30. Scott

30

SCOTT

“ A re you sure you don’t want me to come with you?” I held onto my temper by the slimmest margin. My anger wasn’t pointed at Hannah, but at the fact that she was allowing Chad to see Liddy.

She buttoned up her coat and fixed Liddy’s hair when one of the bows started to slip. “I’m sure.”

“Where are we going?” Liddy scrubbed her hand over her nose. “More snowmen?”

“No more snowmen right now.” Hannah checked the buttons on Liddy’s coat. “We’re going to see a friend.”

So that’s the line she was going with. Fine by me, though I’d prefer the guy never had access to Liddy or Hannah again. I’d seen what could happen when a sour parent turned a kid against the other one. I had nothing to go on except what I’d dug up on the internet about Chad. It was kind of difficult to hide when you were rich as hell. Chad was the quintessential poster boy for a trust fund kid. He’d gone to the best schools, blown through his money like it didn’t matter—because to him it didn’t–and ran back home when funds got low.

His parents seemed decent enough on paper. Still. I had to hate him on principle alone. He’d walked away from Hannah. It worked out for us though, because otherwise she might still be with the bastard, and I’d have missed out on the love of my life.

“I won’t interfere. You’ll never even know I’m there.”

We’ll be fine, Scott.” She cupped my cheek and stood on her tiptoes to peck a quick kiss on my lips. “Be home soon.”

The phrase appeased me enough to stand back and let them walk past without meddling any further. I closed the door behind her. Ryland was out taking Christmas pictures for a magazine article, and Arthur wanted to spend the morning with Megan. It left me with nothing better to do than pace the foyer and consider following Hannah to ensure nothing happened. She trusted Chad and had said he was a good guy. But good guys didn’t abandon their pregnant girlfriends, ignore them for three years, then suddenly have a change of heart.

Okay. Maybe some did. The gnawing in my gut, however, said this was not one of those times.

“It’s not your place.” I drove the words out through clenched teeth and turned on my heel. The study doors stood open, revealing the eighteen-foot Christmas tree we’d bought. Thousands of lights covered the branches, along with what looked like a million ornaments. Pine scented the air and brought up a rush of memories. The clear lights glittered against the glass ornaments, sending rainbows of light around the room.

I tapped a sleigh ornament and rubbed my forehead. Distraction. What could I use as a distraction to keep me from following Hannah? Food? Coffee?

Alcohol was out since I’d overindulged during Hannah’s absence. I needed a reprieve from the brain fog. Coffee would have to do. I spun the sleigh ornament one last time and headed through the study to the kitchen.

Voices reached me as I approached. I entered the kitchen just as Megan slapped her palms on the counter. She sat across from Arthur, the two of them squared off in a staring contest of epic proportions.

“What do you mean?” Megan swept her hands out in wide arcs.

“It’s Christmas, Megan. Can we have one Christmas together where we’re not fighting?”

“I’m not fighting.” Lip curled, Megan dared him to contest that. “I’m asking questions while you’re sitting there like a self-righteous bastard who the world should bow down to.”

A long, slow breath flared Arthur’s nostrils. “What is this really about, Megan? You’ve already berated me for not meeting you at the airport, though I had no idea you were coming. We’ve gone around and around about your mother and what she thinks of me. What do you want?”

“I want the truth, dammit!” Megan slapped the counter again. For two people who were so much alike in so many ways, their completely opposite ways of handling conflict almost made Megan’s dramatics comical.

“The truth about what?” Calm and patient, Arthur kept taking the verbal assault like he always did. Poor bastard.

Megan went straight for the jugular. “What are you doing in a relationship with one woman and two other men?”

“I’ve already explained it to you.” Arthur’s calm tolerance threatened to crack when he saw me. He locked his jaw and crossed his arms. Both feet were planted firmly on the floor, the shine on his shoes so perfect he looked ready to walk into the billionaire’s club and take over as president.

“Not good enough.” Megan made a crude noise in the back of her throat. “You said that all three of you sleep with Hannah, but not with each other. So you’re all fucking her at the same time?”

“Sometimes.” Unlike Arthur, I had no problem speaking about our sexual encounters.

“Scott.” Arthur tried to warn me away, but I had nothing better to do and Megan needed to be taken down a notch.

Megan’s venomous look might scare others away but not me. And Arthur had been exposed to it enough that he almost looked immune. “It’s disgusting.” Megan spewed the words with the force of an overheated teapot. “You’re sharing a woman. At the same time. Do you have any idea how deranged that is?” She was clearly looking to stir something up.

Personally, I thought the reason she pushed so hard was to try to make Arthur crack. We all might be better off if he vented a little steam here and there instead of holding it all inside. That was what I’d call deranged. The day he snapped was the day we’d all be in a world of shit. Until then, we did what we could to help.

“You’re looking at life from the wrong perspective. You see love as a linear thing between one man and one woman.” Arthur’s foot tapped once, his only sign of annoyance. “Love is not always clear-cut, Megan. It manifests in different ways.”

“Yeah, I’ll bet.” Megan sat back and crossed her arms.

Arthur and I both recognized the posture. He forged ahead regardless of the animosity. “Our relationship is one of mutual love and respect. We respect each other, and we all love Hannah.”

It was the first time I’d heard him say it out loud. We’d all fallen for Hannah yet not one of us had told her. Love wasn’t meant to be hidden or squandered.

“We all love and care for Hannah equally,” Arthur continued, matching Megan’s crossed arm posture. His toe tapped again. “It works for us.”

Megan exploded upward in a flurry of movement. “Yeah, probably because you need two other men to make up for your lack of emotion.”

Back up the fuck wagon. I marched over to stand beside Arthur and placed a hand on his shoulder. “Watch your mouth.”

Megan snarled at me, her gaze shooting from my face to my hand on her dad’s shoulder. “Is that how things are? You say you’re not sleeping with them, but you need Scott to come to your rescue. You’re nothing but a bitch.”

I’d never been violent, especially toward women, but the way Arthur flinched at Megan’s attack almost did me in. “Your dad is stronger than I am. I’m not holding him for comfort. I’m using him as a shield so I don’t bitch slap that look off your face. You’re out of line, and you know it.”

“Yeah?” Megan tipped her chin up in a daring gesture. “Prove it.” She locked eyes with Arthur. “Prove you’re capable of loving someone enough to do it all by yourself. Without bodyguards or friends to pick up the slack when you’re incompetent.”

“That’s enough.” Arthur stood straight up, shrugging off my hand. “Scott has a point, Megan. You call me all these horrible things, but you never stick around to see what I am really like. You remember nothing from your childhood when I was involved. You have created all these false ideas about who I am. I love you. I have no idea how much more plain I can be. You are my daughter. Nothing will ever change that.”

“I don’t believe you.” Megan stormed from the room, shooting me a death glare on the way out. “You never tried to be my father. You let Mom do everything.”

It was a lie, all of it. “You call him emotionless but you’re the one ripping out his heart to see it bleed.” I blocked her escape. I’d stopped giving a fuck a long time ago. It was time someone told Megan the truth. “You’re poisoned against him out of your own hatred. It’s one thing to sit there and let you tear him apart. It’s another to stand your ground and have an actual fucking conversation. Why don’t you try it? Are you afraid you’ll learn the truth and have to face the fact that you’ve been abusing your relationship with him to guilt him into giving you more money?”

“Get out of my way.” Arms firm over her chest, Megan tried to get past me.

I laughed in her face. “I’m sick and tired of you treating him this way. Get over yourself and treat him right or get out of this house.” I wanted to regret my harshness but I didn’t. Arthur deserved better. His relationship with Megan was salvageable… if the damned bitch could get her head out of her mother’s ass and start thinking for herself.

Ryland entered the kitchen from the opposite side. He caught my eye and nodded his head toward Arthur. I lowered my arms. What was he doing home so early? He’d obviously overheard the conversation and came to help.

I moved aside and gave Megan room to pass. “Merry Christmas. Try to remember what the season is about.”

She stomped off in a huff, but once she rounded the corner and disappeared from view, I put all thoughts of her aside and concentrated on Arthur.

Ryland and I sat across from him where he remained motionless. I’d seen this before, and it was harder than ever to sit and do nothing.

“You can’t keep doing this.”

A muscle popped in his jaw. “Doing what?”

“This. The whole dour British unfeeling bullshit.” I caught Ryland’s smirk. “Yeah, I said dour. Sue me.”

“I’d love to, but I’m afraid we bypassed defamation a long time ago. Besides, our lawyers are golf buddies so I’m fairly sure they’d talk me out of it.” He shrugged out of his camera strap and set it aside.

We’d been friends long enough that neither of us took the conversation seriously. Except for the part about Arthur. It was easy to try and distract him from Megan’s drama. His need for friendship trumped anything else.

“So.” I drummed my fingertips on the counter, spotted the tin of Christmas cookies we’d baked with Hannah, and slid them toward Arthur. “Who wants cookies?”