“Good idea.” Kathy lifted her arm from Parker's shoulder and reached behind him to squeeze Gordon's bicep. Her thumb turned white, so she was really putting on the pressure.
Gordon subsided and grumbled, “Fine,” but he shot his son a look that boded ill for their next conversation alone.
“Excuse me, mister?”
I turned in my chair to see a little girl standing behind Theresa’s chair on my right. An adult woman, presumably her mother, had her hand on the girl’s shoulder. I was grateful for the interruption. The girl was twelve or thirteen years old. She did not have what I’d started to think of as the Rafferty widow’s peak. “Yes?”
She didn’t move her feet but twisted almost her whole body around to look up at her mom, a tall brunette with anencouraging smile. She turned back to me. “Are you ejvibes from Instagram?”
My eyebrows went up. I didn’t get recognized very often. “I am! Do you watch my reels?”
She nodded, then glanced back at her mother again before facing me with her back straight and her chin firmed. “Would you take a selfie with me for my feed?”
“Of course! What’s your name?” I pushed back from the table. Hopefully we were done eating, because I was done sitting there.
“Ginny.”
“Nice to meet you, Ginny. I’m Elton. You’ll tag me, won’t you, so I can follow you?”
That got me a huge grin. “Yes!”
We walked over to her mother, who introduced herself as Luna. “Thanks so much for doing this. She loves your content.” She looked over my shoulder, and I could tell Rafferty was hovering.
Murmurs rumbled through the dining room, and seconds later I heard my own voice saying, “You can’t always tackle a random stranger just to make yourself feel better. But every once in a while, youcan.”
I ignored the jeers and whistles. Rafferty could deal with all that. I concentrated on putting my arm around Ginny’s shoulders while Luna took our photo. I released her, but Ginny grabbed my arm. “You said this morning you’d been to the doctor. And later you said you’d had testicle cancer. Is that why you went to the doctor?”
Silence swept through the entire room. Fuck. I made a mental note. Going forward, I should be a little less frank in my reels. I’d never considered kids might be watching.
I took her hand. “It was, but I’m going to be alright. Three years ago I had cancer, but they operated and everything seemed good. But now it's come back and they have to operate again.” Her eyes went round, and her face started to crinkle up. I squeezed her fingers. “Don't worry. I'm going on Monday to get the new cancer taken out, and then I’ll be right as rain.”
Rafferty walked up behind me, close enough that I could feel the heat from his leg near my shoulder. Close enough that our magics had to be resonating. “I'll make sure he's okay, Ginny. You don't have to worry about Elton.”
INSTAGRAM REEL FROM EJVIBES – FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 11
He leans against the back cushion of a couch. “Thanks for all the encouragement about going on my date. I got home a couple of hours ago and I'm still reeling a little.” He rubs his hand over his face. “Y'all, he took me to dinner with his entire family. It was our first date, and I had no warning.”
He makes a rueful face. “And some of them recognized me and I have a bunch of new followers now.” He waves at the camera. “It was lovely to meet y'all. I did enjoy that part. It's just... it was our first date. We weren’t able to ask any of the getting-to-know-you questions and stuff.”
He runs his hand through his hair. “I’m so tired. It was already a long day, even before the date. Do any of you have stories where you met the family really soon after starting to date someone? I'd love to know I’m not alone, so please put them in the comments!”
CHAPTER 6
RAFFERTY
Horrified whispers ranthrough the pack as everyone discussed Elton’s cancer diagnosis. Apparently he’d mentioned it on social media, so the entire pack knew in minutes that he had testicular cancer. I heard more than one person wonder whether it was a bad omen if the alphamate didn’t have any balls. I gave my best glare to those particular offenders, and they acted suitably chastened.
My betas stared at me with concern, and I was kicking myself for having them all eat at the same table. I'd wanted them to get to know Elton before he and I made our relationship permanent, but they were more focused on exchanging worried glances with each other. Oh well. They’d no doubt get together for a good gossip session as soon as I took Elton home.
Elton stood up from where he'd been speaking to Ginny. He scanned the room, and his expression was grim. He leaned toward me. “I think it's time for me to go home. If you'll let me into your apartment to get my jacket and then point me at the front of the building, I can catch a rideshare.”
Oh, hell no. “I'll take you. Come on.” I gestured him toward the door to the hallway that led to my apartment. I itched to putmy hand on his back and comfort him as he walked through the pack with his head held high, even though every single person was either staring at him directly or watching him out of the corner of their eye. He was impressive and so fucking sexy. I hated not being able to touch him.
In my apartment, we put our jackets on, and I made sure I had my keys before walking Elton to the parking garage. Once we were on the road, I finally broke the silence. “Thank you for saying something about Parker.”
He jerked his head around to stare at me in surprise. “Really? Because I felt like I stuck my foot in it, and I'm pretty worried your beta Gordon is going to yell at his kid later.”
I chuckled. “Kathy will make sure that doesn't happen. And I'm sorry things got intense there at the end. I didn't mean for your health issues to become a topic of conversation in the pack.”
