Page 74 of Ruthless Legacy

We head back out to Vee’s car, and she convinces me to hang out at her house for a bit. I immediately regret my decision when she pulls up outside the house and I can see both Archer’s and Rafe’s cars are here.

“Great,” I groan, frowning at the black golf on the drive.

Vee chuckles as she undoes her seatbelt. “Oh, honey, let’s not pretend like you aren’t addicted to his penis.”

I roll my eyes at her. “Are you like ninety? Who calls it a penis these days? And I’m not addicted.”

“Uh-huh,” she teases as we both climb out and head to the door.

“Can we head to, like, the opposite side of the house to them, please? I can’t be dealing with Archer’s brooding ego today.”

“Movie afternoon? We can head to the theatre room and hide in there.”

I breathe a sigh of relief. “That sounds perfect, but please tell me you have popcorn.”

“Girl, this is the Collings house. We have a popcorn machine.”

Shaking my head, I follow her inside. “Of course you do. I keep forgetting my new bestie is a rich bitch.”

The cinema room is out of this world cosy. It’s painted in a dark purple, giving it that cosy vibe with plush black velvet chairs that recline. The kind you sink into and never want to leave. She isn’t kidding about the popcorn machine. There’s even a shelf full of jars of sweets and cookies. It’s insane!

We decide we want to watch a re-run of my favourite vampire show and we settle down with our bowls of popcorn and get lost in the vampire brothers.

“Who would you choose?”

I eyeball her. “Are you serious? There’s no contest. It’s Damon every day, all day long.”

She bobs her head from side to side. “Yeah, but Stefan has some morals. Plus, he’s super romantic and caring.”

I snigger. “Give me dark and dangerous over romantic any day. Romance is for idiots.”

“You’re so cynical. One day, some guy is going to capture your heart and you’ll eat the very words that just came out of your mouth.”

I shake my head, laughing. “Never. Love is a weakness. Do you love Rafe?”

As she thinks over her answer, I cock my head and observe her. “I think so, maybe. There is a great sexual attraction between me and him and I care about him. I think in time, when we’re properly together then, yeah, I’ll love him.”

I twist in my seat to interrogate her further. I’m still super intrigued by this whole arranged engagement shit. “But what if the two of you marry and you discover that actually you don’t love him? That, yes, you care about him, but it’s not love.”

She shrugs her shoulder as she digs in the jar of sweets at the side of her. “I think I love him a bit. I guess if he called off our engagement and told me he’d met someone else, I would be hurt.”

“And is that an option? Could either one of you call it off?”

“Don’t be silly,” she says, scrunching up her nose as she thinks about it. “It’s what’s expected of us. The two of us have known this was the plan for years.”

I put my popcorn down on the floor, needing to dig deeper on this subject. “But what if one day you bump into a guy and boom! You’re smitten. He’s the one, your soulmate, the person put on this earth just for you.”

She sighs and cocks a well-groomed brow. “I thought you didn’t believe in soulmates and love at first sight?”

“Well,” I bristle, “I don’t for me, but for other people I do. I mean, take my mum and dad, for example. They were so in love. Even after all their years together, they were still deeply in love.”

“Why isn’t it for you? Why should other people have that and not you?”

Great, now she’s back to grilling me. “Because I’m just not made for love. “

She tilts her head. “Because you don’t think you deserve it?”

“Jesus, is this a therapy session?” I ask, smiling at her, but inside I feel uneasy at her scrutiny.

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