"Proud of yourself, princess?" I ask, sitting back on the banquette with a smirk.
"Very." She grins at me. "Who knew spending your money could be so much fun?"
I chuckle, shaking my head at her. Christ, she's something else. "So…I take it we're feeding the homeless when we leave here?"
"Obviously." She meets my gaze, challenging. "Unless that's a problem for you."
I just smile in response, not bothering to tell her that I run a soup kitchen. Why spoil her fun? If she wants to pass out Waygu beef, fuck it. We'll pass out Waygu beef.
"Holy shit," she mumbles, her eyes wide after taking the first bite of her steak. "This is good."
"I know."
"Cocky."
"It's not like I cooked it, Serena."
"You're still cocky."
"You would know. You had your hands all over him."
She splutters, her cheeks turning pink again. "We're not talking about my public humiliation tonight, Austin."
"Fine, then tell me something about you."
"What do you want to know?"
"How did you end up in one of the most expensive cities in the United States?"
"I ran away."
I blink, not entirely sure if she's fucking with me or not. With her, it's hard to tell.
"My parents are…well, they're something," she mutters. "I decided it was better to have the entire continental United States between us."
"You don't get along?"
She shrugs one shoulder, avoiding my gaze. "I think you have to notice someone is human to get along."
Fuck.
"They ignore you?"
"I wish."
"Explain."
"They pay plenty of attention to me." She grimaces, pushing fingerling potatoes around on her plate. "The same way you pay attention to a grenade you can lob at the other side in a war."
Well, fuck.
"They hate each other," she murmurs quietly. "And I've always been the thing they used tohurt the other."
"Jesus, baby." I reach across the table for her hand, squeezing her fingers. "That's fucked. I'm sorry."
She shrugs again, one corner of her lips quirking up. "I'm used to it. But I decided it was better to put a little distance between us than to spend the rest of my life being the rope in their tug-of-war."
"Yeah, I get that."
