He glanced at my daughter, then back at me. “What did I do wrong?”
“Everything.” I huffed. “You knew when you told him this was your favorite, this would be the one he chose. You’re unbelievable—do you know that?”
“Sorry about the wait,” the server said as she came to our table, standing directly behind Hayden and me—probablysaving my brother’s life by doing so. “Is everyone ready to order?”
I quickly opened my menu, scanning the entrées, and said to Abbi, “Baby, how does salmon sound?”
She looked up from coloring. “Yum!”
The server voiced, “And is the bok choy and glazed carrots and roasted potatoes all right as sides for her?”
“She would love those,” I replied. “And maybe some fries?”
“Sure thing.” She tapped her tablet several times. “What can I get you?”
“Another vodka,” I responded.
“She’ll have the red snapper,” Hayden chimed in, overriding my order, “and I will too.”
As the waitress went over to Dottie, I said to Hayden, “One, I’m not hungry. And two, I need you to explain to me why the hell you would have Colson come here.”
“Having him here doesn’t bother anyone.” He continued to stare at me. “Except you, which I still can’t figure out.” The truth in his eyes made me even more enraged. “Hold on …” I could tell he was digging. “It upsets you that he’s here with another woman. That’s what this is all about, isn’t it?” His confidence reminded me of one of Colson’s expressions. “Ahhh. I nailed it.” His brows rose again. “You’re losing your shit because Colson’s giving attention to someone who’s not you.”
My jaw clenched, and an instant headache formed at the base of my temples. “Back off, Hayden.”
“God, I love it when I’m right.”
TWENTY-THREE
COLSON
“Fucking two women in one night? That takes balls. Which I know you have since I’ve unfortunately seen them with my own eyes. But that’s low … even foryou.”
So, she was accusing me of sleeping with Marci. Or at least wanting to. But it wasn’t just the accusation that had stood out. What had weighed equally was the anger that radiated from her and the sharpness in her tone. Both could only be driven by jealousy. If Sophie didn’t give a fuck about me, she wouldn’t be bothered by Marci.
There were several ways I could tackle this. Silence wasn’t an option. The one route that would feel the most satisfying was to not go easy on her. The shark needed to know there were other predators in the water as lethal as her.
“Question for you.” Marci spoke from the other side of the table.
Her enthusiasm caused me to grin. As I did, I wondered if Sophie had caught a glance of it, making the storm within herbody churn even faster. I wouldn’t look at her to know—with the stunt she had just pulled, she didn’t deserve my eyes.
“Is there any interest in building a Toro in Florida?”
Toro had one hell of a reputation. Our seafood and raw bar was in high demand. Rumors were buzzing on where we were going to open our next location.
“Sounds like you want some of everything in this state.”
“I do.” She smiled.
As I described our expansion plans, I simultaneously typed out a message to Sophie.
Me
A little bit of jealousy could look really fucking hot on you. But not in this case and not with the shit you just stirred. You know, for a top lawyer, I’d think you’d lay out all the facts before you came up with a bullshit assumption. I would say a hate fuck would probably do us well, but you don’t even deserve that right now.
After I sent the message, I copied the link to Marci’s bio, taken from our company’s corporate website, and pasted it into the thread. That bit of information would certainly drive home the point that this dinner was purely business-based. But as I thought about it, I decided I didn’t owe her any proof. I had said what I’d said in my first message, and that was enough.
I deleted the link and slipped my phone into my pocket. “You know what? How about we go check out a place down the street? The wait here has been too long.” A statement that wasn’t a lie. I just didn’t want to be under the observation of Sophie for a second longer.
