Saturday, September 25th
Introducing new artist Mia Lafluer
Gallery viewing from 6 pm until 9 pm with a small party after to celebrate her debut.
He blinked and looked up at his brother. “Dat's next weekend.”
“I know. Dat's probably why she was here, to invite you personally to it. If you're gonna fix tings wit' her, dat'll give you da chance.”
“Thanks, Remy. I owe you one.”
“One, hell, you owe me a lot more den dat but dat's what family is for.”
Gage nodded but he wasn't paying attention. He was already starting to put together in his mind what he could do to prove to Mia that he was sorry for hurting her and that it would never happen again. Whatever he was going to do, he had a week to get it done.
Chapter Twelve
Mia
Mia was a little surprised. On Monday, when she went to school, she'd half expected everyone to know she'd gotten wasted and slept with Seth. She'd mentally prepared herself for the looks, the whispers, the ugly comments. But she got none of that. It was...odd. Until she saw the smug look on her brother's face. “What did you do?” she hissed.
“I recognized his scent on you. I know it was Seth Connors. I made it clear to him dat if he ran his mouth he'd regret it. All I had to do was remind him what happened to Cole. He was dere, he saw Cole get his ass kicked by Gage.”
“You told him you'd sick Gage on him?”
“Nah. I just let him tink dat.” He shrugged. “I know. It's not the upstandin' ting to do, but I wasn't gonna let him drag you through da mud just cuz you got drunk at a party.”
“Thanks, Jules.” She felt tears stinging her eyes and had to blink to clear her vision.
“No need to thank me, sis. You know dat. See you at lunch.” This was the first year they didn't have any classes together. It was odd but refreshing at the same time.
“See you at lunch.” She spotted Seth as she headed to her first class and swallowed.Just act normal.She nodded at him as she passed him.
“Hey, Mia. Hold up. I need to talk to you for a sec.”
She silently groaned but she stopped. “What's up?”
“About the other night. Your brother didn't need to threaten to sick Gage on me. I don't go around bragging about things the way Cole did.”
“I didn't know he did dat. I don't even know how he figured out it was you unless I said someting in my sleep. I'm sorry he got in your face.”
Seth shrugged. “I'd do the same thing if someone banged my sister. I'd make sure they didn't drag her through the mud so it's all good.”
“Oh. Okay. I gotta get to class. See ya around.” She heaved a sigh of relief when she walked away from him. At least he wasn't pissed about Julius getting on his case.
By lunch time the tension she'd felt when she arrived at school had faded. By the end of the day, the only stress she was under was of her own doing. She knew it was going to be a while before she stopped feeling dirty.
“Stop it, Mia. Just stop.”
Mia frowned at Jules. They were in the boat on their way back to the compound. “Stop what?”
“Stop beatin' yourself up over it. You got drunk and you had sex. It happened. You can't change it and dere's no'ting wrong wit' you. Boys are expected to want to fuck all da time but girls are supposed to be pure? I say it's bullshit. Who are boys gonna be fuckin' if all da girls are virgins? Sex isn't shameful. You can feel bad dat it happened while you were drunk, you can feel bad dat it was wit' someone you're not really interested in, but stop feelin' like you're a horrible, dirty person just because you had a drunken one-night stand.”
Mia blinked at her twin. “When did you get so philosophical?”
“When I finally accepted dat I don't like girls. You tink it's easy to come out to others? Most of my friends still don't know, but DA ones who matter, dey do and dey're cool wit' it.”
Mia scooted closer to him and hugged him. “I'll try. Dat's all I can promise.”
