Page 43 of Ties That Bind Us

Zane scoffed. “I think you are the first person in the world I’ve ever seen Nick tolerate tardiness for.” He and Leo laughed.

“Would you two shut up?” Nick rolled his eyes, not appreciating their joke as much as everyone else was.

“Well, he was late the other night. Guess we’re even now,” I teased, patting his arm playfully.

“Holding him accountable—I like it.” Leo chuckled.

“Why don’t you two fuck off and go actually do your jobs?” Nick grumbled, shooting both of them an icy glare. I hoped his sour mood had to do with what they were talking about before I got here and not with me.

“Gladly.” They both stood up and we said our good-byes.

Nick loosened up a little bit once they were gone.

“You seem a little tense today.” I rested my hand on top of his, and he gave me a wry smile.

“And you’re a little feisty,” he teased. “What’s got you all riled up? How was your morning?”

“It was fine. Class was boring, I might have gotten a job offer though.” Why couldn’t I keep my mouth shut? Nick would probably lose his mind if he found out I was late because I ran into Jimmy. How was I going to explain that his father was trying to offer me a job?

“Really?” His foul mood was now completely gone. “That’s fantastic. Doing what?”

“I don’t know too much about it yet, but it would be with Bradford and Chambers. I need an internship to graduate, and they offer a paid one. I don’t know too much about it, but I think it’s worth checking out.” I waited on eggshells for Nick’s wrath, but it never came. He processed my words carefully before speaking.

“Bradford wouldn’t be related to Jimmy, now would it?”

“It’s his dad’s firm.” I hesitated.

“Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

Honestly, no, I didn’t think it was. Nothing with Jimmy came without strings, and I wanted to be free and clear of him.

“Probably not. I’m sure there are a lot of internships I can find like that one.”

“And any one of those firms would be lucky to have you. Although you know you don’t have to work if you don’t want to, right?”

“Thank you, but I need a job. I can’t just stay home all day.” Marriage was already pushing me enough out of my comfort zone; I needed some type of outlet.

“Not even with our children?” Nick tilted his head suggestively.

My eyes widened, wanting to put a hard stop to the kid conversation right now. “I’m talking about now. We’ve got several years to think about kids.”

Nick bit his lip and looked away when I said that. I could tell he wasn’t satisfied with my response, and had other ideas in mind. I chose not to pry to avoid an altercation.

“You’re right.” Nick’s tone was shallow, jumping on the same page as me. “Let’s not ruin the day. Are you excited for tonight?”

“What’s tonight?” Confusion flashed in my mind.

“Don’t tell me you forgot,” Nick teased, a smug smirk plastered on his face, waiting a second for me to process. “The dinner at your parents’ house? Our families getting together for the first time?”

“Damn it.” I had completely forgotten about that. Nick’s entire family was supposed to be coming over and having dinner with mine.

Nick chuckled. “Oh come on, it won’t be that bad!”

Nick

Six hours later, Ava and I sat at a large, beautifully decorated dining-room table in the midst of both of our families. Sonya had spared no expense on the dinner, serving several courses and making sure everyone was stuffed to the brim.

So far, everything had gone well. My father and Alessandro sat at the end of the table, lost in their own conversation for most of the evening, and I had managed to keep myself from bashing Alessandro’s head in when I saw him. That was a major feat considering the things Ava had told me about him over the last few weeks. I couldn’t stand the thought of anyone disrespecting or hurting her, and it made me sick that it had happened at the hands of her own father. I was disgusted by the man on every single level, and I couldn’t get her out of this place soon enough.

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