And I wish I could sink into myself because a part of me agrees with him sometimes.
“Oh, I deserve better? Someone likeyou?” Lana laughs dryly and takes a bold step in front of him. “You talk a lot of shit for someone who couldn’t afford the date you took me on, just so you could show off. Remember when I had to leave the thirty dollar tip because you didn’t have enough? At least Christian worked to where he is now and is making himself a better man. You’ve donenothing. You haven’t changed at all, thinking everyone else is inferior to you. Now, get out, and if you so much as look at my boyfriend the wrong way again, I will make your lifemiserable.”
Levi rolls his eyes with a scoff—the kind that you let out when you’re scared but you’re trying to play it cool.Idiot. My girl could end him in a second. “Whatever. I’ll just go?—”
“And don’t bother going to Natalia’s because she will kick your ass.”
He walks out with his shoulders slumping and tail between his legs, and I’m so happy I didn’t punch him because Lana put him in his place far better than I planned to. The motherfucker wanted a rise out of me and if Lana didn’t get here in time he would have walked out of here bruised. And it would not have ended well for either of us.
As soon as the golden boy is gone, Lana pulls her phoneout her back pocket and her thumbs fly over her screen. “What are you doing?”
“Warning Natalia.”
I laugh. “You’re so hot.”
Lana pockets her phone and comes around the counter. Her arms wrap around my waist and she stands on her toes to kiss me. “I love you.”
I grin because… Have you ever heard someone you love this much tell you they love you back? It’s like coming up for air. Like someone has finally untied that weight around my ankle and I’m breaking through the surface.
“I know.”
“I’ll kick his ass for you,” she says.
“Yeah?”
“I’d kick anyone’s ass for you.”
I hold her delicate, beautiful face in his large hands and press into her dimples with my thumbs. “I’d kick anyone’s ass for you too, baby,” I whisper. “But I think you’d look hotter doing it.”
She giggles. “We’re a hot couple.”
The smile I give her is a weak, pathetic one before it drops into a frown.“I’m sorry he said those things.”
She shrugs. “I’m used to it.”
“You can’t be…”
“Christian,” she says softly. “I’ve had people be mean to me before. People have called me an orphan like I’m supposed to be insulted, as if I don’t know that my parents are dead.”
“I know but… He was trying to get me mad by?—”
“Christian? Can I tell you something?”
I nod.
“Your mother used to say the same things to me, you know.She used to make fun of my mother because she cleaned houses and was a waitress. BecauseIwas a waitress.”
I’ve hated her for it everyday. The little respect I had left for my mother wentcompletelydown the drain once I got to New York. The things she’s done for power and money. To make her name something without realizing who she was hurting. I wasn’t her son, I was just her business partner.
She treated me like a puppet. I don’t know how much good I deserve these days, but I know I didn’t deserve the parents I had.
“Your mother was one of the best people I ever met,” I say softly. “She taught me how to properly clean a stove.”
Lana laughs. “She was very particular about cleanliness.”
I frown. “I hate my mother, Lana.”
“I know,” Lana breathes. “But don’t hold onto that, okay? It’s you and me, right?”
