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I instantly stiffened in her embrace, the smell of her perfume made me want to throw up and memories of my childhood made me break out in a cold sweat. My hand tightened around Noemi’s, my reaction was to keep her close, I needed someone. It was like I was a timid teenager all over again.
“Mother,” I gritted. “Didn’t expect to see you here. This doesn’t seem like something you and father would support.”
I wanted to push her away.
“Oh darling, I’m going to take that as, ‘it's so good to see you’,” she chuckled, but I knew she was pissed.
She pulled away, “And who might this be?” She narrowed her eyes on Noemi.
I was ready to bolt so Noemi didn’t have to put up with my mother.
“Hi, I’m Noemi.” She held her hand out to my mother and I already knew my mother was going to be a bitch about it.
She looked at Noemi’s hand like it was diseased.
“Hello, Mrs. Mercer.” Vincent's delectable voice cut the awkwardness.
She quickly looked at Vincent with a smile until she realized who he was.
“I see you still hang out with questionable people, Easton,” she dismissed Vincent.
“I see you still have that stick very far up your ass, Mrs. Mercer.” Vincent didn’t miss a beat, making Noemi snort. “We need to find our seats.”
Vincent pulled Noemi behind him, and she pulled me with her. I gave my mother one last look before walking away, taking a deep breath when we arrived at our table.
“Are you ok?” Noemi turned around, her brows furrowed.
I nodded, not knowing what to say.
“Come on, Easton, sit,” Vincent commanded.
“I’m fine,” I said quickly, hating that I was acting like this in front of them.
“Hey, Vincent,” I heard someone talking, but I was stuck in the confines of my mind. It had been almost ten years since I’d seen my parents.
Introductions were made as we stood up, but I just nodded, trying to look like I was paying attention. I was still thinking about my mother, knowing my father was here too.
Noemi was speaking, but I had no idea what she was saying. I looked at her, realizing she was speaking another language with a few men. She stayed close to me, her ass brushing the back of my hand.
I looked over at Vincent who was looking at Noemi like he was proud of her.
“Are you a translator?” a woman asked and I hadn’t even noticed her.
“I have my certification in Spanish, Castilian, Portuguese and Japanese, but I do know French and a little bit of Mandarin,” she said instantly, making me feel proud. “I used to work for a local company, Articulate.”
“I desperately need a translator, do you do freelance work? Are you free this week?” The woman looked at Noemi like a gold mine.
“I haven’t done freelance in a while, I’ll have to take a look at my contracts, but if you leave me with a card, I can get back to you on Monday,” she said with a brilliant smile.
One of the men started talking to her in another language that I finally realized was Japanese. The men looked at her with deep interest and I watched her with rapt attention even though I didn’t know what the hell she was saying. She sounded like she had been speaking Japanese all her life, making me want to ask her all these questions about her life because I felt like I didn’t know much about her.
It was the first time I cared enough to ask anyone something about themselves. The more peeks I got at Noemi’s life and personality, the more I craved to know about her. I couldn’t get enough, and I didn’t know if I ever could. She laughed at one of the men, replying quickly, making him laugh and I knew he was hooked on her. Could I blame him?
We spent the rest of the evening networking and Noemi impressed me even more. She was great, making an impression on a lot of people by the end of the night. She kept looking at the cards throughout the night with a little smile on her face.
As the charity event died down, we grabbed out jackets saying goodbye to the table.
“I didn’t know you were a translator,” I said, holding out my arm for her so we could leave.
