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“That’s weird, isn’t it?” Mom asked, following my gaze up to the offices. “Him calling us both in? What do you think it’s about?”
I had no idea, but it probably wasn’t going to be good. “Let’s just get this over with.”
She tucked her hand into my arm and smiled up at me. “Despite the slightly suspicious circumstances, it’s nice to have a moment with you. What’s going on at your place? Is Rebel okay after the funeral? You all left so early, I didn’t even get a chance to talk to any of you.”
Because we’d been too busy burying a body at the bottom of my father’s grave.
I couldn’t tell her that. So I told her something I could. “I’m in love with her.”
She stopped, which forced me to as well since she was holding my arm. I braced myself for her excitement and an avalanche of questions, like she’d done when I’d first brought Brooke home.
But her mouth gaped open in surprise, and she slowly shook her head. “Oh, Vaughn. No. Honey, I saw her at the funeral. That woman isn’t the sort you fall in love with. She has that big blond biker man. He’s always around, and I’ve seen the way he looks at her. That’s not just a friendship.”
I was about to blow my mother’s mind, but frankly, it had to happen at some point. I was all in with Rebel, and she came as a package deal with Fang. “I know. She loves him. I’m okay with that.”
She blinked. “What does that mean?”
I chuckled softly at her confusion. “It means she can love more than one person, Mom. I do too.”
My mother gawked at me. “You love the big blond biker man too? Oh, Vaughn. I know you and Kian had an…experimental phase in high school, but that biker? You couldn’t possibly!”
I fought back the urge to belly laugh. “Kian, Mom. I’m in love with Kian. Rebel is too. We’re all with her, and Kian and I are together too.”
She opened and closed her mouth a few times, but eventually it pulled into a line. “I don’t understand this. She can’t be with all of you.”
“Says who?”
My mother threw up her hands. “Says everyone! I’m very open-minded, Vaughn. You know that. But I don’t know what’s gotten into you since your father died. When you were walking around the funeral holding hands with the two of them, I had to tell my friends they were just supporting you through your grief. That alone caused a lot of gossip to swirl. I can’t continue to protect you if you aren’t going to protect yourself. What you do behind closed doors needs to stay there. Don’t bring it out into the open.”
She dug her fingers into my arm and towed me toward the elevator, effectively ending the conversation.
But I wasn’t done with it. As she hit the button for Harold’s offices, I stared at her. “I didn’t expect this from you, after all the marches you’ve protested in and the causes you’ve fought for. Does that not apply when the person affected is your son? Did you hear me say I love them? RebelandKian? We aren’t hurting anyone. We’re all consenting adults, and I’m sorry if your friends don’t understand. But I like what I have here. I like who I am when I’m with them.”
The elevator rocketed to the upper levels. She glared at me. “Vaughn. Think logically. You’ve only just broken up with your wife. You can’t suddenly be dating multiple people at once. You’re supposed to take over your father’s business, for goodness sakes!”
“What does that have to do with who I’m in a relationship with?”
She shook her head. “You truly are as naïve as Harold says you are. I swear, Vaughn. I’ve always fought for you when he would say you needed training and guiding because you didn’t get it. I never believed that. I always thought you were capable of making good decisions. You showed that when you married Brooke.”
My irritation with her bubbled over. “I never loved Brooke! I only did that because Harold practically arranged our marriage!”
“And he was right to do so. Because look who you choose when you’re left to your own devices? The riffraff from Saint View?”
The elevator doors binged open, as loud as a mic drop in the frosty silence between us. Neither of us made a move.
I just glared at her. “You sound exactly like Harold.”
She glanced over at the workers at their desks. She plastered on a fake smile and spoke under her breath, through gritted teeth. “I don’t like the man any more than you do. But this business is your father’s legacy. I just want it and you to succeed. I’m sorry, but you cannot do that if the entire business world is gossiping about your sex life. We don’t always get everything we want, Vaughn. Stop acting like a spoiled child.”
She walked out of the elevator.
I ground my back molars.
It was so fucking tempting to hit the button for the ground floor and leave her here with Harold, since the two of them were apparently two peas in a fucking pod.
But fuck running away. This company was fifty-one percent owned by Rebel and me. I wasn’t giving it up without a fight. If no one would do business with a man who just so happened to consensually love more than one person, then I didn’t want to do business with them.
I strode across the floor to where my father’s receptionist sat behind her desk, smiling pleasantly at me.
