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I smirked at her.
“I see my own lady bits every day. Catching a glimpse of yours is nothing new.”
***
Chase
“How’s she doing?” I asked Beth as I poured the soup into a small bowl. The pieces of baked chicken I cooked in from the dinner Gavin had made yesterday had come in handy. I wanted his sister to have the freshest ingredients possible. Gavin didn’t like not being in control of a situation and I couldn’t blame him for being anxious, but it was too crazy at La Floridita for him to cut out early.
“She’s in bed now. I think her stomach can handle this portion,” Beth replied. “How many times did Gavin call you?”
“Enough that I had to tell him I’ll call or text him, not the other way around.” I shook my head. “And you know he cursed me out. I almost overcooked the soup!”
Faint laugh lines fanned the edges of her eyes. It was as if we were back to where we’d started when her gaze fell on me. “I’ll come down when she falls out.”
Beth scurried away and I watched the way her hips swayed until she was out of my view. She’d taken over the situation with complete composure and hadn’t turned up her nose at Bri. It made me like Beth a lot more, and a part of me wished that I’d put off talking to her later so that Beth could’ve kept an eye on Bri for the entire night, but this was unlike Bri. I’d seen her have two alcoholic beverages at a maximum when we’d been out together.
There were three knocks on the door. “It’s Pierce.”
I let him in and he walked straight into the kitchen and opened the fridge to pour some ice tea into his empty water bottle. “You don’t know me anymore?”
We both stood directly across from each other. “My cell was off. I was gonna talk to you tomorrow, but I’d heard that you already knew what happened and moved out.”
He bobbed his head. “The only place Dad and I should interact is at the Paloma.” He raised his shoulders. “Nancy and Joel filled me in on the details.” He let out a heavy sigh. “Beth is feeling a little insecure over what she thinks took place.”
“I think Beth may be seeing your sister for who she really is.”
Pierce sipped some of his iced tea and gritted his jaw. “If enough people tell Beth the same thing enough times, how is she not gonna listen? When Dad told me that you’d left after our meeting, I left. He didn’t wanna have a discussion.”
“I didn’t know how’d you take it. I really thought Cassidy had stopped.”
“I know what she’s like. Trust. And my dad had said if you want your job back, you’ve got it. It’s criminal to mess with a man’s livelihood like he did with you because he thought you and Cassidy hooked up.”
“Thanks, but no thanks, Pierce.”
Pierce knitted his eyes. “You sure?”
“I am.”
“So we’ve squashed this?”
I nodded and Pierce walked over to me and tapped me on the shoulder. “Don’t be a stranger now.” As he had one foot out of the door, Beth came in with a bowl in her hand, set it on the table, ran over to Pierce, and hugged him.
“Hey, Noodles.” Pierce pulled her away and held her by her arms. “What are you doing here?”
“Bri drank a little too much and got sick,” she responded.
Pierce’s face became serious. “Is she okay?”
“She’s fine,” Beth said and gave him a half-smirk. “But she’s still hungry and her stomach hasn’t rejected the soup, so that’s a good thing.”
I put the flame on low, took the cover off of the pot, and stirred the soup.
“Damn, that smells good, Chase.”
I nodded. “Nancy gave me her recipe.”
“I’d have a bowl myself but Mona’s been expecting me.”
