• • •

Jaxon stood beside me, watching me blend out my foundation with a nervous look on his face.

I'd only seen him nervous once, the time he expressed he thought I would leave him after I saw what happened at parties.

Which led me to believe he thought I would leave him after having lunch with his parents.

That might've been a reach, so I decided to ask, "Why are you looking like that?"

"Like what?"

"Nervous."

He didn't answer immediately, making me stop doing my makeup to stare at him until he said, "If you haven't noticed by now, my family can be a bit.. much."

His family was a pack of dicks.

"So?" I asked with a shrug, "You were a 'bit much' when I met you."

"Not like them though." He tried to explain, "I'm more open with how I feel about people or things, whereas they take digs at people, never saying what they actually mean."

I put down the beauty blender and reached for a towelette to begin taking my makeup off.

"What are you doing?" Jaxon asked in confusion.

"I'm not going."

The situation had begun to annoy me, so I was deciding to remove myself from it. I knew Cheyenne was being shady when she invited me in the first place, which was why I declined.

Jaxon was the one who accepted their offer, only to stand here now and tell me that he nervous about it.

So why the fuck would you say yes?

"You already said you would go though."

"And?"

"And it'd be rude for you to not show up when you've already committed to it."

"It's called ghosting." I replied, "You go and tell them I came down with the flu."

He sighed, "Kyser they literally just saw you."

I threw the wipe in the trash and turned to look at him, "I truly don't give a shit Jaxon."

We were at my apartment so I could change anyway, so he could just go tell them I got hit by a car or something. Again, I truly didn't care.

"I don't make a habit of telling people I'll do something and not do it." He said, annoyance seeping into his voice.

That made two of us.

Picking my blender back up I put more product on it before starting over with my makeup.

• • •

The salad in front of me looked entirely less appetizing than as pictured on the menu.

I eyed Jaxon's plate, trying to decide if I wanted to steal some of his food. While he talked to Brad, his brother, about something that was uninteresting to me, I reached over to grab a mussel.

His mom, Melissa, who had been staring at me since we sat down, watched as I chewed, the faint taste of the wine it was cooked in insisting that I get another.

I used my fork to twirl some of his pasta around it, happily eating it.

"Would you like to trade?" Jaxon asked in amusement.

I'm surprised he was even talking since he had what I perceived as an attitude on the way here.

"A salad won't fill you up." I replied taking more food from his plate, "This is the last one."

"I eat salads sometime."

"You're built like you eat whole cows."

He smirked, "I just lift heavy."

To anyone else, they might've thought he meant heavy weights.

I knew that him balancing my legs on his forearms while lifting me up and down his dick was his favorite position.

When I broke his gaze, his brother looked like he was trying not to laugh.

So maybe they knew he didn't mean heavy weights.

The waiter interrupted the awkward moment by offering refills on the wine that Melissa had ordered.

"Are you sure you don't want a glass?" Cheyenne asked for what I feel like was the fifth time.

She must've told the guy to put rat poison in my glass or something.

"I'm fine."

"You don't drink?" Brad asked.

He was the only one who I semi liked, making jokes the entire time to ease the tension.

"Not really."

That was clearly a lie, but I wasn't old enough to drink, putting everyone here in a predicament should I consume alcohol and something were to happen.

"Jax said you stayed over because you had a long night." Cheyenne said with a sip, "I just assumed you were drinking."

Jaxon sighed next to me, "Just ask her age and get it over with."

Huh?

I was clearly missing out on something, yet no one cared to elaborate.

"You never ask a woman's age." Garrett said while staring at his phone.

"Exactly." Mellisa agreed, "Are you old enough to drink?"

Didn't she just say-

"Had I known this was an interrogation, we wouldn't have come."

"We just wanted to get to know the woman who's taking all of your time away from your family."

First of all Debra, I don't wanna get to know you.

Brad made a face, "That was unnecessary."

"It was." Jaxon agreed, reaching into his wallet to put money on the table, "We'll be leaving now."

"You won't." Garrett replied, finally putting down his phone to look at him, "You'll sit down and enjoy lunch with your mother and I."

I started thinking about if I should fake a heart attack as an excuse to leave.

"I'm not going to sit here and let myself, nor Kyser be disrespected. So if you want me to stay, find another topic that doesn't concern her."

Period.

The table was quiet as they all looked at him. Before Brad broke the silence, "I think everybody just needs a smoke."

"I quit."

Yeah because it was no way he could come in my house smelling like cigarettes.

"Kyser do you smoke?"

"Yeah." I lied.

Jaxon looked at me from the corner of his eye but otherwise said nothing.

Brad stood up and I followed suit, eager to get from around these people.

_____________

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