Page 143 of Ruptured
“Of course, baby, but it still wasn’t my place to influence such a monumental decision. One that you and Knox had already worked out.”
“We didn’t mean to shut you out,” Grant said.
“You, Knox, and Hal visited the schools you chose. Joan and I both were left on the sidelines. Besides, we knew what university you and Hal wanted Grant to attend, Knox. The Harrington alma mater. My opinion wouldn’t have mattered.”
The more Roxy spoke, the more horrified Knox looked.
Another sip of wine prevented Kendall from relaying what was so fucking obvious, a dead man could see.
Roxy cleared her throat, eyed Grant, then looked at Knox. “I didn’t want you to blame me when Grant patched in. If he’d stayed, it would happen sooner rather than later.”
“Patched in?” Knox asked, blinking. “As in joining the club? I know that. Why would that be a problem?”
Kendalldidroll her fucking eyes, while Grant and Roxy looked at each other.
“What am I missing?” Knox asked slowly.
“Mortician called me this evening,” Roxy announced.
Grant tensed.
“Even if I hadn’t talked to the boy, I already knew.” Roxy smiled with encouragement at Grant. “You want me to tell him, sugar?”
“Tell me what?” Knox demanded. “How fucking dare Mortician talk to my son about what sounds like a serious matter and don’t have the decency to tell me?” He fisted his hands on his hips and met Grant’s gaze. “Spit it out, mister. Unless you intend to tell me you want to piss away school and become a full-time biker, I don’t understand what’s all the mystery about.”
The fuckhead finally got it.
Kendall drained her glass.
Absently, Roxy refilled it, since no one had returned the chardonnay to the wine cooler built into a portion of the island. “That’s exactly what it is, Knox,” she said. “Grant wants to be a biker.”
Eyes widening, Knox lost all his color and he gasped. “A biker? As aprofession?”
“Yeah, sugar.”
“No. Absolutely not!” he said, then looked at Grant again. “Is that true, son? You want to join a world of mayhem and lawlessness?”
“Calm down before you put your fucking foot in your mouth,” Roxy warned. “It’s Grant’s life. If he wants to dress up in a bear costume and juggle for a living, we don’t have anything to say about it.”
“The fuck we don’t! We’ve worked hard to give him a good fucking life and this is how he repays us?”
“Dad, we’re both nepo babies,” Grant inserted. “What do you mean you’ve worked hard?”
“Nepo babies?” Knox sounded even more appalled. “Did you just call me a fucking nepo baby?”
“Excuse me,” Grant sneered. “Trust fund baby. Generational difference.”
“You’re grounded, buster!”
“I’m twenty-two-years old. How can you ground a grown man?”
“When thatgrown manis a fucking immature idiot,” Knox snarled.
“Enough, Knox! You can’t insult Grant because you’re disappointed in his choices,” Roxy scolded.
Knox ignored her. “You were supposed to graduate from law school. Join the firm’s legal team. I always hoped you’d one day want to follow in my footsteps and take over the reins of Harrington Enterprises. Once I’m gone, the board will elect someone outside of the family and we’ll lose a company that we’ve headed for generations.”
“I know, Dad, and I’m sorry. But, yeah, I want to be a biker. I even have a cool road name.”
