Winter's mood didn't improve as the evening progressed. She seemed to enjoy the company of her friends and family, but whenever I got too close, she grew stiff and quiet. Apparently, someone else caught on to her mood as well.
"The happy couple might try looking a bit…happier, don't you think?" my father asked as he strolled up with a practiced bow for Winter, and what appeared to be an affectionate slap to my shoulder. Both gestures were an act of a narcissistic asshole.
"I have no idea what you're talking about," I replied before turning to Winter and pressing a kiss to her cheek. "Sweetheart, do you have any reason to be unhappy tonight?"
She ignored my father completely and stared at me for a moment before shaking her head slowly back and forth.
Silently simmering.
Okay, so Winter was definitely not happy with me, my father, this whole public farce apparently, but she wouldn't say so. No, she'd been trained at the same charm school we'd all had to suffer through as children. Never let them know how you really feel. Smile, and put on a front that everything's wonderful, even when life is shit.
I needed to get her alone, somewhere quiet where we could talk, and I could reassure her that she didn't have to do anything she didn't want to do.
"If you gentlemen will excuse me, I see a friend I want to say hello to." She turned heel and left us both watching the back of her as she went, the skirt of her black gown swaying gracefully with each step of her sexy pink shoes. I could almost see the anger radiating off her in waves.
Ouch.
"Trouble in paradise so soon?" He raised a brow as if entitled to the information, making my blood boil.
"You need to back the fuck off if you want this to happen. I already told you her family doesn't know about us yet."
"Why don't they know? What are you waiting for? Get this situation nailed down and settled, or I'll settle it for you." Do your job and get her pregnant. It shouldn't be this hard, son." He got a little gleam in his eye and laughed. "But maybe that's the problem for you. Your cock's not hard enough to get the job done. Do you need some help from another cock perhaps?" he scoffed, finding humor in his own fucking joke.
I had to choke out my next words because all I wanted was to get away from him. "Are you even human, because sometimes I wonder."
"Are you even my son, because sometimes I wonder. Be a man and fuck your baby into that Blackstone bitch and be done with it." He narrowed his eyes at me like a snake about to strike. "My God, the senate announcement is in less than two months."
"You know, Dad, if you want to fool the voters into thinking you're a loving family man, you're gonna need to work on your game and have an ounce of patience. Winter is already mine and you'll stay the fuck away from her."
I slapped him hard on the back in a fake show of affection before leaving him standing alone. I did it to let him know he wouldn't have an easy time pushing me around. And most certainly not Winter, either. To anyone who witnessed our exchange, it probably looked typically normal. Just a father and a son having a conversation, happy to be in each other's company.
If they only knew…
But it had felt so good. The surprised look on his face was worth any retribution I'd just earned for myself down the road, because my father had a memory like a steel trap. He forgot nothing. Still wouldn't trade it, even though I knew it would come back to haunt me at some point.
I needed to find Winter and see if I could repair whatever the damage between us was.
Annnnd then Jan Thorndike appeared. Fuck.
I hadn't made it ten steps before she accosted me. She had something seriously wrong in the head and was so far off the rails I didn't think anything less than a straitjacket and a padded room would do her any good at this point. The girl was obsessed with Caleb. She'd called me a few times begging me to be messenger, because he wouldn't take her calls.
Bitch, he's blocked your number, and so have I. I still hadn't forgotten how she'd shown up at my door and offered to blow me five minutes after breaking up with her boyfriend—who just happened to be my best friend. I even called him that night to let him know she'd stopped at my place. She sent Caleb a picture of herself with her lips around some random dude's cock five minutes after that. At the time, Caleb believed the picture was of me, but I set him straight. Janice Thorndike has never had access to my dick, and she certainly didn't get near it that night, so she had to have already taken the picture from her phone before Caleb broke it off with her. She probably had a whole album of porno selfies saved on the thing. God.
I stared at my forearm where she'd sunk her claws in to stop me. I wanted to bust out in a fuckin' sprint to get away from her. She looked crazed. "James, I need to talk to Caleb alone. Go get him and bring him to me. You have to make him listen to—"
"I am not his keeper."
"Well, you're his best friend and he listens to you." Her eyes appeared strangely vacant, as if she was on something.
"So? He's done. Even if you hadn't cheated, he'd be done."
The crocodile tears started flowing in a desperate attempt to gain sympathy. "That was a mistake—a one-time thing," she cried, fisting handfuls of her hair and creating a mess. This girl had always been pure drama.
"For Christ's sake, stop embarrassing yourself with this shit!"
"But I can't help it, James. I'm so in love with him."
"Right." She was fucking certifiable. Not happy with cracking him in the eye with her shoe, she ran to me hoping to make him jealous by fucking me. Who does that? "Because all the sick shit you did to Caleb just screamed love, didn't it?"
"James, please, I didn't mean any of that. I was very upset."
"Well, Caleb sure as fuck meant it when he broke up with you. And I was fucking pissed when I found out you sent him that stupid dick pic." I jerked my arm out of her grip.
"You're not listening to me. James. I want him back and I'll do whatever I have to do—"
"Don't you get it, Janice? My brother is with Brooke now and he's in love with her," Winter said angrily from over my left shoulder. I hadn't even noticed her approach I was so busy trying to detach myself from all the crazy I'd stumbled into headfirst. How the fuck did I get tangled in with this shitshow tonight? All I wanted was to spend a nice evening with Winter. It was time to leave.
Jan's face twisted into an ugly mask of meanness as she directed her rage onto Winter. "Is James finally fucking you? It must be the trust fund he's after, because it's been years since you flashed him your baby tits in the pool."
"They aren't baby tits anymore." Nope. Definitely not. Winter held her composure like a pro, spine straight, her confident posture setting her tantalizing cleavage off to perfection. Her tits were an undisputable, straight-up ten—to anybody who wasn't blind…or insane.
Jan tilted her head to one side and rolled her eyes. "Oh my God, you mean he's never stuck his dick in you before now," she said, throwing her head back and laughing like a psychopath. "Better strap in, little girl, because he likes all the kinky, deviant shit from what I've heard—"
"We're done here," I said, grabbing Winter's hand and pulling her with me. "Jan, take your crazy out on someone else, and leave us all the fuck alone."
I didn't look back or wait for Jan to finish whatever she was going to say about me. I just moved us both away—and left the lunatic bitch standing in a roomful of Boston's high society mumbling some unintelligible bullshit about making everyone sorry.
What I needed was to put as much distance between her and us as quickly as fucking possible. I wouldn't ponder how she knew about me. Although the knowledge of my kink could have come to her from anywhere, it didn't make me any less mental about Winter finding out.