Series: Fever Falls Series by Riley Hart
Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 96260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96260 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 481(@200wpm)___ 385(@250wpm)___ 321(@300wpm)
He was right.
Keegan had no way of knowing what being a royal entailed. I knew from being immersed in this world all my life. I’d seen the pain and strife that came with being a part of this family. Up until this point, Keegan had only caught glimpses of what was truly a far more difficult life than he could understand until it was upon him.
Did I really want for him everything that had been such a struggle for me so much of my own life?
The very thing that had torn my family apart?
And even worse, did I want to wake up one day to find he despised me for having been the reason he made that sacrifice?
33
Keegan
I’d noticed Lucas and Owen chatting on the upstairs balcony. They appeared to actually be having a discussion, which was better than the last few times I’d seen them, barely talking except to make snide comments to one another. Maybe they were even making up. Although, that seemed like a little too much to hope for.
I figured Owen would find me after their chat, but when I went looking, I couldn’t find him among the other guests, so I searched around upstairs before heading out to a back balcony, where I found Owen standing by himself, looking out at the fairgrounds. As he sipped from his glass, he appeared…distressed.
Lucas had said something to upset him, I just knew it.
What a shitty way to end such an amazing evening.
“I guess your talk with Lucas didn’t go very well?” I stepped up beside him, pushing my hip against the concrete rail.
As his gaze met mine, I expected him to light up the way he usually did when he saw me, but instead, he seemed…disappointed. Had I done something wrong? I tried to think of how the evening had played out.
“It went fine,” he said.
Fine? Now I was really confused.
“He gave me a lot to think about.”
“And you wanted to think about it all by yourself? And are you drinking?”
“Sprite.” He sighed, setting his drink on the rail.
“O, what’s wrong?” I pressed.
He looked back down to the fairgrounds and cringed, as though he’d just witnessed something particularly depressing. “Remember when we talked about dreams about Mother or Crawford? Where we woke up and they were still there and everything was fine…better than fine…only for us to find out we had to wake up?”
“Okay, now you’re really throwing me off. Just talk to me.”
He teared up, nodding. “God, Keegan, you are a remarkable guy. Do you realize that? Every time I think I know what you’re gonna say or do, you go and surprise me.”
Despite how generous his words were, he sounded distressed. It made me worry about him. “Owen, you’re just tired. It’s been a long week for both of us, and whatever you and Lucas talked about is clearly weighing on your mind, so why don’t we just leave and talk about this tomorrow, because I don’t feel like this conversation is heading in a good direction.”
“Wouldn’t be the first time I came in and screwed up your life, would it?”
“I can’t make heads or tails of what you’re talking about, so can you just spit it out?”
“We should have stuck to the rules. They were good rules, and they were there for a reason, but then you were just so much more than I could have expected. This sexy, intelligent, intriguing guy who gave me a reason to break every rule…far beyond the deal we made.”
“Why does everything you’re saying sound like a big but is coming?”
His face twisted up wryly. “What is it you said in one of our first chats—about what normal people could and couldn’t do? This thing that I am…it takes so much fucking work, Keeg. It requires more than…more than a guy like you should have to deal with.”
“What?” I asked, frustrated as hell more than anything, as his words felt like a punch in the gut. “What are you talking about? What do you mean ‘a guy like me’?”
“A kid who shouldn’t have to deal with all this stress.”
“A kid?”
“Wait. No, that’s not what I meant,” he said quickly, hitting his head with his hand. “Fuck, not what I meant.”
“No, I feel like that’s exactly what you meant, and like you’re actually being incredibly honest about how you really feel…or have felt for a while now. And for a fucking kid who shouldn’t have had to deal with this royal shit, I seem to be doing a perfectly fine job of figuring it out.”
“You’ve seen a fraction of how bad it gets, Keegan. And you’re still spending most of your time in Fever Falls. What if we get in this deeper? What about when you’re in Parlaisa, surrounded by paps and the press? It was easy when you knew it was temporary, but what about long-term? We have to think about this.”