“We’re headed home.” I ducked into the backseat. I refused to look up at the window as we drove away.
All I knew was that Knight had accomplished his plan. I would never come back.
10
Knight
It was almost a week before I presented my father with the letter from Lucien Martin. I knew time was running out before he told Kennedy about the offer. I’d spent the week drunk. I’d spent it playing long ballads on my piano. I’d spent it sleeping off one hangover just to get to the next. I’d canceled meetings. Neglected work.
“What’s this?” My father took the paper stained with drinks and food splotches. It hadn’t left my hand.
I had showered and shaved before appearing at the office. At last I didn’t look like a man who had been desperately lost.
“It’s from Lucien Martin,” I explained. “I told him it wasn’t an acceptable offer.” I waited for my father to read it. He folded it.
“He can’t have my hotel.”
“I know.”
He shoved the letter in a drawer in his desk. “The Vieux Carre is critical.”
“I told him you will have the hotel. I don’t know what else to say. He’s not going to get it. There are lots of way to make that happen.”
“His daughter, though? Have you met her?”
It wasn’t a question I expected. I nodded. “I have.”
“And?”
“She’s beautiful. Smart. Young.” I looked at him. “Just graduated college.”
“But you’re not interested in a beautiful young girl?”
“The hotel is the cornerstone to your entire plan. Trading Lucien’s daughter for that property isn’t a good move for you.” I couldn’t even bear to say Kennedy’s name out loud.
“What about for you?”
“I wouldn’t do that.”
He crossed his arms. “The bastard isn’t going to have the hotel. I don’t care if his daughter is a god damn Miss Universe playmate.”
“I know, Dad. It’s exactly what I said to him.”
“Wait.”
I paused at the door. I was ready for the meeting to be over.
“Last time Lucien came up, you said he sent an emissary in his place for the meeting.”
“Yes.” Fuck. He was putting pieces together.
“When did you see him then?”
“At his house.” I couldn’t lie.
“Some sort of follow up meeting?”
I shook my head. “No, I wasn’t there to see Lucien.”
“Why then?” he pressed.
“I was there to see his daughter.”
He peered at me. “What the hell is going on, Knight? Your sister’s wedding is in two weeks. Two fucking weeks. I’m running around trying on tuxedos and eating cakes your mother puts on a plate for me. I don’t need to worry about you getting fucked over by Lucien Martin’s daughter. You have some thing for her after all? Is that what you’re trying to tell me? Feelings? What is it? Are you just screwing her?” He shook his head. His face turned red. “The man is a con. He’s not one of us. He never will be. He’s about to learn the price for trying to interfere with my business. You don’t need to be anywhere near that family.”
I stared at him. “Five minutes ago, you wanted to know if I was interested in marrying her. Now you’re saying she’s off limits?”
“His offer is rejected. No deal. No daughter-in-law.” He pulled the letter from the desk and shredded it. I watched the tiny pieces float to the trashcan.
I needed space to breathe. “Okay, Dad.” But it wasn’t okay. And I still couldn’t figure out why. “I’m out.”
“We have dinner tonight with Seraphina and Brandon.”
But I kept walking without acknowledging the family plans or the dinner. I didn’t acknowledge his tirade. I didn’t argue again about how he had decided on one extreme then the other. I had to find some air.
“I’m surprised you called.”
“Sorry, man.”
Parker shrugged. “It’s been a few weeks.”
“You know. Wedding shit for Seraphina.” I had started lying to my friends. When had I become the asshole?
“I get it. I get it.” He sat across from me. We had ordered pints at an Irish bar.
I wiped the sweat from my brow. It was hot as hell. The third day it had reached over a hundred degrees this week.
“Look, the reason I called is because I need some help.”
I straightened in my seat. “What is it?”
Parker rubbed the handle on the glass as if there was a smudge he was worried about.
“Chelsea’s pregnant.”
I swallowed instead of spitting out the beer and it lodged in my esophagus.
“Fuck, man, you okay?” Parker stared at me.
“Yeah. Yeah.” I tried to inhale a full breath. “Sorry. She’s pregnant? I didn’t think you two were serious.”
“We weren’t.” He hung his head. “But things happen.”
“What are you going to do?” I was blindsided.
“Marry her.” I saw the grin on his face.
“No shit.” I couldn’t believe it.
“Yeah. My dad is going to be pissed, but first the grandchild is going to carry some weight being the first Bastion. Don’t you think?”
“Yeah. Yeah. That will definitely help.”
I stared at the bubbles in the beer. I was supposed to congratulate him. A baby. A marriage. We were the same age. We had gone to prep school together. College together. He was my best friend. He was headed down a path I didn’t want a single foot on. I’d never felt more distant from him.
“You sure you’re okay?” he asked.
“A lot of changes.” I nodded. “Seraphina. Now you.”
“It’s not how we planned it, but she’s having my baby. I can’t walk away from that. And I do love her. It took a fight for me to figure it out.”
“A fight? What do you mean?”
He shook his head. “I didn’t react the way a man is supposed to react when he finds out he’s about to be a dad. Chelsea said she’d do this on her own. She was ready to breakup. It was then. Right then when I thought I lost her, that I realized I was a fucking idiot. Who am I going to find better than her? You know?”
I didn’t think
