AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“That’s the downside of not having benefits,” Lana interrupts. “But it’s seasonal work. Come back in a few months and Rayne will be unemployed. She’ll have all the time in the world.”
“Hey.” I frown. “I’m not going to be unemployed. I’ve had a job the entire time I’ve lived here.”
Lana nods, refusing to look in my direction. “You’ve had work, sure.”
“Why are you saying it like that?”
She sighs. “I’m not saying it like anything, Rayne.”
“You’re saying it like I stand on a street corner and lift my skirts for passing cars.”
“Oh for God’s sake. If you’re going to take on menial work, you can’t really afford to be so damn sensitive about it.”
I rear back like she slapped me. She might as well have. “Are you serious? I know you’re mad at me, Lana, but you can’t talk to me like—”
“Yum, boys!” Alexis interrupts. “The steak is amazing.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t chip a tooth.” Dustan elbows Mitchell and chuckles. He doesn’t notice the way Alexis’s face falls.
“Mine is actually a little overdone,” Lana adds, tossing a sugary sweet smile in the men’s direction. “Maybe I’ll get you a meat thermometer for Christmas this year, Dustan.”
He grimaces back, same as ever.
Under the table, I notice Alexis reach over and pat Lana’s knee. At least the two of them are getting along. Someone at this dinner should be on good terms. It sure as hell isn’t gonna be me and Lana.
I swallow back everything I was going to say along with a bite of steak. Lana wasn’t wrong: it’s tough to swallow. But I’ve been dealing with a lot of hard-to-swallow stuff lately, so I force it down and don’t complain.
By the time the meal is done, there are three empty wine bottles on the table. Mitchell wobbles as he stands up. “Drinks in the den for the menfolk,” he announces, pounding a hand on Dustan’s back. “I have some cigars that need smoking, too.”
Lana groans. “If you have to be a cliché, open a window, at least.”
“Don’t tell me how to act in my own space. I don’t tell you how to gossip,” Mitchell spits back.
They stare at each other for a loaded second before Dustan stands up. “I’m not much for smoking, but I’ll take a drink. What do you have?”
“Whatever you want. I always keep a well-stocked drink cart,” Mitchell says, leading Dustan out of the dining room and down the hall.
Lana tips the rest of her wine glass back, finishing it in one gulp. “Ikeep his drink cart well stocked. Without me, Mitchell wouldn’t even have a drink cart in the den. He’d have a television, a bottle of lotion, and a box of tissues.”
Alexis wrinkles her nose. “That’s disgusting.”
“Yeah, well, men are disgusting.”
Lana grabs another bottle and starts pouring everyone another glass.
“I’m actually okay,” I say, covering up my cup to ward off the refill. “Thanks. But I have… well, I have to be up early tomorrow.”
I’d say I have to work, but I don’t really want to open that particular can of worms again.
“Then we’ll drink.” Alexis takes my glass, now holding one in each hand. “You can sit and talk.”
“Or ‘gossip,’ as Mitchell would say,” Lana sneers. “God, he can be such a dick. Isn’t he a dick sometimes?”
She looks at me, which is the only thing letting me know that she wasn’t actually kidding. Awkwardly, I shake my head. “Um… I don’t really want to—I mean, I’m not as drunk as the two of you.”
“I’m not drunk!” Alexis argues loudly. “I’m tipsy. And yes, Mitchell is a dick. It’s why he and Dustan get along so well.”
I slap a hand over my mouth, but my sisters laugh. It’s a cruel, mocking kind of laughter—which, coincidentally, is the only thing letting me know they’re not kidding about that, either.
