name and knew instinctively that it had been there long before I’d set foot into this whole hot mess of a family. Somehow, our coming back here tonight had dredged things up for him.
I could identify—all too easily, as a matter of fact. But even though I felt bad for him, it didn’t give him an excuse to be a complete and total dick to me.
He spoke through a clenched jaw. “It’s not like you’re exactly forthcoming about your own family, are you? My in-laws—your parents, your brother—I hardly know anything about them either. I also have no idea why you’re avoiding them to the extent that you dropped everything and left your country. And that for some reason, getting mail from some lawyer in British Columbia terrifies you.”
I blinked, swallowing a bit of guilt at that reminder. Yes, he spoke the truth, on all counts. But tonight wasn’t about me and my family.
“Nice way to turn that back to me but you didn’t come face to face with an ex-spouse you didn’t even know existed. Nor will you because I’ve never been married before. You might have mentioned that, at least.”
For some reason, that revelation most of all, was the one that was sticking with me—beyond the Van Den Richie Rich parents and the glamorous socialite sister. Beyond the fancy European noble title and the sprawling mansion and family vineyard. Beyond that… was someone whom Lucas had married years ago. Presumably for love. Presumably before he became closed off, bitter and jaded on the entire idea of marriage.
His gaze intensified. “And what difference does it make to you that I was married before? This isn’t even real. And maybe you should be thankful that I think marriage is a joke. My marriage to Claire lasted all of five months, FYI. I probably never would have agreed to do this if I took marriage seriously.”
Whoa… I blinked a few times. “So this is a joke to you?”
He gave a stiff shrug. “Not you needing your green card, no. Or you keeping your job, which helped me out a great deal. But I’m all for mocking an outdated and ridiculous institution that I personally loathe. That’s the joke.”
I shook my head, frowning. “How are you so bitter about everything? You’re not even thirty yet.”
He clenched his jaw, cheeks bulging, staring straight ahead. “I have damn good reasons.”
I folded my arms tightly and shifted, staring at him sharply. “Maybe it’s about time you shared some of them, then. Since now this involves me too.”
He muttered a string of bad words under his breath, threading his fingers through his hair a few more times. It was standing straight up like a fright wig. I might have mocked him for it had he not been so fully agitated already.
“Fine.” He let out a long sigh and straightened, falling back against the seat, posture stiff. “Why not give you something else to mock me about? When I was way too young, I screwed up and made some shitty decisions to make other people happy. Finding out it’s almost impossible to reverse some of those mistakes helps you get bitter fast.”
I rubbed my forehead, attempting to curb my irritation with him out of concern. His tone of voice sounded weird… flat, emotionless. And not in his typical emotionally unavailable way.
“I don’t plan on mocking you about it, FYI.” Then waited a moment to ask him the follow-up. “So you, uh, got married to make other people happy instead of yourself?” My eyebrows knotted into a frown. This sounded weird. Maybe people who had titles and lots of money still acted this way.
He rolled his eyes and fixed his gaze out the window to avoid turning toward me, most likely. “I was nineteen. She was my high school girlfriend. The wedding was a full blown over-the-top ridiculously expensive party that everyone wanted. Every reason why I married her was the wrong one.”
Hmm. I sank back against the luxurious leather of the town car and it squeaked as I shifted toward him. “What were the reasons, then?” I asked a little quieter than before.
The more he seemed to get agitated talking about this the more I felt myself calming down. All of this in spite of the fact that I was still reeling from this weird ass night and still annoyed with him for the secret-keeping. I was willing to hear him out, anyway.
“Idiocy of youth. It seemed like the thing to do. We met during our sophomore