AllFreeNovel
Share Us
And though I wanted to protect Tessie, with our blood, she’d learn soon enough how fucked up life could be.
Ariana looked between me and Tessie, her eyes briefly skimming my face before settling on Tessie’s.
“I don’t see why you can’t be here while I train.”
Tessie leaned forward.
Her eyes glowed as she nodded her head like one of those hula girl bobblehead dolls on the dash of a car going a hundred and twenty miles per hour.
“Can I?” She pressed her palms together and intertwined her fingers. “Please, please, please, Bastian.”
I wanted to spend time with my sister, sure, but I didn’t want her here to witness my relentless battle with Ariana.
Battle.
Feud.
Foreplay.
Whatever you called it, it was inappropriate for an eight-year-old kid to watch.
But it was already hard to say no to Tessie once, and I couldn’t say no to her twice, so I nodded my head.
Tessie jumped off her seat like a flying monkey, clung to me tightly as I caught her mid-air, and pressed several sloppy kisses to my cheek.
I noticed Ariana’s curious eyes on me as I shifted Tessie to my back. There was a question within those sea green depths, but I wasn’t the type to ask.
I was the type to demand.
But I couldn’t in front of Tessie, because I didn’t want her to think it was okay for some fucker to treat her like that.
The hypocrisy wasn’t lost on me.
As if I gave a fuck.
I began to speak in rapid fire.
“You’ll get a drink menu sent home with you tonight. Read it. Memorize it. Live it. You’ll be expected to be able to make, describe, and sell everything on the menu by your next training session.”
Her eyes advertised her hate for me like an oversized Times Square billboard. “And that is?”
I leveled her with a glare for cutting me off, the efficacy of my glare probably diminished by the adorable eight-year-old girl clinging to my back.
“Tomorrow. Same time.”
Ariana’s eyes connected with mine, and she crossed her arms.
“Would that be half past noon or”—she looked at her watch— “three past two?”
Ariana didn’t let anything slide. Elsa had that same attitude. I’d liked it about her, so seeing it in Ariana pissed me off.
I ignored both her attitude and her question, unwilling to deal with any more bullshit today.
“Blenders are in the back of the bar. Make sure the covers are on tight before you press any buttons. The covers muffle the sound, and no one wants to hear the help work.”
She ignored the jab, unfazed by my brand of asshole. Something about that—and her—made me feel exposed. I wanted her to be like everyone else.
A coward.
