

I grin at Archer as Mom lectures him, and he throws me a pained stare. This is what I love most about our cooking lessons — it kept us close despite being so far apart.

“Instead of telling your sister to leave home, you should be joining her here,” Mom yells at him. “Don’t make me drag you back, Archer. I will not spend another Thanksgiving without both of my kids with me.”

His expression falls, and I sigh. Since leaving, he’s come home twice — both times it was for Mom’s birthday. If there’s even a slight chance of Grandpa being here, he won’t come. Mom knows that as well as I do.

Grandpa refused to let Archer run his current company on the side while working for him, and it resulted in an ultimatum that didn’t pan out the way I think Grandpa expected. Archer chose his own company and followed his dreams, even if it meant being disowned, and it’s something I’ll always respect him for, despite the resulting rift in our family.

“What’s going on in here?” Dad asks as he leads Lily into the kitchen, both of their arms filled with fresh rhubarb for our pie. “We left for ten minutes to pick these, and you managed to upset your mother?”

Archer shoots me a helpless look, and I pretend not to see it. “Instead of always lecturing me, why aren’t you telling off Lily?” he says, tipping his head toward her. “I heard you joined the enemy, Blondie?”

I let my eyes fall closed for a moment, surprised at his stupidity. Surely by now he’s learned that deflecting Mom’s anger never works in his favor? Mom wraps her arm around Lily and narrows her eyes. “You’re one to talk. Lily still works in the industry, and she has every intention of joining Harrison Developments in a few years. Can you say the same?”

Lily stares at me wide-eyed, confused as to why she got caught up in our argument, and I merely shrug. In the last ten years, she’s pretty much become one of us. She’s been there for every cooking session while we were in London, but she still isn’t quite used to the way we argue and make up so quickly.

I can hardly blame her for it — her house is always quiet, and her dad is rarely home. She isn’t used to the constant shouting, and she never knows quite what to do with herself when things get as loud as they are right now.

“How has it been?” I ask quietly. I’ve barely spoken to her since she started work, but if I’m truly honest with myself, I’ve purposely kept myself from asking. I don’t know how to bring up Zane without spilling all of my secrets.

“Work is really good,” she says, guilt flickering through her eyes. Lily won’t admit it, but all of her applications being rejected hurt her deeply. She’s taken such pride in working for Windsor Hotels, even if she’s trying not to let it show. I can’t take that away from her. She can’t find out that Zane hired her because of me, but the secrets I’m keeping from her are weighing heavy.

It isn’t just everything that happened recently that I’m keeping from her, and I know it’ll hurt her to find out I have so many secrets when she shares everything with me. Lily thinks I never went to prom because I had a migraine, and at the time, I’d been too ashamed to admit what really happened.

I didn’t have the heart to tell her that my date never picked me up, and that I went by myself, only to find him kissing the girl that ended up becoming prom queen seconds after walking in. I never told her that Zane grabbed my hand and led me out of there, because I hadn’t wanted to revisit the pain Jason inflicted, and I could barely believe what happened between Zane and me. As time went on, it became something I left in the past… until the past caught up to me.

“The training scheme is so comprehensive, and I…” She looks up, visibly hesitating. “I was put on the Bellevue project.”

My chest tightens for a moment, and I look away. “Oh. That’s wonderful,” I murmur, but it doesn’t come out the way I’d intended it to — it doesn’t sound sincere. How could it, when this isn’t new information to me? Zane told me about this nearly three weeks ago.

“He’s… he’s a good boss,” she tries to tell me. “He’s different now, I think.”

I nod, unsure what to say. “Speaking of Zane, there’s something I need to tell you.”

I have to find a way to tell her everything that’s happened in the last couple of weeks without making her feel like she didn’t earn her job.

She raises a brow. “Oh god, what did he do now? I’m not above sabotaging him at work, you know? I don’t even care. There’s no way I’ll let him get away with messing with you ever again.”

“No, nothing like that. I’ll tell you later,” I whisper, glancing at my parents. It’ll be hard enough to explain to Lily that I kissed Zane Windsor, my mortal enemy. The last thing I need is for my parents to overhear me.

She nods as Mom glances over. “Celeste. Don’t forget about brunch tomorrow, okay? You promised me a late birthday date. I know work is busy and Grandpa is putting a lot of pressure on you, but you can manage to take a Sunday off.”

“Yes, Mom.” She’s reminded me of her birthday brunch no less than three times just this week. I couldn’t forget if I tried.

“You promised me a date too,” she says, turning to Lily next, and they begin to discuss their restaurant options just as my phone buzzes.

My heart skips a beat when Zane’s name flashes across my screen, and I quickly swipe my phone off the counter, heat rushing to my cheeks. There’s something so illicit about texting him in a room full of people who witnessed our rivalry. If I tried telling Archer that I’m going on a date with Zane Windsor, he’d laugh it off, convinced I’m messing with him.

IN-ZANE

Each time I close my eyes, I think of the way your body felt against mine. I haven’t been able to focus on anything but you. Tell me that kiss is seared into your memories the way it is in mine, Celestial.

He’s been texting me non-stop since I agreed to go on a date with him, and there’s something truly exhilarating about it. It feels like I’m getting to know him all over again — he’s both familiar and entirely novel, and I’m enjoying discovering the parts I didn’t know about. It hasn’t been easy to let go of my old resentment, but each time doubt creeps in, I remind myself of the way he looks at me these days. I doubt he could fake that. Maybe this thing between us is only physical, but he’s right. I do want to know what it is… what it’d be like to be his.

I bite my lip as I re-read his text, only for it to remind me of the way he pulled my lip in between his teeth before kissing me.

CELESTE

My memory seems to fail me today… you’ll need to show me what it was like all over again, just to be sure.

IN- ZANE

Fuck, Celestial. You have no idea what I’d give to have your lips on mine right now. I can’t believe I have to wait another 7 days until I see you again.

I smile as I pull my phone to my chest. Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d one day find myself eager to see Zane Windsor, of all people. Yet here I am, counting down the days. I just hope I don’t come to regret giving him the chance he asked for.