AllFreeNovel
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Maybe my opinion is unwelcome, probably irrelevant even, and I can understand if it is. It’s not like I’ve faced hardship in life or know what Lance is dealing with. Other than losing my mother before I could learn what her face truly looked like when she laughed, I’ve lived a sheltered life.
I’ve been lucky.
“You’ve never been to one of these events. Why?” Cooper asks, taking my hand as his arm bands around my back. I slip my hand over his shoulder and move with him.
“I like to be at home with my dad. He doesn’t need a carer or anything, but I don’t like to leave him.”
Cooper nods. “So, this is a one-off? A special occasion.”
“It was my birthday yesterday. Mason wanted to bring me. My parents used to attend the gala together.”
“Ah, of course. We’re cut from the same cloth, me and you, Scarlet. My parents own Foundation Works Limited. Your father’s company is one of my biggest competitors.”
“My brother’s company,” I correct him.
“Of course.Mase.”
The way he says his name makes the hairs at the base of my neck stand on end.
“FWL is a sinking ship. Stay the hell away from it, Anthony. Corrupt—the lot of them.”
“Come on, Glen. He has kids.”
“You’ll never see a penny of it back. I don’t believe a word out of his mouth after the Track Moore fiasco. He isn’t being honest with you.”
I remember the conversation between Dad and Glen. Glen was so mad at Dad but stood by him when he’d decided to help the family. I wonder if Glen was right. Mason and Elliot definitely don’t hold any respect for the family.
“The hell do you think you’re doing?” Mason’s voice is a gravelly growl at my back, and I drop my shoulders as he pulls me away and behind him. A human shield I never asked for. “You stay the hell away from my sister.”
“She wanted to dance, and besides, you seemed too busy selling the unsellable.”
“You sound like a dumb fuck. Do you even look at the market, or do you just take the money Daddy gives you and skip off into dreamland?”
Cooper’s chest grows as he steps up to Mason, but Mason just shakes his head, laughing at him. “Fucking clown.” He looks over his shoulder at me and then beyond, his eyes catching on to something or someone before he nods his head once. He shifts to look down at me. “Don’t get into any more trouble, or I’ll be taking you home.” He says it with a smile, but I know he means it. It was probably a bad idea to accept a dance with Cooper, but it beat the hell out of asking the three men everyone knows are like brothers to me.
I turn to go back to our table but get caught on the spot.
Lance’s eyes roam me so leisurely it makes my pulse jump beneath my heated skin. He saunters the last three steps to me, placing a strong hand around my waist without permission, that core-melting scent making my body loosen as he pulls me close to his. His mouth dusts my neck, and I close my eyes, unsure how I should take him and his forwardness.
“I thought you were leaving?” I ask.
“I was.”
My lip curls and I let my arms glide up to his shoulders, bringing us closer than we probably should be.
When he speaks again, it’s quieter, less him and a little vulnerable. “Sometimes the anger tastes so bitter, it feels impossible to let go of.”
My eyes drift closed, and a soft smile eases across my lips. “That’s because we’re not supposed to let it go.” He pulls back a little, his green eyes homing in on mine, desperate for something… more? I go a little deeper. “We learn to accept that people make shitty decisions, Lance, and that they’re not ours.”
His face turns stony, anger pulling him back into whatever headspace he’s trying to escape. “What if it’s not something you can just accept and drop? What if it’s family?”
“You’re delusional, Mum, you know that? Fucking delusional.”
I look across the dance floor to where Mason is sitting at the table. “Then we carry as much as our hands can hold. And we don’t feel guilty about anything that spills over.”
“Mason loves you,” he reassures me, and my eyes pull back to him.
“I know that. It doesn’t make it any easier to accept the fact that I remind him and hold an attachment to some of his most painful memories. When he doesn’t show up, when he doesn’t call or answer my texts, I choose to remind myself that it’s his decision. That’s not on me, it’s not because of me, and there’s nothing I can do to change his mind—not in the moment, at least.”
