Page 1 of Can't Take My Eyes Off You

1

BERKLEY KAINE

June 2020

‘Where’s your boy toy?’ Mike, Will’s older brother, asks, disrupting my peace as he walks onto the dock with me.

I squint open a single eye, groaning at the sight of him. He’s standing in front of the sun, the light glowing around him like he’s the golden boy. In this family, he is.

Currently, I’m lounging lakeside at my boyfriend’s parents’ place on Oswego Lake. The summer sun warms my front as I close my eyes again. This almost feels like a vacation if I block out Mike. If I wanted, I could text Sylvia, the Adlers’ house manager (who has a freaking house manager?), and request a drink. She’d even hand-deliver it to me.

My family was lucky to have name-brand Cap’n Crunch on top of our lower-middle-class fridge. I don’t belong in this neighborhood. For sure, my bank balance doesn’t even qualify me to be on this side of the city. I’m only sitting here because my grandparents decided to spend their life’s fortune on my fraternal twin sister, Bianca, and me to go to a ritzy private high school. That’s where I met the love of my life, my boyfriend of nearly eight years, William Adler. He belongs in this neighborhood, bank balance and all.

Time to speak to Mikey. ‘Your parents wanted to “talk” to him,’ I say.

He smirks. We both know they’re giving him an ass-chewing over something. Usually, it’s one of three things. He’s not acting the way they think an Adler should. They’re disappointed in how he’s spending his trust fund money. Or, and this is my favorite, they disapprove of his choice of woman, i.e. me. I’d take a proud bow, but I’m sitting down.

Mike laughs as he makes himself comfortable in the lounge chair next to me. The arrogance that oozes from him is cringy. He’s older, shorter, darker and douchier than Will. A sleazy rich boy. Outside, he’s a handsome-as-fuck douche-lord that women hope to make their sugar daddy. Inside, he’s a wealthy grease-weasel with no morals and far too much confidence. I suspect he eats gold coins in milk for breakfast, Scrooge McDuck-style.

‘We can’tbothbe the favorite son, can we?’ he says with a sneer.

‘You two do have a very “heir and the spare” essence about you.’ It’s hard not to notice at times too.

‘Like royalty.’ He bellows a laugh. ‘Fitting. He must’ve finally told you, eh?’

I prop myself up on my elbows, suddenly interested in his words. ‘Told me what?’

He crosses his ankles over one another and clasps his hands behind his head like he’s settling in for a long chat.

‘Hedidn’ttell you?’ He chuckles an evil-soundinghe-he-he. ‘That pussy.’

‘Again, tell mewhat?’

Mike waves a hand. ‘It’s nothing. I’m sure they’re just in there drilling him over the same shit they’ve been up his ass about for years.’ He rolls his head my way, lifting a single manicured eyebrow. ‘You.’

Ass.Hole.

I stand up, refusing to even waste the time on telling him how I truly feel about him, and make my way into the house. I should have known this was about me.Me. The barely twenty-two-year-old, five-foot-three woman who generally keeps to herself and avoids talking to any of them unless absolutely necessary. I’m the thing they’re drilling him about today. Perfect. And here I thought this dinner was in my honor for graduating college next weekend at the top of my class. Nope.

‘Hi, sweetheart,’ Sylvia greets me as I walk into the kitchen from the back deck. She’s a sweet woman, heavy-set, graying shoulder-length hair, always a smile on her face, and she’s the most ‘motherly’ woman I’ve ever met, yet she has no children of her own. To her, Mike and Will are ‘her’ boys. ‘Looking for William?’

I nod. ‘Mostly I’m escaping Mike, but yes, Will was on my mind.’

She grins, patting my back as she passes me by. ‘He’s in a heated discussion with Jacob in the den.’

My stomach drops as I glance towards the door to the den at the far side of the kitchen, instantly worried. A heated discussion? Overme? Shit. It’s worse than I thought. What did I do this time to warrant a chat in what they affectionately call the war room? AKA the den. The room they retreat to when planning out their evil affairs. There are hidden cameras to film whatever deal they’re making and then use it against people when they default upon their previously agreed-upon terms. Making a deal with the Adlers is like dealing with the mafia. If you attempt to screw them, you might disappear. They probably won’t kill you, but you’ll mean nothing in your previous circle of high-powered assholes, so you might as well be dead.

‘Heated?’ I ask Sylv, just to make sure I’ve heard her right while popping a cherry tomato from a container on the counter into my mouth.

Before she can answer, I jump at the sound of his dad yelling his name. ‘William!For God’s sake, enough about Berkley! Whether you want to be or not, you’re in this now, so don’t embarrass us in front of the whole damn world! For Christ’s sake, grow up already, and act like an Adler!’

I heave a sigh. That’s a lot of audible exclamation points. Sylvia notices my disappointment.

‘Berkley,’ she says, sliding an arm around my shoulders and hugging me to her side. ‘You’re a lovely woman. Which means you’re far too good to be an Adler.’

‘There’s only one I want to be with; unfortunately he shares DNA with the rest of them.’

‘William’s not like the others, sweetheart. He’s a good man. He’ll do the right thing.’

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