“Leon!” Alec’s voice boomed.
Frustrated, I rubbed my hands over my face, before lifting them both up and holding them out either side of my head by way of an apology. If I wanted to demonstrate I was a fucking grown up, I had to own my actions and take responsibility. “I’m fucking sorry, okay, Alec. I overreacted.”
He gripped his hips, a deep frown etched onto his face, then he rounded the car with a huff and disappeared inside.
Softening my features, I glanced down into Lissa’s concerned face. “I’m sorry.”
She shook her head and slid her hand down my arm until the fingers of her right hand linked loosely with mine. “Don’t worry about it.”
I gazed at her a beat longer, awed anew by the staggering fucking beauty of her gorgeous face. My throat dried up—a barren fucking wasteland. “I fucked up our date.”
She blinked up at me, clear, blue eyes almost glittering in the moonlight. “It wasn’t a date.”
Our lips curved at the same time, and I squeezed her fingers with mine. “Whatever you say, Snow Queen.”
“I already paid,” she said, pulling away and patting my chest as she headed for the truck. “Let’s go.”
“You didn’t fucking eat! That’s bad even for a non-date.”
A grin formed over her mouth. “You can buy takeout.”
I followed her with a smile on my face. Because that sounded a lot like an invitation back to her place.
TWENTY-EIGHT
LEON
I pulled my wallet and phone from my pockets before climbing into the truck and tossing the latter down in the center console. I extracted a few bills from the wallet and held them out to Lissa.
“Keep it. I owe you for the cupcakes,” she said, sweeping my hand away.
I shook my head, tossing them in her lap as I started the car. “Fuck no. I asked you out. I’m not letting you pay for food you didn’t even eat. And the cakes were a gift.”
My phone vibrated noisily in the center console as I pushed my foot down on the gas, and I sighed when my eyes landed on the screen. I hesitated briefly before swiping the tip of my finger across it.
“What’s up?”
“What’s up? Don't what’s up me, Leon! I just spoke to Alec.” I kept my eyes forward as the shrill sound of my mom’s voice filled the truck. “You threw him against his car?”
I could feel Lissa’s eyes on me as I raked a hand through my hair and scratched at my scalp. “Yeah, about that—”
“Are you high again?” my mom demanded in a voice filled with censure.
My gaze fell to the phone. “No, I'm not fucking high,” I bit. “I saw him with a fucking woman. I thought he was cheating on you. Sorry for defending you—”
“How could you think that?” A drawn-out sigh followed her question, and I could picture her standing in the kitchen, shaking her head in disapproval. I’d seen it in person enough times. “He probably thinks I raised a delinquent. For once, couldn’t you have acted like an adult? You’re nineteen now. It’s time you stopped thinking your actions don’t have consequences, Leon. This on top of dropping out of that college course… what must Alec think of me?”
I swallowed roughly, fingers flexing around the steering wheel. “I reflect that badly on you, huh?”
“That's not what I'm saying, Leon. It's just… did you have to attack him? You could have just asked him. I don’t understand why you’d jump to that conclusion in the first place. He’s a good man. The best I know.”
With my eyes laser focused on the road ahead, my mom’s unspoken words hung heavy in the air around me, a weighted chain around my neck. I cleared my throat, the sound gruff. “And I'm not, right?”
Another sigh. “You just have some growing up to do.”
I inhaled, hating the fact that Lissa overheard every fucking word of this shit. My mother—a woman supposedly predisposed to champion me—was probably my toughest critic. Nothing I did seemed to be good enough for her.
“Right,” I muttered, exhaling to ease the tightness in my chest. “Next time I think your husband might be fucking someone else, I’ll just leave him to it.”