Page 20 of Wild King
Eleanor shakes her head and frowns. “Up in the game room.”
“Thanks. See you in a few!” I say as I make my way toward the stairs that will lead me to my doom.
I wonder why my brothers chose to do this in the game room. Four of us can fit in the office. Then I remember it’s not just the four of us but Ava too, I bet. Why she has to be involved in this is beyond me.
With every step, I grow angrier as I think about this whole mess. I told Gina I wasn’t interested in anything serious. I never lied to her. I was straight up with her the whole time, so why the fuck am I having to deal with this now?
By the time I reach the second floor, I’m pissed and not in the mood for the lecture that awaits me. I’m a grown man, for fuck’s sake. I shouldn’t have to listen to my brothers bitch at me.
Since I don’t have a choice if I want to keep eating, I might as well get this over with.
My brothers are shooting pool and laughing about something when I walk in, but as soon as they see me, the whole mood of the room instantly grows darker. None of them say hello or that they’re happy to see me. All they do is scowl at me.
Good to know I have that kind of effect on my loved ones.
“Well, I’m here, so let’s get this over with. Eleanor has my favorite cookies waiting for me, and I’d rather stuff my face withthem than listen to you three complain about how I’m living my life.”
Not exactly my best introduction to a bad situation, but I’m really not looking forward to this little intervention the King boys have planned.
Marius sets down his pool cue on the table and follows Matthias and Ronan across the room. Each of them sits down, leaving me only the chair in the middle of them. Fucking super. This is giving me flashbacks to when teachers in high school would have us move our chairs into a circle and each student would have to sit in the middle when it was their turn to answer questions in the teacher’s sadistic little quiz game. Since I was rarely prepared for class unless it was math, invariably my time in the middle of the circle was a disaster, to say the least.
“Nice. Have you guys been taking your cues from our high school teachers?”
No one laughs or even smiles. Oh, this is going to be fun.
I glance around at all of them and see nothing but misery. Are they seriously expecting me to think they look this unhappy because of me? I suspect they’re not delighted with their own lives and want to blame anyone but themselves.
“Kellen, we need to have a serious discussion about what you’ve been up to,” Matthias says in his most serious voice.
“Living my life? Having a good time? I didn’t realize that had become illegal.”
“Stop fucking around! We’re in the middle of a PR disaster because of you, and you keep acting pissy about taking responsibility,” he snaps.
“I thought you were supposed to be the responsible one. Isn’t that why Dad put you in charge of King Industries and not the son who actually has always given a fuck about the company and business? Not that you’re always responsible, but we don’t talk about that.”
Confusion fills his expression, and he looks over at my other two brothers before focusing on me again. “I have no idea what the hell you mean by that, but we need to talk seriously about this mess. That interview only made things worse.”
In typical Ronan fashion, he bursts out laughing. “Worse? Gentlemen, let me introduce you to the man who takes the prize for understatement. Kellen, I’ve never seen anyone get torn to shreds verbally like you did with that interviewer. I actually forgot how she looks like a hawk and could only focus on how uncomfortable you looked. If you weren’t someone I actually like, it would have been the funniest thing ever!”
The two older Kings don’t laugh, though. Matthias simply shakes his head, and Marius sighs as if all of this is ruining some good time he could be having. I feel that. I’d rather be anywhere but here too.
“So I think we can all agree that interview was awful and only hurt Kellen’s case,” Matthias says in that somber way that makes everything sound so much worse than it actually is.
“It was a hit job, so I don’t know how well it could have gone,” I say in my defense.
My three brothers turn and look in my direction, clearly not agreeing with me. Whatever. They weren’t there. That bird lady had it out for me. There wasn’t a hint of journalistic integrity in the way she conducted that interview.
“Well, now we have to talk about how we can fix this,” Matthias says as he folds his arms across his chest.
Nice body language there, pal. I can see you’re open to hearing my side of things.
I’m stunned when Ronan pipes up with an attack. “I think the first thing we need to talk about is you’re out of control, Kellen. I’m not sure what year you think it is, but sleeping with co-workers is a definite no-no nowadays.”
The way he says that makes me smile, but before I can even attempt a tiny joke that may lighten the mood, Marius jumps in and says, “Dude, I can see from a mile away where you’re planning to go with the next words out of your mouth, and let me warn you not to. I got called to this little get-together and can’t be on the beach in Saint-Tropez like I’m supposed to be as of this morning. Do not cock off with some fucking bullshit joke about how nobody slept. I agree with Ronan. You’re out of control. You’re acting like a teenage boy who doesn’t understand the rules of the game, and we’re all suffering because of it.”
“How the hell are you suffering, Mr. Saint-Tropez? I don’t see anyone giving you a hard time about who you fuck. As if it’s anyone’s damn business anyway. I’ll tell you like I told Matthias, and Ronan, you listen up because I don’t want to have to repeat myself to a third person in this family. Gina and I had fun. She knew I didn’t want anything serious. Whatever she’s doing now is because I don’t want forever. I never harassed anyone. I asked a woman out on a date. She agreed. There were no threats of retaliation if she didn’t want to go. In fact, from the signals I was getting, I could have forgotten about the dinner since she was climbing all over me from the moment I picked her up at her apartment. Nobody was coerced. Nobody had to worry about losing their job if they didn’t want to hang out. I made it perfectly clear to her that I just wanted to have fun and this was a no strings attached deal. So what was my fucking crime that gets me stuck here listening to you three tear me apart?”
I expect Matthias and Marius to give me a hassle, but Ronan not backing me up hits me hard. “Kellen, you knew when Matthias gave you the job heading your division that you couldn’t screw around. What the hell were you thinking of hooking up with someone at work?”