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Her eyes widen when she spots Brock behind me, another strike against her. Squaring my shoulders and doing my best to ignore her, I focus on the men in my life.
“Kav, this is my boyfriend, Brock Adams. Brock, my brother Kavanagh.”
The men shake hands and exchange pleasantries as the waiter approaches to take our drink order. Brock helps me get seated before taking his own seat.
“What a gentleman,” Karrington purrs, her gaze focused on Brock.
Brock grips my hand under the table in silent communication. Giving his hand a quick squeeze in return, our focus turns to looking over the menu. Once the waiter brings our drinks, he takes our food order and disappears.
“Soooo, Brock,” Karrington says in a seductive tone, causing Kavanagh and I to exchange looks. “What is it that you go to school for?”
Brock looks uncomfortable at Karrington’s obvious flirting. He clears his throat a couple of times, warily looking at Kavanagh.
“I, uh, that is,” Brock stutters out, obviously not sure how to handle the situation. Having mercy on the poor guy and hoping to get the girl to back off, my tone is clipped.
“He is a baseball player.”
Technically, he is, as today’s game was his last act for Groveton. His next step is to get his room packed before loading up his car and driving to New York.
“Oooh, baseball,” Karrington coos, running a painted fingernail along the rim of her glass. “How many hat-tricks have you scored? Or is it field goals?”
Unable to help myself, I snicker, which turns into giggles. This vapid woman is nothing but a gold digger. My giggles set Brock and Kavanagh off into full-on laughter and we draw a lot of attention from the tables surrounding us. The vapid woman looks at each of us, blinking, obviously confused about why we are laughing.
Dinner progresses nicely as Brock, Kavanagh, and I tune out the princess, acting as if she isn’t sitting here with us. I feel bad for Kav. He really liked this girl. Excusing myself from the table, I head to the ladies’ room.
After doing my business, I move to stand at the sink to wash my hands. The door opens, and Karrington walks in. Instead ofstepping into a stall, she leans against the sink next to me, arms crossed over her chest.
“You are never going to keep him. He is way out of your league,” she says flatly.
Doing my best to ignore her, letting her words wash over me, I toss the paper towel into the receptacle and move to step around Karrington. She moves faster than expected, gripping my upper arm so tight that her nails are breaking the skin.
“Don’t ignore me,” she sneers as she looks me up and down. “He is going to get bored with you. Why not just speed up the process and step aside. Let him have a woman instead of a mouse.”
Her words strike a nerve. Before I realize what is happening, my arm moves. My fist connects to her nose as a loud crunch fills the room. It takes Karrington a moment to realize what happened as blood starts pouring from her nose, and she starts shrieking. Checking myself over, I head for the door, knowing her blood isn’t on me.
“Stay away from my brother,” I say as my parting words, leaving her to fend for herself.
Reaching the table, Brock and my brother jump away from each other as if I interrupted their conversation. Kavanagh gets a pinched look on his face as he glances down the hallway, looking for Karrington.
“She is going to be a few minutes,” I remark offhandedly, focusing on the large chunk of Tiramisu sitting in front of me.
I can feel both of them staring at me. Ignoring the glances, a moan escapes around a spoonful of cake, or is it considered pudding? Shrugging off my mental debate on the classification of my food, the sound of stomping feet approaches from the end of the table.
Sniggering at the sight of Karrington, her nose and eyes turning a dark shade of purple, blood all over the front of herdress. Black streaks run down her cheeks, her eyes red and puffy from crying.
Brock’s shoulders are shaking with suppressed laughter as he buries his face in my neck. Kavanagh’s head ping-pongs between the two of us, his mouth opening and closing like a fish. His gaze finally settles on me, both brows lifted in question. Heaving a sigh, I set my spoon down on the table, pushing the plate back and resting my folded hands on the tabletop.
“She cornered me in the ladies’ room. When I ignored her statement, she grabbed me. From there, she proceeded to tell me that I wasn’t going to be able to keep Brock. Said that I should step aside and let him have a real woman. Oh, and then she called me a mouse.” Brock stiffens at my words. He hates the reference as much as I do, considering it’s one of Danica’s favorite pet names for me. Pasting a sweet smile on my face, I blink innocently at my brother. His blank expression turns dark as he looks at Karrington. Normally, I wouldn’t interfere in my brother’s love life, but this girl crossed a line. She left me no choice but to throw her money-grubbing ass under the proverbial bus.
“We. Are. Done.” Kavanagh bites out.
Karrington stomps her foot at Kavanagh’s declaration. Unable to contain myself, the movie reference slips from between my lips.
“Bye, Felicia.”
Kavanagh pinches the bridge of his nose, shaking his head at my antics as Karrington turns on her heel, hair fanning out behind her as she stalks off. Me, I finish my dessert, a large smile pasted across my face. Brock loses all control, almost falling out of his chair from laughing.
EPILOGUE
