That’s all done and dusted with now, though.
Saint forever peered Demi’s way.
He watched her as I do when no one is paying any attention.
Well, so I thought.
After her father died, it was rare to see Demi anywhere, and anytime I was lucky enough to spot her, she wasn’t without a sidekick. Even now, years after she almost became a ward of the state, if Sloane isn’t at Demi’s side, her uncle is.
Most people would think that’s a good thing. I’ve not once reached the same conclusion. Col Petretti isn’t a nice man. He treats his children like vermin, so I’d hate to consider what Demi has faced under his guardianship since she shares only a portion of his blood.
In public, Col portrays the role of a loving uncle well. He brings out the charm, and for the most part, his act is gobbled up by the fools hoping to live in his realm. He has everyone convinced he’s a gentleman—everyone but me, and I plan to expose him for who he really is. It’s taking longer than hoped, but you can only stack fraudulent chips for so long before they eventually spill. Col’s day is coming, I just need to yield patience.
It isn’t a known Walsh trait.
I watch Demi take a left on 22ndStreet before pivoting on my heels and heading in the opposite direction. My motorbike is parked at the gym. I only walked because Demi was walking. Caidyn will chew me up and spit me out when he discovers I went on a date after a two-hour workout, but what can I say? When an opportunity presents itself, you must take it. Nothing is more expensive than a missed opportunity.
I make it to the ice cream parlor I stupidly thought I could woo Demi at with the knowledge I know her favorite flavor when a girlie tone slackens my stride. “Are you really going to end a date on a sour note? Especially with the girl you’ve been crushing on since primary school!”
My drooped lips morph into a grin when it dawns on me why the girlie voice is so familiar. My baby sister is in town, and although she’s standing next to a man I’d rather pummel with my fists than greet with a dip of my chin, nothing can slacken my smile, especially when she says, “Even if I were still at school, I would have felt the chemistry crackling between you two. That’s how intense it was.”
Justine attends college a hundred miles from home. Her excuse was that there were no good architectural courses at STEM Academy. I’m calling her bluff. She doesn’t want to design buildings for a living, but since she doesn’t have the guts to tell our parents that, she pushed them to the brink by declaring she wanted to attend school a hundred miles from home at the tender age of eighteen. She’s the youngest of our family but the first to officially move out.
“Stop it,” Justine mouths when my glare focuses on her date a little longer than what can be classed as acceptable.
I don’t have anything against Brax Anderson. Unlike most of the residents on his side of the tracks, he has stable employment, a roof over his head, and he’s been nothing but respectful to Justinesincethey got freaky in our family hot tub two years back, but the fact he takes his dates to Hopeton for a night out reveals he isn’t the right man for my baby sister. She needs someone with class. Someone who’ll fight for her no matter how bad the odds. Someone who won’t let her walk away when he puts his foot in his mouth.
My words trail off when the truth smacks into me. “I need to go.”
“Yes, you do,” Justine replies, laughing.
She knows me well enough to know where my thoughts strayed.
When she leans in to place a kiss on my cheek, I mutter in her ear, “Please don’t get freaky in the hot tub with Brax again tonight, J. Dad’s ticker won’t survive a second massacre.”
“We’refriends.That’s it.” She overemphasizes the word ‘friends.’ “I hang out with lots offriendswhen I’m home from school.”
I pull her back to an arm’s length, give her a look as if to say,no friend of mine has ever given me their virginity,then hightail it toward the gym. My lunch should be curdling in my stomach at the recollection I knowallaspects of my sister’s love life, but for some reason, it isn’t.
That isn’t how our family operates.
We don’t keep dark, dirty secrets from each other.
We help hide them.
Forty minutes and a near head-on later, I assure the maître d at Petretti’s Restaurant for the fifth time I’m happy dining alone before she assigns me a waiter.
“Are there any tables closer to the kitchen?” I ask him when he guides me toward the front of the restaurant. I need to be near the back in the ‘workers’ half of the establishment.
As the waiter twists to face me, his dark brows pinch together. “There is… but they’re also close to the restrooms.”
“That’s fine. I have no issues eating near a toilet.” My last four words don’t come out as strong as my first two. “It can come in handy when you’re eating Italian.”
Really, Maddox?I was trying to be funny. It didn’t work out as planned. Now I understand why I’ve been dateless for so long. I thought my obsessive crush on Demi was the issue. Joke’s on me.
“I don’t like people.”
Much better.Arrogant and only partly false. I like people, but it’s rare to find good ones in Hopeton.
