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“You too, my love.” She smiles up at him. “Bye, sweetheart, call your brother,” Mom warns me before disappearing from the restaurant.
“Did you know about this?” I ask Felix, who thankfully takes a seat across from me, giving me my space.
He shakes his head. “No. I thought I was meeting Sam.”
“My brother?” He nods. “And when the hell did you meet my mother?”
“The other night, Sam invited me over to dinner at their house. Your parents are so nice,” he explains.
“When did you and Sam become so close?”
“Since meeting at your house. When you kicked us out, Sam invited me back to his place and we hung out,” he says as he pops another bellini into his mouth. “We’re now running buddies. I met Nate, too. He’s a cool guy.”
Nate? What is happening? “Are you being a stalker? Should I be worried about you and not Josh?”
Felix glares at me after my joke. “It’s not like that. I came over that morning when the article dropped to apologize for kissing you and then things went left.”
“I’m still not talking to you.” I huff as I pop more caviar into my mouth.
“Guess this is going to be an awkward lunch then,” he says, taking a sip of his champagne.
“You can get it to go,” I snip.
“I thought you weren’t speaking to me?”
“I’m not.”
“Seems like you are,” he argues.
“Have you always been this annoying?”
“Probably,” he says with a shrug. I scowl at him as silence falls between us, and I angrily keep eating the caviar. “I’ll say it again. I’m sorry I hurt you,” he says quietly as he scoops caviar onto his bellini. “But I’m not sorry for telling your friends and brother about Josh’s threats.”
I throw my napkin onto the table. “This has been great.” I stand up.
“Sit down,” Felix says firmly. The deep growl in his voice surprises me, and I do as I am told. “We are going to talk about this until it’s sorted. Oh, that’s right, you’re not talking to me, so maybe you can listen.”
“You can’t talk to me like that,” I say.
“Why not?”
“You’re being mean.”
“Mean?”
“Yes.” I grab my champagne glass and throw it back.
“And you are being stubborn.”
“Stubborn? You all burst into my home and then tried to dictate my life to me,” I argue.
“To keep you safe,” he argues back.
“Do you know what it’s like to have the people closest to you think you’re that much of a fuck up that you can’t look after yourself anymore?” “They don’t think you’re a fuck up, Harper.”
“Yes, they do. I make such poor dating decisions that they would rather I fake a relationship with you, so society thinks there’s nothing wrong with me.” I sigh, grabbing my glass of champagne and finishing it.
“There’s nothing wrong with you. And screw your New York society. Who gives a shit what they think? The only personthat matters is you,” Felix says angrily. “Also, Sam’s terrified something is going to happen to you. That Josh might come back, and his threats might not be verbal anymore.”