by Lucy Lennox
But of course that’s not what happened, because fate was an asshole like that.
And so was my mother.
Chapter 43
Lio
During a huge Wilde family dinner that night and the bonfire that followed, I was treated to a healthy number of adorable Felix stories as I got to know many of his cousins. The beer consumption matched my Texas-sized expectations, and only two of Felix’s cousins kept offering me something prissy instead. I guessed they assumed someone from Monte Carlo couldn’t stomach something as plebeian as a simple beer.
“Are you sure you wouldn’t like a cosmopolitan?” Hallie asked while batting her eyelashes. “I hear they’re all the rage in Monte Carlo.”
Felix rolled his eyes. “So is drag racing, but he doesn’t do that either.”
I smirked at him, and he rolled his eyes a second time. “Let me guess,” he said. “You do, in fact, drive a race car.”
“No, baby, but the royal family never misses a final in our local Grand Prix,” I added. “You’ll have to learn the difference between Formula One and drag racing though. One is what we do in Monaco, the other is for street thugs.”
A little while later, Felix’s cousin Hudson wandered over with his girlfriend, Darci. He handed me a drink that seemed an overly vibrant shade of green.
“What’s this?” I asked.
“Appletini shooter,” Darci said with an excited grin. “Otto said it’s the only thing you guys drink back home.”
Hudson looked like he was going to wet his pants laughing while Otto snickered from the other side of the bonfire. I took the glass and lifted it in tribute to both of them before tossing it back.
“Now can someone please get me a goddamned beer?” I asked after swallowing the tart shot.
The crowd around the fire roared with laughter, and I noticed Arthur enjoying himself with Grandpa and Doc’s only great-grandchild, Pippa. She was sitting on his lap while he tried blowing bubbles from a cheap bottle of bubble soap into the night air.
The Texas weather was mild, and the bonfire chased away any lingering evening chill. I looked around at the casual interactions of the Wilde family, hoping it was the first of many to come. Felix and I would have to find a way to stay close to these wonderful people despite the distance between our homes.
“You’re thinking awfully hard over there,” Felix said softly beside me.
“You have a wonderful family, Fee. I just hope I can offer you enough to make it worth moving so far away from them,” I admitted. “I see now why you never really left.”
He looked around at his family and took his time answering.
“No. I never really left because I was scared. I grew up thinking the media would take advantage of me. I thought there was nothing redeeming about them.”
“I can definitely understand why you thought that,” I said gently. I wasn’t sure if he knew Grandpa Wilde had told me the story of how he came to leave his mom.
“But I’m beginning to see it a little differently now, Lio,” he said, looking up at me in the firelight. The golden tones danced with shadows on his face, and it made my heart thump in a goofy rhythm. “When I saw you on television, I thought about how you were using the power of the press to control your story. To take charge of your public perception and make sure the people who matter, the people of Liorland who count on you, know the real you. They can see you speaking on that screen and know your truth. That’s powerful, Lio. And I never realized that part of it before.”
I tightened the arm I held around his shoulders and squeezed him tighter to me. “I’m starting to realize that also, baby. It’s up to us to control the narrative. So much of leadership these days is setting a good example and a good tone for the country. Lead by example. It will make all the difference if the people can hear it directly from me.”
“Did I tell you how proud I am of you, Lio?” His eyes shined in the light from the bonfire.
“You did. But without you, I would have still been trying to stick to my stupid plan of being something other than myself.”
He leaned in for a kiss, the lightest brush of lips against mine before there were catcalls again.
“Get a room!” The shout permeated the night.
“Get the video camera!”
“Get used to it,” Felix shouted back with a laugh.
Everyone was having a good time until I noticed Grandpa Wilde straighten up and reach for Doc’s hand. One by one, everyone seemed to stop laughing and turn toward the house. It wasn’t until Felix went completely stiff in my arms that I turned to see what it was.
The infamous Jacqueline Wilde.
I didn’t even realize I’d attempted to turn Felix into my chest until I felt him resist me.
“It’s okay, Lio,” he said quietly. “She’s my mother.”
Doc spoke up. “Felix, why don’t you take Lio and—”
“It’s fine, Doc,” Felix said with determination.
“But she might tip off the press about Lio being here,” he warned.
I could see the blood drain from Felix’s face. “Oh shit,” he said, glancing up at me. “He’s right, go back to my place. Otto can show you how to get there in the dark.”
Otto moved around to lead me off, but I stayed where I was. “I’m not hiding anymore where Felix is concerned. If Jackie chooses to make a big thing of it, Felix and I will deal with it. Together.”
Felix began to shake his head in disagreement, but I stopped him with both hands on his shoulders.
“Look at me. We are together now. Please don’t send me away because you think you know what’s best for me. What’s best for me is being with you. Do you understand that? I want to be with you. That starts now.”
“Fine. Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he muttered, pulling me toward the farmhouse.
I sensed my bodyguard, Marco, follow us at a distance. Jon had stayed behind in Monaco to celebrate the arrival of his brother’s new baby.
When we met up with Jackie on the path, I recognized Felix’s warm brown eyes in her face right away.
“Jackie, what are you doing here?” Felix’s voice was sunshine over steel. I hadn’t realized he called her by her first name.
“Felix, sweetheart! There you are. Let me have a look at you.” She cooed over him like he was a little boy in his first church suit. “Don’t you look well! And who is this now? Aren’t you a handsome one. You look familiar. Have we met before? You have to excuse my memory, it’s just that I know so many people.”
“No ma’am, we’ve never met before,” I said, feeling Felix shift closer to me.
“Jackie, this is…” He stopped and looked up at me like he had no idea how to introduce me.
“Lior,” I said.
“Lior… that’s unusual. Are you a friend of Felix’s?”
“You could say that,” I said with a smile. “I’m his boyfriend.”
Felix’s jaw dropped at my casual admission of our relationship. I turned to him with a grin. “What? Aren’t I? Or are you dumping me so soon?”
“Dude,” he mumbled. “Don’t be a smartass.”
“Felix, that’s no way to speak to your young man here,” Jackie scolded. “Lior, where do you live? Here in Hobie? You don’t seem like a small-town Texan.”
She seemed to be eyeing my clothes as if judging from the wrinkled button-down and ripped blue jeans I had on. Part of me wished I’d been wearing the Hermès yachting clothes I’d been given after attending a regatta last summer.
“I live in Monte Carlo, ma’am.”
Her eyes grew hungry. “Is that right? And what do you do there?”
“I work for the government.”
I wasn’t sure if Felix snickered or rolled his eyes, but anything to keep him from being stressed was a bonus as far as I was concerned.
“What do you need, Jackie?” Felix asked.
“Well, I came by to see how you were doing, darling. We haven’t seen each other for so long, and I wanted to find
out what you’ve been up to. I didn’t even know you had a boyfriend. How did you two meet?”
I knew neither one of us was going to tell her the truth and risk her getting a personal story she could use in the media.
“Strip club,” I said at the same time Felix said, “Rodeo.”
I heard a bark of laughter behind us and turned to see Doc and Grandpa approaching.
“It was a naked rodeo, Jackie,” Grandpa Wilde said. “Texas has gotten more risqué since you lived here.”
“Dad, Pop,” she said, stepping forward to give them each a brief kiss on the cheek.
“I guess you’d better come on in, then,” Doc said. “There’s at least some banana pudding left over from dinner. I know you used to like Pop’s banana pudding back in the day.”
Jackie looked at Grandpa Wilde with something close to a wistful smile. “Still do, I’m sure.”
Once we were all settled in the kitchen with thick bowls full of the soft dessert, Doc got right to the point.
“So what brings you out to this old place, Jackie?”
“I wanted to talk to Felix about something.” She turned to her son with exaggerated puppy eyes, and I couldn’t help but notice the sliver of hope that entered his expression at the idea his mother wanted something to do with him. “My fiancé’s daughter is trying to get into the arts school at UT, and I’d like you to write a letter of recommendation for her. Will you do that, sweetheart?”
The hope disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving Felix’s beautiful brown eyes sad and resigned. I’d never wanted to kill someone the way I wanted to murder my lover’s mother right then. How dare she.
Before I could butt in and demand she leave the premises, Felix spoke up.
“Do I know her?”
“No, of course not. She lives in California,” Jackie said, missing his point.
“Then how the hell do you expect me to recommend her? I don’t even know her qualifications, or her name.”
“I need you to do this for me, darling,” she pleaded in a grating tone. “Chris really wants her to get out of California and go to school somewhere more… family-oriented.”
Felix snorted. “UT is home to fifty thousand college students living in the most liberal population in all of Texas. If he wants her to move somewhere more conservative than California, he picked the wrong place.”
She sighed. “He hears the word Texas and assumes it means good old boys. But Chris isn’t the only one begging me for your help. Chelsea really wants to go there, and it will take some pull to make it happen. Please do this for me, Felix. You owe me.”
I noticed Grandpa’s face get dangerously red, to the point Doc reached over and placed his hand on the back of Grandpa’s neck to calm him. They exchanged a look but didn’t open their mouths.
Hell, if they weren’t going to stand up and put a stop to this, then I was.
“Like hell he does,” I snarled.
Chapter 44
Felix
I reached for Lio’s balled fist while swallowing back a laugh. Seeing him go into protective mode made me feel lighter than air.
“He’s right. I don’t owe you anything, but I’m willing to give the young woman a chance if she wants to come meet me and tell me why UT is the right place for her.”
“I can’t ask her to come to Hobie, Texas, just to have a chat with you about this. Why are you making this difficult, Felix? It’s just a simple recommendation for god’s sake,” my mother scoffed.
I shrugged. “If she doesn’t want it badly enough, that tells me all I need to know. But just be aware that I’m good friends with the head of the fine arts department, the art history department, and every professor that young woman would dream of working with.”
Jackie rolled her eyes as if she was disappointed in me but not at all surprised I was being belligerent. “Fine,” she said. “I’ll let her know. I have to run though. Chris is waiting for me at the hotel.”
She bolted out of there with barely another breath taken. When she was gone, everyone stood around staring at the door.
“Typical,” Doc muttered and turned into Grandpa’s arms. Grandpa hugged him tightly and kissed the side of his head.
“Sweetheart, stop blaming yourself for another adult’s behavior,” Grandpa said quietly into Doc’s hair.
“How do you know I’m blaming myself?” Doc grumbled into Grandpa’s neck.
“I’ve known you for a thousand years, babe,” he murmured. “And you’ve always blamed yourself for Jackie’s selfish behavior.”
“If she hadn’t lost her mother so young. If I hadn’t—”
“Stop,” Grandpa warned. “Or I’m going to get upset, and the next thing I know, you’ll be whipping out the blood pressure cuff.”
“What would you rather me whip out, old man?” Doc teased.
“Oh hell no,” a voice growled from the back door. This time it was Saint shuddering with fake revulsion over accidentally hearing Doc’s sexual innuendo. The rest of the family followed him into the room, chattering at top volume.
While I watched my grandfathers flirt and my cousins gripe about it, Lio put his arm around me and asked if I was all right.
“Yes,” I admitted, turning to him with a smile. “So fucking all right, I can’t stand it. Thank you for being here. And thank you for standing up for me.”
Standing there in the heart of the old farmhouse with all my family there and Lio’s strong arm around me, I felt like my life, my real life, was finally beginning.
And it was going to be amazing.
The following morning, however, the amazing feeling wore off as quickly as it had come. My mother showed back up at the ranch after breakfast and brought company this time.
“Felix, this is my fiancé, Chris Corbin. Chris, this is my son, Felix Wilde,” she said in her perfect Hollywood way.
“Nice to meet you, Felix,” Chris said with a nod. I held out a hand to shake but he ignored it. If I hadn’t felt Lio stiffen beside me, I would have thought it was an oversight rather than a slight.
Jackass piece of shit.
“And this is Felix’s friend, the one I told you about,” Jackie said in an overly cheerful voice. She turned to me with sparkling eyes. “You didn’t tell me you were dating the king of Liorland!”
My heart sank and I felt my cheeks ignite with embarrassment. I knew that look. It was the same look a hungry lion gave a weak gazelle before culling it from the herd.
Chris beamed at Lio and thrust out his hand for a shake. “Chris Corbin. It’s nice to meet you…”
“Your Majesty,” Lio supplied, unable to help himself.
I stifled a laugh before cutting in.
“He goes by Lior, even though he’s right. ‘Your Majesty’ is, in fact, the correct way to greet him in polite company,” I said, enjoying the shocked look on my mother’s face.
Her eyes widened before her smile did, and she did a slow pan from Lio to me and back again. “Chris tried to tell me you’d introduced me to the king, but I thought he must be joking. Surely this is some kind of prank, darling.”
“On the contrary,” Lio corrected with more false manners. “It’s no prank. I’m the real thing. Flesh and blood and whatnot. Royal Scout’s honor,” he said, holding up three fingers, making sure one of them held the ancient ring his grandfather had given him with the royal crest on it.
Then Lio turned to me. “Tell them, sweetheart. You managed to turn the king of Liorland gay. Your mother should be proud.”
This time I really did laugh, startling the two people staring wide-eyed at Lio and me.
Chris must have put two and two together that he was standing in the company of actual practicing gays, because his eyes widened comically and he retracted his hand as if bitten.
“I see my reputation precedes me,” Lio drawled. “Nice to know where we stand. I caught it from him, you know,” he said idly, pointing his thumb at me before leaning toward Chris and stage-whispering. “It’s filthy contagious.
Like genital warts. But with much better aesthetics.”
“Jackie,” I asked my mother as calmly as I could. “What do you want?”
Chapter 45
Lio
I knew they were there to ask another favor of Felix, and from the look on Jackie and Chris’s faces, I was fairly sure I knew what it was.
Jackie seemed to become flustered for the first time since arriving. “Let’s… let’s go sit down and have a chat, shall we?”
Felix gestured for us to take a seat at the kitchen island before turning to his mother.
“Why are you here?” he asked again.
Jackie’s eyes shifted nervously. “Aren’t you going to offer us a drink, sweetheart?”
Her fake affection grated on me. Felix wasn’t her sweetheart; he was mine.
“I’m afraid we’re all out,” I said. “Will water do?”
Felix’s jaw tightened, but he let me flit about the kitchen in my arrogance and make four glasses of plain tap water.
“Et voilà,” I said, setting them down on the counter with a flourish. “Sorry it’s not fancier than this. I’m afraid I left the champagne in my other mausoleum, I mean, pants.”
Felix sucked in a breath and shot me a wounded glance. Fuck. He hadn’t known I knew the story after all. I palmed the back of his head and pressed my forehead to his.
“I’m sorry,” I murmured. “Fee, I’m—”
“I understand what you’re doing, Lio, but it’s not helping,” he said just as softly.
Jackie leaned over to Felix with a concerned brow and reached out a hand to cup his face, forcing me away. “What’s wrong, darling? Is he upsetting you? Who is this man to you, exactly? Are you two really dating?”
I couldn’t hold back the snort, but before I could snap a snarky response, Felix answered her. “Lio is my heart,” he said simply. “That’s all you need to know.”
My heart seemed ready to explode out of my chest, but apparently I was the only one who thought Felix’s words were amazing.
