AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Woah,” he says, lifting his hands in front of him. “Who said anything about me fucking him. I’ll go and flirt a little, admit it’s me who wants the shares, and see if that makes a difference. I’m not gonna fuck the nasty dude.”
A burst of nervous laughter falls from my lips. “Oh thank god, because we really don’t need those shares enough for you to do that.”
“The annual Archibald Inc board meeting is in two weeks’ time, if we can get Overston’s shares by then, we can attend the meeting and present our recommendations to the board. If it works, we could have your dad fired and humiliated by the end of the month,” Carson says quietly, his steady gaze locked on me.
Since the party I’ve been in a perpetual state of anxiety, waiting for my parents to attack, to drop the next bomb, but it’s been unnervingly quiet. Carson and I shared our engagement photos, we even had his family join us for some shots and then we took group pictures of the six of us, then ones with all the guys’ families. The fact that we excluded our parents couldn’t have been a bigger slap in the face, especially as the pictures ran in all the New York society pages. A new dynasty is born was the headline that went along with the pictures, along with details of both mine and Tally’s engagements.
Arlo’s guy is still keeping track of our parents, so we know they’re still in New York, but the silence from them feels like the lull before the storm.
“I’ll turn up at his office this afternoon and see what I can do,” Wats says as the bell rings, heralding the end of lunch.
“Dinner at ours tonight then?” Carson suggests.
Everyone nods their agreement and we leave the cafeteria and head to our classes. We only have a few months left to the end of senior year, then we’ll leave St Augustus and head to Cornell. Tally and Arlo plan to get married in the summer, but even though I know that Carson is my future, my mom’s voice is still chirping in the back of my head taunting me that this isn’t real, that he’s playing with me, that he couldn’t possibly want me the way he says he does.
Suddenly the food I just ate turns to ash in my stomach and bile fills my mouth. If this all turns out to be fake, I have no idea what I’ll do. I’m so invested in him, in this life he’s promised me, in the way he makes me feel, that if it’s all a cruel joke I know I won’t be strong enough to survive it.
“Priss,” Carson growls, his fingers wrapping around my arm and squeezing. “Baby what the fuck’s going on?”
Shaking my head, I cover my mouth with my hand as tears pool in my eyes. I can hear my mom’s voice so clearly in my mind. Ugly, fat, worthless. I don’t know what triggered this now, but all of a sudden I’m a mess of insecurity and fear.
“Priss. Carrigan,” he says, my name a demand for something that my addled brain doesn’t feel capable of processing.
Suddenly my feet are off the ground and I’m moving, held tightly in Carson’s embrace as he carries me somewhere. The world around me blurs as unshed tears mar my vision and fear so potent it blinds all rational thought consumes me.
The slamming of a door cracks the cage of emotion I’ve fallen into, and blinking I find a furious looking Carson glaring down at me. “Snap out of it, Priss, talk to me, tell me what the fuck is happening.”
“I don’t know,” I cry, sinking down to the floor and pulling my knees up to my chest. “I won’t cope, I won’t.”
“Won’t cope with what?” he cries.
His demanding tone calms me enough that I lift my eyes to his and lock my gaze onto his face. “If none of this is real,” I whisper.
“What?”
Shaking my head, I bury my face into my knees and hide from him. It’s pathetic and childish, but right in this moment I just can’t be a grown up, I can’t deal with this guy and my parents, and still function.
“Look at me,” he growls, his voice so close I can feel the warmth of his breath as he talks.
Lifting my chin, I look up and find Carson kneeling on the floor in front of me.
“What the hell is going on?”
“I don’t know, I just…”
“Look at me,” he orders.
My eyes lift and my gaze locks with his without thought, the tumultuous emotions that stare back at me make the breath I’m panting to take, catch in my chest. No one has ever looked at me the way he is right this minute.
“You’re mine,” he says slowly.
I nod, the movement painful as tears fill my eyes.
“Tell me,” he demands.
“I’m yours,” I whispers, my voice cracking as I speak.
“I know you’ve lived in a world of lies and mistruths, but me, us, this,” he says, pressing his palm to my chest directly over my heart, “is real. There’s never been anything as real as me and you and that huge diamond on your finger. When you doubt it, all you have to do is look down at that gold band, it’s a circle, never ending. That’s us, Priss, never ending. I love you baby, so fucking much, and when you hear that bitch’s voice in your head you need to remember that. You need to remember that she’s nothing, and we’re everything.” Pausing he drags me into his lap, holding me tightly to his chest. “We’re everything, Priss, everything.”
