Page 5 of Cruel King
Ronan smiles. “They wouldn’t miss it. Her father said he’s looking forward to meeting you finally.”
My father nods solemnly, like he’s judging the weight of my brother’s statement. “It’s about time. You and Kate have been dating since the spring. By rights, we all should have met by now. It’s okay, though. The King holiday party will be the perfect setting for all of us to get to know one another.”
He sails out of the room on that note, likely eager to round up his three sons interested in traveling into the city today so he can leave when he planned. Ronan returns to being fixated on his phone, and all I can do is shake my head at him.
“How exactly does she get shopping done when she’s constantly texting you?” I ask, not really expecting an answer.
My brother doesn’t say anything in response to that, so I turn my attention to the football game I’ll finally be able to watch now that the other three Kings are gone. I don’t always wish I was an only child, but on days like today, it would be nice.
Then again, if I was the only offspring for my father to focus on, there’s no way I would have been able to beg off today’s trip to the office to start learning the ins and outs of his business. Maybe it’s a good idea I’m one of five instead of the only one.
“She’s standing in lines most of the time,” Ronan says, belatedly answering my question I posed a few minutes ago.
I shrug, accepting that could be true. She still texts him way too much. Who has that much to say to anyone?
“Can you believe he wants me to go into the family business already? I’m barely twenty-three, for God’s sake. I just graduated from college in the spring.”
My brother stands from the couch and walks over toward me on his way out of the room. “I’m thinking you should consider yourself lucky he let you go this long. None of us like it, but it’s pretty much all our futures.”
“I doubt it. You guys get to be whatever you want in life. All I get to be is the heir apparent,” I grumble, thinking that maybe being Ronan is the best thing any of us could wish for.
He nods like he understands, but he doesn’t. I’d kill to be the youngest. It’s definitely got to be better than being the oldest son.
“Well, Kate finally checked out and has a new sweater she likes and she thinks won’t hurt her grandmother’s feelings, so I’m off. You hanging out here all day, or are you going out too?”
I look at him, and all I can think is he’s lost. What seventeen-year-old knows anything about his girlfriend’s sweater choice or if it’s going to upset her grandmother?
“I don’t know yet. I was thinking of going up to a friend’s cabin, but that didn’t pan out.”
Ronan nods and flashes me a smile before he heads toward the hallway. “Well, have a good time whatever you do. See you later!”
Alone, I watch the game for a few minutes, but I notice when I look out the window some snowflakes are beginning to fall. Maybe I will spend the day in bed.
CHAPTERTHREE
Ava
A half hourof trying to master my brother’s skiing game leaves me feeling nothing short of frustrated. I don’t usually play video games, so maybe that’s why I was so terrible at it, but now that I’ve tried it, I think I can safely say I’m much better at skiing in real life than I am on the PlayStation.
Tossing the controller onto the couch, I search for something to watch on TV. Everything is holiday movies. I’ve seen so many of them in the past month that I think I hate them all.
It’s not like there’s a huge variety of storylines. The classics focus on people finding their way to being good in the nick of time right before Christmas, and the newer ones are sappy things invariably about a woman happily living her life in the big city but having to return to her small-town roots for some tragic or not-so-tragic reason to help her family do something like run the Christmas tree farm or the bakery. Of course, she ends up falling for some small-town local yokel who wears too much flannel and isn’t anywhere as successful as she is back in the big city. The tree farm or bakery ends up being a huge hit that makes them lots of money, and everyone lives happily ever after in Small Town, USA.
I stare mindlessly at the TV as I think about giving up everything for some guy in bad flannel. Nope. I wouldn’t even give up my life and a career for someone who had millions and never owned a stitch of anything flannel.
My phone vibrates across the top of the coffee table, and I see it’s my friend Eden. She hates her name, so it comes up on my contact list as E since she insisted I not use her actual name.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Nothing. I’m bored to tears here at my grandmother’s for the annual Christmas holiday visit. I swear my mother hates me. First she tags me with a terrible name, and then she ships me off to her mother’s every December. What’s next? Signing me up for military school?”
I try to stifle my chuckle, but I’m unsuccessful. “I think it’s a little late for that, isn’t it? We already graduated.”
“Then it will be something worse, I’m sure.”
“Your name isn’t terrible either. I think it’s beautiful.”
Eden huffs her disgust at that comment. “Says the girl who actually has a beautiful name. If I have to hear one more guy say they want to explore my Garden of Eden, I’m going to lose it.”