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“Whatever it is, you could probably use it as paint thinner the next time you’ve got a room to do,” he snorted. “I’m sure I just lost ten linings of my stomach.”
“They’re only five layers,” I replied idly while checking the bottle. The Russian characters interspersed with Chinese did not give me any comfort.
“How the hell do you know that?” he asked while the waitress set a glass of water before me.
“Undergrad years, circuit parties, five hangovers, and three petitions for death,” I gulped the water. “Don’t ask.”
He leaned in, green eyes glimmering, “You, the quintessential good girl, partying? Have I stepped into an alternate dimension?”
“Oh, shut it,” I huffed, balling up a paper napkin from the stack and lobbed it at him. “It’s college. What do you expect when pledging for a sorority?”
“Did you get in?” he asked while another waiter placed a platter of vegan burgers and seasoned fries before him, and instantly, my mouth started to water.
“No, shockingly.” I shrugged. “Kappa, Alpha… whatever, can go suck it.”
“Sucks. I bet you would fit right into the Alpha Phi Alpha,” he grinned.
“That’s a fraternity,” I scowled. “Stop teasing me. But on that note, I will take my gut-rot tequila and mosey on out of here.”
Ethan stopped me. “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but… stay a while, okay? Relax, let your hair down for a minute.”
I knew he didn’t mean my literal hair, but my tight ponytail was killing me, so I reached up and plucked the hair tie out. When my hair tumbled over my shoulders, I dug a hand into my scalp to massage the tingling tension out. Ethan was watching me like a hawk.
“I should order something, too,” I replied. “Maybe what you’re having.”
“A black bean burger and sweet potato fries,” he asked. “Sure, if you want. Or, you could order that artery choking, cholesterol-increasing, smothered-in liquid heart-attack oil.”
I knew my face fell; I could feel it, and by his reaction, Ethan saw it too. “I wish you hadn’t said that. My dad just had a heart attack. A minor one but one just the same.”
“Oh shit,” he swore. “I just jammed my foot in my mouth, didn’t I? I’m sorry to hear that, Mia.”
“It's…” The word fine stuck itself in my throat. “It's hard, but we’re getting through it. I probably shouldn’t have told you that, though. It's a secret that I know my dad would’ve preferred to be locked up as if it were a national secret.”
“I get it,” Ethan replied while stretching out a long leg on the outside of the booth. I gave him a skeptical look, and he narrowed his eyes. “Just because I can’t empathize doesn’t mean I can’t sympathize. Heart attacks are scary as shit, and it's why I want to avoid anything like that as best as I can.”
“Hence the vegan diet?”
“Hence the vegan diet,” he smiled. “Go on, order one, and you’ll see it’s not rabbit food.”
“I never, ever thought that,” I lied.
He snorted, “Yeah, right, and the grass is purple and the sun green. Just get one and keep your comments off Twitter.”
I shook my head. “God, you’re bossy.”
“And don’t ever forget it.”
ChapterNine
Ethan
Mia was…growing on me.
The tension wasn’t so high anymore, but at times, last night, it still fizzled and crackled. I appreciate what she did by apologizing on her father’s behalf because God knew I would never get the same thing out of the old goat. It took some sting out of the old hurt, but it hadn’t cauterized or healed the festering laceration.
It was not that her father had made us lose money for nearly a year and a half, but it was the audacity and the gall the man had done it with. Our families were personal enemies, fine, but which business directory said it was acceptable to pull personal problems into business matters?
None.
