“You’re relaxed afterward? I’m just hungry. Though sometimes I just pass out. Is that healthy?” Sedric questioned before stuffing pudding into his mouth.
“I don’t fucking know, move!” I snapped at him before pushing him to the side.
“Your bedside manner sucks.”
I flipped him off before grabbing my black boxer briefs. “Don’t both of you have other things to be doing this morning?”
“We penciled in bothering you, so we’re right on schedule,” Darcy responded, and I rolled my eyes, putting on my trousers before stepping toward the closet entrance.
“So that means I don’t have to worry about your press conference this afternoon?” I asked, looking between them both. “It would be a shame if you both fucked up on your first day on this side of the family…especially after those passionate speeches you gave to your fathers.”
Sedric’s demeanor changed as he glared into my eyes. “It seems our cousin has mistaken our teasing for weakness, Darcy.”
“Ironic, seeing as he’s the one who ran away from his responsibility the second he had the chance,” Darcy replied, rising from my sofa.
Smirking, I nodded in agreement; “True. I did run. Neither of your fathers’ have ever doubted that I could do this job. That this is where I am supposed to be. Can either of you say the same?”
“You sure you want to keep pressing, cuz?” Sedric said, his jaw set.
“I don’t see why not. After all, you work for me.” I stepped into my room. “On this side of the line, we aren’t just family any more. You’re one of the men, the guards, the workers. Which means you work for me. You die for me if I need you to die for me. So tell me, cuz, what is an employee going to do to his boss?”
“I can almost see the tension in the air.”
At the sound of her voice, I wanted to crawl back into bed and restart my whole fucking morning with the door locked!
“What’s going on?” Helen asked, stepping closer to us. And without meaning to, I looked her over. Wishing I hadn’t noticed how short her plaid skirt was or how tight the black sweater she had on was…I could see just how full her breasts—
Stop!
“Wyatt apparently woke up on the wrong side of his maid this morning,” Declan stated, and I wanted to smack him to the goddamn moon!
“We’re supposed to fight our enemies not our family,” Helen said, looking between us.
“Fighting, whose fighting? Are we fighting?” I asked them. But before I could, Thing 1 and Thing 2 decided to abandon me, walking out as if I was the one who had done something wrong, grumbling as they left. The damn traitors.
“Did the maid upset you or something?” She asked after they left. I could only stare at her. Really, she was bringing up the maid? Fuck the maid! She was my problem. How the hell could she even ask— “Earth to Wyatt? What’s wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Huh?”
She frowned, tilting her head to the ground. “You’re looking at me like you want to strangle me.”
Is that how I looked? Maybe it’s because I want to strangle you, Helen! I imagined it for a quick second, and all I could see was her on my bed, my hands around her throat as I fucked—
“Helen…” My voice drifted off because I honestly had no fucking clue what to say to her.
“By the way, when did you leave last night?” I froze at her question.
“What?”
She sighed. “Seriously, what is up with you? You haven’t been able to form a single sentence.”
You’ve gotta be fucking with me. She didn’t remember? I didn’t fucking believe it. “You asked me to leave, Helen.”
“I did?” She said slowly, her brows bunching together. “Okay, anyway, I just came to say I’m still pissed at you. But to spare myself another lecture from Dona, I’m going to help you with whatever you need. Hurry up and get dressed. Nana is waiting to start breakfast.”
What the fuck was happening?
Did I fall through a wormhole?
Was I losing my bloody mind?
“Helen!” I hollered at her, and she jumped, turning back to me before she made it to my door.
Her brown eyes wide as she stared at me. “What? Why are you yelling at me?”
“You don’t remember what happened last night?”
Again, her eyebrows bunched together. “You came over, shot. I took a bullet out of you. You’re welcome by the way. And then…you said you left? What else happened? And it better be good for you to yell at me like that.”
She didn’t remember. Inside my mind there was an internal war raging, and she didn’t fucking remember throwing me into this chaos?! Bullshit! Fucking bullshit!
“Wyatt? Seriously you’re starting worry me.”
You should be worried!
“Sorry, it’s fine. I’ll see you downstairs,” I muttered, and she gave me one more strange look as if I was the one who didn’t have his sanity together!
“Okay, then.” She nodded before gripping onto the handle of the door. Right before exiting, she turned back and said, “And if you’re going to screw the maids, at least have the decency to not rip their clothes! It’s a long walk from here to the service wing.”
Was she really in love with me? How could she lecture me about the treatment of some woman I’d just finished screwing?
Did she really fucking forget?
TWELVE
“‘Do you think we can be friends?’ I asked.
He stared up at the ceiling. ‘Probably not, but we can pretend.’”
~ Priya Ardis
HELEN
I stood in the hallway trying to breathe. But I couldn’t. My mind was going crazy.
He remembered. Shit. He remembered!
Not only did he remember what I did, he was acting weird. Just like I knew he would, so I could only do one thing…lie. I had to pretend as if I didn’t remember. Yes, it was cowardly. But what else could I fucking do? Pretending was easier for both of us.
“Are you alright, Gummy Bear?”
I
