King:Las Vegas Bad Boys(24)

Claire looks down in her lap, and for a second I'm scared she's going to  be upset and run off again. But then I see the slight upturn of her  mouth and realize she's suppressing a smile.

"Don't laugh at me," Fiona says to Claire. "You with your blonde hair  and skinny legs and perfect eyebrows. You aren't a real Englishwoman,  and you never will be."

"I don't intend on being one. I intend on being myself," Claire says smoothly.

"Oh, no you don't, we know your game. You and Landon waltzed in here together for one reason and one reason only."







Claire's eyes meet mine. Fuck, they've found us out. What did they do?  Scroll through our text messages or listen at the door to learn of our  plan?

"And what's that?" I ask.

"To get your Mum and Dad to pay for your wedding. And your life.  Obviously you need your father to bail you out, now that you've  committed yourself to a wife and child. Everyone knows you have no  prospect of supporting anything, or anyone."

Geoffrey raises his arms. "Fiona, just calm down a moment. Our marriage  has nothing to do with them, you know that. They have nothing to do with  our engagement, so let it go. Don't get so defensive. And why do you  care what sort of sex they have? We have plenty of it ourselves."

"I know we do, darling, it's just  …  it's not fair the way he thi-"

I cut her off. "I'm here because it's a family summit," I tell her,  seething, unable to restrain my feelings. "Because I'm trying not to be  such an asshole like I've been my entire life. Because I wanted you to  meet Claire, and because I want to make Mum and Dad happy, okay?" I  shout. "So enough with calling me out for being a money-grabber. For  being nitwit. For being a prick. We all know what I have been, but maybe  for a moment, we could think of what I might be."

The room is quiet. I don't think I've ever given a speech quite like  that in my life, and the only problem is I now need to dissect it to see  what parts were real and what parts were false  …  and what parts became  true halfway through.

"So then, what might you be?" Geoffrey asks.

His question stumps me for a moment. I can't say I might be the owner of  The King's Diamond, because that's what he's just accused me of  wanting. Which it is.

And because what I want more-much more-is for my parents to be proud of  me. For my brother to think I'm more than my sum. And maybe ... just  maybe ... I want Claire to think that of me, too. The company just seems  the only logical way for me to get everything I want.

"Maybe I could be a man everyone here is proud to know."





Chapter Nineteen





Claire



His speech brings tears to my eyes.

He wants us to see him as someone we are proud to know.

I'm proud to know him. Beyond proud.

But I'm not very proud of myself.

For the way I've been to my friends. For the secrets and the lies.

I can't tell them everything, just like I haven't told Landon everything ... but they need to know about Sophia.

After the fight, we go our separate ways, and I pull Landon aside to  speak with him privately. We find an empty den at the end of the hall,  and close the door.

"Your speech was so amazing, Landon, and it made me realize that I need to tell Emmy and Tess the truth."

"I agree; you should do that." He pauses, his brows furrowed. "And ... you liked my speech even though it was full of lies?"

"Was it?" I ask, because I think that on the surface he's been saying he  wants to trick the family into getting the company... but deep down I  see the truth in his words.

That this isn't about the money, because Landon isn't a money-grabber at  all. If he were, he wouldn't be playing blackjack, that's for sure.  Blackjack players aren't in it for big wins, they're in it for fun.  Poker and craps-now those players are looking for a jackpot. But not  blackjack. Not Landon.

He came to his family estate to prove something. And I think he brought me because he was scared to do that alone.

At least, that's what I'm telling myself  …  maybe foolishly.

"I think you're the only person who can see through me," he says. "Through my bullshit."

I step toward him, letting my heart flutter in anticipation. Wanting  another kiss, wanting him to pull me close. Knowing that kisses lead to  sex  …  and sex with him makes me forget everything else. Which is what I  want.

I'm not ready for reality. For real life. I want to stay in this make-believe place a little longer.

"Claire, I do want my father's company. I didn't say it in my speech  because that's what Geoffrey was droning on and on about ... but I want  my dad to give it to me. I need him to."

"Really?" I ask. "I guess I thought this might be about more than beating your brother."

"Well, maybe in some ways it is about more than that. But you and I both  know I need to fucking grow up. I can do that. I can be the guy who's  responsible and has his shit together."

"Landon, I'm not asking you to be anything. Not for me."







"So you don't want me to be that guy? For you?"

"I don't know what I want."

I take a step back; suddenly feeling like this is all happening too  fast. The idea of him and me is fun in theory  …  but the reality?

I just feel like if I gave in to that – gave in to him – it would end with me heartbroken.

"Are you trying to prove something to me?" I ask him. "That you can be  man enough? Because I'm not asking you to be my man. To be my anything."

"Shit, Claire. You are seriously fucking with my mind. I thought you and I were more than-"

"More than a job? You don't even know me," I tell him, my words blunt  but true. "You have no idea what a life with me would be like. You are  in no place to commit."

"That's bullshit, Claire. You're just scared to let anyone in. You don't  tell people who you really are, and then no one can hurt you, because  no one can see you. I don't know who screwed you over so you became this  way, but they must have seriously fucked with you."

"Don't talk like that to me, Landon. You don't mean it. So don't get all  ugly with me now, when I'm speaking the truth. When I say you can't  handle me. Because we both know you couldn't handle life as a father.  You don't even know how to be a man."

"Fuck that, Claire. I know how to be a man."

"No," I tell him. "No, you don't. A real man never would come to his parents house trying to trick them."

"Well, you know what, Claire? A real woman wouldn't have agreed to it."

The words we exchange cut into my heart. I want to pretend they aren't  true, but they are. All of them. His and mine. This isn't pretty and  this can't be love. Because love doesn't hurt; love heals. Love doesn't  destroy; love protects.

And right now, it feels like whatever we were-whatever we might have been-is gone.





Landon


One day.

One single day can build you up and then tear you down.

One day can make you feel like a fucking King and then make you feel so small. Make you feel like nothing at all.

Claire's face is streaked with tears, and so is mine.

Our fight is what has kept me from ever letting a woman into my heart.

Winnie and I would fight. We'd throw ugly words at one another when we were drunk or high or both.

But this is worse, because Claire and I are both sober. We know exactly  what we just said. We will remember every word. Every line.

Maybe it was better with Winnie. Because at least the next morning would  be a fuzzy haze of forgotten exchanges. We'd know we said things we  shouldn't have ... but nothing about the sentences would be clear enough  to hinge another fight on.

The words Claire and I spoke won't be forgotten. They ruined whatever we may have found.

Possibility.

One another.

Love.

"I'm going to bed," she says, stepping further away from me. "My head hurts and I don't want to fight anymore."

"I'll sleep in a guest room."

"No, you won't." She sighs as if this exhale of breath takes all her energy, all her heart. "It will raise too many questions."

"So you aren't leaving right now?"

"I may be an awful woman, Landon, but I'm not giving Fiona and Geoffrey what they want."

"Really?"

"Really, what?" She raises her hands in front of her, physically  creating a barrier between us. "Landon, my heart hurts so bad right now.  I feel like a monster and a bitch and cheat. I feel awful inside. But  I'm also too tired to fight with you anymore. I don't want to fight with  you at all. I hate this."

"I feel pretty shitty, too. Which is why I thought perhaps we should just confess to my Mum and Dad."

"Is that what you want?" she asks.

"It sounds like what I really want isn't something you want."

"It isn't that simple. I'm not that simple."

"Fuck that, Claire-you're just scared."

"So what if I'm scared?" she whispers, opening the door, walking away. "We both know there are worse things to be."



After she leaves the den I make the executive decision that she may hate  ... but in my gut I know it's what she needs. A way to forgive herself  for keeping Sophia a secret.