Page 13 of Worth Every Penny
Charlie is my only nephew. The teenage pregnancy that nearly gave my mother a coronary. I’m pretty sure the only reason it didn’t is because Gemma is part of the Von Arsworz family—one of the largest diamond suppliers in the world—so it was unlikely Matt had been trapped by a gold-digger. He was just a foolish teenager who didn’t wear a condom.
Small mercies.
“He’s going to kill them,” Seb mutters.
Without another word, I rush towards the imminent collision of husband and wife, hoping I can prevent the ensuing marital battle from erupting on the dance floor. Seb skids along behind me.
“What the hell is going on?” Matt is whisper-yelling when we get there, his anger bubbling beneath the surface. “Why is our son so drunk he looks like he’s about to wet himself?”
Gemma huffs as she props Charlie up. “This is as much your fault as mine, Matthew.”
Matt’s eyes pop wide, but I suspect she may have a point. Not that I’d ever say that to Matt, but he works fucking hard. How can he also be there for his kids?
“How is it my fault?” he growls.
Seb catches my eye, slicing his throat with his fingers like being here is going to killus. Then he jerks his thumb, signaling we should leave them to it.
I shake my head, refusing to desert Matt with this mess. I hook Charlie’s arm around my shoulder, taking his weight from Gemma.
Fuck, this kid smells like booze and sweat. His full weight leans on me until Seb, with a subtle eye-roll, takes his other side.
Without acknowledging me or Seb, Gemma fixes the sleeves of her dress and flicks a sheet of blonde hair over her shoulder before her icy glare fixes on Matt.
“You left without me. I didn’t want to come alone, so I brought him as my plus one.” She wafts one hand lazily in the air. “I may have lost sight of him for a while.”
Matt’s eyes dart to me. The frustration in his gaze is painful to see. If we weren’t standing in the middle of a bar, he’d probably yell. But he doesn’t. Instead, a contained fury rumbles in his voice when he asks, “And his hair. When did that happen?”
Gemma performs a half-hearted shrug, her left hand still wafting in the air.
“Hey, Dad,” Charlie slurs, head lolling. “Did the hair myself. This morning. Got a tongue piercing too. Thought you’d like it.”
With his eyes barely open, Charlie lets his tongue hang out. A silver ball sits right in the fold. He’s so drunk there’s no chance of having a reasonable conversation with him, but the piercing doesn’t look new.
Above the dark scruff that covers his jaw, Matt’s cheeks turn red. He hoists Charlie from between me and Seb and shoulders his weight alone. He forces his son to stand as upright as possible, but Charlie immediately slumps, eyes shut. The kid is well and truly fucked.
“I’m taking him home,” Matt announces, turning towards the exit before Gemma can object. She teeters behind him on her heels.
“But I’ve only had one drink,” she wails.
Seb’s expression mirrors my disbelief.
“Then stay here,” Matt spits out over his shoulder. Gemma pauses as if contemplating doing the right thing, before peeling off towards the bar and leaving Matt to manage a drunken Charlie alone.
When they’re out of earshot, Seb says, “If he doesn’t divorce her soon, I’m gonna do it for him.”
If the situation wasn’t so messed up, I’d laugh. “They’re miserable.”
“Yup.” Seb swipes a champagne from a passing tray and takes a long swig. An attractive woman in her early twenties walks past. She pauses mid-step to run her gaze over Seb, whose eyes bug out like a cartoon.
“I’m going…” he begins.
“Yeah. Fuck off.”
Left alone, I heave a sigh of relief. I love my brothers, but if I have to deal with anymore family dysfunction this evening, I’ll need to swallow a packet of migraine pills before midnight.
I don’t get long to appreciate the breathing space, because Jack Lansen is cleaving a path towards me. He smiles and shakes hands as he goes, kissing women on the cheek like he’s some kind of celebrity, but when he reaches me, his smile disappears.
“Thank God you’re still here,” he says. “I thought Kate might have run you off the premises.”