Page 29 of Balance

Damen had broughtother womenhere? The tight feeling in my chest grew stronger, and I scooched toward the window, ducking out from under his arm.

I didn’t want him to touch me right now.

“I…” Damen glanced between me and the woman, his eyes widening with panic, his expression torn. The candle in the middle of the table flared and flickered dangerously. But, in the end, he turned from me, choosing to address the woman instead.

“Colette,” Damen said, once again putting his wine down and gesturing in my direction, “this is Bianca. We’re not on a date. I need to—”

She barely glanced at me, her attention returning to Damen with swift annoyance. “What does it matter what her name is?” she interrupted, voice slicing through the air.

Not on a date…

I knew that, but the wound festered, almost distracting me from the most important part of Damen’s statement. But then it registered—

Colette.

I gaped at her, seeing the woman in an entirely new light. This was Miles’s sister! She was exactly the opposite of everything I’d imagined. But now that Damen had brought up the connection, I could easily place the accent in her voice and see that the two siblings even shared the same nose.

“Look—” She tapped her foot, her words quick and clipped, not giving Damen a chance to speak. “This time it’s over for real. I’ve already moved on. So stop bringing your girls, okay?”

“That’s not why I’m here.” Damen narrowed his eyes.

Realization numbed my senses as the awful implications washed over me. There was no question as to what they’d been up to. Damen only did one thing.

“You…” I gasped at Damen, horrorstruck. “You slept withMiles’s sister?”

“It was a long time ago!” He covered his face with his hand, groaning. “This is why I wanted to text. Colette, you’re not even letting me talk!”

“I don’t want to hear what you have to say. We had a deal. You wereneverto bring a date intomyrestaurant. What did you think was going to happen?” But then Colette’s posture faltered slightly, and her gaze washed over me, her expression morphing from indifference to appraisal. “Wait, you know Miles,” she said. “How?”

“This is Bianca.” Damen lowered his hand to his mouth, not even glancing in my direction.

Colette frowned, moving her fists to her waist. “You said that already,” she replied, tapping her foot. “Am I supposed to know who you are?” she asked me, tilting her head.

Words failed me. First, there was the appalling revelation that Damen had engaged in a sexual relationship withMiles’s sister, then the fact that he was quick to establish that we were absolutely not on a date. Finally, there was the twist that Miles’s never even mentioned me to his own sibling.

My day was pretty much shot, nothing else would surprise me at this point.

“She’s the Wood Xing,” Damen explained, waving toward me. “She’s married to Bryce.”

“Bryce Dubois?” She raised her eyebrow. “He comes here sometimes. Isn’t he gay?”

“He doesn’t have a preference,” Damen replied. “But that doesn’t matter. Thepointis, we’re trying to find Miles.”

“Did he do something bad?” Colette asked, eyeing me. “You don’t look like much of a threat. Are you really the Xing? What are you going to do to him? He likes brunettes, you might be his type. Do you think you’re allowed to dateeach other?” She punctuated this last question with a glare in Damen’s direction. “Or is that breaking therules?”

She spoke so quickly and jumped from so many different topics that my head was spinning. I tried to respond, opening my mouth, although I had no idea what I was going to say.

I was probably still in shock.

“I—”

Someone shouted from the kitchen, and Colette jumped, pulling from the conversation as quickly as she’d begun. “I’ll be right back,” she said in a rush, stepping away. “Don’t go anywhere. I’ll send someone out to your table. You can stay and eat.”

Where were we supposed to go? I wasn’t even sure what just happened.

“Yeah,” Damen muttered, letting out a long sigh. “I should have warned you. She has that effect on people. I think she has ADHD.”

“You!” I growled at Damen, irritation resurfacing full force. “Howcouldyou?”