“Meh, if you ask my brother, it wasn’t much of a future anyway.”
Ignoring me, she decides she may have better luck with Pierce. “You need to reach out to your parents and tell them what happened. It wasallmy fault. The whole thing. He tried to stop me. I was the one that was supposed to get fired, and Leo lied to save my job.”
“Is that true, Leo?” Pierce asks.
“Nope. The person who deserved to be fired got fired,” I say, struggling to get my right foot into the trousers.
“Why are you lying to your brother?” Bree asks. “This is insanity. Pierce, youhaveto do something. It’s not right. You can’t let him lose his inheritance for trying to protect me. If you could just explain to your father that Leo was acting out of nobility, I’m sure he’ll understand.”
“I don’t think you really understand Lord Alistair Davenport,” I say, having managed to finally get one pant leg on. “He’s been wanting to disinherit me since the moment he found out I was on my way into this world. If it didn’t happen now, it would have happened later.”
“He’s not wrong about that,” Pierce says.
“Well, then,I’llmake him understand. Just give me his phone number. I can convince him. Just let me try,” she says, raising her voice in desperation.
“Brianna. Just let it go!” I snap. “I don’t want his fucking money.”
“Of course you do. You spent six months doing everything right. Everything! Not one drop of alcohol, you showed up for every shift on time, and you did a really great job. You did, Leo,” she says, leaning down to try to make eye contact as I struggle with my trousers. “You paid the rent on time. You learned how to cook and do laundry.” Turning to Pierce, she pleads, “Please, Pierce. He’s tried so hard. He’s changed so much. The amount that he’s helped me over these past months. He’s been an amazing friend and the best tenant anyone could ask for. He mows the lawn and he helps out with my daughter, and he even cleaned up her disgusting vomit one day—”
“After Imadeher vomit,” I point out.
Turning back to me, she says, “Leo, I can’t let you do this. I just can’t let you ruin your entire life for me.”
“Believe me, Brianna. I never do anything without my own best interest in mind. I only helped you because I was hoping you’d sleep with me.”
“That’s not true. You could have slept with me many times over, and no one would have known. But you didn’t because you wanted to honour your word.”
Damn. She’s got me there. “Well, then I did it because I wanted to butter you up in case I ever couldn’t pay the rent.”
“Why are you lying to me?” she says, tears threatening to spill from her eyes.
“Because it’swhat I do. I lie and I flatter and do whatever I have to do to get what I want. It takes a lot more effort than you’d think, actually,” I say with a cavalier smile. “That’s the thing about being lazy and having absolutely no ambition, it’s a lot of work in the end.”
“Stop it. Don’t try to make a joke out of this.”
“Why not? It’s my life, Brianna. If I want to make a joke of it, I bloody well will.”
“You’re honestly standing there trying to tell me you’ve done nothing but lie to me this entire time?”
“For someone so bright, it certainly took you a long time to catch on. Although, technically, I guess you didn’t because I had to tell you what the game was.”
“I don’t believe you. I don’t believe that this—” she gestures with both hands at me while shaking her head in disgust,”—version of you is the real Leo. The real you was the guy playing superheroes with Izzy and helping me blow-dry those fucking butterflies even though they terrify you. The real Leo is the guy who took me out on that silly tandem bike to give me one perfect day when I was so upset. The real Leo is the man who lied to protect me. So why are you pretending to be someone else now?”
“Honestly, Brianna, I don’t know who that guy was. Ask Pierce. This mess of a man who can’t even get his own pants on is the real me. I did exactly what I wanted to do yesterday, because the truth is, I’ve had enough of my father’s shit for a lifetime. Iwantedto be free, so I fucked it all up just like I fuck up everything else in my life.”
Brianna takes my cheeks in both hands. “That’s not true. You’re just drunk right now. You don’t know what you’re doing.”
I stare into her eyes, hating like hell what I have to do. “I may be piss-stinking drunk, but I wasn’t yesterday. I know you want me to stand here and tell you I gave it all up for you out of some passionate love that I’ve been harbouring for you for since I laid eyes on you, but that’s simply not true. I did the same thing with you that I do with everybody else.”
I take her hands and remove them from my face, even though it kills me. “I told you exactly what you wanted to hear and made you feel exactly what I wanted you to feel to get what I wanted. And the moment I no longer needed you, I moved on. Because that’s what I do, Bree.” I stare at her too long, torturing myself with the sight of the moment when her heart breaks. The selfish part of me wants to wrap my arms around her and tell her she’s right about everything. But she’s wrong about me. Just like anyone else who’s believed in me has been proven wrong my entire life. The kindest thing I can do now is to just let her go and walk away. “You were right about me when we first met. I am just a selfish rich prick who doesn’t give a shit about anyone else. I’m not even sorry, really.”
She lifts her chin at me. “I don’t believe that.”
Shaking my head, I say, “For someone who pretends to be so practical, you certainly do have a rich fantasy life in your head, don’t you?”
With that, I attempt to walk away, but my left leg gets caught up in my half-put-on pants, causing me to stumble into the beanbag chair. The momentum I have causes my legs to flip over my head, and I do an especially awkward somersault. When I land, I pop up quickly, let my pants drop to the floor, and walk away in only my Spider-Man underwear and my linen shirt. As humiliating as this is, I hope the sight of me stripped of any dignity will make it easier for the woman I love to let me go.
CHAPTER 31
