Chapter VIII Barking Mad （Brady）
VIII
Barking Mad
(Brady)
Some days, I forget I’m the son of one of the richest business magnates in Seattle.
Today is not one of those times.
Dad’s favorite breakfast spot is a Filipino American diner, and like usual, he buys it out for a couple hours so we can eat in peace and privacy.
Usually, it’s such overkill I laugh. He loves to pretend he’s more famous than he really is. Even if he isn’t far off the tech titans you always hear about, he doesn’t have anything close to their media footprint.
Today, though, I don’t mind.
His face is already cherry red as he glowers at me from his wheelchair.
“I can’t believe you’d do this. After you insisted you were done screwing around,” he snarls. His big hands hold his coffee mug like he’s on the verge of hurling it at me.
“Now, Alec.” Mom puts a hand on his arm. “We haven’t even eaten yet. Let’s take it down a notch.”
“That’s the damn point. We haven’t even had our coffee, and he’s ruined breakfast with his alley-cat bullshit exploding across the internet. What the hell were you thinking?”
“Thanks.” I look up and smile at the poor server who finishes filling my mug.
“Brady!” Dad barks, crashing his fist against the table. “Are you listening?”
“Yeah. Everyone in a three-mile radius can hear you too.” I add a splash of cream to my coffee and stir.
I knew he’d react like this, yes, but it’s so fucking infantile I have trouble keeping my temper in check.
“Explain yourself. And you better have an excellent excuse for humiliating the Loomers and the entire Pruitt brand with this nonsense. The money we’ve had to shell out on those damn reputation managers over the years to bury your antics . . .” He shakes his head.
Never one to mince words, my old man.
“First of all,” I say, “I was never with Nancy. You guys kept pushing her on me, yeah. I went out of my way to give her a chance. It just didn’t work, Dad. You can’t hold a gun to my head and make me like her, especially when I have better options. Like Lena Joly, for one.”
“Lena.” Dad snarls her name, slamming his mug down again until coffee sloshes over the cup.
“Alec, calm down,” Mom says. “Drink your coffee, and listen to Brady, honey.”
“Frankly, it was electric, Mother. I felt it right from the start.” I pin on a smile. “The first time I met her months ago, we were inseparable.”
Lie number one. A particularly insane one because Lena hated my guts the first time we met, and that wasn’t even a month ago.
Call it necessary. No one’s going to believe I’d sacrifice everything to be with a girl I barely know.
“Electric,” Dad rumbles.
“Why didn’t you bring her up sooner, darling?” Mom asks.
“Because I know how you guys are. We had to keep it private, taking it slow—and no, I didn’t tell Nancy. I consider her a friend, and once I was sure about Lena, I let her down easy.”
“Easy,” Dad mutters, his face inventing new shades of red.
“Alec, please,” Mom warns when she sees his eyes twitching. “Remember what the doctor said about your heart.”
Yeah, I wonder why.
As horrible as his heart attack was, it wasn’t a huge surprise for a man intent on working himself into an early grave.
I take a satisfied gulp of my coffee—the perfect mix of bitter and sweet to take the edge off this nightmare.
The sooner I can escape this travesty of a breakfast, the better.
“Obviously, I didn’t announce it to the world. Or you guys,” I say. “No point feeding the media circus if it was never going to work out. I had to be sure. Plus, Lena isn’t used to this kind of frenzy. I had to give her fair warning, ease her into it.”
That much is true.
I won’t forget the way she looked at me with such hot betrayal when I met her in the park, like she thought I’d orchestrated the entire damn thing.
This craziness isn’t her life.
At least, it wasn’t until she signed up to play charades with me.
“I’m still concerned about that. We can’t afford to have people photobombing the clinic where she works.”
“Clinic. For animals?” Dad grumbles. “That’s all the family needs. A damn veterinarian.”
“A veterinary nurse, actually—and she’s a damn good one.” Pride slips into my voice. “She’ll be part owner of a long-established Seattle practice very soon.”
“Ridiculous.” Dad’s scowl deepens.
“Worse than an artificial marriage, you mean? With someone I barely like? Why wouldn’t you want me to marry a woman I can show the world I truly love? That’s good branding. That’s authenticity.”
Mom smiles at me. “He has a point.”
“He has a sickness. He’s thirty years old, and he’s handling romance like a goddamned kid.”
“If they feel that deeply about each other, how is that bad? It’s time he settled down. We both know it.” Mom’s eyes flash with empathy, the same blue shade as mine.
“Only if he settles down with someone good for him.”
Good for us, he means.
It takes titanium self-control not to snort in his face.
“There’s no one better than Lena,” I throw back. “Think how it’ll look. I’m not shacking up with some spoiled supermodel or a girl who’s spent her life on a leash in DC with the secretary of agriculture. Most of Seattle hates Nancy.”
“Don’t disrespect her,” he snaps.
“Are you seriously telling me you don’t know her reputation? I’ve tried to ignore it, but it’s everywhere. Lena isn’t like that. And people will see how much I care.”
“You must introduce us,” Mom says cheerfully.
“Kerrigan!” Dad looks at her in disbelief.
“What? You think I don’t want to meet the young lady who’s put a sparkle in my son’s eyes?” She smiles at me. “This is the most enthusiastic I’ve seen you get in a long time, Brady. Especially for anything besides work.”
Fuck.
I knew an in-person meeting was coming, but I didn’t know they’d want it so soon. She’ll be thrown face down in the frying pan before she’s really gotten started with this sham.
Dealing with my parents makes the media maneuvering look easy.
“Sure, Mom.” I force a smile. “Wouldn’t dream of keeping you waiting. We’ll set up something soon.”
Meanwhile, I’ll have to remember how to walk through a minefield again without blowing myself to pieces.
Brand first.
Mom would glow with pride if she knew what I was doing to make sure my public image looks sharp and polished.
Technically, she’d still look down on me for debasing myself with pet food, but I think she’d appreciate the aesthetic.
Luis and I head over to a big dog show in Bellevue today, one of those high-class events where tech bros and rich grandmas show off their pampered pooches. I lean my head back against the seat as he drives.
“I have something to tell you,” I say.
“Let me guess. The girl again?”
“Lena. She has a name, dude.”
“Glad you can remember this one.” He shoots me a sideways glance. “I’m happier the girl isn’t Nancy, though.”
“Yeah, fuck that. Here’s your update on that—I told Nancy we’re never hooking up. She took it about as well as you’d think.”
“Shit! Mad respect. And you walked out with all your fingers and toes?”
I laugh.
“It gets more complicated.”
“For Brady Pruitt? Never,” he says dryly.
“Come on, stop busting my balls. You know the rumors flying around about me and Lena?”
“For God’s sake, Brady.” He rolls his eyes and changes lanes, pulling ahead of a large truck. “I’m the man who showed you those rumors. What’s this about? You said you weren’t going to use them to push her into anything.”
“Oddly, I didn’t have to.”
His eyes bulge, and I smile to myself.
“She’s the one who brought it up,” I say. “I met her at a park. I was typing up a post to debunk the rumors right there. Then she decided she wanted the money.”
“Interesting. So, you’ve solved the fake-dating riddle.” When I don’t say anything, he looks at me. “What’s eating you? You’re talking like it’s bad news, when it’s everything you wanted yesterday.”
“At first, I was excited as hell. Now, I’m not sure if I’ve thought this through. My mom wants to meet her. Sooner than I thought.”
“Well, yeah. What mother wouldn’t? If I slip up and admit I even looked at a girl, my mama starts cleaning the whole house and cooking a feast. You basically told them you’re about to get engaged.”
Holy fuck. When he says it like that—
What am I doing?
“I think I just bought myself an entire universe of shit. Galaxies and all.”
“Yeah, probably.” Luis chuckles.
“Thanks for the reassurance.”
“Just facts, my man. Face them.”
“What? Like the fact that my folks will lose it if they ever figure out the truth?” I grimace and drop my hand. “Or the fact that I agreed to fund her business-buyout plan? She wants the clinic, and her boss is selling.”
“Tough situation,” he admits. “You were born to be a diplomat, though. When you started in on the dog food gig, I never thought you’d talk your dad into letting you source straight from the family farms.”
“Yeah, that was a coup.” I grin. “Don’t know why I got stuck with you, though.”
“I’m like your grand vizier. You need an adviser to avoid any traps,” he says wisely.
“Right. So if you were me, what would you do?”
“Go big!” He looks at me before riveting his eyes back to the road. “If you can fool the world, you can fool your parents. And you can use everyone else’s opinion to help convince them.”
“You want me to fool the world first?”
“I want you to man up and make an engagement announcement. Right after you give her a ring. Like I said, go big or go home.”
My gut churns.
This is getting way too real, but he has a point.
“Now?” I planned on waiting just a little while before going in hot with the ring. I don’t know why I feel a live current in my nerves.
“Now,” he echoes. “Commit to the ruse. Your fans will eat it up, especially all the ladies who love a wedding, even if they’re turning green. Feed the happy people your happily-ever-after.”
“Easy for you to say,” I growl.
“Your parents will buy it if a million people do.” He smirks. “They’ll see what they want to see. If you look like you’re happy and in love, they’ll see you with a girl and a big ol’ ring, and their mind will put the rest together.”
“Apart from the skeptics, you mean. And the unhinged types. Do you know there are stalkers online who fixate about everything? Shit, I had two nutjobs in my comments the other week telling me the corgi we picked up was AI and wasn’t real.”
He laughs. “You’ll always have those, no matter what. But people want to believe in the happy endings, boss. Give them their show.”
Damn, he’s right.
What I told my parents was right too. This will be good for our brand.
People want proof I’m not a raging asshole or some infantile playboy who changes models like socks.
Lena’s a vet nurse. Relatable and sexy and strong. The perfect partner for the biggest crime of my life.
It’s why I chose her.
I can’t get cold feet now when I have a reputation to unfuck. And Lena—she doesn’t strike me as a quitter. She might regret signing on to this, but she won’t bow out.
As long as I can pull this off.
As long as she’s on board.
It’s bizarre to shove this entire deception into the public eye, but maybe it’s exactly the kind of weirdness we need.
I pull out my phone and start texting Lena, asking when she can meet me.
“Remember, you said it first. I’ll need your help.”
Luis groans. “Where would you be without me?”
“She’ll meet us soon. Let’s expedite the announcement.”