Page 58 of A Valiant Prince

Jack groans and shoots Pete, Hendrick, and Cain a look. Pete and Cain shrug, while Hendrick just shakes his head.

“Great, ’cause we passed a pub on the way here,” Auggie says as he turns and starts back down the hill.

“Augs, we passed about fifty pubs on the way here,” Chris mutters as he wraps his arm around Mia and starts down the stairs. Watching Chris with Mia, makes me wonder what Paolo and Shannon are doing without their bosses around.

“What does Shannon do when you are away?” I ask Anna, my curiosity getting the better of me.

“Well, it doesn’t happen often. I mean, normally, she comes with me. I suppose she’s taking a vacation,” Anna contemplates.

“Doesn’t she work for you?” I ask.

Anna grins. “Something like that,” she says with a wink. I look at her in confusion, but she just grabs my arm and pulls me into the nearby pub that Auggie has already entered. “You’ll understand, someday,” she adds.

Someday…I consider what she’s implying. Someday…I could be a prince. Someday…I could have a secretary just like she does. This seems all too overwhelming. So, I do the most reasonable thing ever and drink several pints of beer with Auggie.

I have to admit, where Chris screams royalty, Auggie screams frat brother. I like Chris. He’s got that wise-beyond-his-years sort of mentality. He’s also very smart, very kind, and very intuitive. I can see the similarities with Anna. Auggie, well, Auggie is a whole other type of royal. He’s definitely the one that ends up in those page six photos. He’s kind too, and he’s definitely smart, but there’s a certain carefreeness about him. I snap out of my thoughts as Auggie begins yet another story.

“So, there we are halfway up Kilimanjaro and my guide says, ‘hey, who brought the water.’” His voice slurs half the words, and he laughs at the memory.

“Auggie, I think we should call it a night,” Jack interrupts the story. Auggie is definitely the most relaxed of our group. I’ve watched Jack get more tense throughout the day. But I think everyone else senses it is time for us to leave. The last thing we need is to draw more attention to ourselves.

“Ahhh…come on, man,” Auggie says as he leans too far over and nearly falls off the bar stool.

“And, that’s a wrap, folks,” Chris announces as he stands up and helps Auggie off the stool.

“Oh, s’come on, Lion, the night s’is young and s’are we,” Auggie slurs.

“Yeah, and some of us are out past our bedtime,” Chris says, giving him a hard stare. Auggie rolls his eyes and laughs.

“You’re such a lump of coal,” he says.

I shake my head, trying to stifle my grin which I know will only egg him on. It takes us the better part of thirty minutes to get Auggie back to the car. Pete and Jack look like they want to murder him. Once inside, he promptly passes out.

Anna falls asleep next, her head on my shoulder.

Chris looks over at us. Mia has fallen asleep on him as well.

“You better take good care of her, or I’ll kill you myself,” he says.

“I was wondering how long it would take before we had this conversation,” I say with a smirk.

“I’m serious, Logan. That right there,” he says, motioning to Anna, “is precious cargo. Guard her with your life.”

“I will,” I say sincerely to him. We stare at each other for a long moment, a silent understanding passing between us.

Then, I look out the window as Jack drives us back to the house. The realization about my mom and Sebastian Bach bounce around in my head. I replay conversations with my mom, conversations I overheard between my mom and her parents. I start to second-guess everything. What was real in my life? I can feel my anger growing as the car travels north into the dim light of the evening.

Jack’s phone rings as we make the turnoff toward Stonehaven.

“Yes?” he answers gruffly. “When. Shit. Yeah, I understand. I’m heading to the safe house now.”

He hangs up as I try to process the words that have just left his mouth, but Chris is a step ahead of me.

“What’s wrong?” he asks from the back of the van.

“A sensor was tripped on the perimeter of the property about five minutes ago,” Jack explains as he makes a U-turn in the road. “I’m taking us to a safe house until the situation is cleared.”

“Where’s the safe house?” I ask.

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