“Oh,” Beckett says, staring out at the water. Neither of us speaks for a moment, just soaking up the beauty that is Alaska.
“Let’s go get something to eat,” he eventually says.
“Why?”
“So I can tell you you are wrong.”
“About what?”
“Who your father is.”
He starts walking then, not waiting for me to follow. He knows I will; I’m too intrigued.
There is a small cafe that serves mainly seafood. A smell I’m getting more averse to the bigger my stomach grows. We both sit at a small table outside overlooking the creek.
Beckett orders a salad with salmon.
And I order a grilled cheese.
“Really? A grilled cheese?” he asks.
“Yes, I’m sick of seafood.”
He grins. “You’re just like your father. He took up the job of fisherman. He used to work on yachts for a living, but he hates fish.”
“That’s your big reason why I’m like my father? Because we both hate fish?”
“No, that’s not why.” He leans back in his chair and studies me. “Do you know who I am?”
“You’re Beckett,” I say, not offering that I think he’s security my father hired to help protect me. And that my father also tried to set the two of us up on a date because he’s close to my age.
He nods. “What else?”
“You’re a smug asshole, who thinks he knows more about my life than I do because you spent some time with my uncle.”
He leans forward with a smug smile. “I am those things. But I’m also right. Because I spent months alone with your father. And there wasn’t a single day that passed when he didn’t talk about you.”
He leans back.
I swallow down the lump. It doesn’t mean anything. My uncle-father fucked up so many times. I’ve moved past what he did. I’ll even call him father. But that doesn’t mean he really is.
“Who am I?” he asks again, with a challenging raised eyebrow.
“Beckett—a dickhead.”
“Who am I?”
“A douchebag.”
“Who am I?”
“A dumbass.”
“Who am I?”
“You’re my security guard! Okay…you’re my security guard, bodyguard, whatever you want to call it. You’re here to protect and take care of me, happy?”
He smiles, smugly. “Yes, I am. Your father hired me initially to track you down and make sure you were safe. He hired me to pull you out of that situation before the final round, because even after everything he did to prepare you—even after making sure there was no way the boy couldn’t fall in love with you, couldn’t kill you, he still wouldn’t put your fate in Enzo’s hands. He hired me to pull you out of there and keep you safe.”