“Yeah.” I move to follow her but my father grabs my shoulder.
“Eric,” he mutters. “My office. We need to discuss the charges against you—and a new law school.”
“I can’t. I have to—”
“Now,” he says, then puts on a smile and claps the nearest man on the back and says, “Scene’s over, everyone. We’ll sort this out. Please, enjoy the party.”
I shift my gaze to find Julia, but she’s already disappeared.
I should go find her, but I just need a minute to talk to my dad.
We walk into his office. It has a desk with five monitors on it. Mounted to the wall are his Hawthorne diplomas and the Kappa picture when he was president.
He closes the heavy oak door. “What the fuck was that about?”
“Parker is a dick. He’s pissed that I beat the shit out of him.” And that I’m with Julia.
“I don’t even know where to start.” He runs a hand through his hair as he sits at his desk. “I can probably get the charges dropped with a few phone calls, but Cavendish has more pull than me over Hawthorne. What were you thinking? How long have you lied to us?”
I huff out a bitter laugh. “I didn’t want to tell you I wasn’t in Kappa because I knew how much you wanted it.”
“I had nothing when I started at Hawthorne, a scholarship kid from the middle of nowhere Minnesota. I studied, I networked, and met the right people. That’s how I gave you all of this. All I ever wanted was for you to continue what I started.” He exhales. “You know how much this means to your mother. You know—”
“She doesn’t even know who I am,” I snap.
He slams his fist on the desk and the sound reverberates off the wood paneling.
“If she finds out you aren’t going to go to law school, she’ll be hurt. You can’t disappoint her.”
My jaw tics. “This has nothing to do with her. It’s your dream, not hers.”
He rises up and charges toward me and puts his nose inches from mine, and points to a chair. “Sit down.”
My hands twitch to hit something.
I don’t back down from anyone on the ice or off.
But in his castle, with him staring me down, I feel like the kid I was after Kurt died. Guilty. The person responsible for screwing up our family.
With a heavy exhale, I sit down. Texts come in from Julia and I barely read them.
He goes back behind his desk. “This is what we’re going to do. You’re going to move off-campus and live with us.”
He means prison.
“What? No. I need to be closer to school for hockey.”
“Fuck hockey, boy! Don’t you care about your future?”
I look down at the floor. “Of course, I do.”
“I have a friend on the board at a law school in Vermont. It’s small but good. She can get you in there.”
“Vermont . . . but—”
“Lots of old money there. You can spread our influence into the Northeast.”
My eyes bulge. Thousands of miles away. For the next three years. “But I can’t—”
He taps on his computer. “I’ll send an email and see if we can’t get you an interview for the winter break. I’ll ask her what size donation will help expedite the process of finding you a spot.”
“But . . .”
Everything tilts on edge.
He wants to get rid of me. To a place where there will be no Julia.
He barely looks up from his laptop. “And Eric? That girl? The stripper you called your girlfriend?”
This is the final nail in the coffin.
He doesn’t even have to pound it in.
I already know what’s coming. “She’s not what you think—”
“I don’t care. Lose her. Whatever she is, whatever she’s done, she isn’t on our level.”
I slump into the seat, my head spinning.
He can’t do this.
I’m in control of my life, not him.
I watch as he types away.
But . . .
I can’t disappoint him. I owe it to Kurt.
29
Julia
I rush out of the mansion and stop at the bottom as I inhale a deep breath of cold air. My hands shake as I press them to my face. Jesus. How humiliating. The disgust in Mr. Hansen’s eyes. His mother’s gasp of disbelief. The people around us who gave me scathing looks.
Mrs. Hansen opens the door and stands on the top step. “Darling, are you okay?”
I drop my hands and glance up. “Um, well, no.”
She comes down to where I am. “I apologize for Parker, even though he should himself. He’s always been jealous of . . . Eric.”
I rub my arms in the cold. “Eric mentioned it.”
She hands over a pretty black shawl she must have grabbed on the way out. “I’m sorry for saying what I did. It was a knee-jerk reaction, darling, and nothing more. Just the shock of the scene, I suppose. We want Eric to go to law school, and hearing that he’s been fighting and his admission might be rescinded is a big deal.”