Chapter 32
Heading in to work the next day wasn’t the drudgery I’d expected. At least, not initially.
A marked absence had left my bed cold and my home too quiet, but Asher sent a picture of his morning to-go coffee and one of himself, telling me how much the coffee sucked without my dick dip, how much he couldn’t wait for our planned breakfast date this weekend.
He missed me.
He made me his priority.
Those pretty eyes of his and the smile that spoke to my heart stared at me every time I glanced at my phone because I’d made it my new background image on my home screen. I’d purposefully put myself out there, only to myself, but further than I’d dared before.
Work was the same, but with Asher checking in, saying “hi” for no reason at all, sending jokes and memes, everything was—better.
I wanted to see Asher right after work, I didn’t want to wait for the weekend, but it was Wednesday. A fucking school night because I was dating a fucking college student.
I chuckled and shook my head. “Who am I?” I whispered to myself.
Since high school, maybe before, I’d been this straightlaced, no-flash, direct kind of person.
I said what I meant, but I never said much.
I followed the rules; I kept myself in check.
Asher had shown me a way to free myself.
Not for him, well, not only for him but for me.
For Luke. For the man I had chained in the dark.
Then, just before noon, the first test of my newfound outlook presented itself.
My father wants to meet for lunch today.
Ash
I have a team on standby with toilet paper and water guns.
Lol. Probably not necessary. I’m thinking of telling them. At least, coming out. They don’t need to know about Ashley, only Asher.
Ash
Okay. I’ll skip my next class. You don’t have to do this alone.
No, it’s fine. It will be fine. I appreciate your support, but I need to be able to do this on my own.
Should be able to was what I meant. Grown-ass man.
Financial stability, even without my family’s money.
A solid reputation in the industry. The support of someone who cared about me.
I had it better than many, and I needed to prove I was worthy of it.
The words were simple, yet in the face of my parents, would I find my courage?
An hour later, I was shown into my father’s office. Much bigger than my own, with a large, round table for meetings such as this, set with a prepared lunch ready and waiting.
And so were both of my parents.
Not much was said as we took our initial bites of—something.
I hadn’t bothered to pay attention, only studied them.
Mother lifted her chin, managing to stare me down from her shorter height.
Father drummed his fingers on the shining mahogany table.
No doubt this was concerning my date for their New Year’s party.
In all my years at home and as an adult, I had very few memories where any meal was an event shared with only immediate family and none with only the three of us.
However, in a concerning breach of Dorset protocol, I faced them in this grotesque intervention of sorts with a brave face and shaking hands.
Then again, they wouldn’t have had this particular conversation with other ears present.
The tender meat turned to rubber in my mouth as I chewed slowly, repeating in my mind what I’d just heard, before taking a sip of water. “Say that again, please.”
Father cleared his throat, and for the first time, I realized where I’d picked up the habit. The unconscious gesture to delay the words I’d rather not say.
“Luke, you must understand—” he said, not repeating himself as I asked.
“You’re taking away my inheritance?”
“Darling, we aren’t taking it. Not yet, anyway,” Mother said. “We want you to make the right decision about your future.”
I scrunched my eyes closed and rubbed between my brows. “You literally just said you would change the terms if I continued to disregard your wishes.”
“If you continue to date that classless woman,” Mother snipped. “The terms will remain untouched otherwise.”
“Am I not a part of this family?”
“Darling—”
“Have I not dedicated my career to growing the wealth of this family? Am I not a Dorset? Am I not your son?” I cut Mother off. There was no use arguing any other point as it was already set in their eyes.
“You are,” Father barked. “Act like it.” He stared me down with my same blue eyes.
“Your mother has gone through a lot of trouble seeking out every eligible woman for years. And this is how you thank her? I think not.” Father slapped his linen napkin to the table.
“You have the pick of the town. You’re a Dorset, for Christ’s sake.
Anyone would bend over backward to marry into this family. ”
I jolted with a disbelieving shake of my head. “And you don’t think that’s an issue? That they want to marry this family and not me?”
Mother laughed a gentle trill of sound. “Really, Luke. And you think that base-born woman isn’t doing the same? She sees dollar signs when she looks at you, not your handsome face. Someone like Georgina, who has an inheritance of her own, has no reason to marry other than for you.”
They were wrong. They knew nothing. Asher was much more comfortable without my wealth. If anything, the very prestige they lauded was a deterrent, not an accelerant.
“Don’t talk about—Ashley that way.”
Mother’s smile froze. “Don’t be ridiculous. You don’t love her, do you?”
I didn’t respond, and not because I didn’t know. I did know. I had known. But I’d be damned if they would be the people I told before I told Asher himself.
“This squabble is pointless,” Father said.
“You mean this squabble is my future,” I muttered.
“You continue on with Ashley Brandt, and I meet with the attorney to change the conditions of my will. It’s as simple as that.”
His will. The family money, the trust, the investments, the real estate, he would take it all if I stayed with Asher. No, Ashley. God, they didn’t know the full truth, and if they did, they wouldn’t stop there. I would no doubt be stricken from this family entirely. Removed from all records.
“That money is from our family,” I said, trying to muddle through my thoughts when all I could seem to concentrate on was Asher’s smile. “It started with your grandparents.”
“It is a mark of this family, a privilege, a birthright I will not have you spend on someone who will not benefit us Dorsets.”
“I’ve made this family more money than I’ve ever spent.”
Father leaned forward. “Then keep it. Use what you’ve earned.”
“And get rid of that woman,” Mother added.
And I’d toyed with telling them about myself, about Asher.
I’d known it would be bad. I’d known they would most likely never want to see me again, that they’d take it all, but the confirmation was more shocking than the idea of it.
My inheritance, the firm, all of it was mine as long as I toed the line, acted the part, and didn’t embarrass this family.
Why had I ever thought there could be another way?
Hope?
No. Stupidity.
Numbers ran behind my eyes, a quick calculation of my share of the Dorset fortune. It sat in the multimillions, the eight-figure range.
Would I give that up for Asher?
Could I walk away from the life I’d always known and mostly taken for granted?
For a nineteen-year-old who could change his mind on a whim, who could grow into adulthood and learn to hate me, for an emotion with no guarantee and no limit to quantify, could I walk away from it? From wealth so old and deep, I would be set for an easy life from here on?
Honestly, I knew better than to make a decision about my heart with conditions set by my parents.
Maybe Asher was worth it. Maybe the chance to be with the person I loved was worth it.
For now, I couldn’t answer any of the questions swirling in my mind.
I wouldn’t answer them while sitting in this tomb of a room across from the crypt keepers.
If not Asher, it would be someone else. If not this demand, it would be some other. However, it would always be me. It would always be them. It would always be a decision of whether I bowed to a request I did not want to grant.
I stood from the table, startling my parents with an abrupt screech of the chair’s legs across the polished hardwood.
“Darling …” Mother trailed off when I glared her way.
I spun on my heels and walked away from the table, from them.
Anger and disgust warred inside my head.
The audacity. To hold my family name, the family prestige and wealth over me like that.
And the worst was that they had figured I would cave.
Did they see me as nothing more than a money-hungry weakling? Was that what they’d taught me to be?
The afternoon was much darker. I rescheduled meetings and brooded.
One minute, I was too tired to move, and the next, I searched for exits.
Figuratively searched because I didn’t actually leave my desk chair until that evening.
I’d written speeches in my head, things I should’ve said, things I planned to say at dinner.
And yes, I would go. Lunch had been an ambush, but I’d be better prepared tonight.
The drive to my parents’ house held the usual foreboding and more. Was that tingle in my fingertips cause for concern? I could be minutes from freeing myself, saying what I couldn’t at lunch, or from an anxiety-induced heart attack.
No, I was in good health, Asher had proved that. My back might never be the same, but that was a chronic ache I wouldn’t mind since it came with a smile.
It wasn’t until the privacy gate creaked open and a row of glittery cars sat to one side that that spark of a good mood died before it could ignite fully.
“Motherfucker,” I hissed as I pulled around the circular drive and parked at the end, getting in line with the others.