Page 94 of Theirs to Desire (Club M: Boxed Set)

MADDOX

“ H ow quickly do you think we can get out of here?” I’d assumed that Gage’s engagement party would be held in a restaurant, but it’s at the Kalorama home of a family friend of Sampson and Rosie Lee.

I’d also assumed that it would be a large party.

It’s not. There are fewer than fifty guests in attendance, which makes it a lot more difficult to escape notice.

Not that that’s really an option anyway. From the moment my mother and I walked into the house, everyone’s been discreetly, but avidly, staring at us.

I expect Kiki Wake to tell me to behave, but to my surprise, she gives me a close-lipped smile.

“I’m quite furious with Gage,” she murmurs.

“I’ve had two weeks to calm down, but I’m afraid that doesn’t seem to be enough time.

” She takes a sip of her white wine. “He went through my belongings, found my private diaries, read about one of the most painful periods of my life and exploited it for money. Despite that, had he apologized even once for what he did, I would have forgiven him.”

“You’re a better person than me. It’s been two years, and I’m still angry.” I give her a sidelong glance. “We don’t have to stay. I’m only here for you. If the damn gossip doesn’t bother you, let’s get the hell out of here.”

She shakes her head. “I don’t want to make a scene,” she murmurs. “Not because I’m afraid of people talking, but because Melissa Lee seems like such a nice young woman. It’s her engagement party; she deserves to have a good time.”

“Even if she has painfully bad taste in men,” I bite out.

“Fine, I’ll be Gage’s puppet this evening.

After tonight, though, he’s on his own.” I smile cheerfully at a man who’s staring at us and lift my glass in his direction.

He grimaces and pretends he hasn’t been trying to eavesdrop on our conversation. Vultures, all of them.

Not Avery.

All week, I’ve been struggling with Brody’s news.

Neither Kai nor I can bring ourselves to tell her about what her parents did, but we should.

Yesterday, we’d collected the collar from Mena Imdorf.

It’s exactly what we wanted. Three strands of thin gold intertwine together, and the clasp forms an infinity symbol.

I’ve never given a woman a collar before.

Neither Kai or I really want or expect Avery to wear it all the time.

But I want Avery wearing it to the club, openly declaring that she’s ours and ours alone.

Something about it feels far more significant than an engagement ring.

When we put it around her neck, she’ll belong to us, and we’ll belong to her.

We are moving fast. But I’ve lost ten years. I don’t want to lose any more time.

“Penny for your thoughts.”

“I went to the glass show last week.”

She gives me a small smile. “I wondered. How was it?”

“The glass or the man?”

She chuckles. “I went to see the art,” she replies. “Not during the opening, of course. If you’d told him you were his son, I thought it best that I avoid Damon.”

I chuckle. “But you were curious enough about the work that you went anyway?”

“I’m always curious about people’s work, you know that. I found the art rather stagnant. The work Damon’s doing today isn’t any different from what he was doing thirty years ago. Where’s the growth? The artistic journey?”

“You are such a snob.” I bump my mother’s shoulder fondly. “I thought the glass was pretty.”

“Pretty.” She makes a dismissive noise in her throat. “Art should never be pretty. ”

I roll my eyes. “For the first five years of my career, ‘pretty’ paid my bills.”

A passing waiter walks by with a tray of finger food, and we both shake our heads. It’s probably silly and immature of me, but I’ll be damned if I’m eating at this party. I don’t like Gage enough.

“I remember that phase of yours,” she reminisces. “There was that one year when you wouldn’t come back home for Christmas because you didn’t have enough money. Stuart was so annoyed with you.”

It had been the first Christmas after Dublin. There’d been a lot of reasons I hadn’t wanted to go home, but money wasn’t one of them.

“But he was also so proud. He’s stubborn, he said to me. Takes after his old man. ”

“He did?” There’s a lump in my throat.

“Of course he did. You’re more like him than you think.”

“Really? I was the photographer who wandered around the world. Gage was the one who went to work at the family firm.”

“Yet Stuart would have never done what Gage did.”

She’s got a sheen of tears in her eyes. She’s still recovering from my dad’s death, from Gage’s betrayal. We both are.

But I have Avery.

“I met someone.”

Her eyes fly to my face. “You did? Who is she? Tell me everything.”

“Her name is Avery Welch.” Today’s not the day to break it to my mother that our relationship isn’t exactly the most conventional thing.

Then again, knowing her as well as I do, I doubt Kiki Wake would care too much about that.

“I’ll bring her to your opening.” My eyes narrow as Gage walks toward us, his shoulders tense. “Trouble.”

“Can I talk to the two of you alone?” His smile is expansive, and his voice is low. Gage has no desire to create a scene either.

“Sure,” I reply mildly.

He leads the way to a small side room. The moment we’re in, he whirls toward me, his hands clenched into fists. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” he snaps.

“What are you talking about, Gage?”

“I told you to show up. To mix and mingle. To pretend that everything’s okay between us.

Instead, the two of you stand in a corner and talk only to yourselves.

It’s not good enough, damn it.” He takes a threatening step toward me.

I hold my ground and stare back at him. I’m not going to create a scene, but if Gage thinks I’m going to sit back and take whatever he’s dishing out, he’s sadly mistaken.

Gage could never control his temper, even as a child. He’s working himself up into a towering rage.

“You’ve already taken my inheritance from me,” he barks. “An inheritance that a bastard like you should have never been able to get your greedy paws on. And now you’re fucking this up for me too? I’ve worked too hard to hook Melissa to let you take this from me. Do you understand?”

I open my mouth to tell him exactly what I think of him and his blustering threats, but before I do, a small, hurt, voice speaks up.

Melissa Lee is standing in the doorway of the room, and judging from the shattered look in her eyes, she appears to have heard most of what Gage said.

My fucking brother. “You’ve worked too hard to hook me?

” She swallows convulsively. “Is that all I am to you? A fish to be reeled in?”

Gage swears under his breath. “It’s not how it sounded.”

She straightens her spine. “I think it’s exactly as it sounds.” Her smile is strained and stilted, and she turns around and walks out of the room. Gage mutters something under his breath and chases after her.

If I’m not mistaken, Gage’s engagement just imploded.

“Well.” I turn to my mother with a grim smile. “That was a fucking disaster.”

Kiki Wakes suddenly looks very tired. “Let’s leave.”

I don’t head to Avery’s condo right away. I have one stop to make first. I head to a studio in Georgetown to which I have twenty-four-seven access.

For ten years, three rolls of film have stayed at the bottom of my equipment bag, with me wherever I go. I’ve never been able to throw them away, but I’ve never been able to develop the rolls either. I’ve stayed tethered to them for a decade of my life, waiting for something.

Now we have a collar for Avery.

I’m finally ready to look at the photos I took of the three of us, ten years ago. Now that the future looks bright and promising, I’m finally ready to face the past.