Page 35 of The Grump I Loathe (The Lockhart Brothers #3)

EDDIE

I blinked hard, my head spinning as a whoosh filled my ears. Why did my tongue feel too big for my mouth?

I blinked again.

Harder.

Ow, that hurt. What happened?

I lifted my hand, pressing it gingerly to my forehead.

It was sticky and smelled of grenadine and pineapple and some sharp kind of alcohol.

Had I tripped and fallen into the bar? I pressed up on my elbows, gasping as I lifted my head.

It felt like someone had taken an ice pick right to my temple.

When I finally focused, Grace’s chocolate-and-tearstained face swam into view.

“Eddie?” she blubbered, her voice too loud and far away all at once. “Are you okay?”

I reached for her. She grasped my hand.

“Careful,” she said, sniffling. “There’s glass. ”

“Are you hurt?” I asked.

She shook her head. “I’m okay. Are you?”

“I’m—” I didn’t know. The fuzziness in my head was easing, but the memories were still hovering just a little out of reach.

Something about glass. Grace. The towering pyramid of Ali and Sawyer’s signature cocktails.

Finally, the details started coming back to me.

I winced, horrified at what I remembered.

I’d been standing with Grace by the dessert table, the two of us making an epic fruit kabob we were about to slather in chocolate, when Ali rushed over, breathless as she demanded Grace follow her to the dance floor for the mother-daughter dance.

Grace had refused, claiming she was having more fun with me.

There was a…scuffle? Then something…something… floor .

Ughhhhhh .

“Eddie?” Grace said, concerned. “What’s the matter?”

“I’m okay,” I tried to reassure her as Grace tugged desperately on my arm.

I let her pull me into a sitting position, which made my head rush worse for a few seconds before things started to level out again.

I winced when I noticed the crowd of guests converged around us, blending together in a wall of black suits.

“Grace!” a voice boomed, and next thing I knew, Connor was shoving his way through the crowd like some sort of avenging angel, which was exactly what I needed right now.

Because in the battle of me versus the dessert table, I was losing. Badly.

“Dad!” Grace cried, launching herself into his arms.

I reached out for him, too, but he didn’t even seem to notice. Twisting away from me, he got down on one knee, his hands running over Grace like she was a porcelain doll and he was checking for cracks. “Are you okay? God, you’re covered in…What the hell is that? Gin?”

“I’m okay,” Grace said, shoving his hands away.

“Then why are you crying?” He lifted her arms to examine them for bumps and bruises. “Did you get cut?”

She yanked them back to her sides. “I’m fine!” she said, louder, her lip trembling. “I didn’t mean to bump the table, it was an accident.”

“Of course it was,” Connor said.

“I was just mad and then everything came crashing down!” She threw herself into Connor’s arms again.

He held her, hand pressed to the back of her head, and it was sweet. Really sweet. But it couldn’t entirely stop the sourness in my stomach at the fact that he hadn’t so much as glanced my way. I totally got that Grace came first…but was it too much to ask for me to come second?

“Breathe,” Connor said, patting Grace’s back as she sobbed. “It’s gonna be okay.”

“Mom was so mad,” Grace said. “She stomped away. I think her dress is ruined.”

“Don’t worry about that now.”

Ali was going to have a hell of a time getting that sticky grenadine concoction out of her white silk.

Those bridesmaids had their work cut out for them.

But I supposed it could have been worse.

Could have been the whole chocolate fountain and then she would have spent the rest of her wedding night walking around looking like she’d had a gastrointestinal emergency.

But none of that mattered now, because I was here and Connor was here, and I loved him. That’s why I’d been hanging with Grace at the dessert table. I’d wanted to feel her out and get a sense of whether I might have her blessing for the relationship.

She was old enough to understand, and I was pretty sure she liked me. And if Grace okayed it, what was really standing in our way? That stupid work policy Connor had put in place—and that he could remove just as easily?

“Connor,” I said, reaching out toward him, but he turned away from me, gesturing to an older gentleman in a black tux. “Can you try to get the crowd to back up? We don’t need anyone else falling.”

“Watch your knee there,” the man said, gesturing to where Connor crouched. “There’s broken glass.”

“Thank you, Vikram,” Connor said.

Vikram …I frowned. Why was that familiar?

“Connor?” I said again, quietly. Why wouldn’t he look at me? I pressed my palm to my temple, wincing when that intensified the throbbing.

“Mr. Singh,” a young man called, racing forward to help the man Connor had spoken to disperse the crowd away from the area.

Wait, Vikram Singh! Realization struck me.

Was this the same Mr. Singh from Pavilion Games?

The distributor Connor was supposed to be signing with tomorrow?

Was this why he wouldn’t even look at me?

Because he didn’t want to acknowledge his secret girlfriend in front of his new distribution partner?

That horrible thought hurt even more than my throbbing head.

“Connor!” I said, louder, with more urgency as I let some stranger help me to my feet.

No response .

Well, fine. Whatever. I turned and limped away in search of my own help.

Namely, some water and a painkiller the size of my fist. And maybe somewhere I could take off my shoes without worrying about stepping on glass.

I didn’t think I’d actually sprained anything, but I was sore and bruised all over, and walking in heels required a degree of coordination I just couldn’t manage right now.

A hand wrapped around my upper arm suddenly, and I was jerked back against a wall of muscle.

I turned toward a familiar chest, leaning into his touch, grateful Connor had finally come to his senses.

Maybe he’d just been overwhelmed by his concern for Grace.

I turned to smile at him, but the smile dropped in a hurry when, instead of the care or concern I expected, he scowled at me. “How the hell did this happen?”

I massaged the ache behind my eyes. “I’m going to need you to check your tone, because you’re sounding an awful lot like you think this was my doing.”

Connor lifted his hands, at a loss for words for a moment. “What else am I supposed to think? You were literally in the middle of it. Grace could have been seriously injured.”

I clenched my teeth, which made the pulse in my temple throb even harder. “Just for your information, I didn’t cause this mess. Ali got frustrated after Grace refused to come out on the dance floor for the mother-daughter dance.”

I winced. Talking was making my head hurt worse, but I pushed through.

“I guess Grace had been trying to spend time with her all night, and Ali kept blowing her off, so Grace decided to give her a taste of her own medicine. Ali didn’t take it well.

It got a little heated. Grace was starting to get upset, so I stepped in to defend her right to her own time and choices.

Ali muttered something snide and then Grace shoved her. ”

“She pushed her?”

“Yeah. Ali stumbled into me. My hip knocked the table with the drinks and, well, you’ve seen the result.” I wrenched my arm out of his grasp to prod him in the chest, hard. “So what I was doing was defending your daughter. But thank you for your concern.”

That muscle in Connor’s jaw ticked. “I’m concerned that you’ve been staring at me all night. What happened to playing it cool? Being spies?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Apparently half the wedding knows something is happening between us! So excuse me for trying to keep this off Singh’s radar.”

I shook my head, which was a big mistake, and I groaned. “Yeah, I don’t really give a shit about Singh or Pavilion Games right now.”

“Well, you should, because Shadow is this close to losing?—”

“And that makes it okay?” I said, interrupting him.

“I was flat on my back, injured. Your daughter was so worried about me she was crying, and you couldn’t even be bothered to help me up off the goddamn floor?

And for what? So you could make sure the head of Pavilion Games knows you don’t actually give a damn about anyone who works for you? ”

“Lower your voice,” Connor said through his teeth.

“Or what? You’re worried people are going to look this way?

” I waved my arms around, deliberately making a scene.

“Worried they’re going to think we’re adults doing adult things?

” I dropped my hands. “You know what, I don’t care.

You don’t have to stay here talking to me.

Everything you’re willing to admit you care about is back there. ”

He caught my arm. “What the hell are you talking about? ”

“You care about me more than a few afternoons in bed, and I feel the same—and you’d realize both of those things if you pulled your head out of your ass—so why are we turning this into a huge secret? Why are we making everything so complicated?”

“Eddie,” he hissed, “you know why.”

“No, I don’t. Not really. Because everyone else I’ve talked to seems to think it’s a great idea to just be open about what we are.”

His eyes narrowed. “Who else have you talked to?”

“Max, Leigh…” I gestured across the floor.

“And I didn’t even say anything. They just knew.

That’s why I went over to talk to Grace.

I wanted her blessing for the relationship.

I thought that would finally convince you we didn’t have to hide anymore.

Because I’m not putting up with half a relationship anymore.

I want the real deal.” He released me then, recoiling like I’d struck him, the color draining from his face.

“You didn’t actually talk to Grace about that, did you?”

My heart plummeted into my stomach. “Don’t you think it’s time that we?—”

“Did you tell Grace?” he demanded with such force I shuddered.

“No. God!”

He let out a sigh of relief, and his shoulders slumped like the weight of the world had been taken off them. But that weight had just dropped onto me . Was he really so horrified at the idea of Grace knowing we were together?

Because if so, how could we possibly stay together? His daughter was the most important person in his life. If our relationship wasn’t real to her, then maybe it had never been real at all .

I fought off a tremor. “If this is how you’re going to react to even the idea of Grace finding out about us, then maybe there shouldn’t be an ‘us’ anymore.”

Connor’s eyes flashed. I couldn’t tell if it was with warning or desperation. Did he want me or didn’t he?

“I’m serious,” I said, my words catching. “I’m ending this now. Unless you can give me a reason to stay.”

Tell me to stay. Tell me to stay. Tell me to stay , I silently begged.

Connor’s lips pulled into a tight line—and he shook his head. “I can’t.”

I scoffed, whirling around before he could see the tears well up in my eyes. I stalked off, head and heart aching. I needed to get out of here. I made it all the way out of the ballroom before I collapsed into Leigh’s arms.

“You’re bleeding,” she said.

“What?” I twisted my arm until I spotted the tiny cut on the side of my hand. “I nicked myself on glass maybe. It’s nothing.” I wobbled, off balance, my arm shooting out for her shoulder.

“It’s not nothing,” Leigh insisted. “You fell hard. Hit your head, too. Let me at least take you to the hospital to get you checked out.”

I glanced back toward the ballroom, still hoping Connor would come charging out to apologize, to say that he didn’t want to let me go. But the door didn’t move.

“Okay.” I turned back to Leigh, letting her drag me away and vowing to myself that I wouldn’t cry.