“Because Mom hasn’t cheated on you with your competition?”
His mouth curved into a delicate smile. “Burgess was never my competition. I ended his career when I represented your mother, but I digress. Our marriage is successful because I learned the hard way that family always comes first, and I met a partner who believed the same. Make the time for the people who love you, Grant, because it will be those who love you who’ll be there for you in your darkest times.”
I nodded. “I’m sorry for behaving like an ass at the restaurant. I was intentionally trying to hurt you, and unfortunately, I succeeded. I meant it when I said I was over Eliza, and I’d be a liar if I said I wouldn’t have considered the same route for the woman I loved. I didn’t mean to shut you out.My guilt and cowardliness kept me from reaching back out to you.”
He smiled without malice, almost apologetically. “I forgive you, Grant. I hope you can forgive me for questioning your… hm… I don’t know how to say it. Forgive me for questioning your devotion to Kiyah. Speaking of… have you seen her?”
“Not recently. Not since the rehearsal.”
He stared at me with his face devoid of emotion. I froze, feeling like he could see right through me and my lie.
“I see,” he responded, leaving his stool. He drained the glass and buttoned his suit jacket. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end when he stepped close and gripped my shoulder. He leaned in to whisper into my ear. “Next time you want to go down on your stepsister in the parking lot, you should dust your knees off afterward. Your suit is too expensive to have dirty knees.”
Kiyah
I entered the hall, nodded, and smiled at guests until I reached the seafood buffet. I grabbed a plate and began loading it down. I’d worked up an appetite from that backseat banger and needed to refuel. I had just snagged the last two lobster tails when an arm linked through mine, and I was dragged away.
“Nori, what are you doing?”
“I want you to meet someone,” she explained. I could hear the veiled excitement in her tone andknewshe was up to some matchmaking bullshit.
“I don’t want to meet whoever you’re trying to set me up with,” I said stoically.
“Who said anything about setting you up? You can’t make friends?”
“I’m not interested in making friends with the opposite sex.”
Nori arched a perfect brow, and her pink, glossed lips slid into a crooked grin. “Is this your way of telling me you want to dabble in the ladies?”
“Hell no,” I responded, earning a scorched glare from my sister-in-law.
“Respectfully, I need the real thing. So, you will not be convincing me to join the Coochie Crusade.”
Nori’s lips flattened into a thin line, and her cheeks flushed brightly, contrasting with her long, raven hair.
“I despise you, Kiyah.”
I laughed. “Is it because you didn’t think of it yourself?”
“That’s exactly why!” she proclaimed. “Coochie Crusade? How come I’ve never thought of that? Permission to steal it?”
“Permission granted, soldier.”
Nori paused before we reached a group of men huddled together who clutched whiskey glasses and were probably comparing their golf handicaps.
“I want to thank you for being here,” Nori said softly. “You got your shit. I get that, but it means the world to Daisy and me that you’re here. You’re our big sister, and we love you. We always want you around, but we’ll begrudgingly settle for whatever you give us.” I blinked back tears as Nori’s voice began to wobble with emotion. “I know that Daisy and I give everyone so much fucking grief, but we’ve been that way since we were in pull-ups—we know nothing else.”
“You both need therapy,” I said, chuckling as I sniffed back snot. Nori closed the gap between us. “I’m not going to pay someone to tell me that my wife is a sociopath—there’s no fixing her.”
“You severely lack accountability and self-awareness.”
“Remind me again who stole a hearing-impaired individual’s hearing aids.”
“Remind me again who socked my sister in the eye for telling her not to get kitchen braids for their honeymoon.”
“That’s neither here nor there. Let’s get back on topic.”
Sure. Let’s not talk about your domestic abuse. I’m all ears.