honesty, I’m kind of upset with you right now.” Beck’s whole body vibrates with tension. “Let’s be honest, our dad was a pretty shitty parent, too busy to be bothered with us most of the time. But he’s gone now. Rules have changed. You come into my business, the place where I live and work, and you make this mess?”
Henry’s laughter is harsh. “It’s always about the business with you assholes.”
“If it was all about the business we wouldn’t even be talking. Your ass would already be on its way to Idaho or a nice fun military school, maybe.”
Silence.
“But you’re my brother and I love you. So here we are. You get one chance with me. Just the one,” says Beck. “You’re going to follow my three-step plan because you’re all out of options. There are no better alternatives for you than this. Do you understand?”
Henry jerks his chin.
“Go shower. You can borrow some of my clothes.”
With a heavy sigh, Henry gets to his feet and pauses. “Sorry, Alice. About what I said downstairs and puking on you and all that.”
I just nod.
While the teenager slouches off into the bathroom off the main room, Beck turns to me with a quizzical look. “What did he say to you downstairs?”
“The usual drunken nonsense. It’s not a big deal.”
“Fine. I’ll get the details from Aaron, then.” There’s a knock at the door and Beck rises to go answer. “Or you could just tell me.”
“It’s over and done with. Let it go.”
“Why can’t you pander to me like everyone else does?”
My eyes go wide. “Wow. No. I’m afraid you chose the wrong girlfriend for that.”
“Not possible. I’ll have you know that as of a couple of weeks ago, my taste in women has been impeccable.” He opens the door. “Smith, come on in.”
The big driver/bodyguard strides in. But really quietly. How does someone so big walk so softly? There must be a trick. “Miss Lawrence.”
“Hello,” I say.
“Smith works for us now,” announces Beck. “Mind taking a seat outside or in the office while I talk to Alice, please?”
The man nods and slips outside, closing the door behind him. He’s in one of his usual black suits. No doubt carrying a weapon.
“You stole your grandma’s driver?” I ask. “Have you told her yet? What did she say?”
“Nothing. There was just this really long silence.” He sits back down on the couch beside me. “I think I’m getting cabbage again for Christmas. Anyway, I was always his favorite. And I doubled his salary. It wasn’t a hard sell.”
“Good God, you work fast. I wasn’t even out of the room for that long.”
“You’re frowning.” He licks his thumb and wipes it between my brows. “There you go, beloved. All better.”
I wrinkle my nose. “I’m going to pretend you didn’t do that. And I thought I’d made my feelings about bodyguards clear.”
Beck winces. “Yeah, but…how do I put this? You’re wrong. You see, whatever we decided to do with Henry, we were going to need someone helping us keep a closer eye on him. At least for the next few days until he goes back to school.”
“But you’re not talking about Smith being here only for a few days, are you?”
“No. And he probably won’t be the only security person I bring in.” He loosens his tie, pulling it free. “Thing is, if you suddenly became rich, you’d realize quickly that you need to be more security conscious. You’d be a target in ways you never were before. That’s basically our reality now. I know you don’t like it. But I don’t know how else to explain it to you.”
I think it over. “You’re right; I don’t like it. Though I don’t want to see you get hurt, or have some nut job try to kidnap you and cut you into little pieces and send you back in gift boxes to me, either.”
“That’s very kind of you. And it’s quite the visual image.” He picks up my hand, pressing a kiss to my knuckles. “Now, how do we keep a teenager occupied and out of trouble for the next few days?”
“Good question. I used to go to the mall with my friends or to the library. Neither of those options really strike me as being Henry’s thing.”
“Probably not.”
“By the way,” I say. “We need to discuss that watch.”
He arches a brow. “What watch? Do you need one?”
“A diamond watch appeared in the closet this morning. It’s beautiful, but…excessive. I looked it up. It’s a Patek Philippe.”