Chapter 28
C H A P T E R
IT WAS SUNDAY NIGHT, AND NIKOS STOOD OUTSIDE AVA’S DOOR WITH HONEY AT HIS SIDE.
She was dressed in a beautiful light gold dress with her hair curled and pinned.
Her eyes looked around the neighborhood with wonderment as Nikos knocked on the door, and he couldn’t blame her.
It wasn’t as if he had told her where they would be going tonight.
“Who are we going to see?” Honey asked, cutting him with a suspicious look.
Nikos shrugged. “Family, maybe?”
That response only made Honey look at him in puzzlement, but the door opened before she could question it.
“You came,” Ava said with a big smile before she pulled him into a hug that Nikos should have expected but wasn’t quite prepared for. She smelled like apples, and her hug was warm.
“Let’s get inside,” Ava said as she pulled back before ushering them both inside. “And who is this beautiful woman?”
Honey blushed, flattered, and Nikos smiled. “Honey, this is Ava. Ava, this is Honey, a very, very close friend of mine.”
Honey cut him a sharp look, and usually, he would laugh in a situation like this to show it was a joke, but he didn’t, which made Honey arch a brow.
But he was serious. She was a very close friend of his, a person that he respected and liked to spend time with, and out of all of the people he knew in New York, the one he was closest to.
Honey stared at him a second longer before she turned her attention to Ava and smiled brightly.
“It’s very nice to meet you,” Honey said politely as she offered her hand, and Ava shook it.
“Let me take your coats,” Ava said, and it seemed like a signal for Lefteris to come because he immediately got off the couch and came over to grab the coats for them instead and placed them on the rack.
“Nikos” Lefteris said as he pulled him into a hug again.
“Honey, this is my uncle Lefteris,” Nikos introduced, and Honey greeted him the same way she had Ava, smiling warmly and offering her hand. Lefteris looked at her with appreciation.
“Your girlfriend is very beautiful,” Lefteris said to Honey’s surprise and disbelief.
“She is, isn’t she,” Nikos said, smirking. Honey elbowed him, and Nikos laughed.
“I’m sorry. But you’re mistaken. We’re just very close friends,” Honey said with a hint of sarcasm as she glared at him out of the corner of her eye. Lefteris shrugged, and Ava shook her head at them with fondness.
After introducing themselves, they walked into the living room, and Nikos saw Nina sitting on the couch, scrolling through her phone. When she looked up and saw him, she frowned, greeting him similarly to how she had the first time they met. It was actually quite amusing.
“So, you really came,” she said as if she expected him not to come, and honestly, if he hadn’t already said he was coming to Ava, he probably would have found an excuse, but for some reason, he felt like coming this time.
Nikos was going to say something in turn, but then he noticed the man sitting next to Nina on the couch.
He looked to be around his age and had dark hair, thick brows, and a sharp jawline.
He was muscular, and even as he sat, Nikos could tell he was tall.
It took a second for Nikos to realize that he recognized him because he had just seen him on TV a few days ago when he had been watching what Americans liked to call football.
“You’re Tommie Knox,” Nikos said. Just a few nights ago, he had been watching an American football game with Theo.
Though it wasn’t his favorite sport like real football, he did find it enjoyable and knew that Tommie was a good quarterback.
He and his team had just won the last two Superbowls and planned to run it back this year.
“Hey, man,” Tommie said as he came over and shook his hand. And though Nikos guessed it was cool seeing someone famous, he couldn’t help but wonder why he was here in Ava’s home.
“Tommie is Nina’s boyfriend,” Ava said, and Nikos was shocked as he looked at Tommie again, but this time with a more critical eye now that he knew he was dating his sister. He didn’t want to be that guy, but he just wanted to make sure that Tommie was good enough for Nina.
“Tommie, this is Nikos, Nina’s brother,” Ava introduced.
“I only have one brother, and his name is Aris,” Nina said, repeating what she had told him a few days ago, which meant that she still didn’t accept the idea of him, which Nikos couldn’t blame her for.
But just because she couldn’t accept the idea of it didn’t change the fact that he was her brother, and it was his job to protect her.
“Nina,” Ava said in a reproachful tone.
“I don’t mind,” Nikos said as he looked Tommie in the eye. “Aris is my brother, so therefore, Nina is my sister, and I hope you can treat her with the respect that she deserves.”
He gripped Tommie’s hand tight, and when Tommie tried to tug his hand back, he was surprised that he couldn’t.
And Nina, who stood next to Tommie now, looking down at their hands, looked astonished too.
But it seemed Honey didn’t appreciate his actions as she discreetly pinched him.
Then, finally, Nikos released his hand, hoping that Tommie got the message, and he seemed to as he slowly nodded.
They continued to exchange polite introductions until they all sat at the dinner table together, and despite the awkward start, surprisingly, he was having a good time.
The food was delicious, and because of it, Honey relaxed enough that she spent most of the time talking to Ava about food recipes, and when she wasn’t talking to Ava, she was talking to Nina, who told her that she was pretty enough to be a model, which Nikos had to agree with.
The conversation never died because Ava, who was personable and friendly, always kept the conversation going and the awkwardness out of the door as she told stories about Nina’s childhood and asked Tommie questions about football, who always seemed excited to speak about it.
As the quarterback spoke about how they made it to the Superbowl last year, Nikos texted Aris to see if his brother knew about Nina’s boyfriend.
Of course, Nikos didn’t know Tommie and didn’t want to make judgments based on someone’s profession because that had bit him in the ass plenty of times before.
Still, Tommie was a quarterback, who probably had many women who wanted him, and he knew Aris would not take kindly to anyone hurting his sister.
After everyone was too stuffed and full to eat, Lefteris went out to the backyard to smoke, and Tommie went upstairs to take a call. Nikos stood in the kitchen doorway, watching as Honey and Ava exchanged recipes with each other, and he was glad that Honey was comfortable.
“When you add a pinch of vanilla to it, it makes it really good,” Ava informed Honey, who was typing down the notes on her phone, which Nikos found to be hilarious. But Honey was always enthusiastic about food. She really loved cooking a lot.
“I have to make this tomorrow morning. My son really loves French toast,” Honey told Ava.
“You have a son?” Ava asked, surprised, and Honey nodded. “How old is he?”
“He’s eight, and his name is Kai.”
“Why didn’t you bring him over? I would love to meet him next time,” Ava said. Before Honey could reply, Nikos spoke.
“We’ll bring him next time. I’m sure Kai will love it here, especially your good food,” Nikos said. Honey cut her eyes at him, and Nikos smiled.
“We have to set that up. I would love to meet your son, Honey. Do you have any pictures of him?” Honey grabbed her phone before pulling up a picture of her son to show Ava.
Nikos found himself smiling as he watched their interaction before he walked over to the table, shaking his head with fondness.
At first, he had been worried about coming here again.
But now, he was glad that he had come, and now he could see why Aris liked Ava so much.
She was a kind woman with a genuine soul.
He wouldn’t mind coming over again with Honey and Kai, which surprised him even more.
On his days off, with someone as young as himself, he should be going clubbing or trying to hook up with someone.
But now, his free time had been given to Honey and Kai, and he didn’t mind it at all.
Before he could let his mind linger on that thought, he looked up and realized Nina was there.
She was eating apple pie and ice cream. When their eyes connected, she looked away and rolled her own.
Before he could say anything, his phone dinged, and it was a message from Aris.
AD: send me his license plate and address. A birth certificate will be nice too.
“You wouldn’t happen to know Tommie’s license plate number?” Nikos asked, and Nina’s eyebrows nearly rose past her hairline as she looked at him with mild suspicion. Before she could mistake him for a stalker, Nikos lifted his phone, showing Aris’s text message, and Nina sighed.
“He always acts like he’s my father,” Nina grumbled, but there was a small smile in her eyes that made Nikos smile.
“He just wants to know that Tommie is a good person for his younger sister,” Nikos said.
“Well, he is,” Nina said with a pout before she took another bite of her ice cream. The permanent pinched look on her face and attitude reminded him of someone. It almost felt like he was feeling déjà vu in her presence.
“You remind me of Pierce,” Nikos said, and Nina’s eyes widened as if she were offended.
“You think I remind you of that jackass,” Nina said, and Nikos hadn’t realized they had met before, but they clearly did because anyone who had the misfortune of meeting Pierce Drakos would say the same.
“Yeah, he is a jackass,” Nikos agreed. “You’re lucky you didn’t have to live with him for twenty plus years.”
“I don’t know how you could have a brother like that,” she said offhandedly, and Nikos smiled.