“Nya!” Louie called while still ten feet away from the dinner table.

The wonderful restaurant owner had his arms open wide and Nya stood up from the central restaurant table to go into his embrace. He patted her crown and squeezed her tight, leaning back to look at her and then hugging her again.

“My beautiful Nya,” Louie said, helping her into her seat again. “Who are your friends tonight?”

“This is Woodrow,” she said, pointing at the man sitting opposite her at the circular table. “And this, Louie, is Ester.” Presenting her palm toward Ester, Nya knew the Louie would be intrigued by the woman. “She’s Archer’s mother.”

“Ah!” Louie said, hurrying around to pull Ester up. Ester whooped when she got a hug too, but threw herself into it all the way. “She is beautiful, why have I never met her before?”

“Archer keeps this place a secret,” Nya said.

He’d probably be furious that she’d brought Ester and Woodrow to the back-alley, Italian restaurant that he’d introduced her to. This was where they’d come on their first date. It wasn’t too far from her old apartment.

The restaurant that Woodrow had made reservations at had double-booked and so the three of them had been left on the street with nowhere to go. Nya didn’t eat out often so didn’t know many restaurants. This was the only place that she knew that served good food and would have a table for them.

Their party of three had finished their main courses and had just ordered dessert when Louie had come over to greet them. “I am sorry it took so long to welcome you,” he said, stroking Nya’s hair again. “I had a problem in the kitchen. We got a new cook, Archer told you?”

His voice went up in the lilt of a question and Nya squirmed. “We’re in a fight, Louie. And he’s out of town.”

“Ah, this is why he cannot be here to protect his beautiful women? Why do you fight?”

Nya couldn’t even begin to get into that with the restauranteur. Ester had asked her the same question and hadn’t pushed when Nya refused to answer. The party-girl usually wanted to know everything and Nya appreciated her patience and understanding. There were too many things that Ester didn’t know about her life and Archer’s to explain. The truth would take too long to tell and lies never lasted.

Archer had left town that morning, but Nya only knew because Ester had told her. She’d gone on a rant about how annoyed she was that her son was ducking out of their meal. Just like Nya had predicted, the woman was devastated, but Ester hid her upset with anger.

It was during that conversation Nya confessed that she and Archer had argued. Ester had assumed that she knew everything about Archer’s itinerary, but Nya had to admit that she didn’t know where he was or what was so important.

Ester said he’d only be gone for a day. But Nya didn’t care if it was a week, she was still angry about last night and had spent most of the day with Tag. Not because she sympathized with him, but because she wanted to give him a piece of her mind. By leaving town, Archer had lucked out and been saved from some of her wrath.

“Oh, it’s complicated,” Nya said, tracing the checked line on the tablecloth.

“Young people in love,” Ester said and Nya valued her attempt to divert Louie’s attention.

“And you, Mr. Woodrow, you must be so pleased to have two such beautiful companions all to yourself tonight.”

Woodrow seemed like a nice enough guy. He talked a lot, and definitely admired Ester, so he was ok by Nya. Except he had a lot of years on Ester, at least twenty-five. Nya didn’t know if maybe this was true love and Ester really was ready to settle down, or if maybe there was money involved somewhere.

She wouldn’t ask while Woodrow was here, but she’d probably chance the question the next time she and Ester were drinking together. “Yes, they’re beautiful. I’m a lucky man,” Woodrow said.

“What a shame Archer could not join you,” Louie said. “Have you met him? Have you met our patron? He is very much in love with beautiful Nya, but what man would not be?”

Flattery was Louie’s impulse; he did it with every woman who came in. He was a flirt and it always made Nya happy to see him smiling at her. Louie grabbed a server to order more breadsticks and wine for the table.

Referring to Archer as a patron had to just mean he frequented the place, because he’d never told her anything about having a stake in the restaurant. Archer was so secretive about the establishment that he couldn’t funnel a lot of business this way. Louie bent to hug her again, and went to the kitchen to speed the arrival of their desserts.

Ester was pleased when more wine was brought to them. Woodrow was making some comment about the vintage and Ester made a joke about the volume of alcohol it contained. Nya didn’t even notice the man who stormed through the door to make a beeline for them until a heavy stack of papers was thrust down in the middle of the table, drawing all of their attentions upward to the raging, puffing bull standing opposite Ester.

“What the fuck is this, Ester?” the guy asked, intent only on the woman he addressed.

“Uh, we’re eating,” Ester said, drawing a finger down the side of her glass while ignoring the pile of papers that had been thrown down.

Nya caught the wobbling flower that almost fell into the candle.

“Court papers?” he asked. “You’re suing me? You’re not fucking serious.”

Ester sat back and Nya recognized a smug woman when she saw one. She folded her arms and raised her chin like she was daring this man to get angrier. Nya could tell from how he leant over the table and the rage radiating from him that he was close to his limit. His features clenched with ire; he didn’t want to be messed with.

Nya stood. “As you can see, we’re having a meal,” she said. “I don’t think this is the time or the place to talk about this.”

Whatever this was.

He cocked his head to look her up and down. “You’re not what I thought he’d pick. He always had a thing for redheads. But you’ve got a tiny tight bod, Nya Yorke. I’m not surprised he likes playing with it.”

That put Nya in her place and he was happy to switch his fury back to Ester. Woodrow blustered a bit, but didn’t manage to say any words. “Don’t check out our son’s girl, Derren,” Ester sneered. “It’s pervy and it’s wrong. Archer will put his fist through your teeth if he hears you saying anything disrespectful to our Nya.”

Son? Derren? Nya was speechless. Derren wasn’t Archer’s biological father, but he’d taken on the responsibility of the parental role despite his relationship with Ester ending not long after it started. At least, that’s what she’d thought.

Nya could see a resemblance between this guy and Kristof, who was Derren’s biological son, and Archer’s good friend. Tall and bulky, he had lines on his face and grey in his hair, he probably had five years on Ester. His shrouded eyes were alert and focused on the posturing Ester.

“I’m not Archer’s girl,” Nya stuttered the words with a hand on her breast.

Derren clucked and put a hand on the back of the chair he was leaning over to examine her figure again. “Great, then let’s get out of here,” he said.

Ester almost fell when she thrust her hands to the table to surge up to her feet. “I’m calling Archer!” she said, fumbling for her clutch that was beside her wine.

“Archer’s in Vegas, you stupid bitch,” Derren declared.

It was overwhelming to absorb this intrusion. The first time she’d met Kristof, Nya had no idea that Derren had a biological son, or that Archer was in touch with him. She’d never gotten around to asking if Archer still had a relationship with Derren. Because Archer had never brought him up in the present, she assumed they weren’t a part of each other’s lives anymore.

But something she’d considered ancient history was now standing in front of Ester, fuming, and he knew Archer’s location when even she was clueless. So Nya guessed her assumption was wrong.

She didn’t take Derren’s come-on as genuine and tried to defuse the tension. “Everyone needs to calm down,” Nya said, raising a hand to calm Ester and Derren. The pair continued to glare and poor Woodrow was just sitting there gaping at them both. “Let’s just talk about this.”

“He doesn’t know how to talk,” Ester said.

Nya picked up the papers to see what they were. It was a civil suit; Ester was suing for five thousand dollars. “Stalking and defamation?” Nya asked, both to confirm the charges with Ester and to check that Derren understood.

“How the fuck can I stalk you, bitch?” Derren asked. “I’ve been in Texas for eight months!”

“All the hang-ups?” Ester asked. “You don’t think I know that’s you who makes all those calls with the clicks.”

“What fucking clicks?”

Although they weren’t biologically connected, Nya noticed the switch in his expression from anger to worry. The curiosity that burned out of him, it was just the same as Archer’s reaction would’ve been.

“You call from unknown numbers. All that heavy breathing. Jesus, Derren, you should know just to come round if you want your cock sucked.”

Listening to this conversation was almost like watching what herself and Archer could be in twenty-odd years. Nya may not be as much of a partier as Ester, but maybe being deprived of the man she loved would turn her into that. Except the way Archer told the story, she was sure this relationship had ended, that Ester and Derren had finished it because they wanted to.

Nya spent so much time answering Archer’s questions, but she should really have spent more time asking some of her own.

“I…I’m going to go to the restroom,” Woodrow said and hurried from the table.

Ester huffed. “See what you did? Now you’ve scared him! He was going to marry me, Derren! He’s a real man!”

But Derren scoffed and widened his stance. “I don’t think so, bitch. That guy’s not coming back. Have you ever seen him touch his wallet? The guy’s two hundred and sixty grand in the hole, he was gonna off you for the life insurance.” He bobbed his head at Nya. “Good job bringing him to Archer’s haunt, he owns half this joint, you won’t have to pay the check.”

That wasn’t even why Nya had brought everybody here. “I can pay the check,” Nya said.

But he barked out a laugh. “With this bitch’s bar bill? You’ll be scrubbing dishes for six months.”

Ester patted her shoulder. “Don’t listen to him, Nya, we’ll pay it together,” Ester said and opened her purse to pull out a full money clip.

“Ah, the bank of Archer is open,” Derren said. “Make a withdrawal today? How much did he pay you to fuck off this time? Five grand? Ten?”

“My son doesn’t pay me to leave,” Ester snapped. “He likes having me around.”

Nya couldn’t back that up, so she stayed quiet, and went back to reading the papers. “Maybe he should file charges on you, Est?” Derren said, smacking the back of the papers Nya was holding. “You fucking hang around him all the time, making his life shit. Soon as that green dries up, you toddle back to him for more.”

“He looks after me, unlike certain men standing at this table,” Ester said.

There was only one man at their table. Derren didn’t give Ester money, maybe that’s why she was suing him. “I give you fucking money all the time. A place to stay. A job. Though that never lasts more than two weeks, does it, Est?”

Ester squawked. “Don’t lie! I kept that last job for six months!”

“Playing hostess at a cocktail bar is right up your alley and you only kept it so long ‘cause you were fucking every dick in the place, and they let you get drunk when you were on shift. Why do you think they told you to stop wearing the uniform? You were a fucking embarrassment. I was paying your wages for the last two months!”

Ester snatched the papers from Nya and waved them in Derren’s face. “Ha! That’s defamation! Nya, you heard him!”

She didn’t think that calling someone an embarrassment was classed as defamation, but she didn’t know anything about the law. Nya had told Archer that they needed distance, but she wished to fucking God that she could pick up the phone to him now.

“Why don’t we all stay calm? We’ll get Woodrow, go back to Archer’s, and figure this out.”

“I’m not hanging around with a stalker!” Ester said, cocking her hip and drumming her fingernails on it in a practiced move Nya had seen her use before. “God knows what he’ll do to me.”

“You fucking wish, bitch,” Derren grumbled. “Why’d you think I stopped letting you sleep at my place? I was tired of waking up with you on my cock.”

Ok, Nya wasn’t sure she wanted to hear this. She loved Ester to pieces and Derren was kinda hot, but there was something sort of creepy about listening to her ex’s pseudo-parents bicker about their sex life.

Ester hitched her chin. “Who’s the guy who showed up in my hotel room on my last wedding day?”

“Your last wedding day?” Derren spat. “How many fucking wedding days have you had? I must have missed a dozen of them, you never go through with it. I don’t give a fuck. Marry whatever miserable fucking bastard you want.”

“Please,” Nya said, aware that they were drawing attention to themselves. “Can we just go home and finish this? I swear, Ester, I won’t leave you alone with him. He won’t be allowed to hurt you.”

“Fuck that,” Derren said. “Why the fuck would I hurt the litigious cow? I can’t be fucked cleaning up a crime scene, though I guess if things get dicey, Archer’s got everything I need in his apartment.”

“He’ll hurt us both,” Ester said, but there was no fear in her voice, she was only superior and stuck-up.

“Derren wouldn’t hurt you,” Nya said, and for the first time all eyes were on her.

“How the fuck do you know?” Derren asked.

She narrowed her eyes on him. “Because Archer respects you and he wouldn’t respect any man who’d put his hands on his mother in anger. And if you even think about hurting a hair on my head, he’ll take you apart.”

Suspicion flavored his intrigue. “I thought you weren’t together,” Derren said, like he knew better.

Nya kind of reflected for a second before she answered. “It doesn’t seem to matter with him,” she said, tilting her head as she pondered this. “Whether I’m riding him at night or not, he still gets pretty pissed when people hurt me. Anyway, I know where he keeps his knives and I know my way around his bedroom better than you do, I guarantee it.”

They were thinking about it, but didn’t make a move. “This place is important to Archer,” Nya said, lowering her volume. “Please don’t make a scene and embarrass him.”

Everyone at the table seemed to have enough love for Archer that her words had influence. The couple acquiesced. So they were going back to Archer’s place to… Nya didn’t know what. Fix this. Though she didn’t know how.

Derren had a big, powerful Mustang. It was a bit clunky on the city streets, but was still a thrill to ride in. He’d been right about Woodrow, maybe not about the debt, but he hadn’t been in the bathroom and she’d asked the staff in the kitchen if they’d seen him as she waited for them to box up the desserts Louie had insisted she take, and apparently he’d disappeared out a side door. They all knew better than to question anyone connected to Archer, so they’d let him be.

It was terrifying that he could be thinking about hurting Ester to pay off his debt. Ester had come close to losing her life, all because she still believed she’d find love. Woodrow had picked the wrong woman to take advantage of though, Archer would never have let it happen and despite their arguing, she didn’t think Derren would let anyone hurt Ester either.

The couple weren’t in better moods by the time they got back to Archer’s. Nya put the court papers on the table and the desserts in the fridge. The whole time, Ester and Derren stood at opposite ends of the couch pretending to be ignorant of the other.

Derren flicked through channels on the TV. Ester sank onto the couch to unbuckle her shoes. Nya took time to regroup and went into the kitchen to make coffee. She wasn’t going to hand out alcohol that would just fuel the fraught situation.

The whole time she was in Archer’s kitchen, the couple didn’t say two words to each other. Nya filled three mugs with strong black coffee and carried them over to the living room table.

“You don’t want to go through the court, Ester,” Nya said. It was easier to aim for her friend first, Derren was still a stranger to her. “Whatever he’s done. I’m sure he doesn’t want to hurt you.”

Ester crossed her legs and doubled her body until her breasts pressed against her thigh. Nya was kneeling on the opposite side of the coffee table, so it wasn’t like Derren wasn’t going to hear what Ester said no matter how far she leaned from where she was.

“You don’t know what it’s like to be stalked by a man like him, it’s terrifying. I never know when he’ll pop up or what he’ll do to me.”

Derren dropped onto the other end of the couch. “Archer follows her home from her club every night. She knows what it’s fucking like to be stalked. And, bitch, I haven’t followed you anywhere for fifteen years.”

“So you say,” Ester said, picking up her coffee. She scowled at the liquid. “What shit’s this, Nya? You must know where he keeps the good stuff.”

“If you get drunk you’ll end up fighting,” Nya said.

“Or fucking,” Derren muttered.

“Whichever you choose,” Nya said, drawing her eyes off him. “It’s not gonna resolve this.” She planted a finger on the court documents in the middle of the table. “And why would you do this, Ester?”

“To get my fucking attention,” he said. “I was away living my life for eight whole months, how fucking dare I, she wants me at her beck and call. Well, I’m sorry, bitch, it’s not happening.”

Offended and at the end of her rope, Nya opened her mouth. “Stop calling her bitch. I’m sure it’s some really sexy foreplay, but I don’t like it.”

“Yeah,” Ester said. “Tell him, Nya, we don’t like it.”

“You love it when I insult you,” Derren said. “You love being a dirty whore.”

“I do not!” Ester said, folding her arms and straightening her spine. But Nya recognized the flame of arousal in her friend’s eyes.

Pushing her hands on the table, Nya rose high on her knees. “If you want me to fuck off so you two can get it on, I’ll go home.”

Derren glared. “Arch doesn’t let you walk home alone, does he?”

It wasn’t like she had to go out into the street at night. “I live downstairs.” If something happened out in the hallway, she’d scream, and all the neighbors would hear it.

If it was any other couple, she wouldn’t hesitate to leave them alone. It did weird her out that she and Archer had fucked in that bed and now it might play host to his mother and her ex. Archer wouldn’t be happy when he found out. Then again, Nya could be completely wrong. If Derren popped in and out of Ester’s life as often as it now seemed he did, maybe he visited Ester here a lot.

Archer would have other places to go with girlfriends and for jobs, leaving the apartment vacant for Ester and Derren to do whatever they pleased.

“I’m too pissed off to fuck,” Derren said. “And I’m not gonna sit here for some shitty counselling session either.” Getting up, he snatched his jacket from the back of the couch and pointed at Nya. “You get her to drop this shit or I take action.”

She didn’t know what that meant, but she didn’t think he meant legal action. “Oh, go find yourself a bottle,” Ester said as he stormed to the door.

“I fucking will, bitch. You start these games, but I always win.”

He slammed the door so hard that Nya felt a shockwave impact her chest. Nya let the dramatic exit sink in and kept her mouth shut. Derren was strong-willed, much like someone else Nya knew.