Page 72 of Discord
Raven shook her head unsurely. “I have nothing else to say, negative or positive. And I-I won’t try to sway Mia in either direction when it comes to you. I won’t try to push her toward you, nor will I try to pull her away.”
Meaning she wouldn’t interfere, nor would she encourage it. I nodded, indicating,Good enough.
“However,” of course, there was a catch, “if you so much as make her cry once, my boyfriend—”
“Yes, yes.” I rolled my eyes. “Your boyfriend will kill me.”
“That’s not what I was going to say.” I cocked my head at Raven. She leaned closer, elbows on the bar counter. “If you so much as make her cry once, my boyfriend will seem like a cakewalk to deal with after I chop off your balls and bury them in our backyard.”
The tiny five-foot-three woman, commonly known as the voice of reason and the epitome of repressed sophistication, casually threatened my balls with an air of flared dignity. Furthermore, she seemed determined to exhaust every resource to fulfill her promise.
Raising my beer to clink with her martini glass, I cheered to her threat.
We said nothing more for the remainder of the night, a silent understanding passing between us as we awaited the verdict. Either this dinner would calm the worst of storms, or I’d spend the weekend cleaning out my office.
* * *
Mia
“This is my fault. I brought him into your life.”
I rubbed my temples with the tip of my fingers to appease my migraine, the one sparked by Milo’s passionate rant.
“I should have seen it sooner. I should have known something was wrong in the way Brandon treated you.”
After our phone call, Milo was eager to meet me, likely to ensure I was okay. I was wrong to be optimistic about dinner. This was the world’s most cringe-worthy dinner to date. When Brandon found out about it, he was adamant I didn’t attend the dinner alone. I refuted the idea of him joining us, fearing a showdown between Milo and Brandon. However, when Raven also called me—insisting on hanging out by the bar on the off chance I needed moral support—I took Brandon up on his offer. Despite their mutual dislike, they were more alike than they realized. Hopefully, they came to the same realization and had hashed out their differences by now.
As formydinner, it wasn’t quite as smooth. Milo had spent the better part lecturing me on men who groom women from an early age and how he should have picked up on the signs.
My heart faltered. “Deep down, you must know that’s not true,” I tried to placate. “Have you ever seen Brandon with a younger woman before?”
“That’s because he had already set his eyes on you.”
“Oh, my God,” I snapped a little too loud. Utensils clattered on the table next to ours and we received sideway glances. This restaurant was too fancy for our crude discussion. Giving the other patrons a tentative smile, I lowered my voice. “We hadn’t seen each other in years. How could he have groomed me?”
“In Italy—”
“Brandon didn’t know my age when we met in Italy, nor did he recognize me.”
“Even if he didn’t recognize you, he could differentiate between a sixteen and a twenty-one-year-old.”
“What reason would he have to pursue a sixteen-year-old?”
“I suppose the same one as his father.”
I snapped my mouth shut, my blood starting to boil. There was no arguing with Milo when his protective instincts were out. He felt the need to shield me from Brandon, and no matter what I said, it fell on deaf ears.
“I don’t care if you don’t believe me. But you don’t get to ruin someone’s life based onyourbeliefs. You have to drop this lawsuit, Milo.”
“Never.”
The beautiful and expensive ambiance of the restaurant did nothing to lift my spirits. Delicious aromas coming from our dishes only made my stomach churn. I knew getting through to Milo would be difficult, but this was bordering on insanity. For fuck’s sake, he slapped Brandon with a litigation.
I closed my eyes and took three deep breaths. “You are suing my boyfriend,” I gritted out. “Just think about how messed up that is. Brandon is here to stay. We’ll get married someday and possibly have kids. He’ll become my family. How do you expect to have any relationship with me after suing my future family?”
Milo stiffened. A shadow crossed his face with a realization he hadn’t considered before. “Reid, Raven and I are your family,” he said softly.
“And now, so is Brandon,” I countered, barely able to keep the lid on my ongoing migraine. “But if you refuse to acknowledge it, then there is nothing left to say between us.”
