Page 38 of Love or Leave

She braced herself, all the while Jalen droned on and on about some golf course she was supposed to care about, oblivious to the storm brewing behind him—her brother, and his two friends who were practically also brothers, and their newest friend, who definitely wasn't like a brother at all.

Jalen trailed off as Max moved to the side of their booth and stopped, effectively cutting off the view of the restaurant behind him.

"Cara," Max said in a fake intimidating voice.

She rolled her eyes.

Jalen twisted to look up at Max, then glanced back at her with an expectant look.

"Jalen, this is my brother, Max. Max, Jalen."

"Hey, man," Jalen said in a shaky voice as he extended his hand toward Max.

Max looked at her first and she widened her eyes, so he took his hand and played nice.

"Well, well, well! What have we here?" Adam asked with a big gotcha smile as he pushed aside Max. "Cara, are you on a date?"

Ethan laughed and shook his head.

Cara sighed. "This is Adam and Ethan and—"

Fuck.

She finally realized what she should have realized the second she'd realized it was hockey night.

Jalen had already met Antonio. But Antoniodefinitelyshouldn't have already met Jalen.

She searched for an explanation, but Jalen had already spotted Antonio and spoke before she could.

"Hey, Antonio, right?"

Shit, shit, shit.

Antonio nodded but stayed silent. He spared her one glance, but his face was completely neutral.

"You two know each other?" Max asked, staring at Antonio.

Before either could answer, Cara interrupted.

"Anyway!" she shouted, way too loud than the situation called for. "You guys want to go, so you should. Go, that is. Now."

Max frowned as Adam laughed, and Ethan pushed the two of them along. But when she looked at Antonio, she caught him staring at Jalen.

Actually, staring wasn't the right word for what he was doing. It was more like… glaring?

"You two have fun!" Adam said.

Antonio snapped out of it and followed the group through the restaurant to a table in the back near the brewery doors.

It wasn't as good as them leaving entirely, but at least they were out of sight. Besides, she and Jalen would have to get used to them all if they were going to figure out some common ground and date each other.

"That's your brother?" Jalen asked as he turned back toward her, his brows sky-high.

"He only looks mean."

Jalen gave her an unconvinced nod. "And Antonio? He's…"

She waited for him to finish.

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