Page 100 of The Thing About My Prince

There’s an inexplicable sting behind my eyes. Inexplicable because there is no reason on earth why anything this woman does or says should hurt me. Even when she hasn’t looked at me once, is acting like I’m not even here, and is talking about me as if I’m a piece of toilet paper that got stuck to her shoe, caused her extreme embarrassment, and needs to be yanked off and flushed away.

And yet, the knot in my stomach is more pain than anger, more upset than fury.

Maybe that’s because it’s not only me she’s treating as an irrelevant irritation, it’s Oliver. She makes it sound like she’d love to get rid of him too, but she can’t because she, unfortunately, gave birth to him.

He absolutely does not deserve that.

Not only is he her son, for fuck’s sake, he’s a better person than she has any hope of even dreaming of being.

A chill settles inside me with the realization of what I have to do.

The only way to get this to stop right now, the only way for me to protect him from being treated like this for the four-thousandth time, is for me to do what his mother says and leave.

I might not have been here all the other times he’s been through things like this, but I’m here now. And this is something I can do for him.

If I’m gone, things will be better for him. Still not great, but definitely not as bad as if he’s associated with this worthlessAmerican.

“Get ridof her?” Oliver’s entire body tenses, and I can feel his heart rate rise.

“Well, she certainly can’t come to the wedding,” his mother says.

Giles tuts and shakes his head, agreeing that no such outrage could ever be permitted.

“It’s okay.” The lump in my throat burns when I try to speak through it. I drag my arms from around Oliver’s waist and rise to my tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “I’ll go home.”

Like they’re both connected to the same switch that’s just been flipped, Giles and Oliver’s mother let out simultaneous exhales. And smiles pop onto their supercilious faces.

As I step away, Oliver catches my hand and pulls me back. “Absolutely not.” Then looks at his mother and Giles. “If Lexi’s not going to the wedding, neither am I.”

I pat him on the chest. “It’s okay. It’s totally fine. I’m obviously the problem here. If you don’t go, there’ll be even more bullshit in the media about you shunning your family. But if I leave, everything can get back to normal.”

“Let the girl go.” His mother heads back toward the door, clearly considering this a job well done. “It’s not like there’s any future in it anyway.”

“No future?” Oliver’s voice is raised. “You’re talking about the woman I love.”

His mother spins on the spot like she’s a furious lazy Susan, her face changing from its usual pallor to flaming crimson before my eyes.

Giles shrieks,“What?”

I struggle to not do the same as my stomach lurches upward and crashes into my heart in a collision that rattles my rib cage.

Oh…

Oliver’s talking about the fake relationship.

I blow out a breath.

I’d almost forgotten about that.

Maybe I should join in and lay it on thick, exactly like we were doing before we crossed the line from pretense to naked.

“Honestly, babe.” I hook one hand over his shoulder, and he looks down at me as I rub his bare chest with the other. “It’s totally fine. I love you too. But it’s best for now that I go. You’ll be back home in a week.”

There’s a flicker in his eyes when I sayI love you toothat matches the one in my heart.

“You can not possibly bein love.” His mother spits out the last two words.

“Whyever not?” Oliver asks. “You know nothing about our relationship.”