Page 55 of Your Fault

I tensed when I saw she wasn’t saying anything about living with me. This was as good a time as any, but she showed no sign that she was ready to pull the trigger.

“Do you know who your roommate will be yet?” her motherasked, and Noah almost choked. I stretched out a hand and struck her softly a few times on the back.

“Not yet,” she said in a raspy voice.

Shit. I wanted out of that kitchen. Now.

Raffaella looked at my father, and they both looked back at us.

“We wanted to talk to you both,” he began. “I realize we haven’t exactly acted like a family these past few months… We’ve had our dustups, and we want to try to resolve that so we can all get along a little better.”

I wasn’t expecting that. As my father and I met eyes, I put my cup of coffee down on the table. I was all ears.

“Are you going to finally accept that we’re together?” I asked.

Raffaella stiffened, and my father gave her an almost-threatening look. “We accept that you are young, and you like each other, and…”

“We love each other, Mom, it’s not justlike,” Noah said, finally intervening.

Her mother pursed her lips and nodded. “I get it, Noah, I promise, and I know you think I’ve been ruining your life because I don’t accept your relationship, and maybe you’re right…but you’re very young, and the nearly five years’ age difference is a big one, especially when you’ve just turned eighteen. All I’m asking is for you to take it slow. Nick, I hope you can understand that my daughter still has a lot to learn. She’s about to head off to school, and I want her to experiment and have fun and enjoy to the maximum—something I never dreamed I could give her.”

I could feel the rage kindling and starting to slowly burn inside me.

“Are you saying she doesn’t have fun with me, that I’m not going to allow her to enjoy college?”

“What she’s saying is for you not to base everything you doon each other. You’ve still got a whole life ahead of you, and we don’t want you to take things too fast,” Dad said, trying to still the waters. “So, on that note, we wanted to propose a deal. Like a peace treaty. What do you think?”

“I’m not interested in any kind of treaty. Noah’s my girlfriend, and there’s nothing to negotiate.”

My father sucked in a breath, and I could tell he was struggling not to start shouting.

“Then I need you both to do us a favor. And if you do, we promise not to get mixed up in your relationship anymore.”

“What type of favor?” I asked, wanting to get to the damned point.

My father seemed to be weighing his words carefully.

“In a month, Leister Enterprises will be celebrating its sixtieth anniversary. We’re going to have a charity reception. All kinds of people will be there, and all the money we raise will go to an organization that feeds people in developing countries. It’s a vital affair for the company, Nicholas, you know that perfectly. We’re undertaking new projects, and we need to give a strong and unified image when we are in front of the press and the other guests.”

“I know how important it is. I’ve helped organize it,” I said. “And I don’t know what it has to do with my relationship with Noah.”

“It’s very simple. If you both show up to the party as a couple, you can imagine the articles in the press… Everyone will focus on you and how scandalous your relationship is. No, Nicholas, don’t interrupt me,” he said when he saw I was about to cut him off. “I’m well aware of what kind of relationship you both have, and however much we dislike it, you’re within your rights. You’re stepbrother and stepsister, you’re not related by blood, but many won’t see it that way. I need to present a solid image of our family, and if you show up acting like a couple, lots of the people at theparty will be confused and will look down on us. I’m talking about older people, people with lots of money, who simply don’t accept that kind of conduct.”

“This is ridiculous. No one’s going to notice us. My God, no one cares what we do or don’t do.”

“That would be true if you hadn’t spent the past few years being seen with the kinds of girls who end up in magazines. You know perfectly well that the press has always had its eye on you, Nicholas. Just look at how they crowd around you every damned time you decide to show up at some function.”

Noah looked at me askance, and I cursed between clenched teeth. Dammit!

“Are you asking me to go to the party alone and act like Noah is my little sister?”

“I’m asking you to take a friend, a female friend, and avoid the spotlight. Noah will go with a date, too. We’ll pose like a family for the cameras, we’ll have dinner, chitchat, negotiate with some of the big players in attendance, and then everyone can go home and back to their normal lives.”

Before I could explode, Noah butted in. “Sounds fine,” she said. I glared at her.

“Screw that. You’re not going to a major event like that with some dickhead who thinks you’re on the market. No way.”

Raffaella now opened her mouth again. “Nicholas, this is what I’m talking about when I say you need to calm down. It’s just a party. Your father is telling you how important it is. This doesn’t mean Noah’s going to marry some other guy. For the love of God, if she wants to go alone, that’s fine with us, too.”

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