“I want punch him. Tell him you are mine,” he spat, looking at the door he’d left through.
My smile was proud.
“It’s hard…” He paused, breathing in as he thought, and continued. “Keeping us secret.”
“It was a bit obvious there,” I admitted. “But that’s your fault.”
“You go red with me.”
He was doing so well. I was so impressed by how quickly he’d turned it around, especially in conversation, when he didn’t say the rehearsed lines that he knew about sex or racing.
But my smile faltered when the door crashed open and Everly, fighting her long skirt, pointed her finger athim. “She blushes from second-hand embarrassment!”
She stood between us and almost snarled. “Look at you. Following your step-sister across Europe to try and get in her pants again. Disgusting.”
Zolt sighed and leaned against the wall. “Sure.”
My heart beat faster. I said that all the time. He was learning from me.
At least partly.
“I sent Jordan in here to remind you what a decent man looked like,” Everly groaned.
Zolt stopped leaning. He stood behind Everly, nostrils flaring.
“I’m not interested in Jordan,” I said and rolled my eyes. “Everly, this really isn’t any of your—”
But then my mother walked in.
“What are you two—” She looked at the three of us and frowned. “Why have you brought Imre’s son here? That’s who you are, isn’t it?”
Zolt shook his head. “No. He married my mother.”
Mum scoffed. Her hatred for Imre ran so deep.
Sometimes I wondered what my life would have been like if things had ended amicably between them, like me and Jordan.
“Good luck to her,” my mum snapped. “Now, if you’re done playing happy families, it’s your father’s birthday and the video is about to play.”
This was the first time I was seeing her properly since I’d left the voicemail. We’d spoken, and we’d FaceTimed, but she’d avoided the conversation, only telling me,‘It’s okay, it couldn’t be helped. Just be honest from now on.’
But I hadn’t been.
“I’m not playing happy families, Mum. I’m trying to solvea situation that both of my parents put me in.”
Mum’s dark eyes widened, stony anger in her expression. “A situationheput you in. A situation you are now putting yourself in again by being with him instead of your dad on his birthday. A situation that meant you couldn’t help me prepare for this. A situation where you sent me your video clip in a different location than the rest of your family.”
“That was part of it!” I cried. “He loves StormSprint. So I filmed it there! I was going to do that all along.”
“No, you did it because otherwise it would have been filmed at Imre’s. And that would have been an insult.”
Zolt stepped in front of me. “You blame her. Who make mess? Not her.”
It mirrored what I had said, but Mum was startled at his words. She went to speak, but he carried on.
“Anyone can see. She was the child.”
His English might be coming along a little too well.
