“I will run your skanky ass over with my fucking bike if you get me in trouble with my woman,” Ryan says with narrowed eyes. The blonde laughs and tosses her head back. “Seriously. Move, bitch,” he orders loudly.
But she doesn’t move. “Come on, baby. Let me suck your dick, and then I’ll let you fuck my ass.” Her voice is practically purring. She sounds pathetic, but this is kind of funny.
Ian elbows me, and when my attention briefly turns to his face, he’s almost smiling. He nods his head to the back entrance of the room. Alex and Ruby are standing side by side, both wearing grim expressions.
“Oh crap,” I say, my eyes darting between Ryan and the skank and Ruby and Alex. Aunt Ruby is a freaking bulldog when it comes to her boys. She takes a step forward, and Alex reaches out and places her hand on Ruby’s arm.
“No,” Alex says softly. “I got this, Mom.”
Ruby nods her head and smiles at the sight of her daughter striding toward the blonde. She doesn’t look angry, nor does she look like she can do much damage. Alex doesn’t particularly carry herself with confidence, and she’s definitely not assertive.
“Look what you’ve done,” Ryan says with an irritable expression on his face. He shakes his head at the blonde, his hands still raised in the air.
“Excuse me,” Alex says a little louder than I expect as she stands next to Bimbo Barbie. The blonde looks her over, purses her lips, and turns up her nose.
“Come on, Trigger,” the blonde says. “Let’s have some fun.”
Alex looks back at Ruby, who gives her a nod. Alex smiles softly at her mother before turning back to the blonde and placing her hand on the bimbo’s wrist. The blonde looks at her wrist blankly and smirks at Alex. I almost miss the movement, it’s so sly, but Alex’s fingers slide further around the blonde’s wrist as her grip tightens and her knuckles turn white. Realizing the trouble she’s in, the blonde turns to Ian with a fearful expression on her face. I sneak a peek at him to catch the subtle shake of his head.
An order of silence.
Holy crap.
“If you bust this up, I’m going to hand deliver you to Daddy,” Ian whispers to me.
“I wouldn’t—” I protest, but he cuts me off.
“She’s my sister,” he says. “He’s my brother, but it’s different. I just want to make sure he’s going to be good to her.”
“That’s actually really sweet.” My voice betrays my mood, sounding so light and soft. Happy almost.
The blonde regains her confidence and leans in toward Ryan, her lips pursing like she’s going to try to kiss him. Alex’s white-knuckled grip pulls the blonde away from Ryan in a scary-fast and effective move that I can’t believe she’s managed. Her face is calm, but her chest rises and falls rapidly as she uses the force of her grip to back the blonde up to the pool table. Alex continues to twist her wrist until the blonde’s knees give out and she’s fallen on the floor. Even then she doesn’t lessen her grip.
“Please excuse my poor manners,” Alex says a little louder now. She’s inches from the blonde’s face and practically spitting on her. “My name is Alexandra Mancuso, and this one belongs to me.”
“Okay, I’m sorry,” the blonde shrieks and pulls back. She jerks away, breaking free, and scrambles underneath the pool table. When she stands on the other side, she’s holding her wrist, and tears fall down her cheeks.
Ian crooks his finger, summoning her, and pulls out three more hundred-dollar bills. His eyes are focused on Ryan as he hands her the money and tells her to go to urgent care to get her wrist checked. I eye Ruby to see that she looks not only happy but relaxed as well. I haven’t seen that in a while. Ryan’s gaze could cut glass he looks so pissed at the realization that this was a setup. Alex ignores his mood as she grabs ahold of his cut and drags him away.
“Damn, baby,” Ryan says, his voice trailing off in the distance. “That was hot as shit. I so want to fuck you right now.”
I smile at the lovebirds. This is what I like about this world—the love, the super intense, awesome, passionate love these people have for one another. Grandma says she thinks they fall in love so fast and so deeply because they’re all suffering PTSD or something because it always seems to happen during the worst possible time. Like Ryan and Alex and their crazy love story that only makes sense if you bore witness to it yourself. Or Dad and Holly—two people who make no sense on paper but are like magnets when they’re together, either pushing each other away or totally inseparable. Duke and Nic are so cute together that it sometimes makes me sick. There’s this way he holds on to her baby bump whenever he can, like he’s thanking her or something. And Nic? She’s just perfect for him. Before tonight when I had delusions of becoming Jeremy’s old lady, I wanted to be like Nic. Even Uncle Jim and Aunt Ruby who have been together forever find small ways to stay in physical contact. It’s beautiful, and I want it.
More than anything.