Chapter Two
Princeton, or Prince to his friends, quirked a brow as he waited for the young man to answer his question.
He had been sitting in the restaurant with Roderick Ashford, a friend, discussing business when he noticed the commotion at the front desk.
Prince instantly recognized the kid's straight back and the leather jacket he had worn the first time they met, when his son Bevin brought him home for the holidays.
Prince guessed he could no longer call Finn Turner a kid, especially since he was about to graduate.
He also had not expected to see Finn in Vermont.
He knew Bevin was going to Jamaica, and since they were thick as thieves, it would have been natural for Finn to tag along as well, which sometimes worried him, given his son's laissez-faire attitude toward certain things and people.
But Prince also remembered Bevin saying that Finn sometimes enjoyed doing things on his own.
Bevin talked about him with so much adoration that Prince had wondered once or twice if his son was in love with his best friend.
But the way Bevin loved to play the field, Prince was certain there was no other relationship between them than friendship.
Prince liked the kid a lot. Bevin liked to brag about how studious Finn was, how he kept him on track, or he wouldn’t have been graduating anytime soon.
So Prince was always thankful that his son had a friend like Finn.
Prince observed Finn at the front desk. When he heard Finn raise his voice, Prince became concerned. According to Bevin, it took a lot for his best friend to get angry. Without hesitation, Prince left Roderick's side and approached Finn to understand what was going on.
Prince didn’t miss the slight tension in Finn's shoulders, as if he were afraid of him, even though they had spent very little time together. It became even more apparent when Finn's voice trembled as he asked his question.
"Are you going to answer me or not?" Prince asked.
"It's really noth…" Finn started, the words catching as if he were about to brush it off.
"Don't lie to me," Prince cut in before he could continue.
"Apparently, I was scammed," Finn blurted out.
"How?” Prince said. “You seem like a levelheaded kid. I doubt anyone could pull the wool over your eyes."
"It wasn't my fault," Finn snapped. "I booked my stay here, and apparently, they had some guy scamming customers."
Prince felt irritation rise as he turned his gaze to Monroe, the manager. "Explain," he demanded, his voice dropping into a tone that left little room for excuses.
Monroe quickly and nervously explained what had happened, which only made Prince angrier.
He had purchased the resort and was in the slow process of making changes to the staff and the facilities.
It was one of the many reasons he was staying at the resort and didn’t mind Bevin going off for the holidays.
"Find him a cabin, now," Prince demanded.
"Well, sir, see, we have another problem," Monroe stuttered. "Despite what happened, we're completely sold out for the entire month."
As pleased as Prince was to hear that, it didn’t help Finn. "Give him the extra key to my cabin. He'll stay with me," he told Monroe.
"Yes, sir."
"What? Mr. Sullivan, I can't stay with you," Finn said, clearly caught off guard.
"Why not?" Prince asked pointedly, his gaze locking onto Finn.
Finn seemed to hesitate. "Well, it's just that you don't need to do that. We don't, I mean, you're…" He paused, stumbling over his words before trying again. "I could simply go to another hotel and work things out later."
Prince ignored Finn's protest. "The only thing you can do right now is get some rest. Besides, the next hotel is miles away.
Now that you know you were scammed, you need to cancel your credit cards and dispute any charges, and we will make sure you are refunded.
" He glared at Monroe, silently making it clear what needed to be done.
"My cabin is big enough to accommodate the both of us.
If nothing else, do it for Bevin and my peace of mind.
If he finds out I didn't help you, he'll whine for ages, and you're the only one who knows how annoying he can be. "
That brought a smile to the kid's lips, and Prince noticed Finn's eyes for the first time.
He had always thought they were solely brown, but there were flecks of red, like rubies, that glistened when he smiled.
Maybe it was another layer of Leaps serum that had altered human genetics, still making itself known even decades later.
The serum had changed everything, rewriting biology in ways the world was still discovering.
"Fine," Finn sighed at last, giving in. "I'll stay with you until I get things figured out. But I must pay for half the cabin."
"That's not necessary," Prince said, brushing him off, then stepped around him to get the key from Monroe. "Have his bags sent to my cabin. We're heading to the dining room to get something to eat."
"Yes, sir," Monroe said, straightening.
Prince turned and noticed Finn staring at him. "What's the problem?"
"I always wondered where Bevin got his bossiness from. Now I know."
"This is bossy?" Prince smiled.
"Wouldn't that explain everything you just did?" Finn asked, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Nah, this is me taking care of my son's best friend," Prince said lightly.
"I feel like you're going to use that excuse a lot," Finn said.
"If it gets you to do what I want, I'll take all the advantage." Prince chuckled. "Come on, let's get you something to eat. Then I'll show you to our cabin so you can get settled."
"Okay, and if I haven't said it yet, thank you," Finn whispered, his voice softer now.
"It's no problem." Prince guided Finn to the restaurant and was surprised to see Roderick still sitting at the table.
"You're back," Roderick said, standing slowly. "Where did you go?"
"I had to take care of something," Prince replied evenly, then looked at Finn. "Sit and order whatever you want, and charge it to the cabin. It's E-1."
"You don't have to do this. I can go to the cabin and order room service," Finn protested.
"Your room isn't ready," Prince told him calmly. "I wasn't expecting to share my cabin, so I've been using it as storage."
"Storage? How long have you been here?" Finn asked.
Prince smirked. "Since the end of last semester. I took a leave of absence and have been working remotely." His eyes held Finn's for a heartbeat longer than necessary. "Now sit down and eat before I change my mind about being generous."
"Then I'd go complain to Bevin that his big bad dad was being mean to me." Finn pouted, and honestly, Prince found it kind of adorable.
"Prince, what's going on?" Roderick asked. "Who is this?"
"Finn. He's Bevin's best friend," Prince said, picking up the menu and handing it to the kid.
"Bevin is here?" Roderick asked excitedly as he sat back down.
"No, he's in Jamaica," Prince replied. "I told you this year we're spending the holiday apart."
"Oh," Roderick said, disappointed.
Prince glanced at Roderick, wondering about the look on his face.
As far as he knew, his son and his friend had only met once during their friendship, and Bevin had not seemed too keen on Roderick.
Shaking it off he thought back to his son.
Bevin had said he wanted to spend the holidays with his friends this year, and since Prince seriously needed a break from work, he hadn’t seen a problem with it.
Although he came from an influential family, Prince chose a different path and became a college professor.
However, he didn’t limit himself and took over running the family company when his father asked him to.
After taking over as CEO, Prince expanded the company from a single industry into a conglomerate, competing with the top families from Maine to New York and putting the Sullivan family on equal footing with the Hamilton family.
For Prince, it was nothing new to be in the rat race with the Hamilton brothers.
He had been competing against Tyler and Lucas since they were kids, always one-on-two.
Sometimes he won, sometimes he lost, but it was always in good fun between friends, even in business.
His competitive streak turned him into a workaholic, which left him little time for romance.
Even in college, while his two friends were playing the field, Prince was busy building his family business and getting married, fulfilling his family obligations.
It wasn’t that he was jaded about love because of his divorce.
It was that he hadn’t found the right one.
Prince had known Nova was not the one when they got married.
Their marriage had been out of obligation to his family, specifically to his grandfather, who wanted to see his only grandson marry his best friend's daughter.
He had hoped they would bless him with a grandson, and all of that had come to fruition.
Although Prince and Nova were friends, they were not sexually attracted to each other and relied on IVF to conceive. That decision was kept from everyone, even Bevin, to this day. Nova became pregnant with twins on the first try, but due to complications, one of the fetuses didn’t make it.
For years, Prince and Nova put on a good show for their family, pretending they were deeply in love, until they could no longer keep up the act.
It shocked everyone when they announced their divorce when Bevin was eleven.
Prince knew the divorce had hurt Bevin and put a slight strain on their father-son relationship, but it was no one's fault.
Prince and Nova were ready to live in their truth.
He and Nova shared custody of Bevin, so Prince pushed himself at the company and the university. He enjoyed both jobs, which kept him extremely busy, but his mind sometimes wandered to other things, like love.