“Hey,” Hasan said, speaking for the first time. “You know we can just go, right? I’m only here because she was going to go with or without me.”
Ryan spared him a second of attention for a smile. “Dude, I know you’re not the one who made this choice. And…” He looked at me, so I nodded. What the hell. It wasn’t like we couldpretend they hadn’t all decided to show up. And when I was done being pissed off, it would probably seem kind of sweet. “…we’re already having breakfast with other people. Two more won’t be a big deal.”
It was a big deal. The restaurant was full, and the hostess looked irritated until one of the servers whispered in her ear, and then she started to look panicked. I’d seen that before. Someone on the staff had recognized me.
I rarely liked to throw around my celebrity, but if it meant getting a bigger table so we could get this over with, I’d deal with it.
In the end, they put us on the patio, which was fine. There was a light breeze, and the morning sun was warm. My brother and Tarik weren’t there yet, so we got settled, the patch of sun I chose warming my shoulders as I leaned back and stretched my legs out.
Ryan stayed beside me, his fingers playing with mine just out of view, and I felt steady and safe as I listened to him bitch at his friends a little more for showing up where they weren’t invited.
“Look, this happened, which is fine,” Ryan told her, waving his fingers between the two of us, “but there’s nothing wrong with a single person going on a solo trip for the holidays.”
“Yeah, but with your family being such assholes?—”
I stiffened, then remembered. The ski vacation.
Ryan rolled his eyes. “Look, I cut them off well before this. They thought they were digging the knife in deeper, and instead, I found more happiness than they’d ever given me.”
“And now your whole family is here,” Gracie said primly, folding her hands under her chin.
Hasan snorted while Ryan rolled his eyes. “Uninvited.”
She shrugged and waved him off. “Anyway, it looks like I’m not the only one who was concerned.”
I shook my head. “For very different reasons, trust me. My brother isn’t here because he was worried I’d be lonely. He decided to show up because he believes I’m incapable of taking care of myself.”
“That’s unfair.” I shouldn’t have been surprised to hear Tollin’s voice behind me, but I was. I jolted when he walked around and took the seat at the end of the table, leaving the one across from me for Tarik. “I came here for more than one reason. And I know you can take care of yourself.”
I licked my lips, prepared to argue, but I realized it wasn’t worth it. It wasn’t going to change anything.
What mattered was making sure Tollin didn’t behave like a dickhead stalker going forward.
Ryan squeezed my fingers and gave me a small, secret smile. Yeah, if this didn’t end soon, we were so running away.
Leaning forward, Tollin jerked his chin up at Gracie. “Are you two part of the stalker crew?”
Hasan snorted. “Leave me out of it.”
“Yes,” Ryan said with a sniff. “They fucking are. Although I’m not as angry with Hasan.”
I squeezed his hand. He was obviously trying to play off his nerves as a joke, but I could hear that he was bothered by this whole thing. And I got it. There was a quiet fear in me that maybe this bit of the real world creeping in would ruin what we had.
I wasn’t ready to lose our little fantasy. Not yet. It was inevitable. Whatever came after might be just as good, but it might not. So I wanted this. A moment of perfection before the universe reminded us that perfect didn’t exist.
Not really.
Not even in Ryan’s soft, gorgeous smile.
“So, what are we doing after this?” Hasan asked. He was obviously the pragmatic one.
“Oh no,” Gracie cut in. “We’re not making small talk or plans until these two tell us everything. I mean deets. Dirty ones.”
Tollin held up a hand, then pointed at me. “We’re related. I don’t want dirty deets.”
She rolled her eyes. “Fine. Fade-to-black deets.”
“How about none deets,” Ryan said, his voice soft but dangerous. “Because none of this is your business.”
