“You’re going to keep digging this hole? Proving I’ve let you know too much about me.”
“Don’t get yourself another smack,” she said with a laugh. “I mean it, Carter. You’re a good guy, and a good friend. It’s why you keep trying to let me down easy.” She winked. “And not to sound too self-serving, but you should marry someone who loves you, Carter. You deserve no less.”
“What do you deserve, Haze?”
“The man I want.”
My phone went off in my pocket.
“Saved by the ring.” Hazel stood and dusted herself off. “I’m not wasting another minute playing Scrabble when I could be swimming. Hey, tonight let’s go skinny-dipping. It’s secluded at the other end of the property. Meet me after dinner. I’ll get the rest of the crew to join us so you don’t have an excuse.”
I mumbled something that might’ve been a yes. My dad’s name was flashing on the screen. What in the world did he want with me?
“Dad?”
“Ah, Carter, my boy. How are you?”
The deep, booming voice of Eric Knight was too distinctive to mistake. Still I scrunched up my face wondering who the hell learned to mimic him. “You’re calling to ask how I am? When did we start doing that?”
“Since I got a call from the lovely Miss Lewis-Adler.”
“Cecilia Lewis-Adler is a Mrs. and she’s happily married. Don’t bother asking me to put in a word for you.”
His roaring laugh pounded my eardrum. “Come now, Carter. You know I’m speaking of Belle. It’s when I spoke to her today that I made the connection to the little girl you used to run around with.”
Alarm bells started ringing.
“Well done, son. You’ve chosen quite a woman.”
“You spoke to Belle today,” I said slowly, “and you’re congratulating me? What did you talk about?”
“Everything you both discussed for your future.”
“A design studio and sperm donor babies?”
Dad chuckled. “You’re a laugh riot, my boy, but let’s be serious. Belle’s told me that you’ve discussed the life you two want and you’ve decided it’d be one that you build with your own two hands. She said you don’t want any money from your mother or me.”
“She said what?” I pushed through gritted teeth.
“I admire that, son. I truly do. You know your grandfather built Knight Corp up from nothing. To see you striking out on your own and becoming your own man makes me prouder than I can say. You’ve really grown up, Carter.”
I bit hard on my tongue, filling my mouth with a metallic taste. What did I care for the pride and approval of the man who cheated on his wife of fifteen years and mother of his four sons? Like he could pass judgment that was worth a damn.
There’s a time to curse the old lech out and it’s not when my inheritance is on the line.
“Thank you, Dad,” I said. “Belle and I do want to build our own life, but I hope she didn’t give you the idea that we’re to be kicked out in only the clothes on our backs.”
“That’s why I called. Belle said you two don’t want a cent, but you are my son. I couldn’t let you start your life with nothing. There’s also the fact that your mother simply wouldn’t allow her youngest to work a minimum-wage job and live above a Chinese restaurant. Has that truly been your dream?”
Belle freakin’ Adler. Her name was a curse unto itself.
“You know I like my pork dumplings,” I replied.
“Of course. Well, I think two— maybe three million should be enough to get you both started. You can build that house in the country you want one day. Possibly start your own business.”
My eyes flared. Three million? That was twelve million less than Dad would’ve given me for not getting married at all.
“Why don’t we talk about it later, Dad? Catch a few rounds at the club and make sure I’m making the best choice for my future.”
“Right you are, young man. Right you are.”
I released an inaudible sigh of relief. No way was I agreeing to three million. I had to sit him down in person and undo whatever Belle did to him.
“We’ll get something on the books for after you get back from the cove,” he said. “You, me, and Belle. I like her, Carter. She’s good for you.”
“Sure, Dad. We’ll talk later.”
Belle’s promise that day in the yard came back to me.
“I’m going to be an unending nightmare. The boogeyman beneath your bed. The harpy that drags you to hell. By the time I’m done, you’d sooner toss Gam-Gam’s ring down the drain than put it on my finger.”
“Well played, Adler.” The bubbling pot of rage forever simmering below my surface foamed over. “Very well played.”
BELLE
“Why would I want to go skinny-dipping?”
Zion didn’t pause in eating my lunch. “We’re all going.”
“All?”
“Me, Kelli, Hazel, Mila, Nora, Owen, Asher, Ivy, Carter, Nathan, Preston, and Delilah.” He pointed at me. “And you.”
“It’s way less sexy when there’re that many naked wangs in the water.”
“I’ll take your word for it,” he said, cracking up.
The two of us were chilling in my room. Zion had volunteered to bring my food up and hung around to eat half of it. I was sitting up in bed sketching a new line of swimsuits and making final preparations for the dance that weekend. I didn’t mind the interruption.
“Come on,” he said. “We’re going out tonight after dinner. We’ll hang out. Have fun.”
“Did you forget I’m recovering from a concussion?”
“Don’t try that. I looked it up and you can lie on a beach as easily as you lie on a bed. No one is going to make you go in.”
I heaved a sigh. “All right, fine. I’ll come. I can’t let you be the only one staring at Owen’s ass. We’ll trade off.”
My half-chewed butter chicken dangled from his open mouth.
“Yeah,” I said, giving him a knowing look. “I know.”
My fork clattered to the plate. “You— I— You don’t know!”
“Yes, I do,” I sang.
“How?”
“I noticed a while ago that when we were watching the guys play volleyball, we were both watching the guys play volleyball.”
The poor boy looked like he witnessed me shape-shift into a chimera. He was shocked through to his core.
“Come on.” I opened my arms. “Come snuggle with Auntie Belle.”
Zion climbed in and rested his head on my lap. “Is it obvious?”
“Is it a secret?”
“It’s not to the guys I’ve been with. And it’s not to Owen,” he muttered. “But with everyone else, yeah.”
“What about your parents?”
“Why do you think they sent me here?”
I smoothed his hair from his forehead. “I’m sorry, Z.”
“Don’t be. It’s not so bad. Owen and I just sneak down the hall now instead of into each other’s houses.”