Knots (Club Imperial Book 4) (8 page)

Cece studied the menu intently. Killian started to doubt that she was going to talk. But he realized that she wasn’t really reading it, just glossing over it. He raised the glass to take a sip of water.

“I’m marrying Paul Wainwright.”

He choked, dropped the glass and started coughing. The water drenched the table and part of his pant leg as Cece deftly pushed back and managed to avoid most of it. The waiter and busboy ran over and managed to sop up the table, clean it off and reset it all before Killian could really process what Cece had just said to him.

He had to have heard that wrong. There was no way this was happening.

“I’m, uh.” Killian cleared his throat. “I’m sorry. You startled me with that answer. Did you say you were marrying Paul Wainwright?”

Cece gave him a curt nod. “I am.”

He shook his head. “I didn’t… I didn’t even know you were seeing anyone.”

“I haven’t seen Paul since high school.”

“What? Then how are you marrying him?”

“I signed a contractual prenuptial and nuptial on Tuesday night.”

“Holy fucking Jesus on a raft with crackers.” Killian put a hand to his forehead. “What the hell is going on, Cece? You just told me you haven’t seen him since high school and you signed a contract with him? That’s not you.”

Cece leaned forward on her arms. “What do you really know about me, Kay?”

“You’re smart, you’re a good person--”

“What if this is exactly what I want? What if I don’t want to play the dating game and this is exactly what I wanted?”

Killian felt his hopes falling. “You… want this?”

Cece slumped in the chair a bit, and the defeat on her face ran him through. “I don’t know what I want anymore.” She picked at the corner of the menu. “They Shanghaied me. Bushwacked. Ambushed. Whatever. I didn’t have a prayer and I should have known that
Tuesday Dinner
was trap. Mom and Dad always try to stay away from me. They can’t stand that I’m so independent and…” Cece rolled her eyes, “intellectual. They can’t get past the fact that I don’t have a husband and a kid for The Legacy at twenty six. I don’t know why dad let Chas take over.” She laughed, not believing her own words. “Of course I know why dad gave up. He just wants to be drunk and rich.” She pulled the menu back up.

Killian was fascinated. She didn't want this, so why was she going along with it? What had made her sign the contract with someone who was notoriously abusive? He tripped over his own thoughts. “Cece, are you marrying him
because
he's abusive? Are you allowing yourself to fall into the cycle.”

“Fuck no.” Cece shook her head. “No.”

The way she cut herself off, Killian knew she had a very specific reason for signing it. “You know, Cee, if you tell me what's going on and why you're doing this, maybe we can find a way out of it. A marriage contract is not you. An arranged marriage is not you either.”

“Why the hell do you think you know anything about me, Killian.” She snapped the menu closed.

“Because we both suffer from our families. You don't really want this. You don't want your family to have any kind of influence on  you and your life. Your brother is a dick. Your mother is a wealthy prig. Your father is a rich drunk. The only person you give a damn about, just like me, is your little sister.” Killian blinked. “That's it, isn't it. Hannah. Someone threatened Hannah?”

Cece fiddle with her napkin this time. “I don't even know why I agreed to come here. You live in a very different world than I do, Killian. Even if we did go to school together. You're sweet, you're smart, but you don't know what my family is like. You don't know what my life is like.”

“Tell me then.” He tapped on the table. “Tell me about it. Tell me what it was that made you sign that contract. And I will help you figure a way out of it.”

“And what do you want in return?” Cece asked.

“Nothing.” He was earnest. “I want to see you get out of situation that you clearly hate.”

Cece shook her head. “I don't know how I feel about this yet.”

“You don't like it,” Killian supplied. “I know you don't.”

She sighed. “I don't. But there's no choice.” Cece looked up at him. “You're right. This is all about Hannah, and only Hannah. My father is a drunk, my mother is self-centered, and my brother is an asshole. Hannah is all I have in that family. And I have to do this, for her.”

The waiter appeared and, really without thinking, Killian quickly ordered for both of them. He bundled the server away, then saw the look of anger on Cece's face. She leaned forward. “Who gave you the right to order for me?”

“I didn't.... know you'd have a problem with it.” Killian swallowed.

She picked at the table cloth. “Let me explain this to you, Kay. If you want to help, and you want to be my friend, as it seems you want to be, you don't ever, ever order for me. You don't assume you speak for me for any reason. You don't put words in my mouth, you don't try to put thoughts in my head. That is what my family has done my whole life, and that's what they are doing with this marriage contract. They are trying to think for me.” Cece leaned back in her chair. “And I am more than capable of my own thoughts and decisions.”

Goddamn it.
Killian wanted to slam his hand down on the table, but instead settled for a clenched fist underneath. He had just been friendzoned without so much as a whole meal between them. “Cece, I'm sorry. That was presumptuous of me.”

“So you see you really don't know me.”

“I'm sorry.” He repeated. “I'll call him back and you change your order.”

Cece sighed. “Your intentions were noble. And you did order something I'd eat.”

“Well, at least I got that right.” He smiled at her. A moment later, she gave him a weak half smile back and he was relieved to see it. “I just wanted him gone,” Killian admitted. “I didn't want to be distracted, and I didn't want him to overhear our conversation.”

“Discretion is the better part of valor,” Cece said.

“Also known as 'nonya bidness'?” Killian offered.

Cece smiled and shook her head. “Ok, alright, I get it. You didn't mean anything by it.”

“See, that's the smile I'm afraid is going to disappear.”

“I have to protect Hannah from...” She sighed. “They tricked me into this by threatening Hannah. There were three choices. One, the whole family was going to lose the house, the fortune, everything we have and be destitute, two Hannah could married Paul Wainwright and they'd keep everything, or I could marry Paul Wainwright and save the family, which frankly I don't give a shit about, and save Hannah, which is what I do give a crap about.”

“Why on earth would you be saving the family from destitution?” Killian asked. “The Robbe family is one of the oldest families in the county and there's no doubt about your status.”

Cece picked at the table cloth. “My mother has a gambling problem. I thought it was a horse here or there, maybe a quick trip to a casino.” She wiped a finger down the water glass, clearing off a line of condensation. “It's not. She's gambled away most, if not all, of the Robbe family money. And all of it to the Wainwrights.”

“Wow,” Killian said. This was news. Marjorie Robbe had always been a bastion of grace and gentility when he'd met her a few times. But then again, he didn't live in the house and had the feeling that, just like his house, the Robbes were totally different at home than at a party. “How long has she been gambling?”

“Who the hell knows,” Cece snapped. “She's bankrupted the family and I can only be glad that I have my own income.”

“Why couldn't you take in Hannah and let the rest of them out to rot?”

Cece looked at him and cocked her head. Her eyes lit with a smile. “That is utterly devious, Killian. And I wish I could. But they would literally be in a cardboard box in weeks. They threatened me with foreclosure on my house. Mom and dad have no marketable skills. Chas can't carry them; he's a part time broker who sucks at his job. He loses more in the markets than the little piggy who went wee-wee-wee all the way home.”

Killian snorted. “He's that bad?”

“He's terrible.” She nodded. “Just awful. He went into finance because he just once turned a profit on a sale of stocks. Someone told him he was good and he ran with it. Do you know what his formal training is in financial market? He read a single Warren Buffett book.”

“He'd've been better off eating a Jimmy Buffett burger.” Cece laughed; the genuine sound of her humor rang through him. It sounded wonderful. “So winter is coming to House Robbe?”

“Stop!” Cece laughed again. “You're making this funny.”

“Just trying to lighten the mood.”

“It worked.” Cece wascalming down. “I've spent the last few days trying to figure out how to get out of this, and the truth is that unless I want all of us to be homeless, I don't have a choice. At least I have chance of getting out of a marriage to Paul Wainwright in once piece. I hope.”

“You hope?”

“I think? He’s an alleged abuser.” “People have done research on it.” Cece wiped more condensation off her glass. “It's documented. He was in a few altercations, and the biggest rumor is that they can't locate the girlfriend.”

“You would listen to that kind of gossip?” Killian was quiets. He didn't want to raise her ire.

“It's not gossip...”

“Cece, I will do the right kind of research if you like and --”

“Are you saying I can't do research?”

“I'm saying that you don't have access to medical records the way I do. And I want to prove to you that Paul Wainwright is not an abusive dick.” Killian said. “Not that I want you to marry him, because you don't want to, but there's no reason to fear him. I'm sure he's about as thrilled about this as you are, honestly.”

“We'll find out when we have our first date on Saturday, won't we.”

Killian shook his head. “I cannot believe that you've said yes to this.”

“I didn't have a choice, Kay. Not even remotely. Chas backed me into a corner. The fucker knew exactly what to say and do to get me to sign that paper.” Cece leaned back as the waiter came over and put the appetizers in front of them.

“Chas isn't the good son he tries to play, is he?” Killian asked.

“I don't know what he his. He danced all over the fact that I would do anything to keep our little sister safe.”

“What do you parents think about him dating Saundra?”

She stared at him. “What? Who? Chas isn't dating anyone. He's too busy pretending he's tending the family fortune.”

Killian stopped and chewed on his lip. “He hasn't said anything?”

Cece's face fell. “What are you talking about?”

“I thought everyone knew...” Killian folded his hands on his lap staring at the food in front of him. He looked up at Cece's expectant face. “Chas has been seeing Saundra Milhouse for about two months.”

Pure, unadulterated anger sprang into Cece's eyes. She could have started a fire with the rage that she was harboring. She really couldn't control the anger that his statement ignited in her; she grabbed the steak knife and brought it down point first into the table, driving it a full half inch into the wood of the table. Killian pulled back, shocked. She looked at him, her breathing suddenly hard and her face completely flushed.

She stood abruptly, flinging the chair backwards. Without a word she turned and marched for the door of the restaurant. Killian leapt out of the chair and ran after her. “Cece, wait! Wait, please.” She ignored him and kept up her relentless walk for the door. He finally caught up to her, just inside the exit, and grabbed her elbow. “Stop.” He snapped the command. He was in no mood to play around.

Cece whirled around and yanked her arm out of his grip. “Don't you
ever
grab me!”

“Then you need to stop when I tell you to.” The words were growled at her.

She stepped into him. “I am not someone you want to fuck with, Killian McInnis.”

“Nor am I, Frances Robbe.” The words were hissed at her angrily. “I thought you knew that your shit of a brother had taken up with Oetler. I would have broken that news more carefully if I had known you weren't aware of it.”

The host appeared in the hallway with a phone in his hand. “Sir, shall I call the police?”

“No.” Killian didn't hesitate. “Ms Robbe is having a very bad day. We'll be leaving now.”

“I'll be leaving now.”

Killian gave her a withering look. “
We
will be leaving now.” He looked over at the host. “Please bill me for the table, knife and the meal. And accept my apologies for the scene.”

“Of course, Doctor.” The host nodded and the relief was visible on his face. “Shall I fetch the lady's belongings?”

“Yes, please.” The host walked away and Killian took Cece's elbow again. She tried to wrestle it away, but he held on tight. “Stop. Right now. You stabbed a knife into a table top. You're lucky I told him not to call the cops because that was a terroristic threat, even if it wasn't directed at anyone.”

“Let go of me, Killian.” She was still struggling.

The host came scurrying back with Cece's purse and jacket. Cece tried to pull free to grab the object from him, but Killian calmly held her back as he retrieved the jacket and purse. He held onto the purse while Cece grabbed the jacket and shoved it back on. The host scurried away and Cece snatched her purse. She banged through the door out into the cool fall air, and Killian kept up with her.