Shit. This nosy ass girl and her big mouth.
My ears were ringing as I picked up the drink the waiter had placed in front of me and knocked half of it back with one swallow.
Des was on high alert now, sitting straight up in her chair as her eyes darted from me, to Avery, then Deidra. “They left together? Nobody told me that!”
“What are you implying, Dei?” Avery asked, completely relaxed as he sipped his drink. “You left the reception with Wes halfway through and then came back, so what’s your point?”
Deidra smirked. “Yeah, but Wes and I are a couple now, so what’s your point? Were you and Tori doing the same thing we were doing?”
“Fucking in the catering pantry? Definitely not.”
Desiree and Deidra both gasped, Drew laughed, and Wes buried his face in his hands. Me? I finished off the rest of my drink and motioned for the waiter to bring me another. I wasn’t saying a thing.
“How the hell do you know that?” Deidra hissed across the table at Avery, who simply tipped his head in the direction of Wes. While she was scolding Wes for telling people about their little sex-capades at the wedding, Avery grabbed my hand under the table. When I looked up, he gave me a wink, and another feeling of déjà-vu washed over me. I just hoped this meal wasn’t going to end up like the last.
“The important question is why were you two leaving together?” Des asked, in a distinctly parental tone that was steadily wearing on my nerves.
Avery scoffed. “Because we wanted to talk. Is that a crime?”
“As long as all you did was talk,” she said, almost in a growl as she glared at him.
And if we did do more than that?
Avery’s response came before I could fully process that thought. “Des, Tori and I are grown as hell. Not saying we did do more, but if we wanted to we certainly don’t need your— or anyone else’s— permission, and it wouldn’t be anybody’s business. If something had happened that you needed to know about, you would have been told, okay?”
Her mouth, as well as a couple of others around the table was gaped open— including mine. After a few seconds, she responded. “Tori is my friend, Avery. It is absolutely my business to keep her from getting hurt, and I know that’s exactly what would have happened if she got tangled up romantically— or sexually — with you.”
A distinct flash of hurt and annoyance washed over Avery’s face, but he quickly masked it by taking a sip of his scotch. “Wow, Des. That’s what you think of me?”
“Don’t you ‘wow Des’ me. You know I love you, but everyone at this table knows you like to keep women in rapid rotation, and I’ve seen how you treat them.”
Avery scoffed. “Have you? Des, you thought you saw something, and you’ve been running with it ever since. Every woman I’ve ever slept with knew the deal beforehand, so you can save the bleeding heart for somebody else. If somebody wants to switch it up after we’ve made an agreement, that’s not my damn problem, and I won’t make it so to preserve somebody’s feelings because they got in over their head.”
Ouch.
“Is this the attitude you’ve had to put up with, Tori?” The sound of my name coming up in the back and forth between the siblings sent my heartbeat into a rapid race. “I thought he was going to try to change, but I see that’s not the case.”
Everybody, including Avery was looking at me for a response. “Um… Des, the women I’ve sent out with Avery haven’t had any complaints about that type of thing,” I said, trying to give away as little as possible while still attempting to diffuse the escalation of this subject. “They haven’t claimed he was anything but a gentleman.”
Des sucked her teeth. “I’m sure they haven’t. He’s probably still screwing at least half of them, so they’re still happy… for now.”