Leo's Chance(23)

Before I can even react, the blond guy who brought the tray of drinks around earlier rushes up to Evie, whispers something close to her face and takes her tray, shooting me a death glare. Ouch. And who the f*ck is he? I glare back at him, my jaw clenching even harder. FUCK!

Evie bends down to meet Gwen who is swiping at her foot and muttering to herself about minimum wage workers, and says, "I'm so sorry. Please, let me help you clean it off. If you'll come with me to the ladies room, I can use a cleaning cloth on it. I bet it will come right off."

"Fine!" Gwen hisses and I think it’s probably good that Evie is leading her away from me because telling Gwen to go f*ck herself would feel so damn good right now, and I honestly don’t know if I could have helped myself.

The blond guy approaches me again, holding out a tray of champagne and I take two, downing them both, one after the other. I stare back at him expressionless as he shoots me one last, disgusted glare. Someone else who has Evie’s back. Not surprising.

I stand staring in the direction of the bathroom, waiting for them to emerge, needing a glimpse of Evie to make sure she’s okay.

Christine, who must have watched that whole exchange go down comes up and gently touches my arm. "You okay?" she asks gently.

"No, not so much."

She gives me a concerned look. "I’ll make sure Gwen’s occupied if you want to go talk to that girl."

I sigh, running my hand down my face. "I can’t, Christine. She’s working. I’d only make it worse."

She purses her lips and heaves a big sigh. "Okay." She pauses and then, "What’s her name?"

I glance at her quickly. "Evie."

"Does Evie know you love her?"

I’m quiet for several moments. "She did once. But no, not now."

Christine is quiet too, probably wondering what that means. "Well, then, you find a way to remind her."

I look at her fully now. "I’m trying."

I see Evie emerge from the bathroom first, a wounded look on her face as she scurries out the door of the banquet room. Fuck! Gwen is such a bitch! I hear Christine say warningly, "Jake–" but I don’t listen. I storm off, and slam into the women’s bathroom which I should have done ten minutes ago. What was I thinking leaving Evie alone with a calculating witch like Gwen?

She’s standing at the bathroom mirror, primping, a look of satisfaction on her face. "Well, hello," she says, turning, and leaning up against the sink.

"What’d you say to her?" I demand, adrenaline racing through my body.

She scoffs and turns back to the mirror. "Who cares? She’s some little serving girl, Jake. Seriously?"

I stare at her incredulously for several beats.

"That’s it, Gwen. I’m done making nice with you out of sheer guilt. You’re a spoiled, thoughtless bitch and so f*cking boring, I can barely keep myself awake when you’re talking. Christ, you should bottle your personality and sell it as a sleep aid."

She turns around slowly, her mouth dropping open and her eyes narrowing. She crosses her arms and hisses, "I thought you were classier than that, Jake, but I see that you can take the boy out of the ghetto, but you can’t take the ghetto–"

I can’t help it, I burst out laughing. All the anger, all the stress of the last thirty minutes just boils over into a fit of hilarity. She’s so utterly and completely clueless, there’s nothing else to do but laugh. "Did you just say ‘ghetto,’ Gwen? Holy shit, where’d you hear that? A 50 Cent song blasting out of the satellite radio in your Lexus?" It suddenly strikes me as so f*cking funny, I almost double over. Instead, I lean against the wall, forcing my laughter back. I had actually forgotten she even knew I was adopted. She had never brought it up before. Probably helped her sleep better at night not to think about associating with someone who wasn’t born with a silver spoon in their mouth.

Gwen is still staring at me, narrow eyed and seething as my laughter dies.

I take a step closer to her as I say, "You have no idea why this is funny Gwen, and you never will, but let me tell you a couple things. You have no idea about me. Not one. Fucking. Thing. And you don’t know anything about her either and you never will. But here’s what you do need to know. You will never come near me again, you got that? If I see you at an event, turn and walk the other way, and if I accidentally run into you on the f*cking street, pretend like you never saw me. Now, unfortunately, we’re sitting at the same table tonight, but there is no need for us to say another word to each other. If you need the f*cking salt, ask someone else to pass it. When dinner is over, you will get a ride home with your daddy because, frankly, another twenty-minute car ride with you sounds intolerable. We clear?"

She stares at me for several seconds, her eyes still narrowed, before finally hissing, "You’ll regret this, Jake. Consider our friendship over."

"Thank God." I walk out of the bathroom just as an older woman is going in.

"Oh!" she exclaims.

"Sorry, wrong door," I mumble.

I walk into the men’s room and brace my hands on the counter of the sink for a minute collecting myself. Could this night have gone to any more shit? I splash some cold water on my face and as I’m grabbing a rolled up towel out of the tray on the counter, I notice the World’s Greatest Mints. I stare down at them, a smile spreading across my face. I grab one and put it in my pocket.