“Will you let me drink up there?” he asks, getting unsteadily to his feet. He’s tall like his brothers, but yet to fill out.
“Not a chance. But I will let you lie on the couch, watch TV, drink some water, take some Advil, and sleep it off.”
A shadow of fear or doubt crosses his face. “You won’t tell Grandma?”
“No.”
“Okay,” he decides. A hand goes to his stomach. “I don’t feel so good.”
“I’m not surprised. Let’s go.”
That’s when he throws up on me.
Beck walks in a little after one p.m. with a vase full of red roses and greenery. “Honey, I’m home.”
“Shh!”
His brows draw tight as he inspects my lace bra. At least my bottom half is covered in blue jeans. He places the flowers on the kitchen counter. “We talked about you and your lingerie tempting me to sin.”
“I’m not here to tempt you. I’m here to stop you from waking your little brother who’s passed out in the office. Please keep your voice down.”
“Henry?” he asks, with a frown. “What’s he doing here? Especially what is he doing here with you only half dressed? That view is only for me.”
“He threw up on me a couple of times, necessitating a wash and change, which I was halfway through when you arrived.” I gently close the office door on Henry’s drunken snoring. What a day. At least I got the worst of the mess off my shoes and the vomit-splattered clothes are soaking in one of the bathroom sinks. Hopefully the stains aren’t permanent. “Aaron sent up a rollaway and we put him in here. Hope you weren’t planning on working in the office for a while.”
“I get the feeling I’m missing the beginning of this story.”
“Okay,” I say, taking a breath. “So I went downstairs to see if they had enough waiters today and Henry along with some friends of his were having a liquid brunch. I frightened off his friends and got him up here. The end.”
“They were drinking here in the hotel?” he says, voice tense.
“None of your people served them. He went behind the bar himself and grabbed some bottles.”
He turns away, his expression tight. The man is pissed. Guess it could’ve been a real public relations disaster for the family if someone had recorded the incident and posted it on social media. The mega-rich have a lot of perks, but anonymity isn’t one of them.
“Anyway,” I say. “We got it under control.”
He is not appeased. “Why didn’t you call Smith to deal with this?”
“Who does Smith answer to?” I ask, hands on hips. “Your grandmother, right? The kid just lost his father and now his mom’s abandoned him too.”
“Giada’s gone?”
“Apparently. All of that would be enough to make anyone lose their shit, let alone a sixteen-year-old. So the last thing he needs is Catherine going off at him.”
Beck says nothing.
“I get that you want to kick his ass and I agree that he kind of deserves it.”
“Kind of?”
“But he reminds me of what you told me about when you were young and getting left on your own all of the time. That’s what he’s going through right now.”
Slowly, he nods. “Fuck. You’re right. I still want to kick his ass, but you made the right choice.”
I give him a smile.
“Though I wish you’d called me. I would have been here sooner to help.” He slides his arms around my waist, drawing me in for a hug. “Thank you for looking after my little brother.”
“You’re welcome.”
“Next time call me, okay? Let me handle my family’s fuckery.”
“Okay.”
“Sorry he vomited on you.”
“Not the first time it’s happened.” I shrug. “I’ll live. Are those flowers for me?”
“They sure are.”
“They’re beautiful. Thank you.”
“I had big plans for us,” he says. “Date night plans.”
“We can’t just up and leave him like everyone else.”
“No, we can’t.” He kisses my forehead, giving me a small smile. “You finish dressing. I’m going to make a couple of calls, find out what happened to his mom, et cetera.”
“Okay.”
By the time I finish fixing myself up and putting on a clean black T-shirt and Aquatalia knee-high boots (much more spew proof than flats), Beck is sitting on the couch staring off into the distance.
“How’d it go?” I ask, getting comfortable beside him.
“Giada is at a spa in Switzerland.”
“So she did just take off and leave her teenage son with the staff?”
“Yep.”
Her losing her husband is awful. But to dump her child at a time like this to go