I want to see if he’ll deny something that I’m sure he’s been working out to do for months. Ditch his wife, a dying son, and play hooky with another woman.
“Son, I’ve been meaning to talk to you. Why don’t you come to my office so we can talk?” John reaches for my shoulder, but I shake his hand off.
“Just spit it out.”
“Well, I’m not going to break some good news on the front door of my own house like I’m being evicted out of it.”
“Mom owns this house,” I remind him as another worker walks in with white cabinets that look just like the ones that were in Aiden’s hospital room. Sterile, white, and clean.
“Ah yes, well, thanks for reminding me. I’m going to have to buy it from her family.” He shakes his head, leading the way to his office. I have a sinking suspicion of where this is going but I have to be wrong.
“She’ll never say yes, but good luck,” I grit out. “She built this house.”
“True,” he nods. “But I trust your mother already has a figure she wants for it,”
“You mean like the figure she dried your wallet with, leaving you with nothing but a rusty bank account?” I counter.
He chuckles like there’s something truly funny about a divorce that was so public, it’s still all everyone talks about here.
“Your mother is one hell of a tough woman, but I know she won’t be difficult about this.”
“You sure about that?” I mock, dropping down on the leather couch the moment I get in his office. “She milked you for half your net worth in that divorce. Not because she wanted your money—because we both know she comes from old money—but because she wanted to.”
He pauses for a second, but to my surprise he doesn’t take offense. His shoulders are tense, uncertainty clouding his eyes with what he wants to say.
“Well, your mother had every right to get every dollar she got in the settlement.”
“Is that all you have to say for yourself?” I grit out. “At least acknowledge the fact that you hurt her and embarrassed her, multiple times.”
“I’m not perfect, Julian,” he defends himself, now pacing the length of his office, something that alerts me that there is indeed something bothering him. “I never claimed to be a good husband and I did warn your mother of that before we got married.”
“Right,” I nod sarcastically. “So, I guess that gave you a right to drop your pants for anything with a pulse.”
“Damn it, Julian, I lost my way.” He stops, looking at me head on. “I was going through a lot and didn’t know where to go. My marriage was in a very bad place and with everything going on with your brother…”
“Don’t bring Aiden into this!” I seethe. “You’ve never cared about him before. Keep that same energy.” I ball my palms into tight fists, tasting violence on the tip of my tongue.
“Julian—”
“Just don’t,” I press. “Don’t you dare try to start now.”
He’s breathing fast and hard as he looks at me, but I can see the terror in his eyes. But the thing about terror for my father, it genuinely excites him. Like he gets an adrenaline high from doing something he knows has high risks. Including having a public affair while married.
“I’m in love.”
He blurts the words out like he’s been screaming them out loud for a long time.
I blink once, then stare at him. A sinking feeling starts in the pit of my stomach. With the silence in here, I can here the workers moving furniture down the hall in what used to be Aiden’s part of the house.
“I’m in love, son,” he repeats.
No. This can’t be happening.
It’s one thing to know your father is sleeping with his secretary and some college girls, but it’s another to hear that he’s actually in love.
“You’re almost fifty-two,” I start, feeling like a fish out of water. “You’ve hot grey hairs even.”
“I didn’t say I’m about to be a new father, Julian.” He might as well have said that. “Although I do think Nicky wants those one day.”
Nicky…
“Is that woman sick?” I question. I already know the answer to that, but I watch him.
Mia’s mother is sick. I think her mother’s name is…Nicky or Nancy.
“No, Nicky isn’t sick, but her older sister is.”
Fuck.
“So, what?”
We stare at each other and in that moment, I see the intelligence in his eyes. He knows that I know.
“So, we’re preparing a comfortable room for her here, the ground floor east guestroom to be precise.”
“You mean you’re taking over Aiden’s room.” I grit out, “For her fucking sister?”
“Son—"
“Why?”
“Julian—”
“Why are you making a makeshift hospital for Nicky’s sister?” I exaggerate that in the worst way possible, and he tenses. John stares at me, and I swear, I can almost see sweat breaking on his brow, but he doesn’t look away.
“Because I asked Nicky to marry me and she agreed, so she’s moving in with her sister and niece.”
Little Minx…
The door bursts open right that second and I close my eyes, knowing exactly who it is.
“What the fuck did you just say?” Liam demands, pounding his fist on John’s office door. I should’ve known that he’d follow me home. When Liam smells a rat, it’s not long until he finds where the fuck it died.
“Liam, son…,”
“Don’t son me, Dad. I heard you spewing that shit.”
“Liam, language.”
“Nah, man, let me talk. You weren’t there when Aiden gasped out your name, right before he closed his eyes and never opened them again,” Liam starts, his eyes glittering with unshed tears. “Then, we had his funeral, you didn’t even stay to see his coffin in the ground. Instead, you were the first to leave. You fucking left.”
“Liam—"
“And now we know why.” Liam sniffles, looking at me with hurt in his eyes. “And you knew about it.”
There’s no point in lying now.
“Yes.”
“Since when?” he demands, knowing that I won’t lie to him.
“I’ve known that he was in a serious relationship for two years.”
“What?” Both of them start, but neither are truly surprised. They know I can get any information I want.
“Do you know who she is?” Liam questions.
Yes. The aunt to the girl whose car we just egged an hour ago.
I shake my head instead. I have to ease into this the right way. Which means I need to talk to Liam alone.
“So, you’re getting married to this woman. She has a sick sister and you’re moving heaven and earth to accommodate her. But when your own son needed the ramp, you had them build it away from the front entrance because you didn’t want your fucking cigar smoking, greasy palm, old money business guests to know you had a sick son. How suave of you, Dad.”
Our father is an asshole in his own league. When it comes to being a cold, indifferent asshole with complicated feelings, I learned from the best. But this is a slap to the face to his own blood.
“Liam, Julian,” John starts a seemingly real look of regret on his face. “I’m sorry and I know there’s nothing that I can say that can take away what I did, but I am getting married and she’s moving in.”
“Then we’re moving out.” Liam steps forward, a furious look on his face. “You can have the damn house to yourself, but my brother and I don’t have to be here to witness this shit.”
Fuck. This isn’t happening.
Soon, I won’t be around, hell, I’m graduating in a few weeks, going to college sooner than most because of early training and I know Liam has to stay here.
Palos Verdes is the best place for Liam to heal after everything that has happened. Our mother is all the way across the country, but above all that shit, there’s the fucking deal.
John glances at me, and I can s
ee it in his eyes. Fuck this all to hell.
“Liam,” he starts.
“No, you heard me,” he starts. ‘We’re moving out.”
“Son, you can’t do that.” John starts, straightening up to look taller, standing at his full six three.
“Like you can stop me.”
“I can if I have to.” John looks at me as he says that. “But I don’t want you to.”
“What do you want?” I ask quietly, making Liam swing around to look at me with a dark scowl.
“Dude, you can’t seriously be asking him what he wants. We’re not staying here.” The look on his face will devastate me for a long time but I don’t care, as long as I’m certain that my brother’s future is secure.
“Let’s hear him out,” I murmur.
“But, J—” he starts, but I cut him off, feeling sick inside.
“Liam, just stop and listen.” I look at John head on. I’ve hated him for a long time but right now, I don’t know if it’s possible to hate him even more. “What do you want?”
At least John has the decency to look somewhat unhappy about threatening his own son’s future.
“It’s simple really,” he starts, rounding his large, mahogany office desk that I’m sure has seen a lot of action, both illegal and messy. “I want both of you to be here when my fiancé, her sister, and niece move in.”
I can feel Liam’s heated gaze on me, but he doesn’t voice his anger. Not yet anyway.
“Her niece?” he questions instead.
“Yes, I think you know her. She’s the same age as you, Liam but she doesn’t go to St. Jude.”
“Where does she go?” he questions, disbelief in his voice as he stares at me.
“Why, Clintwood Academy of course.”
Liam stares at me pointedly now, no doubt he’s connecting the dots in his head about this afternoon. Without another word, he turns to leave.
“One more thing, son,” John calls out before Liam can leave. “I want you to be on your best behavior. That means you don’t run your damn mouths and you don’t get attitudes with her or her family.”
“And?”
He straightens, no doubt catching the threat in my own voice.
“And you don’t touch the girl. You stay away.”
Liam throws his head back, laughing. “Yeah. Good luck with that one,” Liam spits out sarcastically, then leaves as angry as he came in. I stand there, in front of John’s office desk, watching him.
“What does he mean by that?” John questions.
“You’re a smart man, I’m sure you know.”
We stare at each other for a second. He’s keeping something. I know it.
“I trust that you haven’t forgotten the deal we made a while ago.” He clears his throat, dropping down into his leather chair.
“I haven’t forgotten.”
“I know that.”
“Then what?” I grit out.
“I’m just making sure that you hold off your end of the deal and I’ll do mine. Liam will always be safe and secure if you don’t cause any trouble.”
“Cause any trouble, huh?”
John tenses up, watching me with caution but he doesn’t say anything, so I leave but before I get out the door, I turn back to look at my father.
“Don’t expect peace in this house. It’s not going to happen.”
And with that, I slam the door shut, ready to cause as much chaos as I can.
“It was your idea to go to Clintwood today.” Liam jumps out from out of nowhere, a thunderous look on his face. “You said I needed to let off some steam today, but it was you! You knew what you were doing all along.”
“Liam…”
“That car, it’s the niece’s car isn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“Who is she?”
“Her name’s…Mia Montague.” I watch him as I say that, her name rolling of my tongue with more anger and emotion than I intended. Liam tenses up right in front of me, his eyes widening just a fraction. My heart starts pounding.
“Holy shit!”
“Yeah.”
“Just when I thought this life wouldn’t get more fucked up”
Hmmm.
The words come out clipped, terse, and angry for some reason. Liam stops and looks up at me, a serious look in his eyes.
“J, I never fucked her. I’m over her.”
I stare at him, then look away. I’m being irrational.
“This can actually be a good thing. We can fuck with Dad and also mess her fucking life up for what she did to Aiden.”
“Liam, calm down,” I grumble. “We need to be careful about this.”
“Screw that!” he scoffs. “I say we blow her life up.”
“I’m on the same fucking page with that,” I grit out, going past him to get to my room. I need to go visit Aiden later, after I take a shower and grab a snack. “We need to get to know our dear new roommate better.”
Liam grins, his eyes twinkling with evil mirth.
With Aiden’s leukemia getting worse in the last days, I lost track of Mia and what she was up to, but I knew she was living a lie to everyone around her. Time to uncover those lies.
“What are you suggesting, J?”
“That we dust up on her resume, see what she’s about.”
“Go on…”
“We’re going to dethrone a queen. Break her, get her darkest secrets. You know the drill with these mouthy, heartless, so-called ice queens.”
“That’s cold, don’t you think?” Liam chuckles. “You do know high school girls work hard to get their flower crowns, right?”
“Yes,” I say, glancing at him from over my shoulder. “I’m counting on it.”
Liam’s face transforms from concern to sly in a split second. He lives for these types of things. Destroying people’s lives and embarrassing them, especially when he feels like they attacked him. Mia Montague suspects it, sure, but I bet she doesn’t really realize how high she’s just ranked on my brother and I’s list. And the fact that John mentioned she wasn’t to be touched, well… who said Santa wasn’t fucking real obviously hasn’t lived in Palos Verdes.
Dealing with her inevitably means that the shitty marriage sham John is planning won’t work. She’ll want out with a desperation that her sane mother and aunt will have no choice but to listen to.
“Fuck yeah!”
9
After that dreadful, stinking afternoon, and discovering that some assholes from St. Jude had egged and trashed my beautiful car, I had to send it to get cleaned and detailed.
Dad was pissed about it of course, but he didn’t say anything. I guess that’s what happens when your parents are splitting up and they want to win you over to their side. Not that I need convincing.
I have a parent on their sick bed. And she’s been my rock and my best friend since I was a little girl.
But Dad, he was my knight in shining armor once. My other best friend.
Together the three of us were a family, our house was our castle. They were the king and queen so in love and I was their princess. Until an unrelenting, ugly dragon called ALS mixed with financial challenges came in torching every part of this house. And we just stood there, watching it all burn.
“So, you’re not going?” Aunt Nicky questions. It’s Saturday afternoon and Mom just fell asleep.
“I told you, I have to be here,” I murmur. “Parties will come and go in a long lifetime.”
Not time with my mother.
“But Mia baby, you haven’t gone out with your friends in a long time.”
I sigh, just as my phone vibrates. Without looking I know it’s another text from Kristine who’s hyped for tonight. Pranking St. Jude High is almost a sacred sport of sorts. But I don’t want to go. The fact that my car was the only one singled out yesterday was a clear warning. For me.
Julian and Liam haven’t forgotten me. One thing I’m certain of is this time Julian’s going to make do on his word. There’s something about repressed
anger, and the Fitz brothers have kept a tight leash on their anger for me for years. I doubt they’ll hold it for any longer.
“Auntie, the world won’t collapse just because I haven’t shown it much love in the past few days.”
“Days?”
“Okay, weeks,” I mumble and she shakes her head, a sad look in her eyes.
“Months?” I shrug, looking away.
“Years, Mia.” She sighs, looking disappointed. “Your mother told me that you’ve been cooped up in here. And when you should be resting, you’re down here in this godforsaken studio, dancing.”
“At least she’s talking to you,” I mumble under my breath.
“What?”
“I said don’t hate on ballet, Auntie.” I wrap my hair in a tight bun, then drop down to wrap my toes in silk cloths so I can wear my pointe shoes. It’s a trick Mom showed me. I have maybe two hours to practice non-stop before she wakes up in pain and she’ll be pissy about it.
“Please, Mia.” She snorts, looking around. “I’ve seen the gruesome damage this kind of dance does to a person. Especially when one falls in love with it.”
We both stop and hold each other’s gaze in the large wall of mirrors in front of the studio. I know she’s talking about Mom and how she fell in love with ballet and now, it’s killing her slowly that she can’t dance anymore. Not with an aggressive, impairing disease like ALS.
“When did she start dancing?” I question. I know Aunt Nicky is several years younger than my mom, but they had my Gran to tell the stories of a younger Nancy. I never knew my grandmother.
“Mom used to say that Nancy was dancing well before she could walk. Actually, she said she was probably dancing in her tummy when she was pregnant.” Aunt Nicky smiles sadly, her eyes welling with unshed tears. Tears that I dare not allow myself to give in to. “That’s what she used to say about you too.”
“My mom?” I question, looking back at her. “She said I used to dance in her tummy?”
Aunt Nicky doesn’t say anything for a while, she seems choked up, which isn’t like her.
If ‘wild and reckless’ was a person, it would be my aunt. She isn’t married, but I heard from Mom that Aunt Nicky has torrid affairs with married men because she’s scared of commitment.
Devious Kisses: A Bully Enemies -To-Lovers Romance (It's Just High School Book 1) Page 12
