Page 9 of The Prom King & The Ice Queen

Leo

My grandfather’shouse is overrun with small children.

Even though this birthday party is technically for an eighteen year old, it feels like little kid central.

Some of my teammates are here, and the girls who work for the Princess Troupe.

I crane my neck for a glimpse of Savannah in her Disney princess getup.

I’ll admit. It’s kinda hilarious to see Miss ‘I’m Too Good For You’ playing dress-up with little kids. Even without the costume, it would be pretty funny to see her interacting with snot-nosed kids.

But she does it, and she does it well. Like everything else that girl does, she pulls it off with a haughty attitude and full confidence.

I don’t see her now, but I catch sight of some other girls from our class. Not April, thank God. I’m trying to get Shane to take her back so she stops hanging all over me.

“Leo, there you are.” My mom stops beside me. She’s all flushed and breathless from running around trying to get everything in order and greet every guest who arrives. “Is Addie here yet?”

I glance over at Vincent. My uncle. “Nope.”

My mom follows my gaze and her lips twitch. “Did they have a fight or something? I don’t think I’ve seen my brother so fidgety. Or so obsessed with staring at the front door.”

I choke on a laugh. “Please stop calling him your brother. It freaks me out.”

She shrugs. “That’s what he is.” She pinches my cheek. “Time to get used to that, my love.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I mutter.

I know she’s right. I’ve been acting like a dick since he first showed up on our doorstep, and I know it.

Here’s the thing… Everyone thinks they have a messed up family. All my friends roll their eyes and say how crazy their families are.

But honestly, they have no idea.

I mean my classmate is my uncle. My dad is not my real dad. And my grandmother might be the most terrifying woman in town.

So yeah. We're just a little dysfunctional.

Also, my family excels at keeping secrets. My grandfather and grandmother managed to keep Vincent’s existence a secret up until very recently. And that part about my dad not being my dad?

Yeah, almost no one knows about that. No one outside of our immediate family, anyway.

“Be nice to him tonight, okay?” my mom says.

She means Vincent. She’s the only one even remotely happy about Vincent’s presence in our lives. I guess I get it. She’d been an only child her whole life, and now she gets to share the burden of being a Barons’ heir.

I narrow my eyes at the thug with tattoos and a perma-glower standing guard at the front door. Now he’s an heir. If you can believe that.

“I’ll play nice,” I say when I see my mom’s still waiting for a response.

And I mean it. Ever since my grandmother—the incredibly terrifying one—came clean about her part in keeping Vincent’s birth a secret…well, I guess I’m starting to realize that maybe it’s not actually Vincent’s fault.

None of it is, actually.

I mean, sure, he could have been a little less of an ass when he’d arrived, especially to my mom. But I got a glimpse of just how hard this has been for him, too, and…

Well, honestly I’m not exactly proud of my recent behavior.

My mom is still watching me. “I promise,” I add.

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