Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 132097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 132097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 660(@200wpm)___ 528(@250wpm)___ 440(@300wpm)
Not many people dare to sass me. Not to my face.
“Idiot,” Margot spits. “If you’re not careful, you’ll confuse her. Don’t make this silly wedding crap harder than it needs to be.”
“Now you’re just talking shit. I’m not making it hard on anyone. This was Gramps’ idea, after all.”
“Uh-huh.” She scowls at me suspiciously. “You’re not being nice to her.”
“I’m being me, Sis.”
“You’re being a dick,” she throws back. “This is just as hard on her as it is for you. Harder, maybe. The least you can do is be more accommodating. Getting all huffy because she has a job and a life outside you and this goofy arrangement? That’s clownish.”
“If she didn’t want to do it, she could’ve said no. She knows her obligations. The ship has sailed.”
“Yeah, because when you tell her”—she puts on a falsely macho voice—“if I’m going, you are too that gives her so much room to say no.”
“It’s Hattie. She knows me.”
“She knows how much of an immature jerkwad you can be. You used to bully her so much. You can’t do it again. I won’t allow it.” Margot flicks her hair over her shoulder. “You’re my brother, so I’m kind of forced to love you, but that doesn’t mean I like you. Especially back then.”
“We all had to grow up. But I was also a kid once.”
Margot rolls her eyes, checking her makeup with her phone camera. “I heard about you going off on Cooper.”
“That’s none of your business.”
“I’m not the only one. A few Boston big shots overheard you guys, too. They were laughing about it later.”
“And? So fucking what?” I scowl at her, then at my own reflection in the limo window. “Fuck them. Cooper Daley isn’t the golden boy everyone thinks he is.”
Even though he really does have everyone eating out of the palm of his hand. It’s nauseating how far a little contrived charm gets you. Just because he makes small talk and invests appalling sums in plastic surgery.
Few can look past the Hollywood grade smile and see the devil underneath.
“What makes you think he’s so awful, anyway?” Margot asks.
“He used Blackthorn’s market research to land his big breaks on Long Island. The ones that made him millions.” It stings, knowing he took advantage of Gramps like that. “They called it miracle real estate. That doesn’t happen for rookies like him with barely any capital.”
“Newsflash: you’re a rookie. Hardly a year in the game,” Margot reminds me, putting her phone away. “Why did you even come back?”
“Gramps wanted me to.”
“Yeah, but… he’s wanted you to do that for years. Why did you decide you wanted trouble at the eleventh hour?” She sighs in exasperation. “We could’ve sold our stake in the company and done basically anything else.”
“What, like started a shoe line?” I raise an eyebrow.
“Yes! Don’t talk about it like that. I don’t even want to deal with whatever he has for me in the will. I could’ve started a shoe line and you could’ve flown off to Greece or Hawaii for a year if you wanted. You could’ve been baking under the sun sipping mai tais. Maybe it would’ve cured your bad mood.”
“Goddammit, Margot. Be serious.”
“I am being serious. Why did you come back?”
My lips stay sealed.
The limo hums quietly through the streets. This late, not many people are out in this sleepy little city.
We pause at the stoplights, long enough to notice the odd intersection of modern glass and two-hundred-year-old red brick buildings.
“Because I’ve been running away for a damn decade. Isn’t that enough?” I flare. “I’m done with that. This is my home, far more than New York will ever be. If I’d realized it sooner, I could’ve dealt with a lot of trouble.”
Margot stares. “And what trouble was that, my dude? What was so, so awful that you ran away from us and never came back? Gramps would never tell me.”
Good.
He kept his promise, then.
“Nothing,” I snarl. That rage in my voice is aimed at myself for cracking and bringing up the past. “Ancient history doesn’t matter now. Only the future, Margot. That’s why I’m putting up with this.”
For half a second, I think she’ll keep digging. That’s my sister, more excitable than Ares when she gets a bone.
But I guess she can sense a sore subject, because she chews the inside of her cheek and looks away quietly.
“Sorry,” she mutters.
Thank fuck.
The rest of the ride is dead silent.
When we finally pull up at the old house where I’ve been staying, Margot follows me inside.
“What?” she demands when I turn around and glare at her. “I just wanna see Ares. He’s my nephew and he likes me better.”
“Fucking hell.” I sigh, dragging a hand over my face. “You have five minutes to pet him, and then your ass is gone.”
I turn on my heel, not waiting for her to catch up as I storm into my study and slam the door.