Page 47 of True Honey
“Teachers are glorified babysitters, Evan. There’s a reason we have to go to university to be taught by professors,” he sneered, his fat hands gripping an empty scotch glass.
“I can’t possibly speak for all of them but I’m sure most teachers would have to disagree with you, Mr. William,” I said, trying to hold my own but I could feel the nausea churning over in the pit of my stomach.
Seymour Shore’s hand felt hot on my lower back and there was no way to control the panic that spread across my chest from speaking up. Mr. William scowled at me, clearly not accustomed to women speaking in his vicinity and it only worsened the anxious monster that awakened inside of me.
I fought to keep it together.
“How about we have this conversation when you have kids of your own Ms. Courtney and you’re in need of daycare. Women these days, they get ahead of themselves and don’t understand how the world works.” Mr. William shot back and it took everything in me not to correct him.
“I look forward to that conversation, until then we can agree to disagree,” I said instead, holding steady and actively forcing myself to be polite. These men were not fooling around, and neither had Silas. He wasn’t wrong when he said that impressing them wouldn’t be easy. It also made sense why they hadput stipulations on his shares. They were hyper focused on their sons and their money. Everything with these men was about passing on a legacy and preserving the family name.
“Leave it to Silas to find the most headstrong woman in Harbor,” Mr. Poly said next and I held my tongue, grinding my teeth together to keep quiet. I was led to believe that it was somewhat of a compliment, but I could see the true meaning behind his statement. It was absolutely an insult.
“Mouthy is the word you’re looking for Evan,” Mr. William said and the lot of them laughed around me like it was the funniest joke they’d ever heard, leaving me standing there stiff and subject to their ridicule.
“At least it’s a pretty mouth.” I heard one of them say, and it was like I could feel their grubby hands all over my skin. It was worse than any night shift spent fending off grabby drunks. Here I couldn’t make a scene, I couldn’t stop them. I had to pretend that I was none the wiser to their sick comments and belittling.
I could feel the tears stinging at the corners of my eyes but I refused to give them the satisfaction of reducing me to that and took a long, quiet deep breath to steady myself. Not even tempted to search the room for Silas in need of help I just smiled like an idiot, playing the part of stupid, doting fiance the way I was supposed to.
“Like father like son,” Mr. Poly added with a sick smile.
My first two shifts with Susanna had gone well and it had taken me less than ten minutes with the woman to realize she was a gossip. I’d learned just about everything about everyone in the two shifts. Including every single thing she knew about the situation with the Shore family.
Charles Shore was a piece of work.
Josh Logan was a sweet kid despite what the papers liked to say.“He’s incredibly polite and never has a grumpy day. He’s all smiles in this office.”
Mrs. Shore was a kind woman, with an intense family history but she was spoken about in the highest regard, by just about everyone.
Silas was her favorite topic, herfavorite boy, she called him. The most notable of compliments she threw in his direction, was that he was the one person who would drop anything to help someone else.
That spoke volumes about him and told me that he was nothing like his father.
“How is Charles?” Mr. William said, “I heard that the drug addict killed herself,” he added.
“Taking the easy way out,” Mr. Poly added.
Seymour was notably quiet. I couldn’t tell if it was because he condemned what his son was doing or if he just had nothing to add but there was a bright, playful smile stretched across his old face.
“She was disposable,” one of the other said, “Charles should know better than to fuck whores without protection. Now he has that bastard running around that could ruin your entire fortune.”
“Joshua has no interest in such a thing,” Seymour finally said, bringing his glass to his lips.
“You say that now but you should be nipping that in the butt,” Mr. Poly said with caution, “it takes one argument, one instance of you denying him something for him to change his tune and slap you with a lawsuit.”
“And to think all that stress over a bastard because Charles couldn’t keep his dick in Sylwia.” Someone hissed.
I hated how they were talking, especially in front of me. I didn’t want to be hearing any of this.
“You better keep your door unlocked and your legs on a hinge, Ms. Courtney. The Shore men are known to wander. Wouldn’t want you to have to share your inheritance with some mistress,” Mr. Poly teased me but I found no humor in the statement.
“If half of us had the balls that Charles had, we’d be happier men,” Mr. William said and I checked out of the conversation, glossing over until a broad chest pressed tightly to my back.
“If you’ll excuse us,” Silas said tightly, his voice low and commanding across the group. Most of them gave nods, allowing Silas to pull me back away from them and into the crowd. As soon as we were free from their scrutiny I could breathe again.
“Are you alright?” He asked me, handing me a glass filled with whiskey that even smelled too expensive for me to drink.
“Fine,” I said, taking back the whiskey in a controlled sip.
