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“Mom was a mess. It was clear she and Dad had a fight before they showed at the restaurant. For your information, they’ve been fighting a lot lately. He’s been up in her face about contacting you to work things out, when it should be you reaching out to apologize. It was tense. Not one of us enjoyed the evening. All thanks to you.”
“Baby,” Javi whispered sinisterly in my ear.
A warning.
Shut Easton down, or he would.
I turned to him and looked him right in the eye.
He blinked at what he saw.
“It’s okay,” I assured.
He looked hard at me like he needed to believe what he was seeing.
Then, in a much different whisper, he said, “Spine of steel.”
Jessie, however, didn’t hear us.
“You’re a real piece of work, you know that?” she asked Easton.
“Are you in this conversation?” Easton drawled sarcastically.
“I’m aware you think the world revolves around you, jackass,” Jessie retorted, earning Eric putting his hand on the small of her back, probably to tell her to butt out, but I knew no way my bestie was going to stand for Easton being a dick to me. On the best of days, she could barely stomach him. Easton hunting me down to be mean was a no-go. “But there are, like, twenty people sitting here having lunch and cocktails, and you walked right up and got in her shit, with her real family sitting right here. So what did you expect?”
“Her real family?” Easton snarled.
“She didn’t hesitate to meet us for lunch when we made plans just about two hours ago, but she sure was nowhere near Le Amé last night,” Luna pointed out.
Easton scowled at Luna.
I sat down and reached for my paloma.
“Harlow, I’m talking to you,” Easton dismissed the others and snapped at me.
I looked up at him and said calmly, “The reason I didn’t reply to your texts or voicemails is because I’ve blocked you. Before the day is through, I’ll block Mom and Dad too. Please don’t worry about Javi visiting you at work or home or anywhere. It’s done with us. He doesn’t need to.”
Easton’s brows hit his hairline, which I just then noticed was receding. “It’s done with us?”
I took a sip of my paloma and said, “Yep.”
“What the fuck does that mean?” Easton demanded.
“Funny how much educatin’ these doctors get, but they get their big degrees and still don’t know English,” Shanti quipped as she and the rest of the troop, feeling my vibe, also took their seats.
Easton stepped closer to me, probably to get my attention, but now I was dipping my Mexican eggroll in green chili.
“I won’t be trackin’ you down to have a word,” Javi said dangerously. “But you get one step closer to my woman right now, I’ll be hauling your ass out the door.”
“Did you just threaten me?” Easton asked, sounding shocked and repulsed.
I bit into my eggroll.
Ooooooooo.
So good!
Lucia did fusion like nobody’s business, even when she wasn’t there!