Chapter 14 Fake Dating #3
Wes didn’t blink. He didn’t become visibly angry or even defensive. Instead, his defense mechanism was to go calm, absorbing her insults without reacting. To Sasha, it was clear this wasn’t his first time fielding outbursts like this. “It was a child abuse case. I had to get that kid out of there.”
“Then there was the illegal GPS tracker he put on a guy’s car.”
“He was terrorizing his ex-wife,” explained Wes. “I was building a case.”
“It was illegal. All those citations risked your father’s pristine name and reputation.” Then, Mrs. Dane raised her voice. “You risked his reputation! Do you understand that?”
Brooke stepped in. “Mom, enough. You’re embarrassing us.”
“No, she’s being truthful.” Wes appeared disturbingly calm. The only thing throwing off his act was the clench of his jaw. “Mom’s entitled to her opinion.”
Wes might’ve been cool and calm, but Sasha was incensed. She was so offended by his mother’s treatment of him that it surprised her. This wasn’t her family. Their dynamics were none of her business. But nevertheless, she felt strongly that she needed to defend him.
“Mrs. Dane, with all due respect, Wes isn’t a truck driver. He owns a food truck. He’s been written up in Eater, Infatuation, and Grub Street. He has the featured spot at F.E.A.S.T. every weekend. That’s a huge deal.”
Wes stilled, gazing at her with absolute wonder. Mrs. Dane looked at her like she was an absolute fool.
“Oh, Marsha,” said Wes’s mom. “You don’t understand.
I’m glad he has a new job. He was too emotional to be a detective.
So many mental health issues. He used to have night terrors and wet the bed.
You need a level head as a detective. All those citations!
” Mrs. Dane grabbed his arm. “Thank God you found a new start. With your temperament, detective work is too risky. It’s like your dad used to say, in searching for monsters, be careful not to turn into one yourself. ”
What the hell did that mean? wondered Sasha.
“I’d just like to see you settle down,” she said, still hanging on to Wes’s arm.
“You had so much promise. I hate to see you flail. Your father died so disappointed in you. All that drinking! The women!” Mrs. Dane turned her attention to Sasha.
“And then, after my husband died, you know what his only son did? He played Wordle. All the time. He went all the way to Palo Alto for the national Wordle competition and lost. It was sad. I don’t even know what Wordle is! ”
Sasha blinked. Wordle. He actually competed in a Wordle championship? Is that where he got his journals? This man contained multitudes.
“I didn’t lose,” he mumbled. “I came in second.”
“Everything that isn’t first is losing,” snapped Mrs. Dane angrily. “Ask Hillary Chicken!”
Brooke looked at Sweet Willy, who’d appeared by Mrs. Dane’s side. “Hillary Chicken? Has she been drinking on her meds?”
Sweet Willy Watson smiled apologetically. “I’m gonna tell you what my Pop-Pop once told me. He said, ‘Son, this, too, will pass. Sometimes you have to cut off your balls to save your ass.’ ” He tipped his fedora and two-stepped back onto the dance floor.
Sasha was furious on Wes’s behalf. His mom was mean. His sister was bitchy. How dare they cast him as some deadbeat loser. He was a canny, savvy entrepreneur. It struck her how destructive a death can be, for a family. She wondered what they were like when Wes Senior was alive.
“Well. That’s just about all the dysfunction I’m willing to experience today,” announced Wes. “Sasha, how about brunch at Walter’s?”
“Have fun!” exclaimed Mrs. Dane, as if she hadn’t scorched the earth. “Sasha, next time I see you two, maybe you’ll be an actual couple.”
Sasha forced a tight smile. “Between you and me, Mrs. Dane, I’m hopeful. If he’ll have me.”
Wes blinked rapidly. His mouth parted, but nothing came out. He looked flabbergasted.
“You’d date my son? But you’re such a catch.”
Sasha moved closer to Wes, hooking her arm in his. “No, Wes is the catch.”
“Oh, don’t be silly.” She laughed.
That was the last straw. Sasha turned to face Wes.
With a soft smile, she raised up on her tiptoes.
Closing her eyes, she kissed him on the cheek.
When she came back down, she locked eyes with him.
And what she saw made her stomach flip. Wes looked like he’d been sprayed by a flurry of automatic bullets.
And then, he grabbed her by the hand, and they got the entire fuck out of there.
At the outskirts of the park, Wes and Sasha were embroiled in tension.
“You didn’t have to do that,” he said. “I was fine.”
“No you weren’t. I couldn’t let her talk about you like that.”
“I was fine, Sasha.” With a terse expression, he unbuttoned his suit jacket. “Don’t feel sorry for me. Besides, they’re right to be ambivalent about me. I’ve done some terrible things. Things I regret every day.”
Confused, Sasha stepped closer to him. “What terrible things?”
But Wes’s expression was far away; he was somewhere else, entirely. Somewhere unreachable. Abruptly, he shook his head, as if deleting the past twenty minutes from his memory.
“Wes,” she repeated, “what terrible things?”
Lost in thought, he ignored her. “I’ll have Seat F’s name by tomorrow. I know what to do.”