Page 23 of Salacious Park Avenue Prince

Travis scoffed and pointed at his food with his fork. “Hate to break it to you, but chickenispoultry.”

“Honey, that’s not chicken. That’s plant-based chicken, not the real thing.”

Travis’s fork dropped to the plate with a clatter while Vera beamed proudly.

“See? You couldn’t even tell.”

The mouthful I’d been chewing suddenly became much harder to eat, and I had to force myself to swallow down the fake chicken. Even I had my limits.

“Like I was saying,” she continued. “It’s wasteful to hold on to things, and we’re spending so much that could go to causes we care about. Like donating to a wildlife fund in your name, Caleb.”

Uh…thanks?

“Paying for three places in the city is completely unnecessary, and not what we had planned when you two went off to college, so we feel it’s time we downsized.”

My brows popped high. Where the hell was she going with this?

“So…” She looked at Dad, who cleared his throat to take over, and when he looked directly at me, I felt a wave of uneasiness roll through my stomach. I wasn’t sure if it was the hint of apology in his eyes or the fake chicken. Probably both.

“We’re selling your loft.”

I think I blacked out for a second, because it sounded like he just said he was selling my place, but that was impossible.

“You’ll be moving in with Travis.”

The entire room went dead silent except for the mournful song on the record player that fit the mood too well to be a coincidence.

Dad was joking. He had to be. He would never do something like this, not when he knew how much I loved having my own space, my own loft. My place away from the drama at Astor. Hell, he hadn’t heard a nice word uttered between me and Travis foryears, so there was no way he’d force us together. It was insane. Laughable. It had to be a joke.

I forced my shoulders to relax as I reached for my beer. “Nice one, Dad. You got me.”

I didn’t have to look up to feel the tension radiating off Travis ease a little, at least until Dad shook his head.

“I’m sorry, Caleb,” he said. “But we’re serious. Vera and I aren’t willing to pay for you both to have your own places any longer.”

The ringing in my ears grew louder as I struggled to understand the words coming out of his mouth, but it didn’t make sense.

“But…” I sputtered. “Why doIhave to move? I didn’t do anything wrong. You just said it yourself—Travis can’t take anything seriously.”

“Okay, Mr. Sanctimonious,” Travis said. “I can take shit seriously. Not this, becausethisis the biggest crock of bullshit I’ve ever heard. But for the record, there’s no way I’d leave the Towers to move into some dingyloftin Soho.”

I gestured at Travis. “See? We can’t even have a civil conversation.”

“Then you’re going to have to work on it.” Dad’s mouth was drawn into a firm, no-nonsense line that had my stomach sinking. Why did it feel like he’d already made up his mind on this and there’d be no changing it?

“If this is about money, just give me my trust early and I’ll pay for it myself,” I said.

“No.”

“Then I’ll get a job.”

“You won’t find one that’ll cover your expenses,” Dad said, swirling what remained of his wine. “And thewhyis because the Towers are closest to Astor. You won’t have to worry aboutunreliable transportation, since you’ll have Scotty for whatever you need.”

“Wait a minute, aren’t you guys forgetting something?” Travis said. “I alreadyhavea roommate. Preston. Remember him?”

I nodded eagerly. “That’s right. You can’t force him to move out.”

“Oh, we didn’t have to force anything.” Vera smiled sweetly, as though talking to two people on the brink of a psychotic break. She wasn’t far off. “In fact, it was talking to Archer that helped solidify this idea of ours. He just asked Preston to move in with him.”

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