Forbidden Fate (Crowne Point 3)
“Hi, Jack,” Lottie said without emotion.
Once again I looked between them as another pause weighed the air.
“Why don’t we take this into the next room?” Mrs. du Lac said. “Lottie and Gray, you’re welcome to join us.”
Aka, you must join us.
Then Jack, apparently, followed Mrs. du Lac into the next room. Lottie followed them with her eyes, staying still.
“Who is that guy?” I asked.
“No one,” she said, her eyes on the empty doorway they’d just gone through. With a stiff exhale, she descended the steps. Beyond her, West and Story walked by the window.
They were laughing.
Fucking laughing.
Lottie reached the bottom, looking up at me expectantly. I took a step, then froze. West licked his thumb, swiping it across Story’s cheek. I could hear only buzzing in my ears. Feel the tightness in my chest.
I flexed my knuckles.
He’s too fucking close.
“Gray?”
“I’ll follow,” I gritted.
A look flitted across Lottie’s face, but she said nothing.
STORY
* * *
After West had given me a tour of Du Lac Manor, I realized the similarities between it and Crowne Hall were as stark as their differences. Each was haunted in its own way.
He opened the door for me and said, “After you, Cinderella.”
I tried not to laugh, but failed. I wanted to hate him, but he wasn’t easy to hate. He was charming and he was funny. He told me anecdotes about Du Lac Manor, places his uncles and great-cousins had christened with their stupidity. Like the time his great-uncle John tried to piss the farthest and was arrested for indecency, so they had to buy the acreage.
“Did you have a good time?”
Grayson’s voice stopped me in my tracks. He stood at the foot of the stairs, sunlight and shadow accentuating a glower hotter than fire.
“Um…” I trailed off.
“Lottie has been looking for her girl,” he said, soft and dark.
Oh.
Shit.
I quickly moved to go attend to Lottie, but West gripped my elbow, holding me in place.
“My sister can go without her girl for an hour,” West said, laughter in his voice. “She’s not entirely helpless.”
“Three,” Grayson said, his voice cold. “It’s been three.”
“Oh, well, that changes things,” West said, laughing harder.