Instead of going straight to our table, I return to the men’s room, where I can wash my hands and splash water on my face, like that will help me unsee my big brother kissing our stepmother.

Like, what the actual fuck is happening right now? Is this for real? Because it’s just too crazy to comprehend.

Park enters the bathroom minutes later, slamming open the door with a loud bang when he strides inside. “Let me explain,” he starts, stopping directly in front of me.

I dry my hands, crumple the paper towel into a ball and toss it into the wastebasket. “How the hell are you going to explain what I saw, Park?”

“It was a one shot deal.”

“My ass. You two were gone for a long time. You were kissing her. God knows what else you were doing while you were gone.” I step closer to him, my gaze never leaving his. His eyes are a dark brown, just like mine. And they are deceptive, I’m realizing. He’s a liar.

I’m surrounded by liars.

“It’s nothing.”

“It’s definitely something, Park, considering how stressed out you look right now. You’re sweating,” I emphasize, pointing at his forehead. “Here.” I hit the lever and crank out a sheet of paper towel, ripping it off and handing it to him.

He goes to the mirror and dabs at his face, his gaze meeting mine in the reflection. “You can’t tell Dad.”

“Yeah, don’t worry about that. That’s the last thing I want to do.” I’m not going to be the one who breaks the news to Dad.

But what am I supposed to do now that I know?

“You’ve put me in a real shitty position, you know,” I tell Park.

He turns to face me. “You didn’t have to chase after us. We were on our way back to the table.”

“When? After your make-out session? Jesus, Park!” I roar. “You were gone for fifteen minutes. Dad called you both. He was mad, said he was done refereeing your fights. Looks like he needs to keep doing it, since clearly you two need a chaperone.”

“Fuck off. You don’t know what you’re talking about.” Park starts to exit the bathroom, but I grab hold of his arm, stopping him.

“Are you fucking her?”

He’s breathing heavily, his nostrils flaring, his mouth thin, but it’s his eyes that give him away. They’re swirling with guilt.

“You are, aren’t you.” It’s not a question, though. I realize without a doubt they are totally fucking each other. “Goddamn, Park! Why?”

He shrugs. “Why the fuck not? I’m proving she’s a total whore. She’s been begging for my dick for years.”

The last thing I wanted to hear. “That doesn’t make it right. Dad is going to lose his shit when he finds out.”

“He’s not going to find out. You won’t tell him, and Diane and I certainly won’t tell him either. So don’t worry about it.”

“Fuck you,” I spit out, leaving the bathroom before he can. I return to the table to find Diane already there, snuggled up against my dad’s side, batting her eyelashes at him as she talks in that annoying baby voice she sometimes uses. I can see from where I’m sitting she’s reapplied a fresh coat of lipstick.

Right, because my fucking brother just kissed it all off.

“Are you okay?” Jensen asks when I still haven’t said anything.

Turning my head, I find that she’s watching me, her brow wrinkled. “I’m fine. It’s just…my brother,” I tell her, purposely vague. “He, uh, pisses me off sometimes.”

She touches my thigh, her fingers way too close to my dick. “I’m sorry. He’s kind of—volatile, isn’t he?”

“That’s one way to describe him.” I reach for my water glass and down it. I wish I had alcohol. Something to make me forget what I saw.

“Are you all right, Rhett?” I glance up to find Diane watching me, her eyes a warning but her face schooled into a pleasant expression, like she doesn’t have a care in the world. Not a trace of guilt in sight.

“I’m fine,” I bite out.

Her smile is extra pleased, which leaves me extra pissed. “Good. So very glad to hear it.”

No one is paying attention. No one else caught that subtle statement but Jensen. She’s looking from Diane to me and back to Diane again so many times, she looks like she’s at a tennis match.

Park returns to the table, all flustered and out of breath, like he just ran a fucking marathon. “Sorry, got a phone call that stressed me out.”

“What about?” Dad asks.

“The Latham deal.” Mergers and acquisitions is my father’s business, and Park works for him as well.

Me? I have no interest in that. Though I don’t know exactly what I’m going to do with my life once I graduate.

They start talking business, and Park is so damn smooth, you’d never know he was just tonguing his dad’s wife in public only minutes ago.

“Addie invited me to her party on Saturday night,” Jensen says, knocking me from my disturbing thoughts. “But I don’t think I can make it.”

“Why not?” She has to be there. No way do I want to be alone at the birthday party so I’ll have to listen to Park’s excuses, or Diane will try to corner me and explain her way out of what I witnessed.

“I have to work. I work every Saturday night,” Jensen answers.

“Call in sick. Or trade shifts with someone,” I suggest.

Jensen smiles. “Addie said the same thing, calling in sick. She told me she wanted me there.”

“I do, so give the birthday girl what she wants,” Addie says with a nod. “Please say you’ll come.”

“Yeah, Jens. Please.” I settle my hand over hers, which is still resting on my thigh. I drag her hand up, so it’s settled over my cock, and I get even harder at her innocent touch.

Yeah, I’m pissed as hell, and for some reason I want to work it out sexually. As in, get Jensen back to my place and fuck her brains out.

She gives me a squeeze, her sparkling eyes full of mischief. “I’ll try my best.”

“Yeah, well, try harder,” I tell her, and she squeezes me harder, just like I requested.

I look over at Park sitting on the other side of Jensen, blatantly staring at us, watching Jensen stroke me through my jeans. And I’m so disgusted with myself, I push her hand off me, so suddenly that she cries out, but not loud enough for anyone else to hear.

Except for Park. The asshole.

“Looks like you’ve got yourself a little firecracker,” he tells me later, after Dad’s paid the dinner bill and we’re all exiting the restaurant. He falls into step beside me, Addie talking to Jensen a mile a minute as they walk ahead of us. “Giving you a handjob while at dinner with your family—nice.”

“Shut the fuck up, Park. She wasn’t giving me a handjob,” I say irritably.

Park raises his brows. “Looked like it to me.”

“Listen, you’re not allowed to talk about her. She’s off limits,” I practically snarl.

He’s fuming. He doesn’t like that I told him what to do, but he can’t say a goddamn word. I now know his deepest, darkest secret. I wish I didn’t. I wish I never saw what happened today, but I did. And now I can’t unsee it, no matter how hard I try. That image is burned in my brain, just like his confession is too.

“You don’t understand,” he tells me, his tone casual, like we’re discussing the weather. “My relationship with Diane is…complicated.”

“I’ll say. Far more complicated than I want to think about.”

“Look.” Park stops me with a touch of his hand on my arm, while the rest of them file out of the restaurant. “I need you to keep quiet about this.”

“I already told you I’m not telling Dad.”

“Yeah, but I don’t want you telling your little girlfriend either. We don’t know her. What if she has a big mouth? What if she talks?” Park shakes his head. “I can’t risk it, Rhett. If this gets out, I’m fucked forever.”

“You sure as hell are.”

He sends me an irritated look. “And I can’t have that. He’s going to retire soon, and he’s going to leave me in charge. I can’t mess this up.”

“You should’ve thought of that before you stuck your dick in our stepmom’s vag.” With that statement, I hurry out of the restaurant, catching up with Jensen, Addie and Trent with ease. “Where’s Diane and Dad?”

“They already left.” Addie wrinkles her nose. “They were all lovey-dovey and acting like they’re going back home to hook up or whatever. It was gross.”

“You can’t hook up if you’re married,” Trent tells her.

“Whatever, it was awful to witness. Like I need brain bleach,” Addie says with a little laugh.

If Addie had witnessed Park and Diane together, she’d probably need something even stronger than bleach. I turn to my date. “You ready to go, Jensen?”

She nods and hooks her arm through mine as we make our goodbyes. And then we’re finally in my car, driving away from the Cheesecake Factory and one of the worst nights on record. Like this is top five shit.

“Did you guys have an argument?” When I send her a confused look, she says, “You and Park.”

“Oh. Yeah. I guess.” I know I’m being kind of a dick, but I can’t help it. I can’t wrap my head around Park and Diane’s relationship. What sort of ratifications will this have if they’re exposed? What will Park do? What will Dad do?

And what about Diane?

“What happened between you two? You seemed so angry earlier. You still do.” She hesitates, twisting her hands together in her lap. “This has nothing to do with me, does it? You weren’t disappointed in how I acted tonight, right? Your dad was really nice to me, though Di—Diane wasn’t very friendly toward me. At all.”

Statement of the century. “She’s not nice to anyone.” Well, except my brother, probably.

Disgusting.

“She was totally rude to me. I mean, what did I ever do to her?” Okay, there’s some of Jensen’s attitude back. And I’m glad to see it. Being with my family tonight made her meek and quiet, and I’m not used to Jensen acting like that.

“Nothing. She’s an equal opportunity rude bitch,” I say, my voice bitter.

“And she never did explain where she was when she up and disappeared earlier,” Jensen continues.

I need to divert the conversation. “She likes to pout. Play games. Diane is the ultimate drama queen.”

“And your dad actually puts up with it?”

I have no explanation for this, since I don’t understand it myself. “I think he likes Diane’s flare for drama. As long as he’s not dragged into it too much, he’s happy.” This is why I can’t tell anyone about what I saw. Park will have my fucking head, and I know it.

So I’m not messing with that.

“Are you going to Addie’s party Saturday night?” I try to change the subject.

“I’m going to try.” Jensen smiles. “I really like your sister. She was so sweet to me tonight, when she didn’t have to be.”

“She’s the sweetest girl I know, I swear. Wouldn’t harm a hair on your head…if she likes you.”

“What does she do if she doesn’t like you? Make your life a living hell?”

“Probably.” We both laugh, but I immediately sober. “I hope she’s not mean to the people she doesn’t like. Like…the kids at school. I have no idea what she does there beyond go to class, but I hope she isn’t some shitty mean girl who treats people like they’re worthless.”

For all I know, she could. Addie does live with Diane, after all.

“Oh, I doubt that. She’s too sweet-natured to do such terrible things,” Jensen reassures me.

“Yeah.” I’m distracted. I don’t want to have this conversation, not anymore. I don’t want to talk at all, but Jensen seems like she wants to give everyone at dinner a personal analysis, so I let her.

But I don’t really comment and I think she senses something is wrong, because she eventually goes quiet, until she finally says, so low I almost don’t hear her, “Park saw me touch you like that, huh.”

I exhale loudly. “Yeah. He did.”

“You think he’ll tell your dad and…Diane?” She’s chewing on her lower lip. “God, I hope not.”

“Don’t sweat it. He won’t tell anyone.”

“Are you sure? Can you trust him? I just, I don’t want to make the wrong impression on your parents.”

I don’t know why she cares so much. My family is a wreck. My parents…they’re not normal. What they’re doing to each other isn’t right, not by a long shot, and they don’t deserve Jensen’s fearful concern.

“You didn’t. You made a great impression,” I say, trying to sound as final as possible. I really don’t want to talk about this anymore. It’s a pointless conversation. “Dad invited you over for Thanksgiving. That’s huge.”

“I guess.” She stares out the window. “I just don’t want Park to think I’m some easy whore who feels up his brother at the dinner table.”

“You’re not a whore, Jens,” I say firmly. “And he has no room to talk. Trust me.”

And I leave it at that.