27 | Melina #2
“At first, it wasn’t that much, so I paid him right away, but he got greedy and kept asking for more and more. I paid him three times before telling anyone.”
“Who?”
“Alex. My plucky new assistant. I wasn’t sure if I could trust him to solve the problem or just make matters worse, but remarkably, he had everything fixed within days.
Alex can be pretty scary when he needs to be.
I think he threatened to sue him into oblivion.
Jamie could’ve googled to see if the royal family ever sues individuals and found out that we never do.
It’s bad publicity. But, he’s too stupid for that, of course. ”
“I can’t fathom what I would do in that situation.”
Jamie’s the worst.
He twists the base of his wine glass. “Yeah. There were some sleepless nights in those months.”
“So who knows you’re—”
“Everyone knows. The whole staff at Clément Manor probably knows if they pay attention. It’s my family’s worst-kept secret.”
I’m curious how this information was taken by the royals, but I also don’t want to pry.
“Your family seems pretty traditional,” is what I hedge with.
“Yeah, but we’re all hypocrites. My family is more focused on image and the Crown’s longevity.
When a guard caught me and the grandson of the deputy prime minister making out in, ironically, a closet at some benefit we were both bored out of our minds at, my dad was further confused when I told him I was in fact not a friend of Dorothy and more her flakey acquaintance.
He’s too old to understand the, uh, rainbow of sexual preference, as it were. ”
“And your mom?”
“She decided to give me ‘the talk’ again. This time with updated and surprisingly well-researched information.” He laughs.
“And she hugged me and probably said something saccharine about being yourself or whatever. I didn’t want to freak them out and cause a whole gay panic at the palace, so I said I would stick to girls from then on. ”
“But you didn’t stick to girls.”
Taylor shrugs. “Whoops,” he says, obviously never intending to fulfill the promise.
He leans forward. “The Crown has to be strong enough to handle some gossip. While my family might be annoyed with it, they and I both know the monarchy isn’t going to crumble and fall just because of some rumors.
Hell, there’s been rumors about nobles having less-than-straight relationships since the dawn of time.
And it’s easy to gain the trust of your family when they see your little brother as the wild child.
So far, I’ve been grandma’s good Catholic boy.
They know I’m not someone who messes up, and I promised I’d have the whole marriage and kids thing handled.
At the moment, that’s all they want from me. ”
“And do you have the whole marriage and kids thing handled?” My voice drips with skepticism.
By Taylor’s smile, I can tell I already know the answer.
“It’s bound to happen at some point, eh? It’s, uh...fate?”
I scoff at his insincerity. “Oh, cut the shit, Taylor. You believe in destiny?”
“I just don’t want to start a relationship because my dad wants me to. That seems incorrect. And weird.”
“It is. But there’s nothing wrong with putting in effort.”
There’s an awkward silence. Taylor hums to fill it.
This could be considered as effort, couldn’t it?
I mean, he called all those Chinese restaurants.
For half a second, I let myself imagine what being with him could look like.
I stop when the vision involves me wearing a blue sash.
It would never happen in a million years.
Taylor cocks his head at something behind me. As I turn around, a woman at another table puts her phone down after it was conspicuously stood straight up. He’s been spotted.
“Do you want to get out of here?” Taylor asks the wall next to us.
He’s unreadable again. It’s been so long since I couldn’t read him. If I had to guess, I would think he wanted the date to end on our own time, not by some rando from the table over. Maybe, for a while there, he forgot that this isn’t his normal. And maybe I forgot too.
“Sure,” I answer. “Did you happen to notice this building also has a hotel?”
I wonder if that was intentional.
“It does?” he asks, expression receding back to vacation-Taylor. “How convenient.”
Yep. Definitely intentional.
He stands and reaches out a hand for me. I feel like a real princess taking it and standing up. Wait, no. Not princess. I shouldn’t think that.
Taylor grabs the purse I almost left in the leather booth. He’s making me forgetful.
“It’s a shame, though,” he mutters when I take it from him.
“What’s a shame?”
I close my eyes as he sweeps some hair over my shoulder.
Leaning into my exposed ear, he says, “I’ve never been able to sleep in hotels.” His voice is deep and foreboding. “We’ll have to find another activity to do.”
Please let him talk to me like this for the rest of the night.
“Like what?” I ask. “Watch a movie? Play cards? Talk about our feelings?”
He tips a hundred dollars of American money to the middle of the table like it’s nothing. “Yeah, something along those lines.”
Taylor takes my hand. I tuck into his side as he leads me through the unsuspecting restaurant goers.
We’re going to have sex! I want to shout at them.
They would all clap, and I would bow. The hostess would give Taylor a bouquet of condoms. But I keep my head down and my smile cool.
There will be plenty of time for fanfare later.