Page 25 of Wild King
Mumbling my frustration, I walk past my brothers and throw them a dirty look for being such assholes about my life. That they have a say in it at all is wrong on so many levels, but that they seem to take some perverse pleasure in standing with our oldest brother against me is what really hurts.
“You’ve learned nothing from anything that’s happened, have you?” Marius asks behind my back.
I spin around and walk directly over to where he sits. Staring down at him, I say, “Learned what? What the fuck am I supposed to have learned? That my family is full of goddamned hypocrites? Oh, I learned that all right. That my oldest brother is the worst of all of them? Yeah, I got that down pat too.”
Ronan shakes his head. “This isn’t a Matthias problem. It’s a Kellen problem.”
Of course, Marius has to add his two cents too. “And as long as you keep blaming everyone else for your problems, they’ll never go away.”
“You two are so full of bullshit! A Kellen problem? Both of you enjoy having a good time just like me, but I’m the bad guy? Do explain that to me because I’d love to see you square that circle.”
Both of them look up at me like the damn answer to my question is written on my forehead. They have no justifiable reason why I’m in trouble for something they routinely do. I knew it. What frauds!
“See? You can’t explain that because you two are just as into having a good time as I am.”
Again, Ronan shakes his head. “Your good time endangers King Industries. Ours don’t. It’s really that simple. Why can’t you just accept that you fucked up?”
It’s like talking to a brick wall with everyone in my family anymore. Matthias never listened. He’s always been so damn sure of himself that he can’t imagine being wrong. That Marius and Ronan turned on me still stings, but I see they’re happy thinking what they do is fine while I’m a fucking criminal.
“I don’t give a damn about the company. Screw Matthias! Let him fire me. I don’t care.”
Storming away to the other side of the game room, I start pacing again. What would my father say if he saw what a mess his company is now with Matthias at the helm? He’s probably rolling in his grave at this very moment.
“Yes, you do. You wouldn’t have gotten an MBA if you didn’t care about the family business,” Marius says, as if he knows a damn thing about why I’ve done anything.
It’s like my entire family has abandoned me.
“I’m not spending the next three months with a fucking babysitter. That’s for sure.”
Marius and Ronan stand up and begin setting up the table for a game of pool. How nice that they’re so worried about my mistakes and the company’s reputation that they can enjoy themselves.
“Now that you brought it up, what exactly happened with Salem?” Marius asks while Ronan racks the balls.
What happened with my mystery woman is the most enjoyable part of this whole unfortunate business. Since it’s all going to come out at some point anyway, I figure it won’t hurt anything to tell my two brothers.
As Marius breaks, I explain, “I met her at that resort in Turks and Caicos. That one with the butlers in the villas. I swear theone I had this time was so good I wanted to steal him away from the hotel.”
Ronan takes his shot and misses the ball completely. “I like that place,” he says with a smile, and for a second, he’s the old Ronan who used to be one of my best friends in the world.
“Yeah, it’s good. Get to the point about the girl, though,” Marius says before taking his shot and sinking the four and six balls in the right corner pocket.
“She was in the restaurant. I liked how she looked, so I walked up and starting talking to her.”
My brothers turn to look at one another and then back at me. “Let me guess. She told you to go fuck yourself,” Ronan says with a chuckle.
I could lie and make myself look better, but I got her in the end anyway, so what’s the point? “Not in those exact words, but pretty much. I used my innate charm, though, and she ended up back at my villa but she wanted it to be anonymous. I didn’t really need to know her name anyway since we were just having some vacation fun, so I never knew who she was until she walked in here today.”
“And promptly showed everyone how little she thinks of you,” Ronan says as he takes his shot and bounces the twelve ball off the side of the pool table. It wanders around on the green felt before stopping nowhere near any of the other balls.
Marius teases him about that being a nice shot and then sinks the two ball in with no problem. “So you were having a good time and then you left her without even saying goodbye? Dude, what is wrong with you?”
“It was fucking Matthias. He called me and threatened my life if I didn’t come back because of this whole Gina thing.”
Both of my brothers shake their heads and stop playing. “What?” I ask, not understanding why they’re staring at me.
“What you did is on you, not Matthias. He did what he did, but nobody told you to ghost that woman. You could have said goodbye, at least. Who the fuck leaves a beautiful woman alone in a villa he paid for without even saying goodbye?” Ronan asks.
“This guy,” Marius answers, rolling his eyes as he lines up to take his next shot.