“He owes me! I raised him alone, and he owes me for that, at least!” Warren shouted. I turned back in his direction.
“And you took your payment last time you showed up here, uninvited, unannounced and unwanted. I think a stolen loaf of bread was a more-than-fair trade for whatever you put Henry through in his childhood.”
I snapped my fingers at Lucian, as if I had the power to command him. I momentarily relished the thought, even as he fixed that glower on me instead of the man on the other side of the bars.
“Have your team escort my father-in-law back to whatever hole he crawled out of, will you, Lucian?”
“With pleasure,” he muttered through gritted teeth, and as I hopped and skipped my way back over the scorching jetty, with Liv on my heels, I let out a shuddering breath.
“That was incredible! And … you just said you loved Henry!” Liv panted, trotting to keep up with my much longer legs.
“I didn’t!”
“Oh, you absolutely did, and it slipped out so easily, almost as if you didn’t even need to think about it!”
I turned, frowning at her. “I absolutely didnotsay … that word … to Henry’s asshole father!”
“Oh, but youdid!” Liv insisted in a singsong voice. “Because youloooooveHenry!”
I honestly had no clue how Henry put up with me teasing him to see a blush, because as my cheeks heated, I wanted to strangle Liv. “Well, if I did, it’s because I’m in character. It’s all part of the Mrs Baxter act!” I stormed off, ignoring the way my bare feet protested on the hot jetty, and the way my heart flipped and flopped.
I didn’t believe my own lie for a second.
“Let’s not mention this to Henry,” I suggested when Lucian rejoined us on the yacht, looking like he was ready to punch something.
I tensed, expecting an argument from him, but he leaned his fists on the kitchen bench, blew out a very long, weary breath, and nodded. “Agreed. He doesn’t need anything else to stress about right now.”
Shit. WasIstressing him out? Was this whole fake marriage thing weighing too heavily on him? Or was there something going on at Tickle that was worrying him?
I opened my mouth to ask Lucian, but he silenced me with a glare. “And you. Don’t ever put yourself—or Liv—in a situation like that again, do you hear me? Warren is volatile, and I had it under control before you waltzed out to inflame the situation.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You do not get to tell me what to do. I think I handled him pretty well, thank you very much!”
“No,” Lucian barked. “You didn’t. He’ll go away now and stew over every little insult you threw at him, and then he’ll plot some way he can get revenge for it. He’s a petty, angry man, who sees himself as the victim in every scenario. You’ve just made yourself the new villain in his sob story. He’ll be convinced that if it wasn’t for you, Henry would have reconciled with him, and he’d be living it up on his son’s money.”
I gaped. “That’s insanity!”
Lucian jerked his shoulders in a shrug. “You said you knew his type … clearly you also have a fetish for antagonising his type.”
Liv stepped closer. “I don’t think that’s fair, Lu?—”
“It’s very fair!” Lucian snapped, rounding on her. His face softenedinto something less infuriated and more concerned when he looked at her. “Don’t you ever let someone rope you into something so reckless again, you understand?”
Liv nibbled on her lip, then nodded. My heart broke for her.
“How about you let her make her own decisions. She doesn’t needyouacting like a controlling prick too,” I grouched. Liv’s eyes widened, darting to me, pleading. I bit the inside of my cheek. Damn it, those three glasses of vodka had loosened my tongue more than I’d realised.
“What does she mean, Liv?” Lucian asked softly. He reached towards her face, before thinking better of it, clenching his fist into a tight ball and letting it drop to his side.
“Nothing … just don’t worry about it,” she mumbled, hurrying over to the garment bags. “You know, Irina, I think that we won’t find better than the Bella Draper jumpsuit. I’ll just get back to the office and organise couriers to collect the rest.”
She bundled them into her arms, struggling under the volume of clothing. I jumped to my feet. “Let me help!”
Lucian’s hand found my shoulder, pressing me back into the bar stool. “I think you’ve done enough today. I’ll help Liv back to her car. I should double check that the boys have sent Warren on his way.”
He extricated the entire pile of clothes from Liv’s arms, hoisting them over one shoulder like they weighed nothing, and gently took her elbow, steering her in the direction of the stairs.
“Don’t you go anywhere!” he warned before ascending. I saluted him, then added a middle finger once his back was turned, pulling a face at his retreating form.
