Page 158 of Holidating
“Any cops knocking on your door?” she asks.
He shakes his head and glances toward the kitchen door, hoping his mother isn’t hearing any of this.
“Are you struggling again?” Benito asks.
Once again, it’s not Damien’s favorite topic. But he resents the question ten percent less coming from his youngest brother, because Benny tried the army, too. He came home with a knife wound but a lot less PTSD than Damien. “I’m not really struggling, I promise. This was an isolated incident. And, no, I haven’t heard from law enforcement.”
“Law enforcement?” his mom yelps, appearing in the doorway with a chocolate cake. “Who are the cops visiting and why?”
“Damien got into a bar fight,” Zara chirps.
He groans loudly. “Christ, Zara. You said you’d keep quiet.”
“Yeah—in front of anyone who’d get you in trouble,” she clarifies. “Mom’s not going to report you.”
“A bar fight?” his mother says. “Damienwhy?”
Great. He’s just spent the whole week trying not to think about it. And now his whole family is staring at him, looking for answers.
“It wasn’t just a random act of violence,” he explains, soundingas sullen as he feels. “There was this guy at the Gin Mill, getting drunk and hitting on a woman.”
“That’s nothing new,” his brother Alec says. And he’d know because the Gin Mill is Alec’s bar.
“Yeah, I realize that.” Damien sounds tired to his own ears. “The problem is that the guy is married to a friend of mine.”
“Sakes alive,” his grouch of an uncle says. “Why put your nose in? Sounds like it was none of your business.”
Damien already knows that it’s none of his business, but he still resents the comment. “It wasn’t just flirting, Otto. He was really going for it. They were going to go back to her place. He was trying to get Connor’s attention to close out his tab.”
“And Connor was totally ignoring him,” Zara adds cheerfully. “We’ve all served this prick before, and we know he’s a shitty tipper.”
Otto reaches for the stack of cake plates. “Maybe the customers would tip better if you didn’t ignore them.”
“Maybe you can kiss my ass,” his sister says under her breath, and Benito chuckles.
“Who’s this friend?” their mother asks. “The one with the skanky husband?”
“She’s… You don’t know her,” Damien says quickly. “She’s a taxi customer. Didn’t go to school around here.”
“Rich girl,” Zara says. “Super pretty. Way out of Damien’s league. She’s the one who asked me for his address when he was in the sandbox.”
All their faces swing in his direction again. “Is this an ex?” Benito asks.
“No way. But she’s afriend, like I said. So I put down my pool cue?—”
“He was losing to me anyway,” Zara inserts.
“—and told the guy I’d go around behind the bar to help close out his tab, becausehis wife must be expecting him at home.”
Everyone cackles.
“You should have seen the other woman’s face,” Zara says. “I wish I had a video. She clearly had no idea he was married. And now the guy is getting all pissed off, telling Damien he doesn’tknow what he’s talking about. And Damien holds up his phone and offers to call the guy’s wife to straighten it out.”
“I’m so sorry I missed this,” Alec says with a chuckle.
“You should be.” Zara hoots. “The dude had no idea who Damien was, either. You could see his wheels turning as he tried to figure out how bad this could get. He got so frustrated he grabbed Damien by the jacket.”
“Now that’s just dumb,” their mother says as she cuts into the cake with a chef’s knife. “There aren’t that many people tougher than a Rossi.”
