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The old him would probably be in a club right now, partying and drinking. It’s nice to have fun every once in a while, but Carson was always at one party or another until a couple years back. Then he slowed down, started taking his firm and his life more seriously.
It was around the time I showed up, actually, around a year after when he started being able to look me in the eye. Before I showed up, he attended all those parties for fun. After I showed up, I think he did it as a distraction from the guilt he was feeling.
“I’m just saying, you need a girlfriend, Boba,” Anika continues. “And I mean an actual girlfriend, not one of the endless women you keep on your roster.”
“‘Endless’ is a bit of a stretch,” Carson says with a wolfish grin.
“Manwhore,” Anika says, shaking her head in disappointment. “One of you is practically a virgin?—”
“Hey,” I protest.
“And the other one isn’t even close to settling down. And these are the elder siblings I’m supposed to emulate?” Anika muses.
“There’s nothing wrong with being almost a virgin, Nika. Be like Emilia. There’s no man that’s worthy of either of you,” our brother says seriously.
My nose wrinkles. “That sounds sexist. You get to chase after anything in a skirt and we can’t chase after things in pants.”
Carson snickers, his eyes meeting mine, “You might actually benefit from something in pants.”
“Ew, gross. Never again, Carson!”
“Yeah, you’re right. I feel a little sick,” he says, looking genuinely disturbed.
Anika laughs. “The two of you need to be in happy healthy relationships. Look at me and Edward—we’re happy.”
“Sure,” Carson mutters.
He’s not a fan of Anika’s boyfriend. Edward’s in a band, which would be cool if it didn’t mean he’s an unemployed twenty-three-year-old. They’re high school sweethearts, though; they’ve been together for years, and he treats her well. I’m happy as long as Anika’s happy.
“Hey, how are things at the shop?” Carson asks after a couple of minutes.
My lips turn down in a frown. “Fine,” I mutter.
I really don’t need a reminder about how bad things are right now with my business. My brother’s the CEO of a successful firm, while I’m barely keeping things together at my small coffee shop. It’s embarrassing.
“You know I’m always here if you need help right, muffin?”
“Sure, Carson.”
Anika eventually agrees to switch to something we can all enjoy, and the three of us settle in to watch a movie about a heist gone wrong. We’re about an hour in when Carson suddenly sits up.
“Shit,” he mutters under his breath.
The both of us look toward him. He’s holding his phone in his hand, his finger scrolling down. I arch an eyebrow in question.
“What’s wrong?” Anika questions.
He doesn’t say anything for several seconds which immediately has me worried. When he doesn’t reply, Anika gets up and moves closer so she can read over his shoulder. She gasps, like, a minute later and now I’m too curious to sit down.
“Did someone die or something?” I ask, moving toward them.
The first few words I see on the screen of Carson’s phone make no sense.
My brows furrow. “Who are the Harringtons? And who is an illegitimate child?”
Carson looks up at me with wide eyes. “You’re joking, right? The Harringtons? They’re the people who own, like, half the buildings and prime real estate in this town.”
“Oh. Them,” I say, remembering the super-rich family I’ve heard so much about. They apparently lived here for a long time but eventually moved, establishing the headquarters of their multi-million dollar company in New York. “What’s this about illegitimacy?”