Chapter 28 – Austin

If someone hates you for no reason, give that MoFo a reason.

~ Phoibe Cupid

I finished changing the bulb in Mavis’s living room and brought the blown one back to the kitchen where she shuffled around the small space. She was baking pie, and the smell of pastry filled the apartment. I inhaled, wondering how my family would feel if I blew off dinner to eat with Mavis instead. 

“You look nice. Do you have a date with our girl tonight?” Mavis asked as she threw away the old bulb.

‘Our girl’, so fucking cute how Mavis had adopted Bee as her own.

“Kind of. My family has an annual dinner arrangement with my father’s business partner. All the kids are expected to attend; it’s a big, fancy night. They’ve been doing it for fifteen years, and it’s sacrilegious to miss it. I’m taking Bee.”

Mavis smiled. “No wonder you look ready to crap your pants,” she chuckled.

I couldn’t disagree with her. I was nervous. Not that my family wouldn’t adore Bee, because that was a given. She made me happy, and my mother would love her just for that. Unfortunately, my father’s business partner, Niall, was a self-righteous asshole who couldn’t help but try to make me feel like the shit beneath his boots. Then there was his superficial, pumped up, Barbie doll, trophy wife, Bethany, who had hit on me more than once, and when I made it clear I was not touching her with a ten foot pole, she began shoving her carbon copy daughter, Empress, in my face. Empress, who the fuck calls their child Empress? Thinking of how Bee might react to Niall and his family had me sweating bullets. She would likely turn them into cattle and whack them on a grill, right there in the restaurant.

Mavis shoved a shot of whiskey in front of my face, and I gratefully accepted it, downing it in one gulp. Mavis took the glass from me and signaled with a curl of her finger to lean forward. I was a good head and a half taller than her. She clasped my cheeks with her cold hands and smiled, her soft, grey eyes full of understanding and maybe a little humor.

“Be calm, boy. It’s just dinner, not the damn Olympics. She’s the one—you love her, she loves you—everything else is just white noise.” I smiled as Mavis gently tapped one cheek before she pulled away to check her pie. “Thank you for changing the bulb for me. Now, get going. I don’t want to be your dirty excuse for being late.”

I laughed and grabbed my keys from the kitchen counter.

“I’ll be back for pie tomorrow.”

“Don’t even think of coming without that hussy, she owes me. That man-whore, Justin, from the Bachelor gave Becky a rose last night, Bee bet me a bottle of Schnapps he wouldn’t do it.” Mavis said.

“Wouldn’t dream of it, one girlfriend and one bottle of Schnapps coming right up,” I chuckled and then paused as I reached the front door. Girlfriend. It had been so long since I used the term it caught me unawares.

Mavis offered me a gentle, knowing smile.

“See you tomorrow,” she murmured.

Between Mavis’s humor and the shot of whiskey, and the realization I had a real, live girlfriend, I was ready to face Niall and his pack of hussies.

“Damn,” I murmured for at least the twentieth time as I took Bee’s hand and linked our fingers. We were standing outside Thirteen Tables, the exclusive restaurant that sported a lengthy line to gain entry. Bee was wearing a black cocktail dress that hugged every curve in a way that made my hands jealous of the fabric. The dress began at a choker around her neck and fell modestly to her knees, but when she turned around, the full length of her spine and all its flawless flesh was exposed, nothing more than a button at the back of her neck and a scoop across her lower back to obstruct the view. With a pair of black heels and a simple black clutch to match, she looked edible.

“I’m rather pleased with myself for reducing you to one word,” Bee murmured.

Taking another look down her beautiful body, from the sexy black heels to her white, blonde hair, I tried not to imagine her wearing nothing but those heels later tonight. Now wasn’t the appropriate time for one of those pesky public hard-ons.

“Damn,” I whispered again, rather irritated we had to get through dinner before I could feast on the delicacy at my side.

We were quickly escorted into the building and across the busy restaurant floor. Evenly spaced tables were full of men and women dressed in their best finery and on their very best behavior. Sparkling chandeliers reflected the light that speared dancing illuminous beams around the room, adding a magical feel to the opulent surroundings. I clenched my jaw, and for not the first time wished we were having pie at Mavis’s. This wasn’t my scene. I was a beer and burger man through and through.

As we approached my family’s table, I didn’t miss my father’s full bellied laugh. It brought a smile to my face every time, the carefree way in which my father held himself. He’d brought my sisters and I up with the same attitude that he applied to himself. Do what makes you happy and be what makes you proud.

My mother was quick to jump from her seat and offer me a big hug. She was a beautiful woman with a splash of Italian in her genes. Her dark hair was in an elegant up-do, and she wore a subdued champagne wrap dress that complimented her tanned complexion. My father who stood by her side was a large man, with a neatly trimmed beard. His protruding belly was hugged behind a dark grey suit, his tie already loosened ever so slightly.

“Mom, Dad, this is Bee. Bee, this is my mother, Susie, and my father, Don.”

“It’s lovely to finally meet you both,” Bee said with a perfect, genuine smile that would make the frostiest mother’s heart melt. I knew for a fact she was nervous, she’d fidgeted the whole way here.

“Oh, Bee, it is wonderful to meet you. Come and meet the rest of the family.”

My mother sat me right by her side, and Bee on my other side, wedged between my sisters, Brooke and Savannah, and their respective partners. Savannah offered me a not so subtle thumbs up, and I shook my head at her, the perpetual child of the family.

“Austin, it’s good to see you again, son.” came Niall’s voice from the opposite side of the table.

Unlike my father who enjoyed good food and good wine without shame or guilt, Niall cut a fit physique for a man in his late fifties. It had a lot to do with the amount of salad he ate, refraining from carbs and sugar at all costs. Bethany sat beside him in a blood red dress that fell too low between her over inflated breasts to be decent for this setting. She smiled at me with her blood red lips and a sultry look on her face that made me want to throw up in my mouth a little.

“Niall, Bethany, I can hardly believe it’s been a year already. Such a shame we don’t get to do this more often,” I remarked without a hint of sincerity.

“Isn’t it just? How is the building trade?” Niall replied with a fake smile.

“Couldn’t be better,” I admitted, knowing exactly where the conversation was going. Niall wasn’t wasting any time in trying to belittle me.

“My good friend, Georgina, said she saw you busking a few weeks ago. We assumed things must not have been going well for you.” Bethany’s voice was thick with smugness.

I felt Bee tense at my side, and I placed my palm on her thigh and gave it a gentle squeeze. I’d danced to this tune with my father’s business partner a hundred times now. It didn’t bother me in the least, because the opinion of these people didn’t matter to me.

“The money Austin earns from busking goes to The Basement. It’s an organization that takes in under privileged kids and street youth and teaches them all aspects of music for free,” my father said with pride.

“How sweet,” murmured Empress, her tone almost as insincere as mine was a moment ago. “It’s so very good to see you again, Austin.” The way she said the words made it seem dirty, when our relationship was anything but. To say we had a relationship of any sort was ludicrous. I couldn’t stand the bitch.

Her sapphire blue, shimmering dress was just as indecent as her mother’s. She’d obviously had some facial work done since I’d last seen her; her lips were a touch fuller, and her eyes swept up ever so slightly to create the illusion of someone exotic.  To some she would be classified as beautiful, but I was a firm believer in beauty being soul deep, and right to her core, Empress was a spiteful, selfish cow which, as far as I was concerned, made her ugly in every sense of the word.

“Mommy and Daddy were only just saying last night that we should make another appearance together at the Nightingale’s annual party. We had such a long, memorable evening the last time we attended and it would be great publicity for Chilled Lily to be seen attending hand in hand.”

I didn’t miss my mother sigh with dismay behind her wine glass, and Bee sat back in her chair, her intrigued gaze drawn to me, waiting for my response. There was no anger there, simply curiosity and maybe a touch of humor. She knew there was no way I would spend a second longer than I was forced to with this woman, and she struggled to hide her smile.

“Your memory of the evening is vastly different than my own. As I recall, I took my sister, Brooke, and you attended with your mom and dad. I bailed after twenty minutes because the Nightingales are pompous assholes. To put myself through that kind of special torture again . . .” I shook my head. “To be honest, I’d rather have a rattle snake hanging from my left nut then go anywhere with you.”

My father and sisters laughed loudly and my mother quietly chastised my crudeness. Empress was sporting a blush of embarrassment while her parent’s facial features pinched with anger.

“Sorry, Niall, I told you Austin is his own man and marches to his own beat.”

“How on earth to you expect him to take over the business if he isn’t there to learn the ropes? He should be in the thick of it, at boardroom meetings, networking, being seen with the right people.”

My father leaned back in his chair and draped an arm around his wife. “You know very well I don’t expect him to take over the business.”

Niall practically spat his wine into his napkin. “I thought you were just trying to be coy about it. You can’t be serious?” The momentary panic turned to a greedy gleam that I had seen plenty of times on my father’s business partner. “Are you interested in selling your shares?”

“Of course not,” my dad chuckled. “But Brooke has a degree in business and she’s already working for the company. If she wishes, one day, she will fill my shoes, only hers will be far more attractive than my Louis Vuitton’s.”

“She works in marketing,” Niall said through gritted teeth.

“That she does, and her work in that department has been outstanding. Her last marketing campaign saw profits rise by eight percent. She already has a love for Chilled Lilly, she’s intelligent, beautiful, and strong. She's exactly the type of woman who could take the helm.”

Brooke preened under our father’s proud words, and then proceeded to throw the olive from her Martini at me when I did an exaggerated eye roll.

“Bee, whenever you need a break from my brother and his dumb-ass, you give me a call. We can hit up Savannah’s bar and get wild on the karaoke machine.”

Savannah raised her glass and gently tapped it against our sister’s.

“I’d love that. My bestie and I are quite familiar with karaoke. In fact, we are the Texas state champions two years running.”

“No fucking way!” Savannah said, slightly in awe of Bee. I could totally understand the look of worship she had on her face right now. I’m pretty sure I sported it every time I looked at her.

“Yes way. Austin can pass on my number, and we’ll get together soon.”

“Karaoke?” murmured Empress. “How classy.”