Page 177 of Heartless Legacy

“They are.” He agrees. “Which is why your mother and I haven’t rushed to get you permanently paired off.”

I tell him, “You don’t need to keep playing matchmaker. I’m perfectly fine with picking my own wife.”

“It’s about the wife picking you, and to be honest, all the daughters seem reluctant about the idea of permanently matching with you.”

“All of them?”

“Yes, the only person other than Hayden, who doesn’t seem to be scared of you, is Joshua Laurent’s granddaughter.”

I glance up at the ceiling, thinking of what I did to Thea in my bed. None of the daughters would come anywhere near me after that. They might’ve even called the cops, but Thea just walked up to me and told me not to do it again. I haven’t. But I will.

“Are you listening to me, Holden?”

“No, I wasn’t.”

“I was saying if you don’t want your mother and I selecting your future wife, then you need to try getting to know someone.Put the young ladies at ease and the next logical step would be for you to choose someone for yourself.”

“I’ve already done that.”

“You have?” He sounds excited as he leans forward, resting his chin on his folded hands. “Who is it?”

“Who’s what?” My mother asks, entering the room with my sister behind her.

“Apparently, our son has finally chosen a woman to dedicate his attention to. He was just about to tell me her name.”

My parents look at me expectantly, while Hayden laughs. My mother chastises her, “This isn’t funny. This is a very important, very serious decision.”

Hayden snorts. “But itis funny, because you two are sitting here pretending like he’s just come to some monumental life changing decision, when Holden probably made up his mind about this girl a long time ago.”

My sister isn’t wrong. She’s also a bratty little know it all, so I say, “You think so?”

“I know so. After the community service project, it should be obvious to everyone that you and Finn are both hooking up with Thea.”

My mother gawks at. “Where did you hear that?”

“Alyssa told me she overheard Finn mooning over Thea on the phone, and I’ve got eyes. I saw Holden and Thea sucking face at the community service project.”

Now my mother gawks at me. Then tells Hayden. “Sweetheart. One episode of PDA doesn’t mean he has an interest in this young lady.”

“It wasn’t just once, mom. Hayden’s right. Thea’s my girlfriend and we’ve been together since last year.”

“Last year? When she was Pax’s companion?”

“We got together before that. I would have said something, but the council appointed her as his companion before we wereready to go public.” Looking at my father, I say, “And Hayden’s also right about Finn. They’re dating too.”

Hayden says, “I can’t wait to call Alyssa.” She hurries out of the room. My mother follows her, calling over her shoulder to my father. “You handle your son, and I’ll handle your daughter.”

“Don’t you mean ours?”

“Nope.” She cackles. “When they’re like this, they belong to you.”

My father is smiling at my mother’s retreating frame. It melts off his face when he returns his attention to me. Then he reaches down and pulls a bottle and two glasses out of his bottom drawer, and says, “Seems like I’ve missed a few things.”

Finn

Holden and I got a strong talking to a few nights ago. His mom called my mom about what Hayden said, and then our fathers got to talking. That lead to a sit down with the heads of our family lines.

Thankfully, no one thought to include the Cox’s in our discussion. We did not need Malcolm showing up with his lying ass, spewing hate and negativity. There were two generations of Sullivan and Rhodes men staring down at us, telling us we can’t just let our emotions dictate our actions and thumb our noses at league rules and traditions. They wanted to know why we assumed we could pick a companion who’s ineligible for selection.

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