Page 44 of Breaking All The Rules

“Besides, I thought you didn’t want to tell anyone about us?” I raised my eyebrows at him and gave him a pointed look.

“I hadn’t planned to tell anyone about us. But for whatever reason, people who know me well seem to be able to figure it out pretty quickly.”

He looked across the restaurant and avoided my look before he added, “My mom and Garrett know about us, too.”

“What?!” I shrieked rather loudly, the shock of the news hindering my ability to keep quiet. A few people at the tables near us turned to look at what the commotion was before returning to their conversations.

“Everything okay?” Brent asked cautiously, pulling away from Chasity. All eyes were on me now, making me extremely uncomfortable.

“Yes. I’m sorry about that. Ethan was just giving me an update that I hadn’t been expecting.” I tried to bite back the anger that was trying to force its way out. My face was flushed as I lifted the glass of wine to my lips and took a small sip. The last thing I needed tonight was to get drunk and ruin any future business with Brent for Ethan.

“So, Chasity, what do you do for a living?” I asked, hoping to change the subject and steer the attention away from me.

“I work for Ask Irene. It’s an advice column. Have you heard of it?” she asked as she popped a piece of bread into her mouth.

“I’ve heard of it, but I can’t say that I read it often. Sorry,” I said with an awkward laugh. My palms were starting to sweat from feeling so stressed out.

“Don’t be. I feel like people either read it religiously or have never heard of it. There isn’t much of an in-between.” She laughed.

“So, am I here for some sort of intervention?” I blurted out, looking between the three of them. “Are Ethan and I here for some expert advice? Or am I missing something?” There was a shrillness in my voice, and I hated how insecure I sounded.

What the fuck was wrong with me? Why did I ask that, and better yet, why wasn’t Ethan doing anything to stop me?

“No, nothing like that,” she assured me. She took a deep breath and then turned to Brent. “Hey, do you think you can go find the waiter and ask them to bring another bottle of wine?”

“You want me to go track down the waiter to request more wine when you still have a full glass?” He lifted a brow and stared at her with confusion written all over his face.

“Yes. And take Ethan with you, please.”

“Because this is a two-man job?”

“Exactly.” She gave him a quick nod, which was met with a head shake and a subtle eye roll before he scooted out of the booth. Ethan let out a very loud sigh and followed him.

After they were gone, she lifted her glass of wine and took a sip before turning to look at me.

“Whew, now that they’re gone, we can have real girl talk,” she said with a little giggle.

“I’m so sorry. I wasn’t trying to be rude earlier. Today has been an interesting day, to say the least. It just feels like this week has been a rollercoaster ride that I can’t seem to get off of,” I explained.

“No worries at all. I can imagine that it’s been stressful for you.”

I stayed quiet, unsure of what exactly Ethan had told them. The last thing I wanted to do was go blabbering about our personal business and ruin a relationship he had with a client. I nodded and looked away.

“I know that you don’t know me and that it probably feels really weird to talk to a complete stranger. I get it. I guess I just felt like I could relate to what you’re going through when Ethan was telling Brent what had happened.” She paused for a minute and waited for my reaction, but I didn’t bother having one. “With Cora—is that her name?”

“Yes. That’s her name,” I said.

“Brent and I haven’t been dating very long, so our relationship is pretty new. And now we’re suddenly dealing with his ex and a child that they have together. One that he didn’t know about until recently. It’s been so hard sorting through everything, and honestly, I’ve questioned whether I should walk away so he has one less thing to stress over.”

“You guys seem so happy together, though,” I said quietly.

“We are. I’ve never been happier. But there’s a child involved, and I could never stand in the way of his relationship with hisdaughter. I haven’t talked to him about any of this, so I would appreciate it if this stayed between us.” She blew out a heavy breath. “I don’t plan to leave him, so that’s not where I was going with this. I just wanted to let you know that I can understand what you might be feeling. Your relationship with Ethan is new and now there’s the possibility of him having a child with another woman. That is a hard thing to process. Especially since it can leave you feeling insecure and unsure of what your role is if there’s another woman and child in the picture.”

I watched as the guys walked through the restaurant, making their way back to the table.

“You’re not alone. That’s all I wanted to say,” she rushed to get the words out before they reached us. “And if you ever need it, feel free to reach out to Ask Irene if you want to talk more.” She gave me a quick wink and looked up as Brent slid back into the booth beside her.

“Where’s the wine?” she asked, her brows pulled together.

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