In truth, I hate myself for killing my mother too, but there wasn’t much to be done about it at the time. I had to be born, and fate decided to take the woman who carried me in her womb for nine months, only three seconds after I came kicking and screaming into the world. It was entirely unintentional on my part.
My father swoops down on another of the wait staff, Gavin this time, and snatches up a fresh glass of champagne without uttering a word of thanks. “And what about the girl? Laura Preston is a brash young woman who doesn’t know when to hold her tongue. She’s only made partner at her father’s firm because it’s exactly that—her father’s firm. She wouldn’t have accomplished anything if she’d had to fend for herself, James. There’s no denying that. And just…just look at what she’s wearing, for crying out loud. She looks like a fucking prostitute.” He points off across the other side of the room to where Laura, Cade’s sister, is laughing with a young guy I don’t know, her head tipped back as she lets out a throaty bark of amusement. Her blonde, cropped hair has been pinned up out of her face—a minor miracle, considering it’s normal, wild state—and there’s the faintest hint of blush reddening her cheeks. She always said she’d never wear make up when we were growing up, and for a long time she didn’t. She doesn’t need it, and she’s sure as hell never been a girly girl, but tonight she looks great with that tiny splash of color brightening her face.
The dress she’s wearing is decked out in gold sequins, which reflect the light from the illuminated chandeliers overheard, sending fragments of golden, fiery light dancing and skittering on the walls and on the ceiling. It’s not something a respectable Alabama woman would wear in polite company, and that is precisely why she’s worn it. I want to high-five her so badly, but that sort of behavior would be frowned upon.
“As soon as the speeches are over, I want the three of you out of here. You understand me? I don’t care where you go. Just make sure you’re not on the property. God knows what’ll happen if the three of you start drinking.”
I bare my teeth at my father, arranging my face into a rictus of false civility. “Gladly.” Little does my father know, I’ve already started drinking and I have zero intention of fucking stopping. That would be a really dumb idea at this point in the proceedings. After all, the speeches won’t be for another hour. I have to survive this ridiculous circus until then, and I doubt my father would prefer I inhaled a shit load of coke up my nose instead.
I give him a mock salute as he turns and saunters off into the crowd, grinning like we were just having a pleasant father-son catch up and he doesn’t have a care in the world. On the far side of the room, the string quartet I saw setting up earlier begins to play, sending the glossy, warm notes of Boccherini’s Minuet floating up toward the high ceiling. Such a fucking farce.
Suddenly the tie around my neck feels like it’s choking me. Laura looks up from the conversation she’s sharing with the young guy I don’t know and gives me a small wave, beckoning me over. I don’t want to go over there and be introduced to the halfwit son of one of my asshole father’s Harvard buddies. I’d rather poke my eyes out with a shitty stick than do the whole run of the mill, yes, I went to MIT. No, I don’t know so-and-so. Yes, I served in the military. No, I won’t tell you the most fucked up thing I ever saw. No, I won’t tell you how many people I killed, you fucking tourist bit. Still, it would seem I have very little choice in the matter. Laura grins at me as I weave my way toward her.
“Jamie!” She throws her arm around my waist, inserting herself into the space at my side so that I naturally put my arm around her shoulders. She looks up at me with those big, brown eyes of hers and winks. “Jamie, this is Edward Lamont. He’s the son of one of your father’s friends. They…” She frowns, turning back to Edward. “How does your father know the governor again?”
“Oh, they went to college together.”
Well, color me motherfucking surprised.
Edward holds his hand out to me, a wall of white, glow-in-the-dark teeth almost blinding me as he sends a smile my way. “Pleased to meet you, Jamie. I’ve heard a lot about you. Your father is an incredible man.”
“Isn’t he just?” I pump Over Eager Eddie’s hand firmly just the once and turn my full attention on Laura. “Where’s your brother, anyway? I haven’t seen him yet.”