Page 99 of Camera Shy

“Senior’s bullshit about the inheritance.”

Gramps’s rules make sense to me. Twenty percent of my inheritance is in the ballpark of eight million dollars. If I don’t have a family to support, I’ll only get half. Gramps also has the stipulation of vetting our significant others first. It’s his way of protecting us from gold diggers. We’d have to pry his money from his cold, lifeless hands before he handed over half of his empire to a shallow, money-hungry woman with no morals. His words, not mine. It’s why I never told Nora what I stood to gain. I wanted to know she loved me, not my worth. At least that part was true. I don’t think Nora loved me for my wallet. In fact, I don’t know if she really knew how to love me at all.

“I don’t see the point in complaining about gifted money.”

“It’s your birthright, Son.”

I roll my eyes at his melodramatic statement. “You know what? I’m not worried about it. And I’m not with Avery to prove a point to Senior. I’m with Avery. Period.” Okay, a little preemptive, but I know where this night is headed. The penthouse suite I booked is covered with rose petals. The room has a jetted tub where we can play naked footsie under the bubbles all night. The champagne is already in an ice bath on the balcony table that overlooks the Bellagio fountains. There’s no better way to say I’m whipped for Avery than the most cheesy, over-the-top declaration of my feelings.

“I’ll make up the difference,” Dad breathes out.

“What?”

“Don’t let Senior dictate your life. Getting married was the worst decision I ever made. The only good thing that came out of that relationship was you. But you don’t have to settle for a woman like Avery just for the extra money. What Senior won’t give you, I will. Have fun. Enjoy your life. Travel. Visit Ibiza, Brazil, and Croatia. Take pictures abroad and fuck all the beautiful women there.” He pinches his fingers together and kisses them. “Nagging and bitching from a frumpy, killjoy of a woman is not what I want for you and your life. Especially when she leaves you and tries to take you for all you’re worth.”

I had one too many drinks. That must be why I can feel my temples pounding. “Frumpy killjoy, huh? Ladies and gentlemen, there you have it, my father’s words to describe the woman who gave me life.” Fuck you, Junior. Fuck whatever got twisted up inside your brain as a baby and turned your heart wretched and your dick insatiable.

Dad smiles at me like this conversation is chummy. “Oh, Champ. Still such a mama’s boy.”

I raise my brows warningly. “Should I be ashamed of that?” I love my mother. I’m protective of her. Where’s the crime in that? “I thought you two were finally at peace. I just saw Mom last week. She said you guys are done in court. You’re giving her alimony and back pay, right?”

Dad’s eyes turn down and his lip curls, like a perturbed villain. “Senior,” he mumbles. “I didn’t give that bitch a dime. Senior paid her out.”

Something snaps in me. Maybe it’s my patience finally breaking in half. “What did you just say?”

“She went to Senior with some sob story about how she barely broke even after selling the Vegas house. She needed a cosigner for her place in Scottsdale, so she aired out all our dirty laundry like the rat she is and he just caved for the little bitch. Fuck did I get an earful from him. The man is in his seventies and still yells like—”

“Take it back,” I seethe. “Do not call her that, especially not to my face.”

Mom told me none of this. All she said was that she was finally at peace. It dawns on me that Mom was doing what she did my entire life—she protected me from seeing Dad’s true colors so I could enjoy the good parts, and be blind to the worst of him. She didn’t want me to know…

What a fucking monster I came from.

“Champ, relax. It’s just the fallout of a lover’s—”

“Stop,” I bark. “You did a lot of things to my mother. Loving her is not one of them. I’m so sick of this. You know something, Dad? I wake up every day and I don’t try to be a good person. That’s not the standard I live by. Every day I wake up and I just try to be less like you. That’s how I know my life is moving in the right direction. I can’t…do this anymore. I can’t excuse all the disgusting parts of you anymore. I’m done.” I release the breath I’ve been holding for ten years. “I’m fucking done.”

Dad’s startled by my outburst. Never once in the past decade have I been honest with him about how I feel. Maybe I should’ve said all this sooner, because he finally looks ashamed of himself.

“Champ, I don’t—”

“I don’t want to see you anymore. I want you off my mortgage. I’m selling the truck. I don’t want a damn thing tying you to me anymore. Not until you grow the fuck up, Dad.” I slam back into the back of the booth in frustration. The entire seat shifts an inch and I rise to peek over the back of the booth and apologize to the diner behind me.

My heart drops when I see the top of Avery’s head. Goddamn it. How long has she been sitting there? She must’ve heard everything. I scramble out of the booth and around to her side. She does her best to turn her head, but it’s too late. I see her wet eyes.

And it’s the straw that falls on the already broken camel’s back. It should’ve been enough that Dad took the best parts of my mother and made her into a depressed, anxiety-ridden shell of herself. But now he just made Avery cry, and that’s a line no one gets to cross.

Never again. Not while she’s with me.

I hook my finger under her chin and turn her gaze toward me. She rolls her eyes and shrugs her shoulders in defeat as I survey her glistening cheeks.

“I’m caught,” she mutters under her breath. I wipe away her tears with my thumbs.

“Ready to go?” I ask softly.

She nods. “Yes.”

“I’m sorry, Queen. I hate seeing you cry.” I kiss the top of her forehead. I take her hand in mine. “Let me make it up to you.”

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