Page 50 of Damaged Prince
I’m annoyed with him right now.
“Nice. Cool. Good to know.” I cross my arms, deepening my scowl. “Wanna tell me why you’re drunk?”
“I’m not drunk,” he counters, lifting a brow.
“Maybe not, but you're on your way there. What's gotten into you? You’ve been moody all day, pissing on everyone's good mood. I get it. You hate the cold, the snow. So why did you come?”
“I wanted to spend time with you.” He frowns.
“Okay, so spend time with me then,” I sigh heavily. “Don’t take off and hide away in here for the day. I wanted this trip to spend time with all of you. I haven’t gotten a chance to do that, really.”
“Because you’ve been giving all your time to Logan,” he mutters, looking away as he takes a drink. “Now you're all about E.”
“Hey.” I’m hurt by his words. “That's not fair.”
“No?” he asks, looking at me again. “You’ve spent most of the time since you moved here with Benny and Logan. And I get it. They needed you. Now that it’s all done with, you’ve moved on to the next brother.”
My eyes sting as this ache in my chest grows. Why is he being like this?
“What about me? Why am I last?”
“No one is last!” I hate that my voice breaks. “I want you all the same, Owen.”
“Could have fooled me,” he grumbles.
“Hey!” I snap, grabbing the drink out of his hand. “Don’t be like this. Talk to me like an adult, Owen. Just like you tell me to do. If you feel left out, tell me. Because from where I stand, I haven’t seen much of you the last few months. You’ve been staying away from me. Even though you’ve told me so many times I was yours. That you were just waiting for me to be ready. I’m ready now.”
“Well, maybe I’m not.” He looks away, and fuck me, I feel like I’m dying.
“W-what?” my voice lowers.
“It’s not my time to be with you,” he whispers. “Eli needs you more than I do right now.”
“That’s not how this works. I can be there for all of you,” I promise. He’s clearly going through something. But what? “Talk to me.”
“I am, Laney.” He looks at me with tired eyes. Haunted eyes. He’s a lot more drunk than he’s letting on. The more he talks, the more his words slur. “I love you,” he says, but it comes out with a bitter laugh. “I’m so crazy about you, it kills me. But I can’t have you.”
“Yes, you can.” I look at him in confusion. “All of you can.”
“No, you don’t understand.” He slams his glass down on the counter, making me jump back in fear. He’s growing angrier by the second, and I don’t know what to do, what’s going on. “No one understands.”
“Hey, man,” Kai grunts. “How about you calm down?”
“Oh, fuck you,” Owen snaps. “You're just here to take my place.”
“No one is taking anyone's place.” Kai frowns, confused.
I bite the inside of my cheek, trying not to cry as everything inside me breaks. “Owen, talk to me. What is going on? Why the sudden change?”
“You don’t understand,” he murmurs, eyes growing heavy. “No one understands.”
He rubs his nose on the back of his hand, sniffing. My eyes widen when I see blood stain his skin.
“Oh my god. Are you okay?” I rush forward, but Kai is faster.
Kai angrily grips Owen’s face. “Are you fucking kidding me?” he growls, inspecting him. “What did you take?”
“Nothing,” Owen laughs, and then it hits me. He’s not just drunk. He’s high too.
