That Thing Between Eli & Gwen

At that, I did turn to face him, however he didn’t return my gaze. He just smiled for the cameras saying, “smile, sweetheart, they’ll think we’re arguing.”

Looks like we were going to fight tonight.

I nodded to Mina, who was dressed in a long lavender and grey floral gown. She stood up and said, “thank you very much, ladies and gentlemen, the Governor and our family truly hope you enjoy your evening.”

“Has the Governor—”

“Tonight is to the celebrate the united efforts of our men and woman in uniform, and nothing else. Thank you again.” She smiled and nodded back to me.

Peeling Liam’s hand off of me, much to his annoyance, I walked over to Ethan who stood in between Declan and Neal. He and Neal both laughed over something, the height difference between them was hilarious. But even more amusing was how much more mature Ethan tried to be in front of his uncles.

“Mio bel leoncino,” I called out to him, my hands outstretched.

“Mommm.” He groaned with a frown on his face at my nickname for him, but I walked over to give him a hug away.

“Don’t mommm me,” I said cupping his cheeks forcing him to look at me, “because I can think of something much more embarassing.”

His green eyes widened. “Leoncino is good.”

“I thought so. Now what where you and your uncles laughing about?”

Ethan and Neal shared a look before both saying, “guy stuff.”

I felt my eyebrow raise at their alliance, then turned to to see Declan putting his phone back into his lapel pocket.

“They were laughing at Ethan’s imitation of our guest earlier,” Declan confessed, causing Ethan’s mouth to drop open.

“Uncle!”

Declan struggled to keep a smug look off his face; “What? My boss asked for an answer. I answered.”

He crossed his arms frowning. “Dad’s the boss.”

“Ethan.” Liam stepped up, towering over him, and once again Ethan stood straighter.

Two emotions rushed through my veins the moment he spoke those three little words—

rage and pain. It wasn’t a lot, but it was there. Smiling, I just petted his hair.

“Right, dad’s the boss,” I said and I saw them all, Liam, Declan, and Neal share a glance in response. “Come on, it’s way past your bedtime. Fedel?”

He stepped up. “The car is already up front.”

“We should get going Cora and Evelyn must be exhausted dealing with all of the kids,” I told them before reaching for Ethan’s hand. He stared wide eye trying tell me not to.

Fine.

Forcing another goddamn smile I did not mean, I turned away from them as Mina made her way back to us, her eyebrows frowned together as she tried to read my facial expression. Shaking my head at her, I took my clutch from her hand, along with my phone.

“Mel?”

“Bathroom. I’ll meet you at the car,” I said not bothering to look back, knowing full well my security detail was already following discreetly.

It was a much longer walk from our table to the bathroom tan it needed to be. Every other step, people kept popping up in front of my face, pushing my restraint to the maximum capability. I thought I had finally escaped them, pushing the wooden doo, and stepping into the marble tiles of the bathroom, but right there at the sink dressed in her hotel uniform was some blonde in tears.

For the love of fuck.

Sighing, I ignored her and put my purse on the counter, pulling off my rings in order to wash my hands.