by H J Welch
Trembling, Matty unlocked his phone once again and Googled ‘Prince Cassander new boyfriend.’ Sure enough, several online outlets were running stories in English as well now. And there were the same photos of them, with ‘Matty Doyle of Queens, New York’ written in black and white.
What if his parents saw?
Had Matty been played for a fool, a royal joke, that would reach back to his parents and make them hate him even more? He’d long given up on the idea of a relationship with them, but the idea that they could be even more ashamed of him was almost too much to bear.
He’d been so desperate for affection that he’d allowed himself to be manipulated by someone who might have just been using him this whole time. And now the whole world was about to be in on his humiliation.
Cas wasn’t what he said he was at all. Matty desperately resisted the urge to throw up as he stumbled out of the souvenir shop and back into the plaza, sucking down fresh air and squeezing his phone in one hand and clutching the paper in his other.
Had anything Cas said to him been true? Matty desperately wanted to believe he was still the same kind, attentive, dorky, gorgeous guy he’d known for over a week, but all his old insecurities were flooding back to him. In his mind, he saw Jeremy’s embarrassment as Matty begged him to stay. His parents’ disgust as they threw him and Reghan out of the family home.
Cas was a prince. Matty was a nobody. It had just been a vacation fling. And now the whole world knew it.
Matty was such a fool.
He looked down at the screwed-up newspaper sheets in his hand. According to the online translation, the article was claiming he was some sort of gold digger after the royal coffers. That didn’t make sense at all, and Matty felt a tiny bit of relief that he had in fact insisted Cas stop spoiling him so much. He could at least hold his head high and say that wasn’t true.
But everything else?
Matty tried to breathe properly as his vision swam. The foundations of everything between him and the man he’d been hopelessly falling for – the man he’d been considering moving to another country for – were crumbling under his feet. He’d been so desperate to jump into the fantasy of a hot, successful guy wanting a vacation romance with him, but now Matty had no clue what was real and what wasn’t.
And then the fear crept in.
Did people…know who he was? They had his name and knew he was from Queens. Was he being watched right now? He spun around, his heart in his throat as he looked at the people going about their business in the plaza. Who had taken those photos? Was he being watched right now?
Was Finley?
Suddenly, it was like having a bucket of ice water thrown over him. Nothing else mattered. Someone had pried into his personal life, and that was devastating. But would people be willing to chase the story so far that they discovered why he was in the country in the first place?
He was confused and hurt by Cas. But he realized with utter clarity that he’d have to deal with that later as he ignored his whimpering bank balance and called an Uber. Above all else, he had to protect Finley.
He’d been right in what he’d said to Reghan. He was pretty sure his heart had just been broken. But he’d do what he’d always done, and put his family and everyone else first.
Maybe later he could try and pick up the pieces. But if this had all been no more than a superficial fling to Cas, a joke that then the press had then been let in on, Matty wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to glue his heart back together again.
Chapter Twelve
Cas
It took a good minute or so for Cas to realize that the pounding on the door was not in fact a dream, but very much happening in reality. He’d been so dead asleep, it took another few moments for him to get his eyes open and blink up at the ceiling in the morning light.
Matty wasn’t in his bed.
Cas’s stomach lurched and he was immediately awake then, worrying if that was Matty banging on the door. But he’d left a note on his pillow. ‘Gone for a walk! I’ll bring back breakfast.’ He’d also drawn a little heart which made Cas’s actual heart leap with joy.
Okay, so Matty should be okay and back soon. So who the hell was banging on his door at seven o’clock in the morning?
There was only one person who (should) know he was here, and if she was trying to kick the door down, that meant they had a serious problem.
“I’m coming!” he called out, quickly pulling on some sweatpants and a T-shirt. He didn’t want to face any trouble in his bathrobe. He then dashed to the door, already dreading what kind of hijinks his brothers were up to now. Some of the papers were catching wind of Leo and his librarian, Wren and his valet, and whatever was going on between Jules and Dante. It had been a pretty shambolic week leading up to the royal ball for his family. Maybe Ben had accidentally-on-purpose gotten himself photographed naked on a beach again?
But when he unbolted the locks and finally wrenched open the door, Valentina was standing on the other side, her fist raised, mid-pound.
She looked frazzled. Valentina was never frazzled.
For the second time in so many minutes, Cas’s stomach dropped. “Oh, god,” he moaned, stepping aside to let her inside. “Who’s done what now?”
But she didn’t move. She just stood there with her red hair sticking out at odd angles and her eyes wide and frantic behind her black rimmed glasses. He realized she had a rolled-up newspaper gripped tightly in the hand that hadn’t been banging on the door.
“Why didn’t you answer your phone?” she shrieked, making Cas flinch. He honestly couldn’t remember the last time she’d shouted at him. His apprehension was quickly turning to dread. Whatever was going on was bad.
“I-I was asleep, and it’s on silent. It’s the crack of dawn. Roth – Valentina – what’s wrong?”
She finally marched into the apartment, and Cas mutely closed the door behind her. Then she spun around and shook the paper out in front of him. There were tears in her eyes. “I’m so sorry, Your Highness,” she whispered in distress. “I don’t know how this could have happened. This is all my fault. If you want my resignation, I’ll understand.”
Cas was too distracted by this completely alien display of emotion from his most trusted friend and confidant that he didn’t even look at the front page initially. “Your what?” he spluttered. “Outrageous. No, never! Valentina, what would make you think…?”
He trailed off as his gaze dropped to look at the Daily Chronicle. A despicable rag that was less interested in the truth and more concerned with what sensational headlines they could make up to sell papers. Except today…they really did have the truth.
God damn them.
Prince Cassander in royal romp with wannabe American actor!
And there they were. Him and Matty. Holding hands in the gardens and on the street not far from this very apartment.
He’d been such a fool.
“Oh fuck,” he croaked, taking the paper into his own hands and moving so he could sink into the sofa.
Of course the ‘journalist’ was Ida von Tarr. Her glee at catching Cas out just oozed from the page. Apparently, they hadn’t been as clever as they’d thought when they’d practically walked into her last week. He felt sick as panic rose in him. This was a disaster.
“Jesus,” he cried as he skimmed the article as quickly as he could. “How does she know so much about Matty? I don’t know half this stuff!”
She knew where he was from, where he’d gone to school, all about his sister and her wife (whose names she’d shamelessly published as well). There was only a brief mention about Finley, which was odd. Cas would have thought von Tarr wouldn’t hesitate to exploit a child, but he chose to be thankful for small mercies.
He covered his mouth as his chest tightened. “No one was ever supposed to know,” he choked out, the shame and horror making him dizzy. “Matty, my family, the public…this is terrible. Everyone is going to…”
He couldn’t even finish his sentence. He had no
idea how anyone was going to react. Naturally, von Tarr was making Matty out to be some kind of common gold digger who had hoodwinked Cas to pay for his sister’s medical bills. He had to admit, he’d wrestled with that very idea himself, but obviously Matty had never once mentioned anything like that. He was generous and sweet, and this bloodsucking leech had annihilated him. She clearly wanted people to hate him.
Tears formed in Cas’s eyes, but he tried to blink them back. Crying wouldn’t do anyone any good now. He had to stay strong and deal with the crushing guilt of letting his family down later. Damn it! Couldn’t he have one private, precious thing to himself?
Valentina lowered herself to sit beside him, touching his knee in a rare display of affection. It was against protocol, but Cas didn’t hesitate to grab her hand and squeeze it tightly, desperate for any reassurance he could get.
She used her free hand to smooth down her blouse and her hair. “Right,” she said, sounding a little more like her usual self. “If you’re sure you don’t want my head on a silver platter-”
“Absolutely not,” Cas interrupted firmly, looking her in the eyes. “This is my fault. I’m an adult. I knew what I was doing. And now I need to fix it.” He glanced sadly down at the article again. All the major news outlets would have the story now. It would be everywhere. “If only I knew how.”
Valentina let go of him and patted his knee. All trace of her previous distress vanished as she sat up straight and placed her hands in her lap. “Right, as I was previously saying, first things first. Where is Matty?”
“He went for a walk,” said Cas. “He should be back soon.”
Valentina nodded, getting out her phone. “As you weren’t with him, your security detail wouldn’t have followed. But I’ll alert them to keep their eyes open and scoop him up on his return.” She threw Cas a sympathetic look. “He’ll need to be debriefed now.”
Cas nodded miserably. He was aware his security detail was never too far away. He’d been able to forget about them for a few days, but he felt the tiniest bit better that von Tarr had managed to outsmart them too.
“I know we need to tell Matty everything,” Cas said dejectedly. “Can I at least be present?”
“Of course,” Valentina assured him. “If I may say so, Your Highness, I think this would be much better for him to hear this directly from you.”
Cas nodded in total agreement.
It was a small comfort. Cas dreaded seeing the look on Matty’s face when he realized Cas had been hiding who he really was this whole time, and that his life had just been cracked open for the whole country to see. This was never supposed to happen! Cas thought bitterly. But it had, so there was no point crying over spilled milk. And he was not going to let Matty go through this ordeal alone.
So no matter how painful it was, Cas was going to be the one to confess his true identity to Matty and walk him through what would happen now.
Their perfect little bubble of bliss had well and truly been popped.
Cas bit his lip. He couldn’t help but have the smallest hope, though, that Matty might be excited when he got over the shock. Cas knew their relationship had started out as a no-strings fling, but…well, Cas knew he was already far beyond that now. And if the cat was out of the bag, why couldn’t he keep seeing Matty, somehow?
He cursed von Tarr. If he was going to come clean, this wasn’t how he would have wanted it to happen, but he couldn’t change that now. He just had to roll with it, and hope his family weren’t too angry that he’d caused a front-page scandal two days before the biggest night for their country for a century.
Valentina got on the phone to various people while Cas kept himself busy by tidying the apartment up for the first time since Matty had practically moved in. If there were going to be security agents in here, he’d like the place looking a little more presentable and smelling less like sex.
His heart stuttered as he opened a window. Had he and Matty made love for the last time? Would Matty want to go anywhere near Cas once he found out about his deception? Cas bit his lip and closed his eyes, refusing to let them get damp. He had to keep his shit together and face up to the consequences of his actions. Matty was his priority, that hadn’t changed.
It was just that Matty might not trust him now, and Cas wasn’t sure his heart could take that.
He sniffed and marched himself into the kitchen. He’d been pretty harsh on his brothers about taking responsibility for their actions, and now it was his turn. He was long overdue for his own fuckup. Knowing he had embarrassed the crown was almost too awful to bear, but he had no choice. So he would keep his head high and deal with the fallout at home later. Now all he cared about was Matty, and he was anxious for him to get back soon.
And really, he thought angrily as he scrubbed the dirty pots and pans and loaded the dishwasher, what had he actually done wrong? Fallen for a man he cared very deeply for? Cas sighed and rubbed his forehead with the back of his wet hand, flicking suds over the sink. He knew exactly what he’d done, and never should have let it go on for so long.
He’d hidden the full truth from Matty, who had deserved the chance to make his own decision about getting involved with a prince or not. Cas had been too busy trying to protect him, but Matty’s face had ended up on the front page anyway. Their whole relationship had been based on a lie of omission, and Cas had to acknowledge the wrongs he’d done to the man he cared so deeply for. He’d kept telling himself that it was only for a week or two and nobody ever needed to find out, but that had included Matty himself being kept in the dark, and Cas was a dick for doing that to him.
But Cas sighed as he stopped his pot scrubbing for a second. He also had to be honest that he’d been trying to protect himself. He’d never been involved with anyone who didn’t know his royal status, and it had been intoxicating to think Matty liked him for being Cas. Not Prince Cassander Fabian Ivor van Rosavia.
He dried his hands and came back around to the frustrating thought that he wouldn’t have needed to do any of this skulking around if there weren’t so many archaic rules about what he and his brothers could and couldn’t do. Because it didn’t matter what Matty’s job was, no matter how von Tarr tried to spin it to make Matty seem more sensational. He didn’t need to be an actor or a duke or whatever people might find interesting or appropriate. He just needed to be Matty: kind and sweet and funny and sexy. That was good enough for Cas, and it should damn well be good enough for everyone else.
Of course, Cas knew it wasn’t like that in the real world. He had responsibilities, and people held him up to certain expectations. He couldn’t go gallivanting off and do whatever he wanted. He was born to serve his country.
And that couldn’t possibly include being with Matty long term. Could it? Cas chewed on his lip. The press might want to spin falling for an commoner into a scandal because it hadn’t happened in the country’s history before, but this was the twenty-first century. Why couldn’t Cas choose a man who made him happy, regardless of his birth status?
He hung up the dishtowel and shook his head. He was getting ahead of himself. They’d deal with the fallout after he’d told Matty everything. But it had been over an hour since Cas had been woken up, and Matty still wasn’t back. Worry was starting to crawl into his guts.
“I’ll try giving him a call,” he told Valentina, who seemed to have done all the logistical work she could for now. By listening to her while he’d been cleaning, Cas gathered the palace’s legal team were already on to von Tarr. But what could they do? She might have twisted the facts, but she wasn’t exactly wrong about what Cas had done.
The call went to voicemail, which worried Cas. Unlike him, Matty kept his phone on at all times in case Finley or Reghan needed to contact him. Either he hadn’t heard it ring, or…
Or he was ghosting Cas.
Could he have seen the paper for himself? The very thought that the news of Cas’s deception would be broken to him like that made Cas’s stomach curdle. It was unconscionable.
Cas’s stomach dropped at the notion, but of course she was right. So he did as he was told, hurrying through the bathroom, all the while hoping that Matty would call him back by the time he was done.
Nothing.
Cas forced himself to wait until he was dressed to call again, but it was the same result. It just rang several times until it got to voicemail. This time, Cas left one. As much as he wanted to do this all face-to-face, he was becoming seriously concerned.
“Hi, sweetheart,” he said, a lump forming in his throat. Was Matty still his sweetheart? “Something’s happened. Can you please call me back when you get this, and come back to the apartment as soon as you can? Thanks. I lo…I mean, thanks. See you soon.”
He closed the call and stared down at the screen. What had he almost said? It had been without thinking, but his instinct was to close the call with an ‘I love you,’ which didn’t make any sense at all. That was crazy. It was just the pressure of the situation making him want to wrap Matty up in cotton and protect him from everything.
An instinct that only grew as Matty’s silence went on for another hour. The apartment was immaculate, as was Cas. He’d opted for the only expensive suit he’d brought with him, instead of the jeans and T-shirts he’d been lounging around in the past several days. The suit had been intended for the fancy date they’d never gone on. Now, though, it would do for facing the press.
But Cas wasn’t going to talk to anyone before Matty, and he couldn’t do that if he didn’t return or pick up any of Cas’s many calls. Something was wrong.
“He knows,” he said heavily to Valentina, shaking his head. “Either that, or he was in an accident and got rushed to the hospital.”
Valentina held up a long finger and gave him a stern look. “He’s fine. But…just in case, I will call around the city hospitals while you go to his hotel. It’s possible he’s hiding from all this there.”
