Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 77335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77335 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 387(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
I managed to convince the doctor to lower the dosage of morphine when I pressed the button, making it enough to manage the pain, but not so much that I couldn’t think straight.
As soon as the doctor had left my room, Luc came in, first staring down Reid with a look of manly competition and unspoken threats.
Reid met the stare and then sat back with his arms crossed over his chest, daring Luc to say something.
Luc narrowed his eyes and then focused on me. “Can we talk privately?” he asked.
His shoulders were pushed back, and for a moment I thought he was talking to Reid, asking him to step out in the hall, but he was looking at me.
Asking my permission to speak with him.
It was the first time he had ever asked my permission for anything.
It took some convincing, but with Luc swearing he wouldn’t leave the room until Reid got back, we managed to convince Reid that he needed to go home, take a shower, shave, and then come back.
I also wanted to suggest a nap, so he could get a little rest in his own bed, but I knew he wouldn’t hear of it. He had left me alone once and look what happened. It wasn’t his fault, but convincing him of that was proving to be rather difficult.
Once he was gone, Luc deflated in front of me.
For once, my big brother didn’t look like the younger version of my father.
He looked tired and stressed. I had never seen him look like anything other than distantly cold and strong, unless he was looking at his wife.
I motioned to the chair Reid had just given up, and Luc slumped into it, resting his elbows on his knees and his head in his hand.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Am I okay? No, Charlotte, I’m not okay. I’m confused. And I feel like I failed you.”
“You didn’t fail me,” I said, reaching over to pat his shoulder. “Tell me why you think you failed me, and I will tell you why you’re wrong.”
“I thought marrying Zeigler was what you wanted. I went along with it without checking with you. I’m your big brother, I should have known.”
“You did that because I didn’t tell you otherwise. I had always gone along with Father’s plans before. This was the first time I had ever chosen something for myself. If the announcement had been made a few weeks ago, I might have wanted it. Or at least, I wouldn’t have wanted anything more than to make Father happy.”
Luc nodded, then stopped for a second, took a deep breath, and let it out, his shoulders sagging. “Then I learn the man we were going to entrust with your future actually staged the entire dangerous fucking stunt to somehow win the motherfucking scandal rag media cycle. It was all a fucking PR stunt by that stupid bastard cunt asshole.”
Olivia and I exchanged a look as we smothered smiles. Although we of course shared his anger and outrage, my serious, business-like brother was amusing when he swore unabated.
Olivia then chimed in, “Don’t forget cheap. If he had just paid the men the two-hundred and fifty thousand he had promised, none of this may have happened.”
Tossing her a look for goading on our brother, I patted his hand. “I’m right here. A little banged up and a little worse for wear. But I will be fine.”
“And then I find out that you have something going on with your guard. I don’t even know what to think about that. It just seems so… unlikely.”
I frowned as I hugged the blanket up closer to my chest, somehow already missing the warmth of Reid’s presence.
Bracing for the worst, I asked, “What do you mean?”
“Reid is just so…”
“Poor? Working class?” I asked, wondering if Luc really thought so little of me.
“No, I was going to say blunt. He’s rough and in your face, completely uncultured. He’s just so Texas and such a Marine. You are soft-spoken, gentle, refined, and I’m having a hard time seeing it.”
I nodded, thinking about what exactly Luc was objecting to, and if I looked at it from his point of view, I could see what he meant.
He and Amelia came from the same background and had similar interests.
Their coming together may have been a little unorthodox, but their goals were aligned.
They strengthened each other.
The same could have been said about Olivia and Marksen.
They came from the same background, they knew the same people, and they’d also had a rather unorthodox meet cute. She and Marksen made the perfect pairing. They pushed each other to work harder toward their own goals. They knew how to help each other.
If Reid needed help with a mission, I would be so out of my depth that it wasn’t even funny. Reid wouldn’t know where to start if I needed help with a dinner party or music.