Page 52 of Wicked Dares
He’s not as bad as Knox when it comes to being protective over our sister, but he’s bad enough.
Adeline frowns. “I’m not waiting a hundred years.”
“We’ll see about that.” Dorian points at her. “Your husband-to-be will have to pass my test if he hopes to be good enough foryou. That may take a hundred years.”
“Dad, please tell him to stop,” Adeline pleads, looking at Dad, mortified.
Dad smiles, taking it all in. Sometimes I think he likes watching us, whether we’re arguing or graveyard silent. There’s pride in his expression. Real pride. The sort that comes from seeing your family together after spending years wondering if it would survive at all.
“Dorian, leave your sister alone.” He shakes his head at the two of them.
“Just doing my job.” Dorian smirks.
“How about we cross that bridge when we get there.”
“In the meantime,” Louise cuts in, “I’ll grab some more dessert and we play that trivia game again.”
She claps her hands, summoning us like we’re twelve years old again.
“Good idea, sweetheart,” Dad agrees, standing to retrieve the game pack.
He puts it on the coffee table, then looks across at me with concern when I don’t move.
“You okay?” he asks.
“Yeah, fine.”
“You’re really quiet. That’s not like you.”
A dull pressure builds behind my eyes, like the tension I’m hiding is pushing in too close, but I wave him off. “No, no, I’m just listening. Enjoying the peace.”
“Alright, if you say so.” He doesn’t believe me.
Locke cuts me a hard stare, knowing I’m talking shit, too.
Neither will press while we’re around everyone else. Especially my father. He hates talking business on family days. It’s forbidden.
It’s a great way to draw the line, but sometimes you need to talk.
Though, what could I really say to him?
Hey, Dad, I just hired myself a fake girlfriend to secure the Lockwood contract. I’m just waiting to hear back from her.
Yeah. That would never go over well.
He’d go crazy. So, I pray he never finds out the truth. And I pray even harder that Piper agrees to my little proposal.
Even I think it’s far-fetched.
I was the one who came up with the idea of the fake girlfriend, and I even thought I could just get someone to pose as the said girlfriend when I needed, but Arthur Lockwood pulled a fast one on me.
The universe did the rest when it shoved him into the restaurant at the same moment I was there with Piper.
I never saw that coming.
The worst thing is I can’t even regret it properly.
When I remember Piper sitting across from me at that restaurant, smiling at Arthur, greed settles in me and I want those moments again. Not to please Arthur. I want it for myself.
