Page 130 of Bad Influence
It’s almost depressing to admit that I don’t feel anything either. They’re complete strangers to me now, strangers I knew once and whose faces I recognize. But I have no feelings towards them.
The second person I see is my brother, his eyes locked on Caroline’s and mine joined hands.
“Gerry!” Caroline exclaims. She pulls her hand out of mine and it’s only then I swing my eyes to my grandmother, standing by the window looking out on Fifth Ave as she swirls a spoon in her tea.
She sets her tea down and gives Caroline a wide smile.
“Darling, sweet Caroline.”
Gran hugs Caroline like they haven’t seen each other in ages. She pulls back to hold Caroline at arm’s length.
“Oh, you look stunning. Like you’ve finally got some life in you.” I know the last part is meant as a dig at our families and it has the expected response. Our mothers scowl at Gran.
Not that she cares. Gran’s eyes swing to me and grow slightly misty.
I step forward and she puts her hands on my shoulders.
“Let me look at you.” Her still lively blue eyes look me up and down. “You look just like your grandfather. I’m glad someone in the family does.”
I hear a scoff behind me, and I’m not sure whether it’s my father or Beckett.
“Gran, it’s good to see you.”
I pull her into a hug and I have to remind myself to be careful. She’s fiery, but she’s getting old. Caroline smiles at me softly before the smile drops from her face and she turns to face her family.
“Mother. Father. Carter.”
I turn to face them, keeping an arm around Gran’s shoulders. Caroline’s mother, Elaine, looks just like her, except older and more reserved, like all the joy has been sucked out of her life. My Caroline is nothing like that.
“I guess if no one is going to say anything, then I will,” Elaine says, tugging on her suit dress even though it’s already straight. “You have caused quite the stir, Caroline. Do you have any idea the amount of embarrassment you have wrought on our families because of your childish little act? How could you not think of us before doing something so foolish?”
“Don’t speak to her like that,” I snap, before Caroline can say anything.
Everyone stares at me in shock. Caroline puts a hand on my arm and I look at her in question. I came for moral support, but I’m not going to stand by and let them talk to her like that.
“I’ve got it,” she whispers. Taking a deep breath, she turns to face the room.
“I don’t want to marry Beckett,” Caroline says. “I never wanted to marry Beckett. Frankly, why didn’tyouconsider the embarrassment it would cause me to be married to a man who thinks cheating is beneficial to the relationship? Why didn’t you,for a minute, stop and think how hurtful it is to have my own parents tell me I should be thankful to marry a man who cheats on me?”
“There’s no need to be so dramatic,” Elaine scoffs. “Beckett is a good boy. He made a mistake.”
“A mistake is forgetting which date you booked dinner reservations,” Caroline says. “Not fucking your secretary.”
“Caroline, you will not speak to your mother that way!” William Sinclair roars.
“I wish you had the same sense of protectiveness towards me as your daughter,” Caroline replies, her voice cold.
“I don’t want your life. I don’t want to play these games. I don’t want the fake perfection and opulence. I just want to be happy. It never even occurred to you that I might want something different, that trying to be perfect and have you constantly remind me that I can never be was slowly killing me.”
“This is your revenge plan, then,” Dad speaks for the first time, waving a hand between me and Caroline. “Leaving one brother for another.”
“This was fate intervening,” Gran says, winking at Caroline.
“Mother, please stay out of this. You’ve made your position clear,” Dad says.
I grab Caroline’s hand and pull her towards me, sliding my arm around her waist. I do it partly because I need her by my side and partly to see the vein throb in Beckett’s forehead. I know my brother. He doesn’t love Caroline, but he also doesn’t want anyone else to have her. In his fucked up mind, she’s his to do with as he wants, and I’m never going to let that happen.
She’s my butterfly. My beautiful chaos. And she’s going to fly freely.
