Total pages in book: 141
Estimated words: 143382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 143382 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 717(@200wpm)___ 574(@250wpm)___ 478(@300wpm)
He opened his mouth, but Shirleen whispered, “Oowee,” again with a lot more weight, which took my attention to her.
And thus, the third part of the triple threat happened when I saw Eric sauntering in all his sauntering lusciousness my way.
He came up right beside Braydon, smiling at me in all his smiling lusciousness.
“Hey, honey,” he greeted.
“Hey,” I greeted back.
“Mouth,” he ordered.
Oh man.
I leaned all the way across the stainless-steel barback to get his brush of the lips.
He caught me by the chin before I could move away and said, “Please, fuck, tell me Lucia has pulled pork burritos on the menu today.”
Braydon made a strangling noise.
Eric heard it, let me go and turned to him with concern, like he’d need to be ready to jump into action with the Heimlich maneuver.
“Ooooooweeee,” Shirleen said again.
Daisy’s bell laugh sounded, but there was a tinge of nervousness to it, and I didn’t get a good feeling about that.
“Braydon, Eric,” I introduced. “Eric, Braydon is my ex. Braydon, Eric is my—”
“Man,” Eric grunted.
Well, even with the deep honesty, my car in his garage, and all of that, I wasn’t sure we were there this soon in our relationship, but at his indication we were…
Nice.
Braydon’s flush turned beet red.
Eric turned to me. “Did you have a word with him?”
“What word?” Braydon choked out.
“Um, kinda,” I said.
“How kinda?” Eric asked.
“White boy would have to have bricks for brains not to get her ‘kinda,’” Shirleen said sotto voce.
That got another tinkly giggle from Daisy.
Braydon slid off his seat and moved away from Eric a step. “She made things clear.”
Eric locked eyes with him. “Good.”
Braydon looked at me. “I won’t bother you again.”
I didn’t know what to say.
It was neither here nor there to me if he showed at SC again.
I decided to say nothing.
Braydon marched out.
I noted Cap was standing with Raye watching this, and I was about to tell Eric that he was out of luck with the pulled pork burritos, but the pulled chicken nachos were up for grabs, when Dream chimed in.
“I see how it goes,” she said snidely. “Gross.”
I felt Cap’s displeasure cresting in like a killer wave, but I had other things take my attention, because, slowly, Eric turned to her.
“Are you speaking to me?” he asked.
“No,” she answered.
“You’re looking at me,” he pointed out.
“Forget I said anything,” she returned.
“Eric, I’m not sure you met her at the funeral. This is Dream, Luna’s sister,” I introduced.
Eric couldn’t hide his surprise.
That answered that.
They didn’t meet at the funeral.
Dream looked at Luna. “Forget it. I’ll just miss the interview.”
“I thought you were going to take kids in at your house,” Luna noted.
“This place has insurance, they say I can enroll my babies for a huge discount, and they don’t mind I’m knocked up,” Dream replied.
“What time is the interview?” Luna asked.
“Don’t worry. I won’t disturb your important work with the care of my children,” Dream retorted.
Luna sighed.
Cap held Raye back.
Harlow’s cheeks turned an angry pink.
I spoke.
“What’s your problem?”
“I’m sorry, was I talking to you?” Dream asked in return.
“You were talking to one of my best friends, coming in, asking for a favor and being a bitch doing it,” I fired back.
“I don’t need this,” Dream muttered, making a move to leave.
“No, actually, Luna doesn’t. But you don’t hesitate to bring it on,” I stated.
“Babe,” Eric said quietly.
Yeah, I should just let it go. She wasn’t worth it.
I grabbed one of today’s menus and put it in front of him.
Dream remarked, “You think you can tell me off when you’re the kind of woman where some man says one word and you obey?”
“Not that I need to explain myself to you,” I began. “But I didn’t obey. He pointed out with one word you weren’t worth it. I’d forgotten that for a second. He reminded me. I was done with you. That’s what partners do. They check each other and make sure the person they care about doesn’t expend unneeded emotion on someone who doesn’t deserve it.”
Dream threw up both hands. “Why do I even come here?”
“Good question,” Luna stated. “Because I would have found a way to help you out. Even if you weren’t nice when you asked, you’re my sister, and I want what’s best for you, so I’d have figured it out. But you turned nasty and didn’t even give me a chance to work it out with you. It’s like you came here not wanting my help, instead just to piss all over my day.”
Dream put a hand to her daughter’s head at her chest. “I need a babysitter. I just don’t want to ask you to do it because you get so shitty about it,” Dream returned. “But I had no choice.”
“How hard would it have been to even fake being nice when you asked, and then not put your two cents in to other shit that’s going on around you when you don’t even know what you’re talking about?” Luna demanded.