Page 158 of Mercy (The Sins Trilogy 3)
Chapter Fifty-Six
–eight months later
Anthony
“I know she liked it. And seriously, it’s fine if a one-night stand leaves without saying goodbye, because, you know, it can be awkward the next morning, right? But why the hell did she leave me fifty bucks?” Harry—I mean, Court—rants, while guzzling my best whiskey in the living room of the brand-new home I built for myself and Ivy. It was completed last week, and we moved in two days ago.
He doesn’t go by Harry anymore. He says it’s a name Mother started using only because it suited her. Until Katherine’s death, she always called him Harcourt. So he went back to that instead. No more Darling Harry.
Except Harcourt sounds way too formal, so Yuna, Julie and Ivy started calling him Court, and it stuck.
The fact that he’s hurting bothers me. I wish there was something I could do. But he has to work it out for himself, just like all of us.
It can’t be easy, though. Mother still calls him, to lean on him like she used to. She and Father are going through a bitter divorce, and she apparently can’t handle the stress and the public shame. Neither can she accept the fact that she’s no longer queen bee of Tempérane. The charities she headed quietly demanded her resignation, and no one calls for fundraisers anymore. Father has made it clear she is no longer a Blackwood, and the people of Tempérane were quick to grab their popcorn to watch her downfall.
Edgar shakes his head. “Fifty dollars? She probably faked it. Just how bad were you that she didn’t even leave a C-note?” He looks at me. “You think the fifty included a tip?”
Court is less than amused. “She definitely did not fake it! I would’ve known.”
“Then why the pittance?” I ask, unable to help myself. If you can’t rag your brother…
Court grinds his teeth. “That’s why I’m asking you. Which I see was a mistake, because both my brothers are idiotic, red-faced baboons.”
“The red faces are ’cause we’re laughing too hard,” Edgar says.
Pressing my lips together, I tap my chin. “I can’t think of any other reason, unless you took her to some hundred-dollar roach motel and the money was supposed to cover half the room.”
“Come on, I’d never take a girl to a place like that. It was the Aylster.”
Edgar shakes his head. “Had to be the performance.”
“I’m telling you, it was not. We had a great time. Both of us.”
“Then track her down and ask,” Edgar says. “Or better yet, throw the money in her face.”
“Yes,” I say. “Oh, and at a public event…like her high school graduation. Except that’ll only show everyone what she thought of the night.”
“You guys are dicks.”
I grin shamelessly. “Dicks worth more than fifty bucks.”
Edgar laughs.
“You know what? I am going to find her, and have my revenge.”
“There you go. Revenge is the best…” Snapping my fingers, I turn to Edgar.
“Revenge,” he finishes.
Court rolls his eyes. “At least I’m not whipped enough to spend half a million bucks on a first-anniversary gift.”
“Well,” I say. “First you have to have a first anniversary…”
“He’s going to build her a copy of Versailles for their second,” Edgar says.
“Like I said. Whipped.” Court makes a whip-snapping sound.
Ivy walks in, carrying a shopping bag. “What’s up with the whip?” She sees Court’s mischievous expression and raises a palm. “No, no. Never mind. I don’t want to know. Just don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
