“Sorry,” I tell… Kale? Surely someone didn’t name their child Kale, right? “I just need to handle this.”
“Translation, Cole: I’m more important than you, so get lost.” McCarthy’s pressed up against my back. “Also, have some self-respect. She dated your father already; you’re sloppy seconds.”
“I—what?” I peer at McCarthy, who’s blurry through the bottle of wine I’ve consumed.
“He’s your ex-stepbrother. They have the same last name.” He waves a business card that he’s somehow managed to steal from Cole. “And that weak chin that needs to be nuked out of the gene pool with extreme prejudice.”
“My father was here?” Cole sputters.
“Just now,” McCarthy drawls. “She even let him feel her up.”
“No, I didn’t.”
“Slut.” Cole spits it at me.
“You wish.” McCarthy laughs him out of the restaurant.
Dazed, I look over to his table. It’s empty.
“Why did she leave? What did you say?”
“It’s your fault.” He signals the bartender for another drink. “I just asked her about your alpha/Omegaverse shit.”
I want to die.
“I guess she thought I was trying to get her to do some sort of threesome with you, which she was offended by. SaidI couldn’t pay what she was worth, and I said, ‘Well, it was a pretty expensive dinner,’ and then she said—”
“Oh my god.” I groan.
He spears one of the slivers of truffle and feeds it to me, the tine of the fork clinking against my teeth.
“You ready to give up yet?”
I pretend like I misunderstand him. “Nope. You’re going on another date tomorrow.”
“Just admit that you need me. Then all your wildest dreams can come true.”
“Does that include you in a mankini?”
“Says the girl”—he hooks two fingers under the spaghetti strap of my cocktail dress— “who wore this to fuck with me.”
“Tomorrow, your date is going to be with Shelia.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“Only if you agree to stay with me tonight.”
“This isn’t a negotiation, McCarthy.”
“I’m not negotiating. I’m telling you. You attract the worst men in this city. Going on a date with your stepfather? You need me; you can’t function on your own. You are completely useless, and you’re driving me insane.”
He’s really close now. I can taste the expensive scotch on his breath, cold against my mouth.
“Fuck you. You’re the one who refuses to do what he’s told and can’t keep it together for an hour. A threesome, McCarthy, really?”
His hands are on my waist. “Now why would you think I was serious about that?”
