Page 138 of Crew Princess
As for me, I had one hell of an awkward dinner to look forward to.
Cross and I sat in his truck, parked at the curb next to his dad’s girlfriend’s house. We were still doing the dinner, and it was the first family-official meeting with everything out on the table—the affair nineteen years ago, who Blaise really was—and each person would have a support there for them. I had no doubt this wouldn’t have happened otherwise. Significant others had to be there or Cross wouldn’t have shown up.
Taz, on the other hand, was excited.
She and Race had gone inside, though Race was moving slowly. They hadn’t seen us since we were just parking as they were already to the door.
Cross turned the engine off, sitting back. We both watched the house. Neither of us moved.
“Race isn’t doing too well,” Cross said.
I nodded. “I’m not surprised. Knowing your dad is a piece of shit is one thing, but finding out he’s selling drugs is a whole other matter.”
“You think he and his mom are going to be affected? Cops will seize their assets.”
I shrugged. “Who knows? I hope not. The divorce was clean, wasn’t it?”
Cross raised his eyebrows. “We could ask your brother’s fancy friends. The one is in law school, right?”
“I suppose. I think they’re still in town.”
“How are things with you and your brother?”
Cross had told me everything that went down after I was arrested, while they were waiting to get me out on bail. I couldn’t imagine it, but I wished with everything in me that I could’ve been there, seen everyone rallying for me. It brought tears to my eyes.
My throat swelled up again. “We’re good.” More than good. “I haven’t seen much of him today, but he checked in with me. He and his guys were the ones who caught Race’s dad. He’d gotten word and was in the middle of packing a bag. He was going to run.”
Cross grunted. “Fuck.”
“Yeah, but anyway, those friends are still here. Channing’s spending time with them. They’re going into business together, so they have things to discuss.” I looked over at him, a wry smile on my face. “And by the way, they’re all invited for another Monroe family BBQ this Friday, just like we had the other night.”
Another car pulled ahead of us, but turned into the driveway. A black Maserati this time. It parked next to the Mercedes G Wagon. Cross and Taz’s half-brother got out of the driver’s seat, and Zeke Allen got out on the other side.
Cross nodded to them. “Think we should invite those guys?”
“I’m thinking Allen would shit his pants to have a dinner with the football guy.”
Cross grinned, though it didn’t reach his eyes. We watched as the two sauntered inside.
I wasn’t going to ask how Cross felt about his brother. I knew he didn’t know yet. Taz, though. Taz was in love. She’d been texting me half the day, asking about what clothes to wear.
“Taz asked me if I thought sunflower yellow was too poor for this dinner.”
He snorted. “She asked me the same thing about her teal shirt. I told her not to give a fuck.”
I smiled.
Taz was nervous. The twenty texts explaining how she wasn’t going to drink any caffeine for four hours before the dinner was a testament to how nervous she was. She didn’t want to arrive and have to use the bathroom immediately. She had it scheduled to use the bathroom past the halfway mark of the dinner, just before dessert would be served.
Then she’d sent a flurry of texts asking if I thought they were going to serve a multiple-course meal. And if so, how many? Three? Five? Seven? Surely, not a nine-course meal.
I’d stopped responding by then, but the texts had just kept coming. Plus one from Race.
Race: Sorry.
“You ready for this?” I asked.
Cross just sighed.
