Grace was his. I still felt sick, in spite of all my machinations.
“Do you want me to try to stop him? I can demand he leave her alone. Your call. How do you want me to handle it?” Walker asked. “This isn’t my Initiation. What’s the worst they can do to me?”
“It will just make the situation worse,” I answered, watching the silver sheet, hating myself for not being able to look away.
My father approached with a cocktail for himself and another drink for me that he handed off to my shaky grip. He looked at Walker. “Your father sure wanted that piece of ass. It cost him a pretty penny. I was hoping to have her for myself, but whatever.” He shrugged as he took a long drink. “A money-hungry whore is a dime a dozen at The Oleander.”
When he saw I wasn’t drinking from my glass, but obsessing on the silver material cloaking Grace, he nudged me. “Don’t let a girl like that get into your head. Just because you were fucking her doesn’t mean there was any sort of connection. You know as well as I do that girls like that are good in the bedroom but not marriage material.”
He then addressed all the guys surrounding me. “The first lesson you all must gain from your own Initiation is just how little your belle will mean to you in the end. She’s in it for the money, just as you are in it for your own gain. It’s about greed. Nothing else.”
He took another short swing, settling into the self-satisfied role of mentor. “They may make you feel like they are in love with your cock, but they only love your pocketbook and your power. But what makes them different than the woman you will eventually marry is that they’ll actually worship you if you can give them a small taste of both.”
“Your wife, however,” he waved his glass, sloshing some out the sides, “will come from family money and prestige of her own. She won’t value your wealth as much but has the ability to make your money shine. Don’t ever allow a woman to cheapen your value. The belles will do nothing more than flaw the diamond that is your empire. Remember that, boys. That’s my tip of the day for you.”
Sully huffed. “Whatever.”
My father studied the way I looked at the silver sheet. Was that movement I saw? “Shame that St. Claire is a greedy bastard and keeping all of his fun to himself. The least he could do for beating my ass is allow me to watch what I missed out on. Son? Do you want to walk closer so maybe we can at least hear her moans of pleasure?”
“I’m fine where I’m at.” It took all my might not to punch my asshole father in the face. He was enjoying this far too much, and knowing that my obvious misery was giving him pleasure made me want to murder him. How he could be so cruel to his own flesh and blood baffled me.
“I saw the way you looked at her. Protected her,” my father said. “And I knew you were getting too close. You cared about her whether you wanted to admit it or not.”
He pointed to where Grace and St. Claire still remained hidden behind the sheet. “This right here should be a real lesson to you. She could have refused. She could scream for your help right now, and no doubt you would go running to her. She could resist, or even cry out, or use her safe word.”
He got right in my face with his liquor-foul breath. “But she didn’t. She chose to willingly walk with St. Claire and fuck him for the sake of a pay day. And do you know why?”
When I didn’t answer, he continued on. A male groan of satisfaction came from beyond the sheet and I wanted to tear the house down. But in front of my father especially, I would not show one twitch of emotion.
“Because money is all she cares about. She does not care about you. Money is all any woman will ever care about. With wealth comes burden. You can’t be a Prince Charming and have your princess too. You’ll be used your entire life, and the only way to counter that is to use them first so you don’t care. It’s the way of the world, boys. Fuck before you’re fucked.”
Either bored with the conversation, or annoyed he wasn’t getting anything from me other than engaging with an emotionless robot who did nothing but stare ahead, my father walked away to find a more entertaining audience.
“Ignore him,” Walker said. “He’s just trying to piss you off more.”
“He has a good point though,” Sully cut in. “That woman clearly is here for the paycheck.” He looked at me, and I could feel his eyes studying me. “Did you really care about her like your father said? If so, I’m sorry, man. This is fucked up.”