His fingers skim the bottom of his glass. Looking like he was somewhere else entirely. He snorts but it’s dark.
Blinking he comes back to. “It’s not all bad though,” he decides.
My nose wrinkles. “How not?”
“Abram gives half an ass cheek about me which is more than I can say about Cole’s dad.” He snorts again, just as vulgar.
My mouth drops. The food on my plate was only half eaten but I’ve lost my appetite.
The single glass of wine making me brave. “What do you mean?”
Finn’s mouth parts, then snaps shut. Silas’s inflamed voice echoing around the room. “You’re late.”
The coldness sending chills down my spine. The man was dead inside.
His eyes narrow to pointed slits. Watching his son as he takes the only seat left. The one directly across from me. I couldn’t have planned for something more comically ridiculous if I’d tried.
Foolish is what I was for not perceiving that Cole would be here. It was his home, for crying out loud.
I’m tempted to raise my glass like Finn had so many times, but refrain.
Cole’s eyes bore into mine over the crystal of his glass and my lungs squeeze. That subtle grin vanishing as soon as his father says his name.
Our small moment broken. My forehead creases, hating how much I liked that look on him.
Turning his head menacingly slow in his father’s direction. My heart felt a sentiment of sadness for him. For so long I’d thought Abram was awful, and he was, but compared to these two, he seemed like a saint.
Pure hatred radiating between the pair. On both ends.
“Father,” Cole says casually, but you can feel the underlying bitterness.
Silas pierces Cole with a look. It’s so full of repulsion and embarrassment toward his only son that even I must force myself not to flinch.
Cole returns the stare, unblinking. Meeting him head-on.
“How do you expect to run Hardin one day with hundreds of millions of dollars in investments, if you can’t manage to show up on time now?”
“Easy,” Cole asserts. Swirling the water in his glass with so much conviction it seems unnatural that he’d be unsettled in the presence of his father. “You don’t have afuckingsay.”
“Watch your mouth!” Silas roars, eyes wild.
Drawing out a long dramatic sigh, Cole looks back over in his father’s direction like he’s used to this comment. “And if I don’t?”
The hard lines of his mouth turn up ignoring his father’s sneer. He was going to enjoy what he was about to say.
“You and I both know what’s in store for you as soon as I graduate college.” Cole’s eyes carry a knowing glint.
That look setting Silas off further.
“You are spineless. Weak. Just like—”
Cole’s eyes flare. Fingers stilling around the rim. “—Just like who?”
The question has the room falling quiet. A thick, paralyzed strain replacing the exchange.
The corners of Silas’s eyes draw into barbed peaks as some unspoken thing passes between them. Cole’s eyes a gleaming ball of white fury.
“We both know you need me,Father.”