Tarnished Crown

  “We’ll all stay. You, me and darling Easton.” Her hand falls on top of Easton’s head. He flinches slightly.

  “He’s got homework.” She’s big on school and hates it when we skip. Or used to hate it before she got lost inside her head. Without waiting for her response, I pull Easton up to his feet. He’s gaining muscle on his lean frame and it’s not as easy to haul him around as it was just a year ago. “Let’s go, baby bro.”

  His softly muttered thanks mixes with Mom’s low protests. With one of his arms slung over my shoulder, I lug him out and into his own room. It’s a mess. There are clothes and books on the floor. His mini-fridge door is open and the television is blaring.

  “Fuck, that’s loud.” He claps a hand over one ear.

  I drop the kid on his bed and walk over to the television to manually turn it off. I have no idea where the remote is hiding. Then I pull off Easton’s shoes and undress him. He’s so out of it that he doesn’t fight me. Thank Christ for small favors. I tuck him under the covers and leave his bedroom.

  At the bridge that separates the kids’ rooms from Mom and Dad’s suites, I pause and look down the stairs. The urge to flee washes over me. I could take my car keys and run out of here. Go to the other side of the country, lose myself in the woods or in the mountains. Anywhere to shed some of the responsibility of this family that weighs me down like an iron mantle.

  But that’s not an option. I can’t leave my brothers.

  I give myself an internal slap on the face. After tonight, I’m going to get Mom and Easton some help. There’s got to be a doctor that I can hire to come to the house that can treat them for whatever it is they need treating. Depression, I guess.

  When I return to Mom’s room, she’s still on her sofa, staring at the closed curtains.

  “Why don’t you try to get some sleep?” I suggest, dimming the lights before crossing to join her.

  “I can’t sleep without your father here.”

  “Sure you can.” I slide my arms underneath her and gently carry her to the bed.

  “Have you heard from him? Your father, I mean?” she asks.

  “No, ma’am.”

  “Please don’t leave me,” she begs. “I can’t be alone tonight.”

  Tears seep out of her eyes. The churning in my gut intensifies.

  I struggle to find the right things to say to make her stop crying. “He loves you. He’s busy because he wants to provide for us.”

  “Business is more important than me? Than his family?”

  “It’s not.” But because I don’t know what to say, the tears and the blame keep coming. I drag a chair over to the bed and pull out my phone. As she rambles, I shoot off a text to Sav.

  I’m sorry abt earlier. Family stuff. I’ll c u in am. Let’s do smthg tmrw nght. K?

  Unsurprisingly, she doesn’t respond. I drop my head into my hands and wait for Mom to fall asleep. For as drunk as she is, it takes way too long for her to pass out. Finally, somewhere between two and three, the plaintive, heartbroken sounds are replaced by a gentle snore. I haul my tired ass to my bedroom and go right to sleep.

  I’m woken a few hours later by a chirping from my phone. The security app alerts me that there’s someone at the front door. Groggily, I pull up the feed. The front door camera shows my uncle Steve’s wife on the front steps. I throw an arm over my head. Awesome. Just what I need. Another distraught female.

  I force myself out of bed. I have the same jeans and T-shirt on from yesterday. I need to shower and shave, but, first, I guess I need to find out what Dinah O’Halloran wants.

  “Morning, ma’am,” I say as I open the door.

  Dinah breezes by, smelling like fresh flowers. Her blonde hair wafts out like a silk curtain behind her. I can see why Steve married her. She’s as gorgeous as any model, but there’s something that puts me on edge about her despite the fact that she’s been nothing but decent to us boys. Mom doesn’t like her, though. Maybe I’ve allowed that to influence me.

  “Steve contacted me this morning and said your mother called him several times last night. He asked if I’d come over to check on y’all.”

  Instantly, my back stiffens. Royal messes should be taken care of by Royals and no one else. “We’re fine.”

  Dinah shakes her head. “You don’t have to pretend with me. We’re pretty much family.” She pats my cheek before plunging deeper into the house.

  I shut the door and hurry after her. I don’t want her to see Mom, which means Dinah needs to stay on the first floor. “Um, did you want something to eat or drink?”

  “Oh, honey, I can help myself. In fact, why don’t I make breakfast for you boys? When do the others get up?”

  My stomach grumbles. I rub my gut and glance up the stairs. “Reed’ll be up soon. The rest will be up in an hour.”

  “Let’s get you and your brother fed first, then.” She makes her way to the kitchen, and I follow obediently.

  “Need help?” I offer.

  “Not at all. Have a seat.” She taps one of the counter stools. Then she makes herself at home, pulling out eggs and butter from the fridge, and pots and pans from the cabinet next to the stove. “Steve and your dad must’ve had a busy night.”

  “I don’t know.”

  She casts an amused smile in my direction. “You don’t need to cover for your father, dear. I’m old enough to know the score. Steve’s always had a wandering eye.”

  I flush, not knowing how to answer, but Dinah chatters on.

  “I feel bad for your mother, though. She has all these responsibilities and no help. That’s why I came over. To see what I could do to ease her burden.”

  Dinah bustles around the kitchen, mixing up pancake batter, frying bacon, warming up syrup. In almost no time, there’s a huge mound of food in front of me. For a moment, I’m surprised she can even cook—she’s always come off as a spoiled little princess. But then I remember that Dinah didn’t come from money. She married into it, which means she probably knew how to take care of herself before she met Uncle Steve.

  “Thank you, ma’am.”

  She ruffles my hair like I’m a little boy. “Don’t call me, ma’am. It makes me feel old. Call me Dee.”

  “Okay.” I say between bites of food. I’m not going to argue with the woman who just made me breakfast. “These pancakes are awesome, Dee.”

  “Good. I’m glad to hear that. It’s astonishing how much you can pack away and still keep such a fit body.” Her fingers trail across my shoulder as she passes by.

  It’s uncomfortable, but she means nothing by it so I keep my trap shut. No need to complain about an innocent touch. Besides, I have more important things to think about, like how I’m going to get Sav to forgive me. I blow out a deep breath before shoveling more pancake down my throat.

  “What are you doing today?”

  “Apologizing,” I blurt out and then immediately regret it.

  “Oh, what’s this? Do you have girl problems? Tell Dee all about them.” She places both elbows on the counter and leans toward me. The V-neck of her shirt gapes and I can see down the front.

  I avert my gaze and look over her shoulder. “It’s nothing.”

  “Honey, you sighed like the weight of the world was on your shoulders. I’m a young woman who was single not so long ago. I bet I can help you out of whatever sticky situation you’re in.”

  It’s not like I’m full of great ideas. “I may have pissed off my girlfriend,” I admit.

  Dinah cocks her head. “In what way?”

  “I invited her over, but…” I pause, not wanting to reveal the full fuckery of my household to anyone, not even Steve’s wife. “I needed to help my brother out last night and had to send her home.”

  She taps a slender finger against her lips. “Girls like big gestures. Don’t you kids do promposals these days?”

  “Yeah, I guess so.” Some guys have gone to extreme lengths to invite girls to dances, like creating a treasure hunt. Decker Henry rode a white horse do
wn the street with a banner behind him. His girlfriend loved it, apparently. Loved it so much that she gave up the V to him even before the dance.

  “Then do something along those lines. Make it big and splashy. She’ll love that.”

  Big and splashy, huh? I don’t want to ride a horse, but I could make a spectacle of myself. I stuff one more bite of food in my mouth and hop off the stool.

  “Thanks for breakfast.” When I hear Reed’s footsteps at the door, I call for him to come inside. “Dinah cooked for us. Pancakes. Bacon. The whole shebang.”

  His eyes widen in excitement. “Really? I’m starved.” Then he stops in his tracks, because the kitchen is Mom’s domain.

  “I ate already,” I reassure him.

  “Awesome.” Relieved, he takes a seat.

  “Can you drive Easton and the twins to school? I’m taking East’s truck this morning since Sav has my car.”

  “Sure.”

  I leave Reed stuffing his face and hurry upstairs to get ready.

  “Gideon!”

  I turn to find Dinah right behind me. “Oh, hey, what’s up?”

  She slides an arm around me and pulls me in for a hug. I awkwardly pat her back and try to avoid her tits getting squashed against my chest.

  “What’s that for?”

  “You looked like you needed a hug and kiss.” She kisses me on the cheek. “Whoops. Got a little lipstick on you.” She wipes a finger across my cheekbone. “All good.”

  I have the urge to rub a hand down my face but don’t want to seem like a jerk. “Thanks again for breakfast.”

  “Think nothing of it. I can come over anytime and help out.”

  I run up the stairs. In no time, I’m clean, dressed, and ready to go. My first stop of the morning is to the nearest floral shop.

  “How many roses you got?” I ask the clerk.

  “In the store?”

  I pull out my wallet and lay several bills on the counter. “In the entire store,” I confirm.

  It turns out that the florist has over two hundred of them. An hour later, I’ve also cleaned out three other stores.

  Big gesture, here I come.

  Chapter 7

  Gideon

  Present Day

  “You should buy her flowers. That’s what my dad gets my mom whenever he pisses her off.”

  I pull back on the resistance bands. “Been there. Done that. Bought the florist shop.” Four in total.

  Cal pauses in mid-fly. “The entire shop?”

  “The roses,” I clarify. “I bought out all the roses in four flower shops.”

  “Damn. How much did that cost?”

  I sometimes forget that my friends here have no idea how much money I have. One great thing about college is that you can lose yourself on the campus. No one’s past really matters all that much. High school accolades or scandals don’t matter. It’s what you do here that counts. I try to keep my Royal connections on the down low. The only thing that marks me as having money is my Range Rover, but I’m not the only kid at State who drives a set of expensive wheels. There are Mercs and Beemers, and a couple of Chinese kids have Lambos.

  “Enough,” I tell Cal. “And I bought them because I stood her up, so I don’t think going that route again is going to cut it.”

  “What exactly did you do this time?”

  Recounting my past sins to Cal kinda defeats the purpose of hiding out here, but he’s a good friend and I don’t want to lie to him. I’ve done enough lying to my friends to last a lifetime.

  “I cheated on her,” I say bluntly, dropping the resistance ropes. They bang against the tile wall.

  Cal’s eyes widen in surprise. “You did what?”

  There’s some amount of gratification in his shock. As I said, who you were in the past doesn’t need to touch you when you leave high school. I’ve tried hard to not be that dumbass person who fell into Dinah’s pit.

  “It’s a long story, but I did it, and when Sav found out, we broke up. After that, we tried to see who could hurt each other the most.” I grab a towel and toss it to my friend, who still looks shaken up.

  “That sounds like a miserable game.”

  “The worst,” I agree. “I stopped playing when I came to college.” But Sav didn’t. Word trickled up here that she and Easton had slept together.

  I couldn’t even bring myself to be mad about that. If it happened, it wasn’t because either of them cared about each other. They just wanted to inflict pain, but I suspect their own guilt and self-loathing was worse than anything I felt when I heard it.

  I can’t hate my baby brother, not after everything our mom put him through. And I can’t hate Sav, because of everything I put her through.

  “I think you’re right,” Cal says, tossing his towel into the bin.

  “How’s that?” I ask as we head for the locker room.

  “She came here instead of all the other unis in the country. She wants you, man.”

  I spin the dial on my locker. For all Sav’s excuses and protests to the contrary, if she really hated me, she would’ve stayed away. Or maybe I’m the delusional one, and her coming here is proof she doesn’t give a shit about me.

  I rub a hand down my face. No. She slapped me. A girl who doesn’t care wouldn’t slap me. She still has feelings. Right now, they’re all angry and hurt, but I’ve got a chance to change that. “You might be right.”

  “What’re you gonna do then?”

  “Not sure yet.” I dress quickly and shove a hat over my wet hair.

  “You gotta go big,” he advises. “I’m thinking skywriting. ‘Sorry I was an asshat. Please forgive my stupid butt.’”

  I snort. “That’s a winning message.”

  We shoulder our backpacks. Out in the hallway, Julie is leaning against the wall, talking to some guy from the track team who’s been chasing after her forever. Behind me, Cal stiffens.

  “I don’t like that dude,” he growls.

  “Why? He’s harmless. If Julie liked him, she’d have taken him up on one of his dozen previous offers.”

  “That’s exactly why I don’t like him. He’s sniffing around even after she’s told him to take a hike. He’s standing way too close to her. I bet it makes her uncomfortable. Besides, Julie’s a swimmer. She belongs with the swim team.” He brushes by me. “Hey, babe.”

  Julie perks up. “You guys done?”

  “Yeah. Hungry? Let’s go have lunch.” Very efficiently, Cal inserts himself between the two.

  The runner steps back with a frown. “It’s only ten,” he objects.

  “Lunch is a catchall term,” Cal says. “Ready, Jules?” He couldn’t be more obvious, but for some reason, Julie appears to be blind to Cal’s feelings. Maybe that’s because Cal himself hasn’t figured out that the reason he doesn’t like guys talking to Julie is because he wants her for himself. Belongs with the swim team? More like belongs with Cal Lonigan.

  “I could go for a Frappuccino.” She leans to the right to address the runner. “Let me check on that info for you. I need to search my inbox. I’m sure I have it, but I can’t remember it off the top of my head.”

  He salutes her. “You got my number.”

  Cal waits until we’re outside to jump all over her. “What do you mean, you have his number? He’s on the track team!”

  “So? You make it sound like he’s selling drugs or something,” Julie replies, rolling her eyes.

  Cal scowls. “He could be.”

  Time to intervene. I walk between them and drape one arm over each of their shoulders. “Cal’s mad because he’s hungry. We need to feed the beast.”

  “Yeah, I’m hungry,” he says, shooting me a grateful look.

  “Whatever.” Julie shrugs. “Oh, I forgot. I have something for you.”

  “You have something for everyone these days,” Cal mumbles.

  Surreptitiously, I kick him in the shin. He lurches away. “What the hell was that for?”

  J
ulie stops walking. “What happened?”

  “I kicked him.”

  “He kicked me!” Cal accuses.

  She throws up her hands and starts moving again. “You two are children.”

  Cal is quick to protest. “We’re teens, at least.”

  “Here, you big baby.” She shoves a sheet of paper in my hands.

  “What’s this?” I ask, but after I read the first entry, I know. “Is this a schedule of Sav’s activities for her visit?”

  “Yes, and don’t tell anyone you got it from me.” Julie crosses her arms. “I already feel guilty, like I’m violating some important girl code.”

  “How many times do I got to tell you? You’re on the swim team. Your allegiance is to us,” Cal proclaims.

  “Ignore him,” I say and then reach over to give Julie a hug.

  Beside me, Cal growls. I can’t keep my laugh in.

  “What’s so funny?” Julie demands.

  “Life. I’m laughing at life.” I shake the paper in my hand. “And opportunity.”

  “How’re you going to win her back? Just follow her around and hope she realizes how awesome you are again?”