I swallow. “It’s not —”
“Did I talk to you?” Aiden cuts me off, his attention still zeroed in on his father.
Fine. I deserve that. Doesn’t mean it hurts any less, though.
Aiden is the last thing Alicia left behind. Aside from me, he’s the only one who shares DNA with her.
And despite looking like Jonathan, I can feel the touch Alicia left in him. That might sound creepy, though, so I don’t dare to voice that thought.
“I’m waiting, Jonathan.” Aiden plants his hand on the table, meeting his father’s gaze as if he’s a rival.
Jonathan’s expression remains neutral. The same blankness he wears so well doesn’t waver. It’s almost like his only son didn’t just walk in on him in a sexual position with his aunt.
This is so fucked up.
“I do not answer to you.” Jonathan takes a sip of his coffee ever so leisurely.
“You answer to your dick then? Is that it?”
My eyes widen, flying straight to Jonathan, kind of afraid about the wrath he’ll strike on his son. The older King continues sipping from his mug of coffee as if Aiden didn’t just say what he did. If he hadn’t spoken aloud, I’d suspect Jonathan didn’t even hear him.
“How dare you bring this whore to the place Alicia called home?”
I bite my tongue, but I can’t let this slide. I won’t. I may feel guilty towards Aiden, but I won’t allow him or anyone else to treat me this way.
Squaring my shoulders, I glare at him, but before I can say anything, Jonathan stands up abruptly, slamming both his hands on the table and meeting Aiden’s merciless gaze with one of his own.
However, Jonathan’s is more intense and the tic in his jaw enunciates it to a frightening level.
“Enough. This is the first and last time you disrespect her under my roof. Do it again and you’ll have me to answer to.”
I grab my watch to stop my shaky fingers from moving. I never thought I’d need Jonathan to stand up for me until I saw it myself.
Not that it forgives anything he’s done — and continues to do — but the fact that he won’t allow anyone, even his own son, to speak to me that way means something.
I don’t know what it is. But it does.
“Remember what you told me last year?” Aiden’s left eye twitches. “The part about how I have no respect for my mother’s memory? Who, between the two us, doesn’t have respect for her, Jonathan? Huh? Because I sure as shit am not sitting with her doppelgänger on my lap.”
His words slam into me, even though Jonathan remains unaffected. My fingers continue their quivering and I clear my throat. “I…I’m going to go.”
“Stay. This is my house and if he doesn’t like what he sees, he’ll be the one to leave,” Jonathan says with his usual authoritative tone of voice, then addresses Aiden, “After all, you didn’t hesitate to marry Ethan’s daughter.”
“Elsa. Her name is Elsa, Jonathan, and she had nothing to do with whatever feud you have with Ethan.”
Stepping backwards, I inch towards the door. Not only do I not want to be caught in the middle of a father-son quarrel, but I also don’t want to be the cause behind it. I don’t want to witness the two people Alicia loved more than the world itself go at each other’s throats.
It’s almost like a fight between a king and the rebel crown prince.
By the time I’m at the door, Jonathan throws me a disapproving glance, probably because of the way I’m leaving after he insisted I stay.
We’re different, he and I. While he doesn’t care about yelling at Aiden, I do. The scene breaks my heart.
Jonathan is an emotionless man. Or more accurately, his feelings don’t resurface, so I didn’t expect him to have a sappy father-son relationship with Aiden. But I also didn’t expect this hostility either. I thought Alicia’s early, unexpected death would’ve brought them together. Apparently not.
That sure as hell doesn’t help my guilt trip towards Aiden. Maybe things would’ve been different if I’d been there for him since the funeral.
Or if I hadn’t fucked his father.