“You think this was my idea?” Heather had the nerve to laugh at him. “Try again. She draggedmehere. The driveryour familyhired for her brought her here when she couldn’t see. She doesn’tknowany better. And we’ll leaveafterwe’ve had our steaks because it’s important to her. I had to suck it up and deal with the atmosphere. You can, too.”
He ran a palm over his hair. God, this woman infuriated him. “It’s important for mygrandmotherto have steak so close to naked women?”
“They’re not naked.”
“What would you call it, then?”
“They’re just not totally dressed.”
“You see? They fight so they can make up,” Babushka side-whispered to Eli. She smiled like a cat that robbed the dairy section of the Kwik E Mart.
Eli with the stupid, smug-ass grin sketched on his conspirator’s face helped Babushka back on her barstool and pulled one up beside her. Then the bastard called over the waitress with the stars glued on her chest.
It took everything Jase had in him not to cover his grandmother’s eyes.
“We aren’t staying.” He would hold his ground like the goddamned soldier he was trained to be. He didn’t give up when the desert sandblasted his face and the sun burned off the top layer of his skin. He sure as hell wouldn’t give up now.
“Ve are eating a nice lunch, Jason. Now, apologize to Heather and sit.” Babushka gestured to the chair across from her—the one with the view of the stage.
Now, normally, he could appreciate a good bump and grind. But for the love of all fucks, this was the most uncomfortable situation he’d been in since Afghanistan.
“Hhhhrhmm.” Heather cleared her throat and continued to stare at him.
“I think she’s waiting for that apology.” Eli took a sip of beer out of a Fat Tire bottle. The jack-wagon hadn’t even ordered him one.
No way was Jase apologizing. He wasn’t wrong.
He turned to his grandmother and got close enough so he knew she would hear. “It’s inappropriate that you’re here.”
His grandmother patently ignored him.
“For the record, Mr. Barge in Here and Pretend You’re a Hero, your grandmother can’t seeanythingright now. So, she’s not going to be tarnished by star-shaped pasties or a”—Heather glanced to the stage—“bedazzled lavender G-string.”
He looked down at the finger she’d pressed between his pecs. She blushed and dropped her hand.
She was right, though. He wasn’t a hero. Never had been. All the medals in the world and all the reassurance couldn’t change the fact that he’d never been, and never would be, a hero. He swallowed against that regret.
“How long you think before they have kids?” Eli casually asked Babushka.
Babushka scooted toward Eli. “Vedding vill be a vhile. Jason must apologize for yelling before they go on.”
Heather’s cheeks blotched a pinker pink. If Jase wasn’t pissed as all hell at her right then, he’d probably find it cute. As it was…fine, it was still cute.
“You think I’m going to doanythingwith this…this…jerk?” Heather asked. Now her cheeks blazed red.
“Jerk?” Jase shoved his hands on his hips. “That’s the best you can come up with?”
“If the name fits.” She climbed up on her chair and adjusted her sleeves. “Now. Where’s my damn steak?”
* * *
Jase tookout all of his pent-up Heather frustration on the patch of drywall he drilled into the studs. He’d bought the entire building that housed his flower shop and his apartment. Unfortunately, between all the remodel expenses and ordering Heather’s new van, his savings were dwindling. He’d had to take over part of the construction himself, wrangling Brek, Dean, and Eli into helping so they’d stay on schedule and get everyone moved in on time.
The fact Jase was remodeling the entirety of the building housing his flower shop was practically Brek’s fault. His wife’s, anyway. She’d convinced Jase to invest in real estate, buy up the building, and convert it into a wedding mecca. Eli’s catering kitchen would move in next to the flower shop, a bridal salon would go in on the corner, and Brek’s sister’s event planning office would be tucked in between. So far, all the brilliant plan had done was give him a backache from hanging drywall and a drained bank account from covering all the unexpected expenses.
“And that’s the story of how we had kick-ass steaks in a strip club with Jase’s grandmother and his sort-of ex-girlfriend,” Eli said.
He could take his backstabbing grin and shove it.
