“You know, Lili, as my cousin, I thought you might put in just a little more effort for my wedding to be a success,” Emily says from behind me at the buffet table.
I see red, and the sharp tongue Grandie is always warning me about starts working before I think it through.
“Well, Emily, not all of us have such ample curves to work with.”
Emily bristles. “This is payback for not being included in the wedding party, isn’t it?”
She’s got to be kidding.
“No, Emily. But I’m happy to sit the dance out if my performance is not up to standard. Although at least myaestheticis somewhat Hawaiian.”
“Lili,” hisses Mum, before turning to my cousin. “She didn’t mean that, Emily. Perhaps if one of the teachers could give her some one-on-one attention?”
Emily glares at me, clearly torn between taking me up on my offer to leave and Mum’s suggestion. Sadly, she goes with Mum. “That’s a good idea, Aunt Marion.” And off she stalks to line up a teacher for me.
“Warren will be hearing about this, young lady,” Aunt Caroline snaps, stomping after her daughter.
I hope Ant is having a better time than I am.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Ant
Christ, I hope things are going better for Lilavati than they are for me.
I thought the days of strippers at bucks’ parties were over. My friends tend to go on surfing weekends where we spend the days on the waves and the evenings drinking beer, eating pizza and playing pool or darts.
Not this crowd.
It all started with free-flowing alcohol in a couple of stretch Hummers and went downhill from there.
We pull up at a seedy strip club that smells of stale beer and desperation. The black carpet is sticky, and the once-flashy velvet seats are stained and frayed.
You’d think a man with such a big stick as far up his arse as Warren would think this behaviour is beneath him. He’s not as loud or overt about it as Julian, Miles and their friends, but he’s ogling the strippers just as avidly. And he was sneaky about it, but I didn’t miss him slipping some bills into one of the girl’s thongs. Gross.
Nor did I miss the way a number of the guys were passing around condoms on the drive here.
Julian and a couple of his bros disappear into an alcove, apparently for a lap dance. I don’t even want to think about what the poor girl providing that service is having to put up with, based on the disgusting things the guys have been saying since we walked in the door.
No shade on the girls. They’re just trying to make a living. But these guys who pretend to be paragons of the community, drooling over women who, in some cases, look barely legal, need to take a look at which way their moral compasses are pointing.
I take a surreptitious glance at my phone. It’s not even eleven o’clock. I think I need to stay till at least midnight. Then I’ll just sneak away.
I’m about to make a trip to the john, more for something to do than the need to pee, when Julian’s brother, Miles, drops down into the empty seat beside me.
“So, you and Emily’s cousin, eh?” he slurs, although it’s a little hard to hear over the thumping music and catcalls of the douches in the audience.
Not sure how to respond to that. “Ah, yeah.”
“The way Emily described her, I expected her to be a bit of a gorgon, but she’s actually really hot. Great legs. Sorry I missed my turn with that one.”
“Excuse me?” I can’t quite believe what I’m hearing.
“Well, you know, the families were trying to set us up before you came on the scene. Guess I’ll have to wait till you’re done with her. I’ll bet she’s a firecracker in the sack.” He makes a lewd gesture with his hips. “How long until you move on, d’ya reckon?”
The muscles in my arm bunch, and it takes all my willpower not to reach out and shirtfront this cockhead.
I know my response should be a calm request for him not to disrespect my girlfriend, but what comes out is, “Fuck off.”
