Page 7 of Cruel Heir

“How’ve you been?” I asked.

As we both got in, I greeted Culhane, Nick’s driver. Culhane had been with the family since I was ten. When we became adults, though, he started driving Nick around as my brother chose not to learn how to drive after a drunk driver hit Nick and his friend on the way back from their homecoming. Nick was barely sixteen then. He was severely injured, but his friend didn’t make it.

I remembered how Nick never left his room for months or talked to anyone. Things only got better when he and William left for college. Even though he never spoke about it, his lack of interest in the violent family business was because he lost someone valuable too early.

“I’m good,” Nick replied, pulling me back to the present. “It was you that I’d been worried about. When Will told me that Father and Aiden visited you, I was—”

“God, you have no idea,” I interrupted. “Allison was scared as hell, and I thought someone died.”

He laughed, running a hand through his messy curls. “How’s that friend of yours?” he suddenly asked.

“That’s funny. She was asking me about you, too,” I said, smirking.

Nick turned half of his body towards me. “Was she now? What’d you tell her?”

“I told her that you’re gay,” I answered, feigning innocence.

“Culhane, stop the car. I’m throwing this bitch out.” We all burst out in laughter in seconds, and the fun banter continued for a few minutes.

“I missed you,” I blurted out.

The amusement on my brother’s face changed into a soft smile. “Me, too. So, tell me what’s been happening since Monsieur Douche is constantly around.”

Oh, you’d be surprised, I wanted to say. “I’m not gonna lie; he’s been awfully nice to me. Annoying most of the time, but—”

“El, I just heard something last night,” Nick said, cutting me off. “Keith is back in Bilbao. Did you know that?”

Wait. What now?

“I did not,” I muttered, unable to think of a smart or at least a casual response to that news. “Since when?”

“Since two days ago, I guess. I’m not so sure.”

That means he must have instantly left after what happened that night.Now, I’m sure I fucked up.

Nick shook me. “Are you okay?” he asked, concern and confusion evident in his eyes.

I nodded and smiled slightly. “Yeah, sorry. I just thought of something.”

Nick opened his mouth, but Culhane beat him to it. “We’re here,” the driver announced.

I sighed in relief silently. I did not feel like having this entire conversation in the car, and Nick seemed to get the idea as he led me to a small yet posh restaurant. I knew that the food wasn’t very good, but it was Nick’s favorite place, so I said nothing. That’s how it had always been – Nick always decided where to eat for lunch. In all fairness, I got to choose dinner, but we were rarely together for that.

As soon as we reached our table, though, he did not wait for another second to continue our conversation. “What’s going on between you and Keith Carson? Don’t lie – tell me everything now,” Nick demanded, emphasizing the last word.

“Okay, I’ll tell you, but promise me that you will not get mad,” I replied, almost pleading.

His eyes widened. “Oh, no, El. What have you done?”

I glared at him, and he merely scoffed, raising his hands in defeat.

“It’s a long story but, we…” My voice trailed off, feeling at a loss of words as Nick looked at me with curious eyes. Then, we spoke at the same time.

“We kissed.”

“You fucked.”

I groaned. “We didnot!” I exclaimed indignantly just as the waiter approached us. “Why’d you think that?”

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