“Ooh, I see. You’re scared of eating sauce and oil? Afraid you won’t fit in your summer bikini, right girl?” I would laugh if I wasn’t gobsmacked by her audacity. First of all, I believe she just called me fat, and second of all, the wholebestiestalk isn’t working for her. This girl is trying too hard, and I think I’m going to have to show her why I was always at the top of the food chain in high school.
“Nope, I can eat whatever. I'll stay fit. But you should be careful,honey,” I say, cocking my head with a smile, “oil goes directly to the ass.”
Her eyes widen at my answer while Ares’s hold grips me tighter. And because I’m absolutely not going to let that bimbo walk all over me, I take my fork, stick it into the oily vegetable and eat it.
Fuck my eating disorder.
Fuck her.
The moment the food touches my tongue, I know I’ve made a huge mistake and I regret it instantly.
Instantly.
Ares
Jesus fucking Christ.
I saw her distress the moment Maria put the plate in front of her. I could have stopped this, asked for Larry to fix her something quickly, but I didn’t ‘cause I’m a fucking asshole who needed to see her reaction to understand it wasn’t a one-time thing at our wedding. There’s no way to explain how gut wrenching it was to look at her doll-shaped face filled with terror, hidden behind a perfect mask. And on top of that, I had to behave like a jerk with Vanessa’s friend in front of her ‘cause I hated when she pushed my hand away earlier.
I’m the fucking worst.
It was hard enough to look at her walk to us in her stunning red dress without grabbing her nape and crushing my mouth on her. I needed to touch her at some point but her rejection made me see red.
Fucking red.
Blood and flesh and cuts kind of red.
So, I used the only weapon I had on hand and flirted with Carolina. Which wasn’t for nothing ‘cause damn, the look on Mia’s face was priceless. Turns out my little tornado is exactly as feisty as I thought. And fuck, if watching her defend her territory wasn’t a turn-on. She shut the brunette’s mouth so quickly, I’dalmost laughed if it wasn’t for the look of horror she had painted on her.
I fucked up. I really, really fucked up.
Mia is chewing her bite silently, as if nothing massive is currently happening, when, in fact, I see her cinnamon eyes getting all glassy, and the hand resting on her lap is now shaking uncontrollably. I glance at her, so fucking proud she’s the kind of woman who would rather die than admit weaknesses in front of an opponent.
That’s my kind of woman.
Strong, stubborn, unapologetic.
“Vaness’, can you show Carolina the garden?” Despite her being two years older than me, I’ve always been the big brother, and becoming the President of the Raven Sons only reinforced it. We know each other; we trust each other. So when I ask her to do something for me, which is rare ‘cause that’s mostly the other way around, she does it. No questions asked.
“Sure, yeah.” I eat another bite while I keep staring at her.
“Oh, you mean now?” She glances at Mia, then me.
“Yes, now.” My tone is heavy. I want to protect Mia from getting unwanted attention.
“Okay, yeah. C’mon girl, I’ll show you. It’s cute as hell,” Vanessa says with a high-pitched tone revealing her discomfort, but I don’t care. I just need them gone. The brunette checks me out quickly with furrowed brows, but I ignore it. Don’t give a shit about her. My only priority is right next to me.
Since when?
“We’ll be right back,” I say to Scott, who nods back, sipping his wine. He won’t ask any questions because he knows better than to dig his nose in my business, but also because it’s in his nature to be private and stay out of people’s lives.
“C’mon,” I grunt to Mia, grabbing her wrist and dragging her out of the room toward the staircase.
“Ar-Ares, I can’t—” she mutters, her voice dropping twenty levels of shyness below the confident façade she had a minute ago. Clinging to my arm like a life jacket, I notice she can barely stand on her feet.
Shit.
Lowering down to her level, I swoop her up in no time, her little body weighing as much as a feather in my arms. So fucking tiny. So fucking perfect.
