Page 56 of The Princess

Nash stretched. “I’m waiting on the delivery for Taylor’s surprise. I have edits to get done, and once that’s taken care of, I might go look at that unit upstairs. The building super said he’d be around all day today. I might call Taylor to ask what he wants for dinner tonight.”

Damon walked to Nash’s side of the bed and stole a kiss. “I need to shower.”

Nash stretched out like a starfish and closed his eyes. “I’m going to grab ten more minutes, but I’ll have a coffee with you before you go.”

“It’s a date.”

CHAPTER 25

TAYLOR

It was like he was outside of his body, watching himself act like an asshole, but he could do nothing to stop it. And the worst part was that lashing out at Damon wasn’t the worst part. It was that part of him felt justified. Of course, he knew that he’d been an idiot and that he owed Damon an apology.

Later. Taylor wasn’t in the mood yet to make nice with anyone. He took his frustration out on the scrambled eggs and did his best not to butcher the over easy ones. The diner was unseasonably busy that morning, which was good because it meant that his dad hustled plates back and forth and didn’t say much to him outside of work communication. It didn’t stop the looks of concern, though, but Taylor kept his eyes on his work and didn’t let himself think of that.

He appreciated the busy morning. It gave him some time to continue going over his thoughts. This wasn’t the first time Colby had overstepped in the name of being the hero to someone, and it probably wouldn’t be the last. But it was the first time that Taylor had been genuinely hurt by him, and he wasn’t sure what to do with those feelings. Colby had always been his protector, and even when Taylor bristled at it, he’d never been on the other end of it before.

It was more hurt than anger that clawed at his insides until he was raw and aching. Taylor was a wounded animal, biting at everyone who came near. If Colby had a hero complex, it was probably partly Taylor’s fault. All his life he’d looked up to his brothers. Jonah, for how smart he was. Colby, for his fierceness. It just sucked to have that very thing turned on him.

“That’s the end of the breakfast rush,” Taylor heard his dad say. “Why don’t you take a break?”

“I’m fine.” Taylor started stacking cups and plates in the trays to go through the dishwasher. And if he slammed a few in there, who cared. As long as nothing broke.

A hand touched his shoulder and Taylor paused, glancing over at his dad’s kind but stern expression. “Taylor, stop. Take five.”

“I’m fine.”

A lie. Of course he wasn’t fine. But he didn’t want to admit that he was still childishly angry. It felt silly to be this pissed off about what had happened, but he couldn’t let go. Part of him thought maybe he should have gone back over with Nash and Damon and had it out with Colby, but he’d still been too furious to speak and he hadn’t wanted to say anything he couldn’t take back.

“Put the plates down, Taylor.”

Feeling defeated, he obeyed. “Fine. Five minutes.” The comforting hand didn’t leave Taylor’s shoulder.

“Did you want to talk about it?” his dad asked.

Taylor pulled away and, despite not wanting to sit, plopped his ass down on a tall bar stool they kept in the back. Taylor used to sit on it and bug whoever was cooking at the time. The stool was originally put there by his dad to give Taylor a place to be where he wasn’t in the way.

“You never could keep me out of here.” Taylor let the memories make him smile as he leaned against the wall.

“You learned many colorful expressions from some of the staff.”

This made Taylor smile wider. “I know it wasn’t quite the lesson in vocabulary you had in mind.” Taylor watched his dad lean against the counter. He had that look on his face that he got when he was about to say a bunch of stuff that he expected you to listen to.

“I should get this place cleaned before the next rush.” Taylor started to move, but his dad shook his head.

“Stay right there. Take a breath. You’re wound tighter than a spring.”

“I’m fine,” Taylor repeated through grit teeth. To his astonishment, his dad rolled his eyes. Taylor had never seen him employ such an expression before and it took him aback. “Did you roll your eyes at me?”

“You might fool other people with your bullshit, but not me. You’re not fine.”

“Well, I’m trying to be, but people keep asking me if I’m fine. And then it reminds me that I have something to be pissed off about and I get mad all over again.” This was the only drawback of working with his dad—the fact that there was no escape. His family was everywhere, all the time, and it hadn’t bothered Taylor a lot before, but now it was like a rope around his chest getting tighter and tighter.

Maddeningly enough, his dad just nodded. Like he agreed that Taylor had a reason to be pissed off. This did nothing to soften the ball of hurt that rattled around inside of him, smashing his insides to tiny, jagged pieces.

“I noticed the basement door is locked from the kitchen side. Is that the same reason you’ve been leaving food behind the diner every day?”

“You knew? Were you spying on me?” Taylor started to stand, but his dad’s expression hardened and he pointed at the chair. Taylor obeyed, because he couldn’t stand to have people mad at him. It was possible that he’d stumbled on the reason he’d been so upset about this whole thing, but then he’d also hated that he didn’t have any privacy. It seemed like every time he turned around, his family was in his business. Colby, more than anyone. It was the reason he should’ve known better than to accuse him of screwing with people. Colby had been his biggest ally until now and when he’d carelessly thrown all those accusations at him, Taylor felt like he’d lost something.

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