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“Seriously? You’re defending this?” I sounded far more disgusted than I actually felt.
If it was true, I kind of understood what Chad was saying.I just didn’t like it.I wouldn’t want it happening to me, and hearing River take his side on the matter felt like some kind of betrayal.
Not that it made any kind of sense.
I hated River. Of course he’d side with Chad on this. They were two peas in a pod when it came to women. Dating whoever they wanted with no regard for anyone’s feelings aside from their own.
“I’m just saying that I understand it. He dated multiple women. Who were most likely doing the same thing. I’m not victim blaming or saying that anyone who got hurt by him deserved it. Just saying, after hearing his perspective, it might not be so black and white.”
Chad put a hand in the air for a high five, but River only looked at it before giving him a nod. Chad put his hand down.
“You get it, man, because you do the same thing,” Chad added.
“I do not do the same thing,” River challenged.
I choked on my drink because he kind of did, but I didn’t feel like bringing that fact up for debate. There would be no winning, only more arguing, and I was exhausted, just thinking about it. Males and females didn’t typically see things through the same set of eyes, and they definitely did not feel with the same emotions.
“Did the business survive? Is there still ice cream to be served?” Carmella asked, her voice filled with concern for Chad’s parents.
He grinned. “It gave us a huge boost in sales that hasn’t stopped since. You know what they say about bad publicity. There really is no such thing.”
“Wow,” was all I could muster up in response.
Not that I had hoped for the downfall of his family business or anything, but hearing how the videos had made it even more popular instead of the opposite was surreal, to say the least.
“Sorry that took so long.” Raul suddenly appeared, as if out of thin air, holding so many plates that I wasn’t sure where he’d put them all. Thankfully, he’d brought the bottle of wine over, and he refilled my and Carmella’s glasses to the rim.
“Thank you,” I said with a smile.
I planned on finishing my entire glass.
Raul squeezed as much of our food as he could onto our tabletop before pulling a standing serving tray to the side and leaving the rest of what we all ordered on it.
“We look like we haven’t eaten in days,” I said with a laugh as I reached for my pizza, which was so hot that steam was rising off of the pepperonis.
Everyone mumbled out unintelligible words before the talking stopped completely and our table grew deadly quiet. A mere two minutes ago, we couldn’t shut up, and now, we couldn’t stop eating.
For as hungry as I’d been, my stomach sure got full quickly. I glanced down and noticed that I’d only eaten two slices. Normally, I could put away four before my belly started aching and begged me to stop.
Oh well. More for breakfast, I thought to myself.
Or a late-night snack.
Or both.
“What are you grinning at?” River held me with his gaze, and I dropped the smile from my lips.
I hadn’t even known I’d been doing it.
“Just daydreaming,” I answered, the wine finally swimming in my veins, making me want to be a little bit nicer to my sworn enemy for once.
“About me? You really shouldn’t.” He winked, and the wine niceties ended.
“Never about you,” I groaned. “And always about food. It’s far more satisfying than you could ever be.”
I felt good about my comeback, proud even. Until he leveled me with one of his own.
“It’s not. Not like you’ll ever know.”
