Page 23 of The Fantasy League
I hoped that they had forgotten about our little tradition, seeing as I hadn’t gone on a date in two years, but I was wrong. Oh so freaking wrong.
“Hi, Scar. We heard you’re going on a date tonight?” Desmond quirked a brow at me. James sat next to him, noticeably holding back a chuckle.
Bitches. All of them.
“Yeah, Dads, this is Abel. Abel, these are our dads, Desmond and James.” I gestured a hand to them respectively.
“Hey guys, it’s nice to meet you. You have good weather down in the Keys?”
Wait, how did he know that Dads lived in the Keys? Abel and I had never talked about our families before.
Weird.
Maybe Lea told him in passing?
“Fantastic. You’ll have to come down sometime. That is if you’re going to keep our daughter safe tonight. You will, won’t you?” Desmond’s brows pinched together.
Hearing his voice was like a knife to the heart. I didn’t realize how deeply I missed having them around until now.
“Yes sirs. I won’t let anything happen to her. I’ll make sure of it.”
“Good, good. And you’re not going to try any funny business?” James questioned in an attempt to be stern.
He failed. Miserably.
Poor guy didn’t have a stern bone in his body. Mom and Desmond took turns laying down the law when needed.
“Oh my god.” A groan slipped from under my breath and I could feel the heat spreading throughout my face and neck.
“I’ll be an absolute gentleman. You have my word,” Abel responded, with that gorgeous smile that made my stomach flip upside down. At least he was taking this better than the others who had come before him.
“And you’re going to have her home by midnight?” Mae chimed in for good measure. I couldn’t know for sure, but I’m pretty sure this was comparable to being emasculated.
Stupid bitch. I was going to have to cut her for that later.
“Yes ma’am.”
“Very well. Bye, Scar. Make good choices and don’t forget to use protection,” James quipped with a wave before the screen went black. Mae laughed as she walked back to the living room with the laptop in hand.
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t know that they would…” I slapped a hand to my forehead, silently hoping that I could erase the last ten minutes from my memory.
Abel peeled my hand away from my face and tilted my chin upward so that our eyes met. “Don’t be embarrassed. They just want to make sure that I’m going to treat you right.” He stared into my eyes, briefly glancing down at my lips. For a sliver of a moment I thought he was going to kiss me, but what was worse was my heart shrinking when he didn’t. “Can’t say I wouldn’t do the same if I were them.”
Abel’s hand left the underside of my chin and I felt empty at the loss of warmth from his hand.
I shook my head in frustration, trying to snap out of it when he turned to grab my coat from the entry table.
What was going on with me?
“You ready?” He turned back to me and gently took my hand in his while he led me out toward his car.
“Ready as I’ll ever be.”
* * *
The energyin the ballroom was daunting.
There were beautiful women in gorgeous gowns with hair and makeup done by professional artists. And the men were all dressed to the nines in their designer suits.
