Royal Ruse - Emma Lea Page 0,15

what was more important than my girlfriend of two years breaking up with me at the exact moment I proposed to her, but the feeling remained. It was an irritating itch under my skin.

As the shower slowly made me feel more and more human, my brain kicked into gear and I ran through my to-do list for the day. Saturday meant I didn’t have to go in to the office, but if I still planned to go to Kalopsia, then I needed to make sure all my work was up-to-date and even ahead of schedule. And I’d have to return the ring.

The ring.

I froze. The water continued to pound on my skin as I tried to recall just what I had done with the ring. I’d need to return it because there was no way I wanted to keep it as a reminder of my spectacular failings. It was a custom design, and I knew I wouldn’t get all the money back, but something was better than nothing. I just had to find it.

Had I left it at the restaurant?

I vaguely remembered leaving the restaurant in an Uber and I was pretty sure I shoved the ring in my pocket after I tossed the cash for the bill on the table. I’d considered leaving the ring as payment, but I was too responsible for that, even in my drunken state.

So, I got into an Uber and I went…to Drinks. I sighed with relief. I went to Drinks to tell Frankie and to commiserate with her and…

And…

Oh. My. God.

Did I…?

No, I couldn’t have…could I?

I shook my head and turned off the shower. There was no way I would have proposed to Frankie. No way…except…

It all came back in a rush and my knees buckled. I’d asked Frankie to be my fake fiancée.

My heart pounded erratically, and I gasped for breath as the full weight of what I’d done crashed down on me.

I had to fix it. I didn’t know how I would do that, but I just knew I had to. She wouldn’t have taken me seriously, right? She would have understood I was too drunk to know what I was doing, right?

Somehow I didn’t think so. Somehow I knew that Frankie had accepted and knew exactly what she was doing when she did it.

I groaned. What the heck had I done?

I dragged my feet as I made my way downstairs. I would have to break this news to my parents and, quite frankly, I didn’t know how they would take it. I was supposed to propose to Clarissa last night. I did propose to Clarissa, so how would I explain why I was now engaged to Frankie?

I braced myself for the disappointed glares of my mother and father as I stepped into the dining room where I knew they would be eating breakfast. My father would be sitting at the head of the table reading the newspaper and my mother would be sitting on his right scrolling through social media. This was the typical morning routine, and I tried to skip it as often as I could, but not today. Today I had to face the music.

I cleared my throat as I stepped into the room and before I could even understand what was happening, my mother was out of her chair and smothering me in an effusive hug.

“I can’t believe you finally did it,” she gushed as she squeezed me tighter.

“Um…what?” I asked, enduring her affection and trying very hard not to flinch from the contact. My mother did not hug me…ever. I was fine with that and would be fine if she never did it again.

“I can’t say it wasn’t a surprise,” my father said with a rattle of the Financial Times. “I didn’t think you had it in you, boy.”

My mother finally let me go and then dragged me over to the table and forced me to sit next to her.

“Tell me everything,” she said, clutching my hand.

“Um…” I began.

“I mean, I saw the video on TikTok,” she went on, “But I want to know the actual story.”

“TikTok?” I asked, frowning. “What is…TikTok?”

“You haven’t seen it?” she asked, looking at me with surprise.

“Seen what, exactly?” I asked. I didn’t know what she was saying, but I was getting a terrible feeling about it.

“Here, watch,” she said, shoving her phone in front of my face.

My gut clenched and spasmed and my skin broke out in a cold sweat as I watched myself get down on one knee and