Page 88 of My Dark Prince
“Why don’t you take Briar to see it, Hettie?” Farrow latched onto both their elbows, urging them away. “That way Dallas, Oliver, and I can kill each other peacefully while you take advantage of the time we have here before our flight back.”
I watched Hettie usher Briar down the corridor, refusing to tear my eyes away until her very last atom left my line of sight. Something queasy churned in the pit of my gut. I had to stop this bullshit. Briar and I had ended the second I fucked over my family. I needed to help her recover, then we’d never see each other again. I owed her as much. The violent knot tightening inside me could only be guilt and worry for her health.That’s it.
As soon as Briar and Hettie left earshot, Dallas swiveled to me, her mouth wide-open, and for the first time, not so she could fit an entire unsliced cake into it.
“Holy shit, Ollie.” She slapped a hand over her chest. “You’re in love with her.”
“That’s ridiculous.” I glowered at her. “I’m not in lo … it’s complicated. We’ve known each other since we were in diapers. I’mworriedabout her, okay?”
Dallas stroked her chin, deep in thought. “I never thought you were capable of caring for anything that wasn’t the next parking lot for your peen.”
“The technologydoesexist,” I muttered.
“Not for you.” Farrow scrolled through her phone, not bothering to glance up at me. “You were programmed as an old-fashioned asshole. I didn’t think you had the features.”
Dallas beamed. “Must be a new software update, right?”
Farrow motioned with her hand to cut the joke, like the Jonah Hill meme. “That last analogy was overkill.”
Dallas sighed. “Inside jokes are like freshly baked chocolate chip cookies. You never know when to stop.”
Without Briar here to witness this, I turned to them, hands on my waist. “Time to cut the bullshit. You overstepped. Big time.”
Fae paused, finger hovering long enough for her to snort. “Did we, though?”
Dallas bounced Luca up and down. “You asked me to help Briar. I’m helping Briar. If we relied on you, she won’t recover her memory for another decade.”
Now there’s an idea.
I tore a hand through my hair. “You shouldn’t have taken her off my property, let alone to anotherstate. Do you understand how delicate she is? This is not a fucking game. What if she needed me?”
“It seems like she needed you a lot throughout her life, and you weren’t there.” Fae squinted at me, shoving her phone into her pocket. “Don’t pretend to suddenly care.”
She was right, of course. This was my eternal shame. But with her in Europe and a self-implemented ban from looking her up, I’d managed to push the guilt into my brain’s periphery. Now that she was in front of me – dazzling, and beautiful, and lovable to a fucking fault – it would take amnesia onmypart to rip me away.
I wet my lips, sucking in a breath. “This is the last time you two take Briar anywhere without my permission. I had to unseat an entire fucking board meeting to be here.”
“What are you talking about?” Dallas snorted. “You’re like me. You’ve never even met a job, let alone held one.”
Shit.
The truth slipped out like a dick pic accidentally sent into a group chat within a bunch of attachments. (Lesson learned. Send one photo at a time.)
Dallas and Farrow stared at me, waiting for an explanation.
A muscle jumped in my jaw. “I don’t think you know me when it comes to this woman.”
“I don’t think we know you at all,” Farrow agreed. “I am starting to see that you have a job, you’re not that dumb, and you’re capable of feelings.”
This wasn’t the time to talk about me.
“Pull this crap with Briar one more time, and I will make everyone’s lives on Dark Prince Road a living hell. You do notcross me when it comes to this woman. You do not put her at risk. You do not make stupid, reckless decisions. She ismyward.Myresponsibility.Mineto protect.” I glanced between them. “Am I clear?”
Dallas and Farrow exchanged looks. They’d never seen me like this.I’dnever seen me like this. I didn’t even know I had it in me to care so much.
But when I’d realized they’d taken her, all I could think about were the what ifs.
What if she feared flying? What if she felt alone? What if the plane crashed? What if someone said something to offend her? What if she didn’t remember and she left disappointed? What if shedidremember everything, and I wasn’t there to hold her?
