Chapter 23 #2
“Always a pleasure, Mae,” I say, stepping in right behind Harper and discreetly giving her ass a firm squeeze, watching her jump and gasp before doing her best to cover it up.
“Mother,” she says bluntly.
“Harper. I trust you are well.”
“Yes.”
“I see your friend Izabelle is not here.”
“No, she so desperately wished she could attend, however, she came down with an unexpected case of explosive diarrhea. She sends her regards.”
“Oh,” Mae says, shrinking away from us as though she could somehow catch Izzy’s germs just from being in the same vicinity as her daughter. “How . . . unsettling. Do wish her well for me. Shall I send her a gift basket?”
“No,” Harper mutters, hiding a smirk as she attempts to shove my hand away from her ass, only enticing me to squeeze a little harder. “That won’t be necessary.”
“Very well,” Mae says with a tight smile. “You might as well come in.”
Mae turns on her heel and stalks away as Harper whips around and shoves me in the chest. My hand falls away from her perfect ass.
“Keep it up and I’ll make sure the only thing you ever sink into again will be a rusty meat grinder operated by a man named Butch,” she whisper-yells, scolding me with the kind of tone that has my cock stiffening in my pants.
“Tonight is already going to be a disaster. I don’t need to be dodging your curveballs as well. ”
“Promise,” I say with a grin. “I’ll be on my best behavior.”
Harper shakes her head and sighs, knowing damn well that I’m full of shit. But speaking of being full of shit . . . “Explosive diarrhea, huh?”
“Oh yeah,” Harper says as we follow her mother through the house, our voices low. “It’s a real issue. There’s shit flying up the walls. Poor girl.”
“It’s always shits and giggles, until someone giggles and shits.”
I can’t help but laugh, which earns me a suspicious stare from Mae, glancing back at me over her shoulder, and the way she watches me next to Harper has me wondering if she knows something she shouldn’t, but that’s not possible.
“Hurry along, Harper,” she scolds, turning back to watch where she’s going. “I thought I told you to be here on time. Dinner is going to get cold.”
Harper balls her hands into fists before pumping them in and out, visibly trying to calm herself. Or at the very least, doing everything in her power not to tackle her mother to the ground and turn this dinner into a smackdown.
“Me?” Harper scoffs. “Do you not notice the mountain of a man beside me who was also late? Why isn’t he getting the famous Mae Slater scolding?”
“He is not my undependable daughter who likes to embarrass me at events.”
Harper stops in the middle of the living room, letting out a frustrated sigh. “Is this seriously how tonight is going to play out, because if this is the bullshit I’m in for, then I might as well leave now.”
Mae stops and looks back, and I subtly move in beside Harper, discreetly showing where my loyalties lie. Mae’s gaze shifts to mine. “Do you mind, Knight? I need to have a private word with my daughter.”
“Actually, I think I might just hang around. I wouldn’t want to miss the main event of the night,” I say, getting surprised glances from both of them.
“Though between you and me, I’m feeling a little ravenous, and after you mentioned dinner getting cold, I think it’s best we hurry along to the dining room and get this shitshow started. ”
Mae gapes at me, and I smile at her daughter, waving her through the living room. “After you.”
“Oh,” Harper muses, feigning delight as she places a hand against her chest. “Who would have known that a brute could be such a distinguished gentleman?”
Her eyes flash with darkness, and I know for a fact that she’s remembering the way I ate her pussy, knowing damn well that I am anything but a gentleman. Then not wanting to get caught alone with her mother, she hurries past me and makes her way into the dining room.
The whole family is here just as expected.
Elias sits at the head of the table and stands when Harper strides into the room, offering her a polite smile, which I know is really anything but.
Then as she turns to greet her brother and his wife, Emily, I keep my gaze locked on Elias, watching the way his stare lingers on her body just a moment too long.
Sensing my stare, he glances back at me, and the smirk that pulls across his lips makes me think that he believes we’re one and the same when it comes to Harper. But he’d be dead wrong, and if he were going to attempt to move on that bullshit, he’d have me to deal with.
Harper gives her brother a warm hug, and I can’t help but notice that things seem to be getting better there. They usually just grunt at each other. She moves on to Emily before dropping straight down and pulling her twin nieces, Haylee and Taliah, straight into her arms.
She chats animatedly with them, loving every second of it, and as she beams at them, something swells in my chest. A strange image of Harper, pregnant and barefoot, smiling at me from our kitchen and wearing nothing but a thong and one of my shirts lingers in the forefront of my brain, and the second it made itself known, I realize that’s going to have to be scrubbed from my memory with bleach.
I can’t want a future like that. I can’t even pretend to want that. Not without getting my ass kicked by Harper. If she knew, my balls would currently be tied around my throat like a bowtie.
I make my way over to Jonah, and he immediately holds out his hand in greeting. “Hey, Knight. How’re you doing?”
“Yeah, good, man. You?” I say, gripping his hand and offering a firm shake.
He nods. “Nothing to complain about,” he lies, because fuck, just being here in this room means he has plenty to complain about. His gaze shifts between me and Harper. “Did you, uhhh . . . did you guys come together?”
Have we come together? Indeed we have, but not in the context he’s referring to. “Nah, just ran into her at the door,” I say. “Pretty sure she was about to bail.”
Jonah laughs. “Wonderful. It’s gonna be one of those dinner parties.”
Mae strides in, seeming to have recovered from whatever the fuck just went down in the living room. She stands at the opening of the dining room, her arms outstretched. “Dinner is ready,” she announces. “Please find your seats.”
I shake my head and find a seat, unable to figure out why Mae always wants to put on these elaborate dinner parties. Even when it’s just family, she’s always trying so hard to be something she’s so clearly not.
The guests shift around the table to take their seats, and by the time Harper has finished with the girls and is looking for somewhere to park her ass, her eyes widen in horror, realizing the only seat available is right next to me.
I laugh to myself before reaching for the glass in front of me and the pitcher of iced water, doing what I can to mask my pleasure. I pour myself a drink before reaching for Harper’s glass and filling hers too.
When a waiter slides a plate in front of me, I look down with disdain. I can’t even tell what the fuck we’re eating, but what I do know is that it tastes like stale cardboard. I don’t even know how cardboard can taste stale, but leave it up to Mae to hire Blackstone’s worst caterers.
Harper makes a face with every bite, and I don’t doubt that the second she’s out of here, she’ll be stopping to grab a burger. Hell, I might even join her.
And then, just as expected, all hell breaks loose.