I stare down at him and then back at Grayson. And in this moment, I know for a fact that I’m glad they were here.
Chapter Nine
Grayson
The cold night air hits me the moment we push through the side exit, but it does nothing for the heat sitting behind my eyes.
Ethan scrambles ahead, already talking. I have no idea what he’s saying. The blood is still loud in my ears. His excitement is palpable, and he fidgets endlessly as I put him in the car and buckle his seatbelt. He’s still talking to a silent Miranda as I close the door on him.
Then I press my palm flat against the roof and breathe.
The wrist. That man’s hand around her wrist.
The image is burned into my eyelids. The fact that she let him talk to her like that. I already knew what he was when I caught his scent in the hospital the other day. And when I saw her in the restaurant, sitting across from him, the idea that she was going to go to his bed and be another woman he screwed pissed me off endlessly.
I turn around.
Miranda is standing a foot behind me, her lips pressed into a thin line, arms folded across her chest in a move that could bedefensive or aggressive depending on her mood. But I don’t care tonight.
“What was that?” I scowl at her.
“A bad date.” She looks away briefly. “But I had it handled.”
“What is with you and men trying to force you to sleep with them?” The words are forced out of me, and her eyes tighten around the corners.
“Excuse me?” The dangerous edge to her voice normally amuses me, but today I’m just too angry.
“You let him be rude to you. You let that waitress walk all over you. What is it?” I gesture widely with my arms. “I’m the only one you can push around?”
“I’ve never pushed you around ever!” she hisses. I take a step toward her, and she doesn’t flinch.
“You are rude, bossy, a pain in my ass whenever you’re around me. God forbid I say something; you never let me hear the end of it.” I don’t care that her cheeks are turning red. “But when it came to those two assholes, you just took it.”
“What did you want me to do, Grayson?” Miranda covers the distance between us, glaring up at me. “Did you want me to throw the next table’s soup at them? Cause a scene?”
“Yes!” I growl, irritated at the memory of her passiveness. “Anything rather than act like a meek little mouse!”
“I wasn’t being meek, I was being mindful!” Her cheeks are flushed, and her eyes are glittering with anger. “I have to work with Axel. The last thing I needed was to pick a fight that would come back to bite me in the ass.”
“Axel?” I stare down at her. “You’re on a first-name basis with that fucker?”
The thought bothers me more than it should.
“Language,” Miranda hisses, glancing down at the shut car window. “You have a child in the car!”
That has me wincing. The last thing I need is for Ethan to start going around calling people assholes and fuckers.
I rub my hands over my face, leaning back against the car.
It’s my turn to cross my arms over my chest. “So what was it about Doctor Charming exactly?”
She blinks. “What?”
“What was so appealing about him that you went out with him?”
She stares at me for a moment. Then deflates. “Nothing anymore.” She glances toward the restaurant window. “I thought he was sweet once. A few weeks ago.”
“You thought he was sweet.”
