“The hell it’s not.” I shake my head. “I think you should pay the check and drop me back at school. I’m no longer feeling well.”
“Don’t be unreasonable. You’ll see in time that a kid like Hunter with a good head on his shoulders is who you should be dating.”
“I need to go the bathroom,” I announce and rush off before he can say anything more to upset me. I take a few minutes to collect myself. I don’t even want to get in the car with Theo right now. My phone buzzes in my purse.
Killian: Things going okay?
Liri: He’s being a jerk.
Killian: Need me to rescue you?
Liri: He brought me to your father’s bar and grill of all places.
Killian: I can be there in twenty. The garage I’m at isn’t far.
Liri: Don’t drive too fast.
I leave the bathroom and my stepfather is seated at the bar having a drink and talking to Dillan.
I approach him and interrupt their conversation “You can go now. Killian is picking me up.”
“As in my little brother?”
“Yes, if you must know.”
He laughs with a snort. “You’ll be waiting a while. Killian isn’t boyfriend material.”
I roll my eyes and my stepfather smiles like ‘see this guy knows what he’s talking about.’ Neither of them know him the way that I do.
“You’re overreacting and being childish, Liri. His own brother sees things for what they are. You know I wasn’t going to bring it up yet, but that art program, the one in France you wanted. There’s going to be an opening next semester. Play your cards right, I could make it happen.”
“You mean if I give up Killian.”
“That’s not what I said.”
“You didn’t have to.”
“Just think about it, Liri.” He finishes his drink and leaves me standing at the bar on the verge of tears. Paris was a pipe dream. Something Theo said not even his money could buy and now he’s using it against me. I had given up on that dream when I wasn’t accepted into the program. I always thought that I partly didn’t get it because my mother didn’t want me going far away and now, I wonder if that was exactly the case. Because I am not doing as she wishes they are going to use it as a bargaining chip to control me.
“What’s a pretty rich girl like you doing with my brother?”
“None of your business. What would you know about him anyway? You don’t even talk.”
“I know enough to advise you to listen to your rich daddy and go to Paris.” He winks at me and sets a glass on the counter. He pours dark liquor in it. “On the house.”
I know I shouldn’t be drinking but maybe a sip or two will help me to calm down. I accept it and when he offers me a second, I knock it back it hoping it will ease the burn in my throat from the first.
When Killian arrives, I am on my fourth. I feel tipsy but not drunk.
“Was lunch with your stepfather that bad?” he is speaking to me but glaring at his brother.
I lean back into his arms. “They offered me Paris if I stop seeing you.”
He tenses. “What’s in Paris?”
“Her dream art program,” Dillan answers. “Sounded pretty sweet to me.”
“They think they can control me. Snap their fingers and say Liri go to school here. Liri live here, drive this car, fuck this boy not that one.” I snap my fingers.