Page 7

Nolan

"Y ou should divorce her." Damien threw the game controller onto the couch as the screen flashed the words 'Winner: SycoWizard.' It was the third game I had won and I could tell he was getting frustrated. Carey was a much better gamer and was competitive at this than Damien, but he was busy hanging with the others.

After we finished eating the awkward brunch, people had split into little social groups. My younger brothers proceeded to my cellar to get a better brandy and were now relaxing on the terrace. While Ivy, Thalia, Willow and Lynn proceeded to retrieve a game in my study, but had since disappeared there and I would occasionally hear laughs filtering to the living room. Aelin was somewhere in the house and I didn't care where. I just wanted to play a game with Damien to get the frustrations I had with my wife out of my head.

"Want another game," I said. "You might beat me this time around."

"W. Burgess is not worth it, man." He picked up the controller again and chose a different character. The one he picked was worse than the one he had, but I didn't want to discourage him further. "Trust me, as someone who is married, marriage is not a joke."

"I don't mean it in the whole my wife bad, shit. I mean the actual institution itself. It's not a walk in the park. I love Ivy, okay? And that makes it ten times better and ten times worth it, but sometimes…"

"Careful. You don't want to talk shit about my sister to me." To be truthful, I would rather he talked shit about Ivy than mention Aelin. I didn't want to deal with that entire debacle. What she did to Lynn was horrendous and not to mention all the baggage Aelin came with. I thought I knew all her scandals, including the ones she tried to hide. I guess this one was a little personal to Lynn, so it never came out. Her reaction, though, had been maddening. It had proven her guilt. She didn't even refute a single thing.

My life would have been much easier if I had said no to Kenneth, than dealing with his wayward granddaughter, but that was water under the bridge. W. Burgess was worth it, regardless of what Sebastian said.

"I don't care about what she did. It's all in the past," I added.

"All you care about is getting the one thing your father couldn't get?"

I punched Damien's character twice and nearly killed him before he put on the shield. "My father doesn't factor into my business decisions."

"I don't know, man," he said as he tried to fight back against the onslaught of power moves I was making on him. "Some would say otherwise."

"I hope you're not some."

"No. But I want what's best for you."

"Did you all gang up on me? Is that why you're here? Because Ivy told you to talk some sense into me." When I turned to face Damien, he was beet red. Of course. That could be the only reason they all came, including Raine, who couldn't be bothered to attend most family gatherings. They were talking me off the ledge. Sebastian and Lynn were first. Now Damien.

"I want you to be happy, that's all. I wish for you to have what Ivy and I have. And by the looks of things, you're not getting any younger. You've just turned forty. I don't think you want to be with a woman who gives you constant headaches or drives you to an early grave."

"She's not going to poison me. Don't worry."

"But she could do much worse. Her family could do much worse. I don't trust that old man and any of his descendants."

"If you think you can convince me with something as simple as a plea, then you, Ivy, and the entire Hawthorne family are delusional."

"You married her because of business, I get it. But there are other ways of making money. Or… Is it because you actually find her attractive?"

I was surprised by the direction of the topic that I made a wrong move in the game and Damien got a huge punch in, lowering my stats almost to zero.

"I don't find her hot."

"Or really? So when I saw you checking her out earlier, it was because, what? What's your excuse there?"

"She's a beautiful woman, that's all."

"So you're not hitting that?"

"I don't ask you what's going on in your bedroom and neither should you," I said, increasingly frustrated, cramping my game.

He chuckled. "I am going to take that as a 'no, but I want to hit,' answer. "

"Fuck off Damien."

The screen flashed 'Winner: DevilDee' and I almost wanted to throw the controller in his face as he jumped up and down in triumph. At that moment, Aelin, Ivy, Willow, Lynn and Thalia came into the living room. At first, I thought they were together, until I quickly noticed that Aelin was trailing behind the other women. They were doing their best to pretend they didn't know she was behind them, and she was doing her best to pretend she didn't notice that they were ignoring her. She looked like she was trying very hard not to be sad. If she was anyone else, I would have sympathized with her.

Ivy smiled when she saw her husband jumping up and down. "What are we celebrating?"

"Beat your brother at Street Combat ."

"You only beat me once."

"Good job. Nolan needs his teeth knocked off from time to time, even virtually."

Ivy strolled over to me and gave me a hug. "It's about time we leave. I don't want to burden Damien's mom with the children. Brunch was… interesting."

"Us too," Thalia announced. "Our babysitter is studying for her finals."

"Thanks for coming," I said and glanced at Aelin. She plastered a smile and repeated my words. Ivy took Damien's hand and bid us goodbye.

Damien handed me the game controller. "Don't forget what I said. And don't hold on to your past. "

"You sound like Uncle Ben from Spiderman ."

Ivy tapped Damien's shoulder. "Our son's influence. There's nothing on but Spiderman movies and cartoons at home. But he's right, though. Let that old man go."

I had to refrain from rolling my eyes. Their concern was cute and somewhat endearing. But the idea that I was doing this because of my father was wholly inaccurate.