Shut Up and Kiss Me by Madeline Sheehan, Claire C Riley Read Free Book Online Page B

Will had left, unsure if I wanted to show it to Nikki, but knowing that I would regardless. I shared everything with Nikki. She knew my past and she knew my present. My future was still to be determined.
    I had come to New York wide-eyed and disillusioned with life. Both my parents were dead, I had no siblings to speak of, and a past I had no choice but to run from. Only Nikki had stopped me in my tracks. She was small and feisty, witty and loyal, and I knew as soon as I’d met her that we’d become fast friends.
    Her eyes went wide at the sight of the note, a grin splitting her lips.
    Rolling my eyes, I pushed it across the tabletop. “It’s nothing good. Just his name and number.”
    While Nikki scanned the small scrap of paper, I stared blankly out the window, feeling somewhat used, even though I knew I had used him just as he had used me.
    Was it wrong of me to feel slighted by him? To be bothered that he’d snuck out while I slept? I wasn’t sure. I only knew how I felt.

     

* * *
     

     
    “ Today?”
    Will paused in mid-stroll and turned to glare at Richard. He’d been under the impression he was only here, at his parents’ estate in Westchester, for his weekly brunch with his mother. Only his mother. Not then entirety of his…family.
    “ I reminded you,” Richard said dryly, shaking his head. “Two days ago.”
    “ Is he serious?” Will asked, turning to look at his Angus, his family’s butler. “They’re all here? Now?”
    The “they” being Will’s two brothers, his sister, their spouses and their children.
    The old man nodded solemnly. He had been working for Will’s family since before Will’s birth, and never once did he have an expression that looked anything other than...solemn. Will was quite sure Angus had a wife, kids, grandkids, and even a great-grandchild, but when he was here, working, you’d think he was a robot.
    “ How’s your family?” Will asked Angus, handing him his coat.
    “ Very well, sir,” the butler answered, his tone as robotic as his expression. “Thank you for asking.” And then, with a single nod, he turned and marched slowly from the opulent main hall.
    Will watched him go, taking note of the way his shoulders were hunching more than usual and that the limp in his left leg seemed a bit more pronounced. Although, for a man in his late eighties, who’d spent a lifetime of servitude to the likes of Will’s miserable family, Angus seemed to be doing just fine.
    Turning back to Richard, finding the man smirking at him, Will sighed heavily. “I should make you join me,” he said.
    Richard’s dark eyes widened considerably, a laughable expression on such a large, intimidating man’s face. “I’d rather eat my own eyeballs while standing barefoot on hot coals.” Then, his shoulders quaking with silent laughter, he quickly added, “Sir.”
    “ Go,” Will demanded, his lips twitching as he tried not to laugh. “Get out of here, you lucky bastard.”
    Richard wasted no time in hurrying toward the door. Glancing over his shoulder, a full-fledged grin on his face, he called out, “I’ll keep the car running…you know, in case you need a quick getaway.”
    The double entrance doors slammed shut behind him, the sound echoing loudly through the vast space and vaulted ceiling. Will glanced up, looking over his mother’s prized chandelier with disdain.
    He hated extravagance and his family was nothing if not extravagant to the nth degree. It was why he’d traveled so much, to forgo the creature comforts and excess he’d been raised among, hoping to find something else—something that would fill up the emptiness all the things surrounding him could not.
    And for a while it had worked. He’d kept himself busied with visiting other countries and taking part in different cultures. And while the scenery had been phenomenal, the people intriguing, all he’d really garnered after years of travel was that, unfortunately, his problem wasn’t with his