“The same time your fashion sense did,” Shay retorts without skipping a beat.
I laugh so hard I nearly piss my pants. Reign decided to go with an ode to Zack Morris from Saved by the Bell. His hair is gelled to the gods. I don’t think a sledgehammer could ruin it.
“Who are you trying to be cute for?” I tease as he opens the cafe door.
Reign’s face scrunches in confusion. “I don’t look any different than I do every other day.”
“Bullshit,” Nando says. “You even added an extra spray of cologne before we left.”
That earns him a scowl. “The fuck I did,” Reign argues, but his cologne is definitely more prominent than usual.
“Who is she or he?” I probe, arching a brow in challenge.
We taunt him until we’re seated at our table. I’m so distracted by our fun that I don’t notice that we’re sitting three tables away from Liam, Rowan, Sebastian, Karl, and August until a shrill voice announces their presence.
“Eww! Who let the trash in?” Samantha sneers.
Shay opens her mouth to say something, but I pinch her side. “Ignore her. You know she thrives on chaos.”
Shay’s lips curl, but thankfully, she lets it go.
After a few weeks of Samantha’s shit, I’ve officially decided to treat them like the guys are treating me. They don’t fucking exist.
Our food arrives, and I notice my lunch has extra servings of veggies to go with my steak.
My eyes narrow to slits. “Okay, which one of you changed up my meal plan?”
Everyone throws their hands up, signaling it isn’t them. The first time it happened, I thought it was a fluke, but every time we eat here, my order has extra dark leafy greens accompanied by the smoothie I used to drink in Colorado-chock-full of vitamins.
I make a mental note to call my dad later to see if this is his or my grandmother’s doing.
“Someone probably thinks you need to be on a diet, you fat cow,” Sam hisses.
Lifting my hand, I massage the bridge of my nose.
Why must this cunt always try me?
“Oh look, it’s Sam,” I announce dryly.
“You should’ve stayed gone before you end up like your other family members. The Bradfords don’t have a place here anymore. Your entire existence is irrelevant.”
Her words replay in my head. She’s got my attention now. Too bad for her-that’s never a good thing.
Nando stands up, and Samantha takes three steps backward when she notices none of the guys followed her over here. “You might want to take that shit somewhere else, Barbie, because all threats are met with the full force of our protection. My hands don’t discriminate when I’m protecting our girl.”
Samantha yammers something else, but I can feel someone’s gaze boring into the side of my face. I turn and see Rowan’s jaw locked tightly in a sneer. Liam is halfway out of his seat, and Karl has his knife in his hands. However, August is leaning back in his chair with the biggest shit-eating grin, like this is the entertainment he’s been waiting his whole life for. None of them come to her aid, though.
“Huh. That’s interesting,” I mumble to myself.
Why aren’t they over here protecting her?
Before I can ponder the question longer, Samantha’s screech pulls my focus back on her.
“What is it with this girl? Does she have a magic pussy? I don’t know why anyone would try to claim her. She’s nothing, a nobody that thinks??”
I move with a level of speed my pregnant ass probably shouldn’t be able to. It’s fast enough that Samantha doesn’t see it coming until she’s on the floor grabbing her bleeding nose. Her skirt’s flipped up, and everyone has a prime view of her pussy spread wide open.
The cafe is silent. The only noise is the pounding in my ears and the devil on my shoulder telling me to stomp on her face.
I ignore that messy bitch.
She’s always trying to get me locked up.
Tilting my head, I scrutinize her, wondering once again how they could choose someone so vapid.
“That was my nose, you dumb bitch??”
I don’t allow her to finish. I snatch my smoothie from the table and dump it on her face, relishing in her screams.
“Why does this feel like d?j? vu?” I tap my chin, pretending to think. “Oh yes, it’s because you tried this last year, and I rocked your shit then, too.”
Samantha attempts to get to her feet three times and falls before one of the cheerleaders sitting next to us helps her.
“You’ll pay for this,” she snarls and begins to storm away, only to slip and hit her elbow as she braces herself.
Bet she wishes she didn’t wear heels today. I try to hold in my laugh when she slips her stilettos off and stands on the first try. She glares before she screams and leaves the lunch room.
“Tell your plastic surgeon I said hello,” I shout at her retreating form.
ROWAN
“Holy shit, that was fucking hot,” August groans, and I don’t have to look to know he’s squeezing his dick. The fucker is always turned on when Emma puts Samantha in her place.
“What the fuck is he doing?” Karl growls.
I follow Karl’s line of sight and see Reign has Emma in his lap and his fucking palm resting on her stomach where our kids reside. Our eyes connect as he leans to whisper something in her ear. Then he winks. He fucking winks at me! My hands grip the table until the wood feels like it will splinter.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.