Page 45 of Her Brother's Billionaire Best Friend

“But—”

“Come on!” snapped David, and before I could say anything, Laura had followed them away. She turned and gave me a guilty look, before she was gone and out of the room.

Chapter 15

Laura

In the car on the way home, we were both silent. I didn’t feel like arguing with David, especially not in front of Kyle. But as I turned my eyes to watch him, his eyes on the road, shoulder hunched over the steering wheel, I knew it was inevitable. We were going to have to talk about what just happened.

After all, there was already too much unspoken between me and David. I knew he wanted to understand why I’d run away in the first place. I guessed he might suspect it had something to do with my pregnancy. And I knew that he was angry about me avoiding Mom, wherever she was at the moment. But until now I’d had no idea that all these frustrations and resentments might have snowballed.

And I’d never have guessed that Lucien would be on the receiving end.

I was embarrassed. Not only was Lucien my boss, but Kyle liked him. And I knew it had shocked my son to hear the two men he looked up to arguing. Kyle sat in the back, his phone in his lap, staring out of the window as we headed home.

When we pulled up on the driveway, I let out a sigh, and unclipped my seatbelt. I got out. It was a warm night, with flies buzzing round the porch lamp. I waited for Kyle, and then we went in together. Meanwhile, David leaned on the hood of his car.

“Mom,” said Kyle quietly, as we stepped into the house. “What was all that about? Why does Uncle David hate Mr. Barnes?”

I took a deep breath, and put a hand on his shoulder. My son. There was nothing in the world I wouldn’t have done for Kyle. And right now the last thing I wanted was to repeat my family history, making him doubt the people around him. David especially.

“It’s nothing,” I said. “David’s just watching out for us.”

“But Mr. Barnes didn’t do anything wrong.”

“Then he won’t be too upset,” I said. “Now, come on, kiddo. Off to bed.”

“But it’s Saturday.”

“And you’ve gotta be up early tomorrow. Remember our deal?”

“If I came to the party, you’d let me go hiking with Joel and Mikey.”

“That’s right. So go on.”

Kyle nodded. Despite his confusion at the argument, he seemed happier in the last month. He was doing well at school—he’d aced Math and Physics, much to Lucien’s happiness. But he’d still scored a D in History. David had given him a couple of his books from his American Politics class at college. But Kyle wasn’t showing a lot of interest.

He had made friends though, and I was happy about that. Even if I wasn’t necessarily happy about them hiking up to Riker’s Point tomorrow. But still. It was a three hour round trip all in all, and I felt sure that Kyle wouldn’t get lost, seeing as he’d walked that way with David the other weekend.

He headed up the stairs, and I turned to look at David, who was coming in.

“Sure got some nerve, that boss of yours,” he grunted, as he made for the kitchen.

I followed him in there. “You’re the one with the nerve,” I said quietly. “How could you speak to Lucien like that?”

“What, you’re taking his side?”

“Yes, I’m taking his side. After all, you know perfectly well he hasn’t done anything wrong.”

“He treats you like a goddamn punching bag.”

“That’s not true. Not any more.”

“Once a jerk, always a jerk.”

“You were both acting like jerks,” I said. “Squaring up to him like that at the party…What the hell were you thinking, David?”

“I don’t like him,” said David.