AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“May I ask what happened?” Laurie instigates.
“One day, he was there. The next, he wasn’t. As simple as that.”
“Ouch. Ghosted. That’s the worst. When you don’t even get closure.”
I wince at the word ghosted, hating his choice of that particular word to define what happened.
“Closure is overrated, haven’t you heard?” I try to lighten the mood since this dinner date is getting far too real for me.
If I wanted it real, I would pick up one of Trent’s many phone calls.
Real is exactly what I don’t want.
Real… is fucking terrifying.
A thousand needles in the eye are preferable to real.
It sure fucking hurts less.
I prefer to dip my toes in the shallow end of the pool, where it’s nice and safe. Where real can’t ever touch me. No matter how many times it leaves voice messages on my phone.
“What about you?” I clear my throat, needing to change the spotlight off me. “Why are you in such a hurry to find Mrs. Right?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you,” Laurie replies, running the pad of his finger over the rim of his glass.
“Try me.”
He thinks long and hard as if debating whether to tell me the truth or just give me a vague explanation of why he’s in a hurry to meet his perfect match.
“Do you know how old I am?” he asks from left field.
“I don’t know. Late twenties, maybe?”
“Good guess. I’m exactly twenty-nine years old,” he explains as if the number should mean something to me.
“Okay,” I chime in, waiting for him to continue.
“And when you reach that age, it means something in my family. You see, I just didn’t come back to Boston for the sake of it. My father has imposed certain stipulations I must abide by to inherit my family’s legacy.”
“What kind of stipulations?” I ask, intrigued.
“There are too many to count.” He laughs bitterly. “Some are obvious. Attend the most prestigious schools. Graduate from Oxford and then move to London to learn how to conduct business like a true blue-blooded gentleman.”
“Check, check, and check. What else?”
“In parallel with ensuring that all Preston businesses are well looked after, I need to make my own mark on this city. Something that can only be traced back to me personally. My great-grandfather had his railways, my grandfather had his factories and mills, and my father has his precious real estate and hotels. I have to find my own way in entering a business venture that is lucrative enough to merit the family name.”
“The Boston Guardians,” I whisper under my breath, coming to the conclusion that Laurie isn’t just buying the club as an investment but as an actual requirement to inherit his seat as the crowned Preston prince.
“Is that all?”
“Do you really want to know?” Even when his light-green eyes turn into an ugly, murky color, I still nod, wanting to know what other hoop this man needs to jump through just to be worthy enough to inherit his fortune. “After all that is done, there’s only one more thing left for me to do.”
“What’s that?”
“Sell my soul,” he grumbles. “If I don’t want my birthright to be passed on to one of my cousins, I’ll have to be married before my thirtieth birthday.”
“You’re shitting me?” I ask, aghast.
