“When she married my dad, she thought she would be living a different kind of life.” He shrugged. “Dad cut ties with his family and Mom didn’t want to struggle in life. It’s just been Dad and me ever since.”
Everything soured for a second while his situation and mine sank in.
“He seems like a really nice guy. Your dad, that is,” I said, hoping to break the tension.
“Too nice, which doesn’t make for a great businessman.”
There was certainly history in that statement, considering his tone.
“My mom is just the opposite. She’s pretty cutthroat.”
“Yeah?” he said, with faint amusement. “What does she do?”
“Mom is all about the numbers. She’s an accountant. That’s how she and my dad met.”
I closed my lips quickly, not wanting to admit to the affair that transpired creating me. To Mom’s credit, she hadn’t known he was married, which seemed impossible. But she didn’t follow the society page headlines.
“My mom is all about the numbers too. She’s what some would call a ‘gold digger.’ That’s how she met my dad.”
I tried not to laugh, but his deadpan statement warranted it. I covered my mouth to hide it.
“It’s okay. It is what it is. She’s happy, I guess,” he said.
“You don’t talk to her?”
His jaw flexed again. I’d put my nose in his business. “I’m sorry. You don’t have to answer that.”
“Like I said, she’s all about number one and that’s not me. It was a clean break. She got what she wanted, a rich husband and sons to replace me.”
It hit me how callous I’d been as I remembered what the shopkeeper had said. I wanted to ask about why he didn’t bring clients to town and if it had something to do with his mom. But I managed not to.
“Her loss,” I said instead.
We were quiet then. I could have told him my life story, but I didn’t want it to come off as if I was trying to one-up him. We both had shitty family situations. At the same time, we had someone in our corner.
Mine was my grandmother. I did believe my mother loved me, but in the back of my mind, I wondered if I was just a bad reminder of heartbreak for her. She always seemed happiest when I wasn’t around.
The problem was, after Grant laid himself bare, I had to see him not as some heartless hero. If I looked back over our time together, he came off as arrogant true enough, but he was also my savior. I wouldn’t almost be to Manhattan if not for him.
I hadn’t realized I’d fallen asleep until he whispered my name in my ear. I opened my eyes and realized that wasn’t quite true. He was sitting straight in his seat and saying my name.
“We’re here.”
I glanced around and noticed the hospital doors. It had been a good thing that I’d told him that somewhere before I dozed off.
“How much do I owe you?” I asked, reaching for my purse.
His hand came up to stop me. “It’s fine. I had to come to New York as well, remember.”
“No way, I owe you for the room and gas… and food.”
“Don’t worry about it. And you have to go. The cops are waving me to keep it moving.”
I glanced up and noticed the uniformed officer, which seemed weird. Police doing traffic duty at a hospital. He handed me my bag.
“Thanks,” I said. “I will pay you back.”
I got out of the car, hesitating for a second. I wanted to ask him for his number and not so we could go out possibly. Okay, that was a total lie. Grant had grown on me. Then there were his eyes holding mine, like he felt the spark too.
“You should go, Highness, or…”
Damn him and his smirk. What the heck did the or mean? I found myself grinning even after he’d used the hateful nickname.
“I should go.” Though he nodded, he licked his lips and I had a desperate urge to kiss him. A sharp whistle blew, killing that fantasy out of my head. I pushed at my hair and said, “Until next time.”
Before he could say anything else, I closed the door on him and any possible future. I had no idea if he was flirting with me or not. My track record with men wasn’t good. Yet, I couldn’t keep the stupid smile off my face as I went into the hospital.
It wasn’t until I found my grandmother’s room in the ICU that whatever giddiness I’d found from moments before died as my heart lay in the bed with tubes sticking out of her.
Fourteen
Grant
The stunning brunette got away and it was probably for the best. Though we’d found common ground, she belonged to a wealthy man and I couldn’t compete. I wouldn’t make the same mistake my father made.
We’d made decent time even with the snow. The roads had been treated and it hadn’t been a terrible ride.
Now I had the afternoon to kill. I wasn’t due to arrive at the airport for my first flight with Skyland until the morning. I didn’t bother trying to find a hotel in the city. I could afford it, but it wasn’t worth it.
I took the exit to go back to Jersey. Though in my head I’d used the excuse of frugalness, I had a different reason for driving back.
In about twenty minutes, I arrived in Saddle River, New Jersey. The place where my mom lived. Although Chestnut Ridge Road was open to the public, the house that lined it was hidden behind gates.
For years I’d dreamed of this moment and I wouldn’t let a brick wall, or an iron fence keep me from it. I parked on the side of the road, uncaring how it looked. I was eying the gate when it opened.
A sleek navy Maserati pulled out with a sunglass wearing man behind the wheel. Though I couldn’t see his eyes, I was pretty sure it was the same man that had stolen my mother away from my father and me. Curiosity and a little cyber stalking and I had a clear picture of the perfect family that didn’t include me.
I got out of my truck, and as the man turned at the next intersection, I barely slipped past the gate to gain entrance.
My heart beat like a drum against my chest as I marched up the driveaway and halfway around the circular part up some stairs to the double front doors. I avoided peeking through the side windows and rang the bell. It sounded rich with its triple tones and I tried not to be bitter.
“Where’s Marley?” a voice asked, hidden behind the solid wood door before it swung open. If I hadn’t spied pictures of my mother on social media, I would have still recognized her. Time had been kind, or rather she had the best plastic surgeon money could offer. She looked more like an older sister than a mom.
“Yes,” she said.
That one word hit me like a punch in the gut. She didn’t recognize me.
“Mother.”
She gasped and quickly covered her mouth with her delicate hand. Then she stepped out onto the porch, closing the door behind her.
“Grant.” She said my name like a prayer or a curse. I couldn’t tell the difference. “What are you doing here?”
I would ask myself that very question a thousand times over after it was all done. But I’d made the choice. I’d been in New York plenty of times but never had a vehicle to make this trip. It had been another reason I’d decided to drive to New York with Jolene.
“Why do you think?” I asked instead.
“To ruin my life.”
I looked up toward the sky to stop myself from saying something I hadn’t planned on.
When I met her gaze again, I said, “Whose life was really ruined here?” before glancing around at the opulent estate with its manicured lawn, perfectly sculpted shrubs, and three floors of windows to make a point.
“You don’t understand,” she pleaded.
“What don’t I understand? That you left a six-year-old boy who adored his mother with the words, ‘I’ll be back soon’ and never to return.” She opened her mouth, but I didn’t give her a chance to speak. “Not a birthday card, a Christmas present, not even a call to apologize for not keeping your promise. You just moved on.”
“Grant,” she said, looking on the verge of te
ars, but I didn’t buy it.
“Don’t bother. I didn’t come here to mess up your perfect life. I came to see what meant so much to you that you left my father brokenhearted and abandoned your son. Then again, you replaced me. Didn’t you?”
She didn’t get a chance to answer as the door swung open, and first one blond head then a second appeared in the doorway. They shared many features of our mother.
“Mom,” one said. The other noticed me. “Who is this?”
If my mother had a heart, this was where she could have redeemed herself.
“No one. He was just leaving.” Her eyes begged me not to say more.
And that was all the confirmation I needed. “Yeah, my mistake. I’m leaving.”
I turned and walked away, scrubbing a hand down my face as I heard her hustling her sons back into the house. I might have shed a tear. If I did, I wiped it away without acknowledgement. She didn’t deserve any piece of me.
“Grant.”
The voice was higher than mine, but it wasn’t my mother’s. The words no one rang in my mind like bells. A sound I would never forget. Though I’d almost reached the gate, I turned around and waited for the two boys who approached.
“How do you know my name? Did she tell you?”
They were quite identical, and I didn’t know which was which. I did know their names. Alexander and Andrew.
One shook his head while the other spoke. “No, but we knew who you were.”
“How?”
It couldn’t have been her, as she denied me much like Peter had of Jesus—not that I was religious. Some things just stuck with you.
“Dad. He thought we should know we had an older brother,” the other said, sounding just like his brother.
I nodded. So maybe the guy wasn’t a total prick.
“You didn’t reach out,” I said.
It wasn’t supposed to be an accusation, but it came out that way. They were teenagers. I couldn’t blame them for the sins of our mother.
“We only knew you by Grant,” the first said.
“We didn’t know your last name,” said the second.
“There are a lot of Grants in Maryland.” The first spoke as they traded sentences as if only one was speaking.
“You knew I was in Maryland?” I asked.
The second answered, “We knew Mom lived there before she divorced.”
“It was a guess,” the first said.
My head was spinning. “Wait, which one of you is Alexander?”
The first looked as shocked as I felt when they’d said my name. “Alex is me,” he said, pointing at himself.
The second with a finger aimed at his chest said, “I’m Andrew.”
I wasn’t sure what to do other than hold out a hand. But both of my brothers came in for a hug.
“You should stay,” Andrew said.
I only knew that because they hadn’t moved.
“Your mother wouldn’t like that,” I said.
“Mom won’t know,” Alex said.
“She probably already has a drink in her hands,” Andrew finished.
“I don’t know.” A part of me wanted to bolt. The other part wanted to talk to the only other family I’d met on my mother’s side.
“Please,” they said in unison.
“You can stay in the pool house,” Andrew said.
“Mother’s never out there in the winter,” his twin said.
“She’ll never know.”
“What about your dad?” I asked.
“He’s gone out of town for a few days,” Alex said.
“Another reason for Mom to drink,” Andrew added.
“And we really want to get to know you,” the first said.
“I’m sure you have questions for us too,” said the second.
It was probably a bad idea, but it could be the last time I saw them for years.
“Okay, let me get my bag.”
The twins rushed up and keyed in a code at the keypad and the gate opened. I grabbed my things and left my truck parallel parked on the road and hoped for the best. When I returned a minute later, they eagerly awaited me.
I followed them on a path around the house and not through it. In the back was a large, covered inground pool with what was probably a rock waterfall behind it. Off to the side was a house fit for normal people, unlike the mansion it was behind. A single door was flanked by two large windows on either side. It was bigger than my cabin.
They peppered me with questions the entire way.
“What is your last name?”
“King,” I said.
“Do you live in Maryland?”
“Yes,” I said.
When we got in the house, Alex asked if I flew planes.
“Yes. Did your dad tell you that?”
Andrew answered, “He said your dad did. So we thought you might too.”
“Will you teach us?” Alex asked, continuing their back and forth.
“Sure.”
When they mentioned their father owned an air jet, I had to slow them down.
“You can’t start learning on something like that.”
It went like that for hours. Somewhere along the way, they’d brought food their housekeeper Marley had made. They were curious like sixteen-year-old boys were. They even asked me questions about girls.
By the time I sent them inside so they wouldn’t be missed, I was dead on my feet. I didn’t plan to stay too long. I enjoyed a shower and a good night’s sleep in a bed fit for a king. I woke up hard as a rock, Jolene still playing in my head.
“Today is a new day,” I said to no one.
I cleaned up the space so the housekeeper wouldn’t ask too many questions and get my brothers in trouble.
My brothers. I hadn’t accepted those words until now. I might have lost a mother, but I’d gained two brothers. And that was something.
I did my best to ignore what they’d told me about their mom getting letters and pictures over the years, presumingly of me. They said she cried every time.
It was hard to accept when the woman herself denied me like I meant nothing to her.
Pushing those thoughts aside, I was relieved to find my truck where I parked it. I got in and stilled.
A faint scent of perfume I recognized assaulted my nose. My cock involuntarily jerked as it began to harden.
Damn you, Jolene. I remembered that look on her face when she got out of the truck and hesitated. I could have sworn she was waiting for me to make a move. I’d left that dangling or hanging there because I’d been tempted by the temptress herself.
“Today is a new day,” I said to myself again.
I resolved that I would never see her again, until I did.
Fifteen
Jolene
My father caught me before I could race to my grandmother’s bedside.
“She’s sleeping,” he whispered in my ear.
He didn’t let go until I relaxed in his arms. Under my own power, I curled an arm around myself as I took in the sight before me.
“How is she?”
My question didn’t come out as a whisper as I intended. Gran’s eyes fluttered opened. When they landed on me, her mouth curved, or so I thought, under the plastic covering it.
“Her oxygen is low,” Dad was saying as I ignored him.
Gran curled her finger in a gesture for me to come and so I did.
I fell across her chest as tears streamed down my face. Her hand stroked my hair.
“It’s okay, child. I’m not gone yet.”
“Don’t, Mom,” Dad warned. “You need that oxygen.”
I couldn’t see their faces because I enjoyed her soothing touch and I wanted to always remember it.
“I’m not dead yet, Christian. Remember who’s the parent.”
Though she sounded strong, she wheezed between every word.
“Mother.” A woman spoke before she seized my shoulder and yanked me upright. Then I met the eyes of my Aunt Tasha.
“Oh, i
t’s you,” she said, letting go of me and dusting her hand on her impeccable pantsuit before directing her next statement to my father.
“Why is she here?”
“Tash,” Dad said with all the weariness in the world weighing his shoulders down.
“She’s here because I want her here,” Gran said from behind us.
“Mother, stop with removing the oxygen mask,” my aunt directed, barely glancing at her mother.
A man in a crisp white lab coat strolled into the room.
“I’m here to check on the patient,” he said.
Aunt Tasha nodded and herded me out of the room with a well-placed grip on my bicep. But I’d had enough of being manhandled. I shrugged her off and gave her my best impression of rabid dog eyes.
“Please, girl.” She rolled her eyes. “If anyone has a right to be pissed, it’s me. If you think your presence here will get you a cut of the family fortune, think again.”
“Tasha.”
My father walked up and got between us.
“Christian. If you want to give your spawn a share of your cut, that is fine. But we aren’t cutting another slice for her.”
“Mom wanted her here.”
I’d had enough. I angled my body forward so I could get back in the conversation.
“Do you even care about your mother? Because I do. I don’t need her money to love her.”
She ignored my words as much as she’d ignored me my whole life.
“You mean nothing to me. You’re just my brother’s little indiscretion.”
I curled my hands into fists. “You’re just jealous because apparently your Botox not only froze your face and heart, but your ovaries too.”
When her jaw went slack, I giggled. I couldn’t help it. For so many years, I’d wanted to tell her off and now I had. But even I had to admit that was mean. I would regret the statement later. Rumor had it, her husband had left after several times she’d failed to reproduce. But I was tired of being considered nothing because I was born.
“You little—”
Dad grabbed her arm as I ducked under it. They were whisper-shouting at each other as I reentered Gran’s room.
The doctor was on his way out and I stopped him.
Arrogant Savior: A Hero Club Novel Page 7
