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But Nicholas winced. “Not in the box, Faith. He’s waiting for you down there, and just wants to explain some things to you.”
“Hear him out,” Amelia said. She came closer to me. “He looked so upset, Faith, when you left the box—”
“Dragged,” I interrupted. “I was dragged from the box.”
“Hear him out,” Amelia said sternly, like a strict Kindergarten teacher, making me shut the hell up.
“Yes, ma’am,” I said and followed Nicholas down the hallway, taking a right and stopping at a door. He tapped on it, and even in my more-than-tipsy state, I saw it read “Janitor’s Closet.” The door opened, and I saw Harry inside, pacing the small white tile floor.
Grabbing my hand, Harry pulled me inside and crushed me to his chest. “It’s not what you think,” he said, and I momentarily let myself breathe in his scent and feel his heart beating fast in his chest. Just that morning he’d been fucking me against his living room wall. And now we were in the closet, hiding from his father, no doubt.
I pushed myself away from all his cut and buff Harryness, which only fried my brain if I got too close. “Good choice for meeting with your dirty little secret.” With a wave of my hand, I indicated the cleaning supplies around us. I leaned against a mop who, from this angle, looked frighteningly like an ex of mine. “So?” I said, my voice glacial. “Have you been with her this entire time?”
Harry’s cheeks went red, and anger flared in his baby blues. “Don’t be ridiculous, Faith. Of course I haven’t.”
“It would be convenient, though. Her in the UK, me in New York. A girl in every port, so they say. That’s what your kind are like, aren’t they? Married, with a million mistresses on the side?”
Harry looked like I’d slapped him. It sent an arrow of regret deep into my heart. But I was too pissed, too tipsy, and far too stubborn to take it back.
“My kind?” he said. I saw the hurt in his expression and knew I had stepped over the mark. “I didn’t realize I had a kind, Faith.”
“The blue bloods.” I waved my hand. “The aristocracy. Don’t lie to my face and say that isn’t what this is about.” I pointed at the door. “That you brought your noble girlfriend here today because that’s what your daddy wants of you.” I took a step toward him. “He doesn’t want you with me, Harry. Have you not figured that out by now?”
“Of course I have!” he shouted and gripped the back of his head. I knew that King didn’t want us together, of course. But hearing it from Harry’s mouth was like taking a bat to the gut. “He will never approve of us, Faith. But I was trying. I was trying to work out how to make him see how I feel for you.”
Harry dropped his hands and stared at me, and I wanted to crash into him and kiss him until we forgot all of this. “I know I can get through to him. But then he orchestrated this behind my back, and I’m fucking livid.” I reared back, surprised at Harry cussing. It was as rare as a blue moon. “I had no idea they were coming. Nicholas had just flown in on business, and he got the invite at the same time I did. I had no heads-up. Went to breakfast to meet my father, and Louisa was there. He told her I had asked for her to come.”
“Then why not walk out and tell him where to go?”
“Because he’s all I have!” Harry shouted, and he immediately sounded out of breath. My heart twisted as those words left his mouth.
“Harry…”
“I don’t have a doting family like you, Faith. I don’t have a mum anymore who can take my side and tell me I’m not wrong for wanting you. I have no siblings. I have Nicholas, but he’s always busy like I am…” Harry slumped against the wall. “I have my dad and that’s it. My grandparents are dead and Nicholas’s parents live in France. All I have is him. I have to get through to him. But I can’t do that with Louisa here, and the CFO and CCO of HCS Media. And you can ridicule me all you want for being too English about it, but I won’t air our dirty laundry in public.”
My bottom lip trembled at how defeated he looked as his shoulders dropped. “I know you probably hate her, but Louisa isn’t a bad person, Faith. She’s a pawn. She’s being used by my father, and her parents are no better than he is. She’s as trapped in this as I am. So please, don’t fight her.”
“I wasn’t going to,” I lied. I damn well lied through my teeth.
