Merry With a Scrooge (The Love Beach Holiday Collection)

14. Laney

Laney

“We should get marry now.”

My words echo in my head and I can’t help but cringe.

Vail has gone statue still next to me and it takes me a moment to realize what I’ve done.

That this has to be exactly how he ended up engaged to Kavan’s mother.

If I could suck the words back in, erase them from ever existing, I would.

I was serious about getting married. It will look better when he moves forward with gaining either partial or full custody of Kavan if he’s a married man, if he can give him two parents.

Except this isn’t how it should go between us.

“Is that what you want?” He’s been quiet so long the sound of his voice makes me jolt.

My gaze collides with his and I see his confusion, his longing. “I think it might be best for?—”

“Don’t say for me. Or Kavan. What do you want?”

How do I say marrying him is what I used to dream of, but I’m not sure I’m ready to take that step with him yet. “It is. Eventually.”

“So doing it now is not what you want but in the future you will?”

“Yes.”

I need to open up my heart. Let him see inside it if we’re going to have any kind of future. It’s something I never thought I would get to do with Vail. Years ago, I resigned myself to never having more than friendship with him.

“When I was eighteen I would have given anything for you notice me. For you to tell me you wanted me.” The confession rushes out. The words pressed tight together. “The first time I remember my tummy fluttering around you was my sixteenth birthday. You’d come to Love Beach with Quade and Easton.”

“Laney.”

“Let me finish. In the next two years I realized you’d never look at me the way I wanted you to. You’re part of the reason I changed my name. I knew it wouldn’t help with you, I’d given up on ever having your attention, but I couldn’t stand the thought of other men treating me differently because of my name. And I knew they would. Hollis and Cora talked about it. How men would pretend to be something they weren’t in order to date them. I didn’t want that.”

“And I treated you differently because of who you were to my best friend. Not who you are, or your name. If I’d met you another way, if Quade wasn’t my best friend, if you weren’t his little sister, I don’t think I would have stayed away.”

“You would have asked me out?”

“Yeah, I think so.”

“But you’re not sure?”

“No. I doubt I would have felt any differently about you no matter who you were, but I don’t know if I would have gone for it with how young you were. That might have been a stumbling block for me.”

“Not now? The gap between us is still the same.”

“Yes. Only now it doesn’t seem so big.”

“Because I’m not a teenager.”

“Probably.” He turns to look at the water, one hand rubbing over his chin. “You have no idea how disgusted with myself I was when I first wanted you. I couldn’t look Quade in the eye for weeks after.”

“And now? Now you’ll be able to look at him? I’m still his little sister, you’re still ten years older than me.”

“Yes. But he went and married your best friend who happens to be the same age as you.” He smiles at me. “He can’t throw that argument at me.”

“No. He can’t.”

We’re quiet for a moment. Each of us lost in our own thoughts. I can’t be sure what Vail is thinking but I know I can’t get my mind off the idea of marrying the man who starred in all my teenage fantasies.

The more I remember those years the more I wonder how I ever managed to stop dreaming about my brother’s best friend.

I want a future with Vail. Want to help him secure custody of Kavan. I wouldn’t have Vivi looking into every facet of Felicity Turner’s life otherwise. The information I have on her so far isn’t good. I don’t know why he thinks she’s a good mother because all evidence points to the contrary.

“She leaves him alone all the time.”

“What?”

“Felicity. She leaves Kavan with the nanny more often than not.”

“How do you know?”

“My friend is in contact with his nanny. I’ve been sending the woman money for Kavan’s care.”

“You what!” He shoves his chair sideways and stares at me. “Since when?”

“A week or two after we found out about the nanny. Vivi has been keeping a close eye on him.”

“Vivi?”

I smile. “The friend I wouldn’t tell you about.”

“And you’re telling me now?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

“Because two days ago she got Kavan’s biological father to sign over his rights to you.”

“She. He. What? ”

“Two days ago, Vivi and the lawyers in QVE’s California office, went to Kavan’s biological father’s lawyer’s office where he sighed all necessary paperwork to relinquish his rights to Kavan and for you to adopt him. All we need is your signature. Then we can petition the court for shared or full custody.”

Vail’s face and eyes are devoid of emotion. I can’t tell if he’s pleased with what I’ve done, hates it, or is in shock. And when the silence drags on, I squirm in my seat.

“Are you joking?” When he finally speaks his voice is horse, like the words are being fed through a woodchipper.

“No. It’s been in the works for weeks but?—”

“Who? Who is his father?”

This is where it gets tricky. I had to sign a NDA which means I can’t technically say the man’s name. Except the second Vail receives the paperwork he’ll know. “Bernard Wilton.”

“The Academy Award winning director?”

I nod.

“The very married award-winning director?”

“Yes.”

“Well fuck. No wonder she never told me who it was.”

“From what Vivi has been able to find out, Kavan’s conception wasn’t a run of the mill hookup. She’d been seeing him on the side for a while. The relationship ended when he caught her fishing a used condom out of the trash can.”

“She…” He shakes his head. “I have no idea why she?—”

“She was retrieving the sperm with a syringe and squirting it up?—”

Vail’s hand flies up, palm out. “Nope. I don’t need the rest.”

“Felicity has a blog. It’s supposedly anonymous but even a tech novice could find out who’s behind it.”

“Okay.” He drags the word out and I can tell he’s confused by why I’m telling him this.

“It’s called The Easy Life With a Sugar Daddy .”

His jaw clenches with a clack of teeth. “Am I on there?”

“No names are mentioned but if someone knows you reads it, they’d know who the writer is and who she’s writing about.”

“Fucking hell.” He closes his eyes and tips his head back. “Can your friend take it down?”

“It’s already down.”

His gaze snaps to mine.

“You don’t think I’d let that stay online once I found out, do you? The first thing I did was tell Vivi to erase it.”

“And she did?”

“Yes. Kind of. To Felicity it looks live, as though anyone surfing the net can find it, but Vivi has done something to her computer and Vivi’s hosting the blog on her own server, no one has access to it. I don’t understand the details, but Vivi assures me it’s no longer on the internet.”

“Can I use what you’ve found to get full custody?”

“Is that what you want?”

“Yes. I want Kavan. And I’d rather not have to deal with his mother if I don’t have to.”

“I don’t know if it would help. Maybe if it was your sperm she’d stolen but you’re only his adoptive father.”

“But she’s been leaving him with his nanny all the time.”

“She has.”

“Surely that would go in my favor.”

“It might. I don’t know. I’m not an expert on family law.” There’s one more possible way of giving Vail what he wants. “Chad has someone investigating something else that might help.”

“What? What else?”

“The crowd she’s hanging around with at the moment are into drugs. Heavy drugs. His contact thinks she’s using?—”

“She doesn’t have money.”

“No. She bled the account dry fairly quickly.”

“So how is she using without money?”

I press my lips together. I don’t want to tell him. I know he’ll insist on going to LA right now to get his son.

“Just tell me. It can’t get any worse than her doing drugs. The only thing keeping me from flying out there right now is, that according to you, Kavan is with his nanny most of the time.”

“Chad thinks the guy she’s seeing is the dealer. And he’s pimping her out to high-end clients to pay for the drugs.”

“Are you finished eating?”

The change of subject has my brain floundering. “Ah, yeah?”

“Good.” With a quick swipe of his hands, Vail has our leftover food bundled up and in the trashcan a few feet away. “Come on. You can drive while I organize things.”

“Organize what?” He cups my elbow and urges me to my feet. “Vail? What are you organizing?”

“We’re going to Vegas. Then LA.”