Chapter 21 #3
“Richard,” I said, widening my smile as annoyance flashed in his eyes that I didn’t refer to him as a doctor. “I’m not sure what ‘royal family-type’ move you’re attempting to pull here, but I will be very clear. I do not take orders from you. Or anyone, for that matter.”
“Dad—”
“We’re prepared to make you a deal.”
Luch exploded, slamming his fist onto the table, and the entire restaurant went silent. I froze as every man at the table, including Luch, rose.
Every instinct in my body told me to run. It was the same thing I’d felt the first time I’d met Luch, but a hundred times stronger now that we were around his family.
A blur of motion flashed across my eyes, and I gasped as a red wine glass went flying toward Richard.
Brice.
My mouth rounded, and I gasped, but not before Richard pivoted, preternaturally fast, and avoided the spill of wine. He turned, seemed to track Brice, and my pulse kicked up.
Had he seen the broonie?
“Sir, we’re going to have to ask you to leave.”
I turned to see Lia standing there, Munroe at her side looking elegant in a suit, and two waiters behind them.
“Me?” Richard pointed a finger at his chest. “Luch’s the one creating a scene.”
“That’s not true,” I said, before anyone else could speak, refusing to believe that this man had actually fathered Luch. How could he throw his son under the bus like that? “These men interrupted our date and forced us to dine with them. They were not invited, nor welcomed.”
Light that match and burn those bridges, baby!
But I couldn’t bring myself to care one bit about this incredibly cold and rude family.
They’d just offered to buy me off so I’d stay away from their son and brother.
I couldn’t fathom a world in which my mother would ever have considered something of that nature.
It was astounding that someone like Luch had managed to find his way in a world where he was raised around this group of people.
“Understood. If you’d please leave my restaurant,” Lia said, turning to the others, subtly stepping next to me in a show of support.
Richard looked around the restaurant, realizing he had an audience, and turned on his heel and strode out.
Luch’s brothers all followed suit, shooting nasty looks at me over their shoulders as they did, and in moments they were gone.
Or at least I hoped they were gone. I wasn’t sure I wanted to meet them in a dark car park later.
“Luch. Faelan. My kitchen.” Lia’s tone brooked no disagreement, nor did Munroe’s stern expression behind her.
My eyes met Luch’s.
“I need to go speak to them,” Luch’s voice rasped, and my heart fell. He was choosing his family, because of course he was. They were family. Even if they were cold, robotic, and without any empathy whatsoever.
Without another word, I followed Lia into the kitchen, leaving my heart behind with Luch. In all the ways I had imagined potentially meeting his family, it had never been like this. I’d known they were difficult, but that descriptor seemed like an understatement compared to what I’d just witnessed.
I kept my head high as I sailed past the other patrons and followed Lia into the kitchen, and into controlled chaos. A sous chef worked at the stove, waiters zipped past with plates, and others stood at a long table chopping and prepping. Scents of garlic and basil hung heavy in the air.
“I’m taking fifteen,” Lia called out, untying her apron.
“Yes, Chef,” the kitchen responded. Lia stopped at a mini fridge, pulled out a bottle of already open wine, and held it in the air.
I nodded. Quickly she filled glasses, Munroe taking one and offering it to me, and then nodded toward an arched doorway that was partially cracked open to the night.
Following her outside to what must be a table for the employees to take quick breaks, I dropped down into a chair and heaved out a sigh.
“Brice came and warned me. What the hell happened?” Lia went right to the point, glancing over her shoulder at her kitchen. I winced. My drama was taking her from a very busy night.
“Tough looking group,” Munroe observed, leaning back to absentmindedly rub a hand over Lia’s shoulder.
She leaned into him, and he dug deeper, working out whatever knots she had there.
I’d met Munroe a few times at the weekly dinners now, and though I was told he had an obscene amount of money, he’d always been kind and seemed down-to-earth to me.
“Luch’s father and brothers. They came here to order him to come home and offer me money to stay away from him.”
Lia shot Munroe a knowing look. “Sounds like the ice queen.”
I raised an eyebrow in question.
“My mum. She’s … tricky.”
“Tricky is an understatement. In fact, she’d probably fit in just fine with Luch’s family. It’s unbelievable, isn’t it? That such great people could come from … that?”
“I don’t know Luch all that well, but from the times our paths have crossed he seems class.
Honestly, I’m surprised he went after them and didn’t stay with you,” Munroe observed, and I took a deep gulp of the wine.
There was a chill to the night air and I crossed my arms over my chest. Maybe it was just a chill in my bones from the run-in. I couldn’t be sure.
“I needed to make sure they were leaving.”
I started and turned to see Luch walking up, his shoulders slumped, hands in his pockets.
“Luch.”
“Do you want us to—”
“No, you can stay.” I threw a glance at Lia. I didn’t like whatever had just happened with Luch, and I wasn’t sure I could trust him now. But Lia? I trusted her. “I might need backup.”
“Happy to help. I own many knives.” Lia gave Luch a scary grin, and he sighed, wrenching a hand through his hair while Munroe bit back a chuckle.
“I, obviously, didn’t know they’d be here tonight.” Luch didn’t sit, instead he paced in front of the table, his face impossible to read.
“That’s a relief,” I said, somewhat mollified. I watched him pace. Five steps forward, five steps back.
“I … I don’t know how to explain why they are the way that they are.” Luch pressed his lips together before continuing. “At least, I can’t.”
“Not a great excuse, buddy. You’re not giving Faelan much to go on,” Lia said and I could have applauded her.
“I am both a part of my family and at the same time I want nothing to do with what they want for me. Their blood runs in my veins, but that’s where the similarities stop.
They can’t … won’t … accept that.” Luch continued his pacing, mulling over his words, and my heart felt like it was bleeding out with every step he took.
“Something broke in them, my father particularly, the day I was born. I’ve been living with the guilt of it my whole life. ”
At that, Lia looked at me in question, but I just gave a subtle shake of my head. I didn’t want to interrupt Luch.
“It turned him cold. Colder than he was, I’m told.
The only soft spot I’ve ever seen in him is for my mum.
His inability to help her has soured something inside of him.
He’s looking for an outlet—someone to blame.
And if it isn’t me, for being born, then it’s for the healer that stood in his place because he didn’t make it from his surgery in time to help. ”
At that, Lia’s mouth rounded, and again, I shook my head.
“I’ve lived my whole life with the guilt of being born.”
“Does your mum feel the same way?” Munroe asked, and Luch stopped, surprised at the question. It was almost as if he’d forgotten Lia and Munroe were even there.
“No, she doesn’t. She’s bottled sunshine. You’d never know she was in a wheelchair or had any difficulties in her life if you didn’t see her. She’s never made me feel like I was a burden.”
“Well that’s something, isn’t it?” Lia asked, quickly glancing at her watch.
“It is. But not when I have the rest of them to deal with. You saw for yourself how they are. They’re relentless.”
“But why?” I burst out, frustrated, and stood. “Why, Luch? Why do you need to go home? This was beyond anything a normal family would request. What aren’t you telling me?”
At that, Lia and Munroe both stood as well.
“I think this is the time we exit. Good luck.” Lia squeezed my arm, and Munroe nodded to us both. They ducked inside, closing the kitchen door behind them, leaving Luch and me standing in the light of the almost full moon.
My heart pounded in my chest. I needed answers, because I knew, knew in my very soul that there was something going on here that he wasn’t telling me.
And, while, yes, I still had some things to share with him about the Order of Caledonia, it still didn’t change what he knew of who I was as a person.
Yet I felt like whatever he was holding back would change my view of him forever.
“Just tell me. Please,” I whispered. I didn’t want to beg, but I couldn’t go on—not if there were massive secrets between us.
“I can’t.” Luch looked at me, his eyes burning. “I … I can’t, Faelan. I’m sorry.”
“Of course. Family stuff. And I’m not family, am I?” Hurt whiplashed through me, and I picked up my handbag from the table.
“It’s not … I can’t.” Frustrated, Luch fell into stride beside me.
Heat radiated from him, and I wanted nothing more than to cuddle into him in the cool night air.
Instead, I clenched my arms around my body, stepping farther away from him as I pounded down the path toward my flat.
“Faelan. Please, just listen. It’s not my place. I just can’t share, okay?”
“And I’m supposed to just accept that? I’m supposed to accept that you have some massive family secret that brought your entire family here to try and buy me off to stay away from you? And then what? What happens if I do accept that? Where do we go from here?”
“I … I don’t know.” Luch’s face was miserable. “Back to our happy bubble? I don’t want to lose you, Faelan.”
“But the happy bubble isn’t real.” My voice rose, and I continued down the path, glad I had stuck with my instincts to wear flats, my feet slapping the pavement angrily as I walked.
“I loved it, too, Luch. But it’s not real, is it?
It never was. It never can be. Not when there are all these secrets. ”
“I just …” Luch stopped me, his hands at my shoulders, and turned me to him. “Can you give me time? Can I ask that of you? A favor?”
Wary, I looked up at him.
“Do you understand that?”
“We think it would be best if you remove yourself from Luch’s life.” Those words. I’d heard them so many times before.
“We think it would be best if you leave town. Permanently.”
“You are not welcome here, and you need to leave.”
“Remove yourself from this town or I’ll light the bonfire myself.”
They had stung. But his father’s spiteful, detestable offer …
“We’re prepared to make you a deal.”
“I’ve spent my life being run from one town to the next, forever the outcast. Can you even imagine how that felt, to me, to be assaulted like that tonight?
By your own family?” I held a hand to my chest, and my eyes stung with unshed tears.
“I don’t need them to accept me, but for them to offer me money?
How could you have told them about me, Luch?
There’s no way they would have acted like that if I was just a normal person. Is there?”
Luch’s lips thinned, and my heart cracked.
“You did, didn’t you? You told them about me …” Betrayal sliced through me. I’d expected too much of him, it seemed, when it came to keeping my secrets.
“I swear I didn’t, Faelan. But when you’d first arrived, I might have had a conversation with my father about my suspicions about the new vet in town. But that was it, I swear to you. I’ve never even told them I was dating anyone.”
Now I was conflicted. Should I be annoyed he’d kept me a secret or frustrated that he was keeping secrets from me? Everything swirled around in my brain and when my tears almost spilled over, I decided.
What I needed to do was go home alone and breathe.
I needed Gloam.
I needed my cozy, wee flat.
And I needed to be alone.
It was what I was used to—not relying on anyone—and until I could work through the multifaceted and unsettling feelings from a situation where I didn’t have all the information, there wasn’t much else I could do.
“I’m going home. Alone.” I held up a hand when Luch went to speak.
“I have no idea how I feel about any of this, other than hurt. And I’m not even sure of all the reasons I’m hurt, because I don’t have all the facts.
But what I do know is that I didn’t like whatever that was.
And until you get the situation with your family sorted out, I’m not sure what future we can have together, because the one thing I won’t compromise on is my safety.
And tonight? Your family made me feel unsafe. As did you.”
The words fell like a physical blow across Luch, his face crumpling, and he ducked his head.
“I’m sorry, Faelan. Truly. I would never, ever, want you to feel unprotected in my presence.
” Luch took a step back, and my heart cracked even more.
“I will give you the space you ask for, and I hope you’ll give me the time I’ve asked for.
I … you mean a lot to me, Faelan, and I’m not ready to let you go. ”
“You might not have a say in that.” Turning, I began to walk.
“Faelan?”
“Aye?” I turned to stare at him. My entire body trembled with the effort it took not to cry.
“I’m … I’ll be working nights this week. Just so you know. If you don’t hear from me, it’s not because of this.”
Through the years, I’d had enough practice hiding my feelings and pulling my armor around my emotions.
It was almost second nature to smooth my features out and pretend indifference as I shrugged and turned, hoping Willow’s dress with the sexy backside was making him question his entire existence as I walked away.