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It was right at that moment that the rest of the guests arrived. Soon after, the server took orders and then melted away. The small talk around the table changed to business matters once the food and wine appeared.
A few of the wives seemed to work with their husbands, so they were sure to make their input known on the aforementioned matters. The other women at the table—myself included—didn’t contribute much. I mostly just watched and listened.
One flirted a little with Dax—not taking it so far that it couldn’t be considered playful, but enough that I wanted to throw my fork at her. Instead, I kept a placid smile on my face, refusing to make any kind of scene. It wasn’t as if he was giving her any encouragement. In fact, he made a point of not making much eye-contact with her, which increasingly irritated her as the evening went on. Ha.
Well, at least I’d got to talk a little about Sapphire Glade. People had only asked out of politeness what I did for a living, but several had requested a business card.
The food was absolutely amazing, if not a little pretentious. But I couldn’t deny that I was relieved when the dinner was over.
Outside, we slid into his car. Clicking on my seatbelt, I gave him a false grin. “Wow, that was so much fun.”
“Yes, you looked riveted by the conversation.” His tone was as dry as mine.
“You seemed a little bored yourself at times.”
Driving out of the lot, he said, “There’s often too much circling around ideas and proposals. It’s sometimes like a dance. I’m too direct and eager to move forward for me to have much patience for that.”
I’d be the same in his shoes. Dithering frustrated me. I’d rather make a decision and act on it than spend too much time deliberating.
“How serious were you and Beckett?”
The unexpected question made my forehead crease. “Not very. We weren’t together long.”
“Why not?”
I shrugged. “Quite simply, he hadn’t liked that I had more money than he did. He’d wanted me to give up my trust fund—either to charity, or to my siblings.”
Dax let out a scornful grunt. “He wanted you to suffer for his own insecurities, essentially?”
“That was pretty much the case, yes. I refused his request. He understood why but couldn’t accept the situation, so we parted ways. It was an amicable split.” I cocked my head. “Why do you want to know?” He never asked me about my exes. Not even Lake.
He opened his mouth to respond, but then his cell phone rang. As it was linked to the car’s Bluetooth, I could see Raven’s name on the vehicle’s small monitor.
Dax answered the call via Bluetooth, “Yes?”
“I’m sorry to bother you with this, especially on a Saturday night,” she began, sheepish, “but I have a bit of a problem.”
A fine line dented his brow. “What sort of problem?”
She sighed. “Mimi showed up at my place. She wants to stay over. Since I don’t like her habit of throwing crazy parties and all that stuff, I would have turned her away like always. But she’s beyond plastered; I let her in, hoping to sober her up.”
“She’s resisting, though,” Dax guessed, giving me the sense that he’d done this dance with Mimi himself.
“Yes.Andshe’s breaking my stuff for shits and giggles. There’s no way I’m letting her stay here, but I don’t want to toss her ass out while she’s in such a state. I’d never forgive myself if she ended up dead in an alley somewhere. I’d drag her into my car and drive her to a friend’s house, but I had a few cocktails earlier.”
Dax put pressure on the pedal, upping his speed. “I’ll be there in about twenty minutes.” He hung up and spared me a brief look.
I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t even think about taking me home before you go deal with this. I stand with and behind you, remember?”
His lips thinning, he jabbed a finger on the car monitor and scrolled down until he found Caelan’s name in his list of contacts. He then pressed “Call.”
The phone rang a few times before his brother answered, “This better be important.”
“Mimi showed up on Raven’s doorstep blitzed,” Dax told him, his hands flexing on the steering wheel. “She’s being … difficult.”
“Shit,” muttered Caelan.
“Raven wants to drop her off somewhere else, but she’s been drinking too so can’t drive. I’m on my way to her place now to pick up Mimi, but you’re closer. Can you head there so Raven’s not alone with her?”
