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“You must be friends with Max, then.” He chuckles in a way that makes me want to punch his face.
“Let’s just ignore him.” There’s such an edge in my tone that at once, the girls put their full focus on the menu.
“Anyway,” the waiter says to his son. “You here for Maxi’s birthday?”
My ear perks up.
“Nah, I’m just here for Nonna’s tiramisu. Who cares about that loser?”
I force myself to take a deep breath. Only then do I notice I’ve been strangling the menu.
“Speaking of, here comes my little brother,” the waiter says with a grunt.
Because I’m nosy, I glance over my shoulder and… in comes Max.
Huh? Little brother?
His eyes meet mine right away. Either he saw me from outside, despite having my back to the door, or he has a radar as attuned to me as I have for him.
But then a customer catches his attention, and while he greets that table, I mull the words over again. If the waiter is Max’s brother, not father, and in turn, the man is Leo Cassiano’s dad…
“Well, this is dramatic,” JT says, watching the action and reading my mind. “Who would’ve expected this plot twist, huh?”
CHAPTER 23
MAX
I’m a simple man. I don’t want the party the guys are planning to allegedly celebrate my birthday. All I want is to go out with Tinker Bell, share a piece of the best tiramisu in the world, and then kiss it off her lips. That’s all.
Obviously, I can’t even get that much.
The moment I walk into the restaurant, it becomes clear I’m in much more danger than expected. I thought I’d just come here to get a hefty piece of Mom’s specialty dessert, then go to a nearby bookstore to hang out until Tinker Bell texted me where to pick her up.
Except I saw her text after I parked the pickup a few blocks away, saying the Strikes’ choice of venue was precisely my parents’ place. I figured I’d have to bust out my best acting skills during the transaction with Mom. But on the plus side, I already knew where to pick Tinker Bell up. We’d just have to figure out the logistics via text.
The worst I expected was the other girls heckling me. Not for my damn nephew to join them.
“What are you doing here?” I ask as I walk up to him and Cossimo Jr.
My nephew puts his hand on his chest, as if offended by the harsh tone of my question.
“Is that the way you talk to family?” My brother’s voice booms over the din of noise. No one gives a crap, though.
Or almost no one. The table of Strikes are fully turned to me. Tinker Bell’s the only one seeing how my fists ball up.
“Whatever. Where’s Mom?”
My brother waves his hands in annoyance. “I’ll get her. You know she doesn’t like anyone with outside clothes in the kitchen.”
“Yeah, Maxi Pad. You should know that.” Leo shakes his head in an exaggerated way. “Why don’t you sit here with me while you wait?”
I’d rather eat my foot.
But I don’t want to make a whole scene of this with the Strikes watching my every move. I sit across from Leo, which puts me diagonal to Tinker Bell. Prime position to give her a let’s-get-the-hell-out-of-here look when necessary.
“Look, your friends came too.” Leo jerks a thumb at the Strikes’ table.
I tip my head at them, because while far from my friends, I have no particular beef with any of them.
