“Nope. I’m off gossip.”
“That’s not what I heard.”
I fake gasp. “Mr. Blunderman. Are you taking up my previous occupation? I love it. Tell me what else you’ve heard.”
“Nope. You’re off gossip. Bones might be creaky, but my ears still work.”
I miss half of what he says.
Not because I don’t want to listen to him, but because every time Grey says something to Isabella next to me, his voice rumbles in my ears over everything else.
Get a grip, Sabrina.
You don’t do this.
Men are dicks. They don’t make ’em like Grandpa Harry anymore. Look at what Laney’s father did. Look what your own father did. Look at what Chandler did. Even Theo’s a dick, but at least he’s a known dick, and he knows I’ll cut off his dick if he pulls a dick move on Laney now.
I’m not a man-hater.
I’m just so fucking wary after everything I’ve seen over the years. The couples who make it, who truly adore and respect and accept each other every day of their lives? They’re so rare.
I’d rather be alone with my dog and tight with my besties.
And when they have kids, I’ll be the best damn Aunt Sabrina to ever exist.
They are my family.
And three minutes goes by entirely too fast while I’m desperately trying to convince myself that I’m still anti-relationship and that I don’t want anything to do with this wounded, vulnerable, sometimes dorky, always hot man at the next table.
My stomach tightens. My pulse flutters. My fingers tense. And all too soon, I’m wishing Mr. Blunderman a great time tonight while he pushes out of his chair and heads to the next row.
Grey drops into the seat and hits me with a glare that tells me every last second of the next three minutes will feel like an eternity.
It’s time to face the music.
29
Grey
Sabrina Sullivan has fucking audacity.
She has the nerve to smile at me as I take the seat across from her at this horrific singles mixer, which is the last place on earth I want to be right now. But Zen and Mimi conspired against me, and now here I am.
And with fucking Chandler Sullivan sitting just a few tables down too, thinking he has the upper hand again because I didn’t fight against his pricktastic attitude last week.
“Grey! Long time no see.” Sabrina flips a plastic cup off the stack in front of her, fills it with water from the carafe that’s been placed on every table, and pushes it to me. “Drink. You look dehydrated. How’s your grandmother liking town?”
“You fucking called my grandmother,” I hiss.
She lifts both brows, copper like her hair, which is curlier tonight. A single strand has fallen out and lays across her breast, a wave catching the light every time she moves and making me want to go complete caveman, shoving across this table and kissing her until she apologizes.
“I know everyone’s grandmother in town,” she says. “Or I did, if they’re not still with us. I just wanted her to know how much the community appreciates that you saved my family from having all of our credit ruined for overdue taxes, no matter what you do next with the building.”
I don’t know what makes me more furious.
That she did it, or that she’s pretending she did it for any reason other than to tattle on a grown fucking man to his grandmother.
When she said she was playing dirty, I didn’t expect her to go this dirty.
Add in that it feels so damn good to have Mimi here that I want to kiss her again to thank her, and I’m a mess.
A complete disaster of complicated feelings.
“Leave. My grandmother. Out of this,” I manage to force out.
She holds up both hands. “Sure. I won’t talk to her anymore. But I make zero promises if she asks me a direct question. Manners and all that.”
I start to feel the lightheadedness take hold, and I remind myself to breathe.
My vision blurs in the corners, but I can still see her taking a sip of her water while she watches me like she knows what she’s doing to my blood pressure.
Breathe.
Breathe.
Water.
Fucking dammit. She was right about the water.
I sip. I breathe. My vision clears.
Are people watching?
Is fucking Chandler watching?
Christ. Fuck. He probably heard. He probably heard what everyone else heard.
Grey Cartwright was so overcome at the sight of his grandmother that he fainted dead away.
Motherfucking fucker, this is not how any of this is supposed to go.
“Leave my grandmother alone,” I repeat to Sabrina, calmer.