Chapter 32
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
CHARLIE
Wind seared my cheeks. Ah, back to the wonderful winter in Pittsburgh.
I tugged my hood over my head and walked to the entrance of Radiant while staring down at my phone, buzzing with the name Mom.
When I reached the entrance, I walked through the first set of doors and shook off the snow. Mom’s call went to voicemail. I clicked on the message and placed the phone up to my ear to get this over with.
“Hi, sweetheart. It’s Mom,” Mom said on voicemail. “I heard that you got married over the weekend, and your father and I are terribly sad that you didn’t tell us about it. We would have thrown you a huge party instead of you having some wedding at a dirty casino chapel. Call me back.”
I deleted her voicemail and scrolled to the next one.
“Son,” Dad said on voicemail, “give me a call. We need to talk. It’s about the party.”
No, thank you. Delete.
Not sure what the fuck he wanted to talk about, but I didn’t want to entertain it. I’d promised them I’d attend one more party with Athena, and then that was it. No calls. No texts. I didn’t want any part in talking to them.
Honestly, I didn’t even want to do that because I didn’t want Athena to meet them. But she was now my wife, and I wanted to show her off to everyone to prove to them that I didn’t need their money to be happy.
Or maybe it was just to prove to myself, especially after that failed money-raising round.
After stuffing my phone into my suit pocket, I shrugged off my coat and handed it to Winter, the coatroom attendant. She tucked some brown hair behind her ear and blushed in a way that she rarely ever did around me.
“Michelle here?” I asked, brushing it off.
She grinned at me. “Last I saw her, she was at the bar with Hector and Steven.”
“Thanks.”
“No problem,” she said, rocking forward. “Let me know if you need anything, Charlie.”
While walking toward the main room, I gave her a side-eye. Weird.
“There he is,” Steven said, sipping on his drink when I walked in. “How’d it go in Cali?”
“Listen,” I said, waving them off, “I really don’t want to talk about it.”
“Come on,” Steven said, squeezing my shoulder as I sat. “Didn’t smooth-talk them?”
“My brother was there.” I nodded to Abdul. “My regular, please.”
Hector shook his head in disappointment. “So, you didn’t get the deal?”
“When I saw him there, I didn’t want the fucking deal,” I growled.
“He’s like a gnat, isn’t he?”
“Hey, Charlie,” Samantha, a regular at Radiant, murmured, dragging her fingers across my shoulders.
I offered her a nod. “Hey, what’s up?”
“He’s taken,” Michelle said, walking up to me and twisting me away with her grip on my upper arm. When she finally turned away, Michelle slapped me upside the head. “Stupid boy.”
Abdul handed me my drink.
“What did I do?” I asked.
“You’re oblivious.”
“Oblivious to what?”
Michelle slipped on a stool beside Hector, sharing a look with her brothers, which meant that they all knew something that I apparently didn’t. It wasn’t unusual for me to greet people who attended Radiant, was it?
“What?” I asked, brows furrowed.
“You have a wedding band on your left hand,” Steven noted.
I glanced from Steven to Hector and Michelle, who nodded in agreement. “And?”
“And some women like to take that as a challenge,” Michelle said. “In my opinion, I think it’s gross, but if you’re here alone and without Athena, then girls like that are going to flirt with you to see if they can get with you.”
“Why?” I asked, scrunching my nose. “I’m not interested.”
“Doesn’t matter,” Hector said. “They will.”
“Does it happen to both of you?” I asked Hector and Steven.
“I really only ever come here with Sierra,” Steven said. “And when I don’t, it’s with him.”
Hector nodded to Michelle. “And Michelle doesn’t leave me when I’m here alone, so I don’t see that type of flirting much anymore. Thank God. But if I didn’t own this place, Heather would probably be in jail for how possessive she’s become over me.” He smiled. “I like it.”
I gulped. Athena was more insecure than possessive. She wouldn’t hit anyone, but she’d hold it all in and not tell me that something was bothering her until it was way too late. It hadn’t happened before we started dating, but maybe I had never noticed it.
“You have one of two options,” Michelle said, holding up two fingers. “Either you don’t come here without Athena or make it a thousand percent clear that you’re off the market and you don’t entertain anyone, not even with a smile.”
“What about Athena?” I asked. “She has a ring on her finger.”
“It doesn’t happen as much with women,” Steven said.
Michelle raised a brow. “Is that what you think? She’s pretty. People will hit on her either way. The last wedding I attended with my ex, an older gentleman came up to us with his wife and told my ex that I was way out of my ex’s league. It will happen.”
“It’s not Athena that you have to worry about,” Hector said.
Oh, believe me, I knew that with Derek. I trusted Athena one hundred fucking percent, but I wasn’t sure she trusted me as much. I had more experience than her in the bedroom, and there were hundreds of videos of me floating around the internet with other women.
I couldn’t even let her think I had something with another woman.
Michelle was right. Either I came here only with Athena or not at all.
“You’d best be careful, Easton,” Michelle hummed. “I wouldn’t be surprised if Nadia came back and started trouble between you and the missus. Girls like her are delusional and will do anything to win.”
I set my drink down. “So will Derek.”
He was probably the biggest threat that I had to worry about around Athena.
“True. Well, I’m off, boys,” Michelle called over her shoulder. “I have a hot date tonight. Have fun!”
“Wait, hold up,” I said, jumping off my seat. “You have some time to talk this weekend?”
Michelle raised her brow. “About?”
“Collaborating.”
“On?”
“Business.”
A smile crossed her face. “Business with Charlie Easton? Count me in.”