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“Cassian.” Her voice was pleading, but careful. She knew she’d been walking on thin ice with me from the moment she attached herself like a fucking leech to this prick and his money. I resented her for that, too. At least she could’ve had the backbone to defend herself. So you wanted to shit on dad’s memory for a comfortable life? So what. At least own it. But instead, she crept around like a criminal, so I’d started seeing her as one.
“Mother.”
She sighed. It looked like she was about to launch into a lecture, then Walter held up his hand. “Honey, it’s alright. He’s got a lot on his mind. Big game this week, right, sport?”
I blinked, stared at him for a few seconds, then grabbed the car keys. If I had to spend another moment in the house with them, I was probably going to break something—starting with Walter’s fake ass teeth. He didn’t even have the balls to call me on the party I’d obviously thrown last night before the two of them had come back from boating across the Red Sea. He’d just called cleaners, and they’d fixed everything up like new before I’d even woken up.
Sometimes, I think I just wanted the conflict. I wanted the explosion. Instead, the more I pushed, the more everybody backed away, too terrified to stop me or say a word. That was irony for you.
I got in the Aston Martin and turned it on. I looked at the dashboard of the car and chuckled to myself. Speaking of irony… I despised my mom for trashing the memory of my dad for a paycheck. Yet, here I was, dressed head to toe in designer clothes and driving a car that cost more than most people’s houses. But no matter how many ways I’d thought about it, I knew my dad would’ve wanted me to enjoy it.
That was always his thing. You make the best of what you’ve got. Only back then, it had meant we made do with shitty canned food that tasted like metal most days. We’d cuddled as a family on cold nights and said not having the heat just gave us an excuse to be closer.
Dad had been too nice to ask for raises. Too worried about helping people to look for a better paying job. Back then, it had made me proud. Now it just made me feel sick and confused.
But I knew he’d hate the idea of me punishing myself by pretending the money wasn’t real. He’d tell me to have fun. Spoil yourself, kid.
I gripped the steering wheel, part of me wishing I could rip it in half and drive the car off a bridge. But I had work to do, didn’t I?
I thought about last night and felt some of the bitterness start to swirl inside me and turn to red-laced excitement.
It was like the moment before a fight, except more.
Charli fucking Rhodes.
She’d emerged from the lake like some goddamn figure out of a fairy tale. Like the woman in the lake from the story of King Arthur. Except the only sword she’d managed to raise up from the depths had been mine. And that had been unexpected. All I’d thought about for ten years was making her pay for what happened. I hadn’t considered how wanting a taste of her might complicate that plan.
I could still see the way she’d looked. It wasn’t even her body that had stuck in my head, even though I’d definitely noticed everything from the way the cold had hardened her nipples enough to make them press against her soaked, red bra. Or the way the light cast glistening patterns on her panties that gave me a clear view of every enticing secret hiding behind them.
She’d bared it all.
But what stuck with me was the look in her eyes.
She’d been defiant. Furious, even.
She walked right up to me with her shoulders back and her head held high, with fire in her eyes that no cold lake could dream of putting out. And she’d told me to try her.
I laughed at the memory and ran my thumb across the stubble on my chin. Try me.
Yeah, Charli. I think I will. And breaking you into a thousand pieces won’t be the cakewalk I was expecting. It might even be a challenge. Who knows, I might even take that taste of her I’d been thinking about since last night before it was all over.
Walter came into the garage just as I threw the car into reverse. My window was already down, or I would’ve just pretended I didn’t hear him calling after me.
“Hey.” He put his wrinkled hands on my door and leaned down. “I know it has been an adjustment. Me and your mom. And I know where your mind probably goes with the age difference. Believe it or not, I really do love her. I’m pretty sure she loves me, too. We’re going to do our—”
