My shoulders dropped.
“You don’t need to worry about it. I told you, I don’t think they like half our family either.”
Great.
There was a pause. “She only likes about five people, and I don’t even think I’m one of them.”
The snort came out of me before I could stop it. “Is that where you learned it from? Not liking people?”
He huffed, but I saw the corner of his mouth curve up. “I like more than five people.”
Excuse me. “Six?”
“I just expect the worst in people.”
Oh. I could see that. I squeezed my knees and eyed him quickly. “So why did you want me to come with you? So no one kidnaps me while you’re gone?” I joked.
“Nobody is kidnapping you.”
“I was kidding. What I was trying to say is that I thought you’d be close enough to your family to not feel that way. You said you liked Alana and The Centu—Robert. Selene and Leon too, I thought.”
It took him a long second to answer. “I do. I am close to them, but… it’s different.”
How?
“You’re still sick too. Being close by will help you heal faster.” He thought about it for a second. “You’re not bad company either. I like talking shit with you.”
I jerked in my seat. “I’m growing on you, huh?”
“Like an ingrown hair.” His gaze slid over to me. “Not that I’ve ever had one.”
I reached over numbly and grabbed his forearm, my eyes tingly, my whole heart starting to feel a little funny too. “I thought the multi-tool was my favorite thing I’ve been given, but I think… I think you saying you can talk shit with me just beat it. Not that long ago, you didn’t even want to make eye contact with me.”
Eyes with blue contacts slid to me. “A lot changed since then.”
I squeezed his arm.
Then I was sure.
A world class half smile drew up the corner of his mouth.
Then he took it to the next level when he said, “I could have done a lot worse than ending up in your yard.”
I laughed. “Thank you?”
“You’re welcome. We’re here,” he claimed as he turned down another long driveway.
Where were we? We drove by a tall fence, and I felt my heart kind of start to gallop a little, especially when I spotted the massive house up ahead. Well, more like the light coming from it.
Alex’s house was big. This one was…
It was one like they showed on historical drama shows where dukes and duchesses lived in the summer with a thousand employees. Where rich people ate Grey Poupon. This was that.
It was huge. There were a few cars in front of us with people exiting them and slowly making their way inside.
“I thought this was a birthday dinner for your mom,” I muttered.
“Celebration.”
Okay, that was exactly what he’d said. “How many people are here?” I croaked, suddenly nervous.
Didn’t they live reclusive lives to not bring attention to themselves? They carried the biggest secret in the world in them. Shouldn’t they be secretive?
“I don’t know.”
I was going to throw up.
“What’s wrong with you?” he asked suddenly, as if he could smell my nerves flaring to life.
I didn’t even bother trying to hide it, my voice shook a little. “Alex… I thought… I don’t know. Maybe this was a formal family dinner. That we’d sit at a long table like in Beauty and the Beast and there would be a very nice maid who might serve us food, and there’d be some silver candlesticks.
“I must have been in denial. I… I… I haven’t been around more than a few people in a long time, other than going to the store. You know that. I’ve had one pair of heels in my life. Fancy for me is eating Olive Garden. I haven’t lived in a house bigger than 1200 square feet until coming to stay at your house.” My voice had gotten quieter and quieter with every word.
Up ahead were two people in tuxedos, either valets or security of some sort, which would have been ironic considering who he was. Who they were.
Alex pulled the car over to the side, threw it into park, and turned his whole body after unbuckling his belt to face me. There was a strange expression that wasn’t a frown or a scowl but somehow both and neither at the same time.
I swallowed and tried to give him a brave smile, but my heart was beating too fast for that, and I suddenly didn’t want to get out of the car. “You know I’m not… socialized.” I swallowed hard. “I’ve barely talked to people since high school. Since my grandparents passed away. I’m quiet so that I don’t say things I shouldn’t. You’re the first person I’ve ever been able to run my mouth around. That I’ve been able to have a real conversation with… joked with. The first person in forever I’ve been able to be mostly myself around. I’ll probably tell a stranger a fart joke if I’m given the chance.”
I could wait here.
No, no I couldn’t.
After everything he had done for me, I could handle this. It was just a gathering with a lot of people, not climbing Mount Everest. What was the worst that would happen? I’d embarrass myself? Embarrass him?
These people didn’t know me. They didn’t know my circumstances.
I sucked in a weak breath through my nose and let it back out again, ignoring the shakiness in that too. “I’m sorry I’m overreacting. It’s fine. I’m just… I suddenly had a bad memory of being young and having other kids calling me ugly names because I was the new kid, or because we didn’t have a lot of money. You’re you. I’ve never even been out of the United States. I’m proud of it, but I have a college degree from the cheapest online university I could find.” Wow, I had thought for the longest time that I’d toughened up a lot over the years, but maybe that wasn’t totally true. “Anyway, I didn’t know there were going to be so many people here, and that’s a Rolls-Royce in front of us. It’s okay. I’m okay.”
I took a breath through my nose and tried to shake it off right at the same time he said my name.
I met his gaze, sucking in another breath and letting it rattle out through my mouth. Oh boy, I wasn’t feeling so great.
“You are no less than any person in that house,” he told me.
I knew that.
And oh fucking boy, that was his mom’s house?
He turned even more toward me. “All the money in the world doesn’t make someone a better person, so knock it off with that bullshit.” He paused, and his eyes glowed bright for a moment. “You’re loyal, and even when you’re scared, you’re brave. I’m not joking, don’t make that face. You think I use those words lightly? You’re brave when it counts. That’s what matters. Nobody’s going to have a problem with you anyway. Don’t worry about that.” Alex nudged me. “You can be more than just ‘mostly’ yourself around me too, I guess.”
He was joking.
My eyes started tingling, and I could feel my nostrils start to flare as a sound built up in my chest.
“Don’t even think about it,” he growled.
I pressed my lips together and nodded slowly. “I won’t even think about it. Promise.” That was a lie; I was totally going to think about it. I was going to think about it for the rest of my life.