Page 66 of Crazy Thing

Robert gives me his personal phone number, instructing me to call him next week to make arrangements for a lunch meeting. By now, he’s become super chatty and he’s pouring on the charm really thick. I quickly make an excuse, say my goodbyes and run off.

But in my haste to exit that awkward conversation, I forget to check my surroundings. I only get a few steps before I run smack dab into my parents.

Shit cakes.

“Elizabeth. Darling,” my mother gushes, her eyes wide with surprise. “We didn’t expect to run into you here.” She eyeballs me from top to bottom and her lips instantly turn downward in distaste.

Ugh.

I’d rather be talking to Robert Ross—even as he tries to peek down the front of my gown—than to have to deal with my parents in person.

One look at us, and you can see that we have nothing in common except a last name. My mother and father are over the top with their extravagance. They’re new money and they still feel like they have something to prove. They love to wear loud designer labels, drive the flashiest cars, and simply flaunt their wealth for all to see.

It’s everything I despise.

My mother is even walking around this event with her checkbook and thousand dollar pen in her hand right now…even though I don’t see any indication that she’s written a single check tonight. It’s all for show.It’salwaysfor show.

“Don’t be rude, Elizabeth,” my father hisses. They know I hate being called by my given name. No one calls me Elizabeth. Except for them. “Oh, Edison. There you are!”

My father heads off to where Edison is slinking out of a coat closet a few feet away.

Dad throws me a cursory glance. “Elizabeth—don’t you want to say hello to Edison?” My father suggests, all while pretending not to notice the disheveled server who is now sneaking out of that same closet, trying to get her crinkled blouse tucked back into her waistband.

Are you serious? My parents are still schmoozing with my sister’s ex-fiancé?

My lip curls in disgust. “I’d rather eat worms,” I mumble. But Dad is too busy fawning over the rat bastard to notice.

Edison happens to glance in my direction as my father fan-boys over him. We make eye contact.

He snarls. I snarl back.

Ew.That man never fails to give me the ick.

Turning away, I pull my mother to the side.“Seriously? After everything he did to Daphne, you still entertain that man?” I ask.

My mother fakes a smile for anyone who might be watching. Probably much to her disappointment, no one is.

“Elizabeth,” my mother says through gritted teeth. “Don’t act like this here. You know that Edison is almost like family to us.”

That gets my blood boiling. I try not to raise my voice. I really do. But when it comes to protecting my sister, I can never really help myself.

“Family?!” I spit out. “Daphne is your family! She’s your flesh and blood. She’s your daughter! And here you are, chumming it up with the guy who almost ruined her life?!”

Mother Dearest isn’t too pleased with me right about now. I speak my mind. I don’t let my moral compass get bowled over by the winds of social expectations. It’s one ofthe many things she doesn’t like about me. It’s why my parents will always like Daphne more than they do me.

Which is fine in my book.

I don’t need their validation. I really don’t. I swear.So how come they always manage to get me this worked up?

Darius and I make eye contact across the room. He reads the expression on my face and he’s instantly abandoning his billion dollar friends and moving in my direction.

I return my focus to my mother. “Don’t kid yourself. This isn’t aboutfamily. It’s aboutmoney. Like it always is. And Edison has loads of it, so you’re loyal to him over your own daughter. At least have the decency to just admit that and stop lying to yourself.”

My mother’s icy eyes narrow and she stares back at me. I can tell that she’s trying to calculate the social risks associated with scolding me in front of everyone. She won’t. Her reputation is far too important.

So she just stands there, with that fake smile and her soulless eyes. “Darling, let’s not cause a scene.”

In an instant, Darius is standing by my side, his eyes bouncing between my mother and me. “Everything all right here?” he asks, looking tall and handsome and territorial.

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