“It’s obvious.” He readjusts his glasses. “Billie says you treat both of us the same way. You don’t.”
The words are sharp. He’s certain in what he’s saying. A tiny layer of guilt starts to spread over my chest, because he’s right. That was something I thought about while driving here—how to explain why I’m patient around Billie but easily irritated with him.
“I didn’t know I was being so obvious.”
“You are.”
I let my neck go slack and push back into the head rest. “Is that why you ratted me out to Keller?”
Locke glances at me for a second before turning back to the street, shaking his head. “I didn’t.”
“You did.” I huff. “I know you did. How else would he know it was Liliana I was with on Thursdays?”
From this angle, the corner of his mouth coming up in a smirk is hard to catch. But I see it. “He bluffed. He’s a businessman. That’s what he does, and he’s good at it. You fell for it.”
Irritation builds at his bland response. “What the hell does that mean?”
He holds a stare with me for the first time tonight. Focusing on eyes that look exactly like mine makes me feel like I’m talking to myself.
“He wanted you to show up at Billie’s dinner. You were attached to Liliana. One could infer she was who you were meeting with. I didn’t tell him anything.”
“If you weren’t reporting back to him then why did you keep showing up to Caramel & Latte?”
“They have good drinks.” I scoff under my breath. If he hears it, he chooses to ignore it, only saying, “It was obvious how much you cared for her. He used it against you. It’s his business model.”
I grunt. I don’t understand why Keller would want to pass his business to me; Locke was made for it. He was born and built for this, and here’s the proof.
“You would know.”
I don’t mean for it to sound bitter, but my tone turns up anyways.
Locke doesn’t faze. “Unfortunately, yes.”
“Unfortunately?” I don’t know if it’s because we’ve established how I’ve felt towards him, or if it’s because I’ve already encouraged my father to cut me off if he wants, but I don’t hide my thoughts. “You’re Keller’s perfect child. You’re supposed to know that stuff.”
“Unfortunately.”
Locke says it without blinking. Robot-like, programmed to accept those words and feed a response without emotion or thought.
It unsettles me and I retreat into my corner of the car.
“Why would that be unfortunate to you?”
The line of his jaw straightens, and a hard expression I’ve never seen before falls onto his face. “Do you think I like being dad’s special project?”
The answer should be obvious. He’s never gone against anything our father says or does. But his features shift so quickly, it causes me to question my assumptions of him for the first time. That same feeling I got scanning over Derek’s barren apartment is emerging.
“I-” Sighing, he pulls his glasses off. Without them he looks even more cold and serious. “He talked to you about taking over the company, right?”
I back up further into the space between my door and seat, plastic digging into my skin. “Yeah. You knew about that?”
“He told me. A few months ago.” Locke turns the eyewear in his hands and wipes the glass. “I was so happy.”
“What?”
“My whole life has amounted to dad’s dream of keeping the business in the family.” He smiles when he puts the glasses back on, and a pit opens in my stomach. I’ve never seen this side of him before. The happiness spreading across his face is another opposite to everything I thought I knew.
This expression so plainly contrasts with what he looked like thirty seconds ago. The hopeful look completely contradicts the persona I created for him.
