“Tell me, love,” I said, concerned that she’d had to hold something in since yesterday. “What is it?”
She looked down, as if wondering how to broach the subject. My heart was doing somersaults of fucking tension. I knew her as a stripper. What was she going to tell me? She was married? Had a kid? A boyfriend?
But no, I told myself. I knew her. I knew she loved me.
That’s when she looked at me and grabbed my hand and began to say, “Derrick, I haven’t told you some…”
That was it. She didn’t get a chance to finish.
The doorbell rang.
The doorbell fucking rang.
But I didn’t like the sentence she had started and didn't move. This was more important. I sat there.
Until Pressly came into the breakfast room. “Your Highness, your father is here,” he said.
Anything else in the world I would have told them to wait.
But my dad? After everything we had gone through? No way.
But still, I would come back to what Daphne had to say, I told myself.
“Dad!” I yelled, walking into the room, letting my mind go blank for a moment as I hugged him.
“So good to see you, Derrick,” the normally reserved King said as he grabbed me in a hug. Yeah, we hugged, okay? I don’t care if you don’t think it was fucking manly. I still have my pair of giant fucking balls.
Sorry if I sound a bit fucking pissed, mate. I’m a little bit frazzled from the whole fucking day.
Only he wasn’t just there by himself. He was there with his Press Secretary.
“Hello, Samantha,” I said straightening up. She was Dad’s secret girlfriend. I’d known for some time now. At first, I’d hated her because I’d always felt that Dad had cheated on Mom with her. It turns out, they had gotten together only recently. And once Daphne told me about my mother, I basically forgave Dad.
“Hello, Your Highness,” she said smiling at me and shaking my hand. Then her eyes went wide as she looked past me. And said the words that fucking killed me.
“Alicia?” she asked out loud, and my heart leapt. “What are you doing here?”
Where was Alicia? Did they bring her with them? What would I do? Fucking Christ!
I turned around.
There was Daphne. Standing in the entryway from the living room to the foyer, wearing that cute white camisole and lace boy shorts. She looked so adorable.
My heart began to beat but I told myself that I had made the same mistake when I first saw Daphne also. Thinking she was Alicia.
Daphne looked at me with a pained expression. I took a step towards her.
“Daph…” I trailed off as she moved her eyes past me and looked to Samantha. Tears were starting to stream down.
“Hi Mom,” she said and my world started to spin.
Clearly, Samantha Bayer was shocked. My father wasn’t sure about what was going on either. But I’m the one who had his fucking world blown to bits.
So many times I talked about Alicia - it turns out I was talking about her to her!
My brain was spinning and I thought I was going to fall.
“Alicia, what’s going on?” Samantha asked, and Daphne looked at me, concern creasing over her face as she saw me hold onto the banister and try to piece everything together.