Grandpa tried to make sympathetic eye contact with me, but I shot him daggers. Hallie screeched when she saw me and tackled me with an enormous, boob-filled hug.
“Jesus, woman, get those things out of my face,” I bitched. “I turned gay to get away from that shit.”
“You will let us love you, Felix,” she warned. “You know the drill.”
“I hate the drill.”
“Here,” a voice said before a cold drink was shoved in my hand. I turned and flashed a grateful smile at my cousin MJ, one of the only sane Wildes.
“Thank you. Did I ever tell you you’re my fave?” I took a sip of the drink and discovered it was a Jack and Coke. Perfect. I wasn’t usually a drinker unless this crowd was involved.
“Brace yourself,” MJ warned. “According to Twitter, your mom is engaged to that talking-head jackass.”
The room seemed to silence like the scratch of a needle on vinyl.
“Fuck,” I whispered as I felt the blood drain from my face.
“Yep. Sucks to be you right now. The hordes are going to want your take on Psycho Stepdaddy, especially if they find out you’re gay,” she said before turning and plopping down on one of the huge sofas in the TV room.
I couldn’t help but look around the room for Doc and found him walking toward me with his arms outstretched. I rushed into them and let him hug me tightly.
“It’s okay, Fee,” he muttered into my hair. “You don’t have to talk to anyone if you don’t want to. We don’t even have to let them onto the ranch. You know that.”
Grandpa appeared and wrapped his strong arms around us both. Even though he’d been retired for years, I could feel the rancher’s callused grip on my shoulder.
“We love you, son. Whatever you need, you’ll have it,” Grandpa added.
“I need Lio,” I said before I could stop myself. I cleared my throat. “But that’s not happening, so maybe that means I need to man up.”
“I hate that expression,” Doc grumbled.
“Fine,” I snapped. “Then maybe I need to woman up. Regardless, it’s time the reporters remember I’m not a part of her life anymore. Maybe then even she will get the hint.”
My cousin Max started a round of applause from where he sat in an overstuffed chair by the sofa. “Hell yeah, Fee. You tell her.”
“Is that why you’re all here? So when I lose my shit about my mother, you can all get me drunk to help me forget about it? Hell, is it even noon yet?”
I was kidding. Sort of. The last time I’d gotten drunk was the night before leaving for Gadleigh. It had been at the family holiday bonfire after my mother had tried to arrange a “small favor” by telling her then new boyfriend, Chris Corbin, he could have an exclusive sit-down interview with me. When his people had called to pin me down on a date, I’d been mortified. It had taken me every bit of self-control to decline politely rather than rant about what a homophobic, bigoted asshole their boss was. But, of course, that would have just created an even bigger scandal than me denying the promised interview.
Instead of calling Chris Corbin out on his bullshit and calling my mother to rage at her for putting me in the situation in the first place, I’d gotten rip-roaring drunk and propositioned the older woman who delivered our mail. Thankfully, she’d thought I was joking around and went on about how cute and funny I was.
I’d felt thoroughly rejected at the time until I’d fallen into bed and remembered the one tiny detail that had made it a lucky near miss: her lack of dick.
Was I willing to get heterosexual-drunk again today? Mm, I wasn’t so sure. Not enough time had passed to erase the memory of the hangover yet.
My cousin West’s boyfriend, Nico, sidled up to me and put his inked arm around my shoulders. “No, Felix. Last time you got drunk was so special, I’m afraid trying to repeat it would just end up in disappointment. No way you’d be nearly as adorable this time around. You’re too maudlin tonight. Plus, I think the real reason you’re here is because the king of Liorland is going to be on television in a minute. Some big sit-down interview.”
My stomach lurched and my eyes jumped over to the large flat-screen mounted above the fireplace. The channel showed a news desk with a banner across the bottom indicating the king of Liorland was making a special announcement at seven in the evening local time. Which meant noon our time.
“Shit,” I breathed. “Do they know what it is?”
I wondered if the story had finally broken about his dad and Eleanor. Lio had been trying to get a hold of me, but I’d ignored his calls. Had he needed to talk to someone about some shit going down with his dad? If so, I felt all kinds of fool. What if he’d needed me and I’d ignored him? How selfish could I possibly be? No, surely Hen would have told me if something was wrong.