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“Hey, Chels.” He greeted her with a smile and wrapped her in a hug before she could launch into her offensive, giving Grant awhat’s going on?look over her shoulder as he did.
Grant held his palms up and gave him a helpless look.
He should have known better. No one could stop Chelsea when she got a bee in her bonnet. She was an unstoppable force, and it seemed that force was now directed at him.
She stepped back and scowled up at him. “Are you going to tell me?”
His heart sank. Damn. Had she spoken to Mary Ellen? “Tell you what?”
“What happened at Molly’s tonight.”
He lifted a shoulder and turned to wave the bartender over. He kind of hoped they didn't intend to stay for a drink, but he needed a minute to think about what he should say. “What have you heard?” he asked when he turned back around.
Chelsea glared at him. “What did you do?”
He smiled, knowing he looked much more confident than he felt. “I ate dinner, I had a beer.”
“Antonio!” Chelsea’s eyes flashed with anger. “You know damned well what I mean. What happened with Mary Ellen? Why was she so upset and why did she leave?”
He sure as hell wasn’t about to tell them what he’d overheard. “Ah. Yes. I don’t really know.”
Chelsea continued to glare at him.
He glared back, but he couldn’t keep it up. She stared him down. Damn her. Damn his soft Italian heart! He crumbled. “Okay, so she got a phone call that upset her. I felt bad for her, so I went and had a word with her, tried to cheer her up.”
“And that was enough to send her running out of there?”
He shrugged. “Apparently.”
Chelsea looked thoughtful. “What was the phone call about and what did you say to her?”
Antonio shook his head. “No. That’s not my business to share. I think you should ask her.”
“That just makes me think you’re ashamed of what you did. Did you make a move on her because you thought she was upset and vulnerable?”
He sucked in a deep breath. He wasn’t going to react. Sting as it might, it was a fair assumption, he supposed—given his track record. He shrugged. It didn’t matter so much if Chelsea thought badly of him; what did matter was that he shouldn’t go sharing Mary Ellen’s business. “You should talk to her. If she wants to tell you what happened, I’m sure she will.”
Chelsea glared at him again, apparently believing the worst. “I will.” She turned on her heel and stalked out.
Grant stayed behind. “Are you okay?”
Antonio nodded.
“There’s more to this than you’re letting her think, right?”
He nodded again.
Grant smiled and grasped his shoulder. “Sorry, sometimes she gets a bit overzealous about protecting her people.”
Antonio chuckled. “I know; I’ve known her all her life. It’s one of the things I love about her. And when she calms down enough, I’ll remind her that I’m one of her people, too. For now, I’m happy that she’s looking out for Mary Ellen. Someone needs to.”
Grant raised an eyebrow. “Is she okay?”
“Let’s just say I think she could use a friend at the moment.”
Grant looked at the door where Chelsea was waiting impatiently for him, then back at Antonio. “And would I be crazy if I guessed that you would like to be that friend?”
Antonio held his gaze for a long moment before he looked away and shrugged.
