“Thanks, sis.” He rubbed his hands together. “Looking forward to this, there ain’t exactly five-star restaurants where I’m stationed.”
I grabbed my own plate and sat across from him. “Well, I don’t think I’m a world renowned chef either, Ian,” I replied, amused.
“Pretty darned close.” He took a bite and groaned. “Come on, what do you marinate this steak in?”
I tapped my finger to my nose. “I’ll never tell,” I teased before adding, “Oh and I made peanut butter cup torte for dessert.”
My brother’s eyes lit up. “No shit?” he all but yelled, mouth full.
“Eww, yes, you ape, did Mum teach you nothing? Don’t talk with your mouth full, I would rather not wear your dinner.” I gingerly picked up a piece of steak that had flown from his mouth onto my shirt and threw it back at him.
Ian just chuckled and continued to devour his dinner. I focused on my plate and smiled, happy that the mood had lightened.
After Luke left earlier today, Cade also split, saying he had “shit to do.” That was probably a good idea, after a more than rocky introduction and that phone call, Ian and I had needed some time to talk.
Although we hadn’t actually talked about anything important all day, I showed him to his room, made him some lunch then showed him round Amber. He was very impressed and agreed that it reminded me of home.
I showed him around my store, which he didn’t say too much about, he was an alpha male, girly clothing shops didn’t exactly excite him. Weirdly, only Rosie and Lily were there, and they both had no idea where Amy was. Making up with Brock, I hoped.
After that, we had laid by the pool drinking beers, and Ian told me some funny stories about the boys from his unit. I knew a couple of them, and one of them, Keltan, was my brother’s best friend from back home. He was like a second brother to me, so I was always happy to hear about him too. We seemed to have let the events of this morning be temporarily forgotten so we could spend some quality time together.
Which brought us to now, having my kick ass steak – if I did say so myself – and joking together, like we always had. Still no word from Cade or Amy, which had me slightly concerned, but I’d hear from them both at some point, hopefully.
“So, Gwen. You and this Cade guy, what the fuck?” Ian’s tone brought me out of my thoughts.
I sighed, I had known this was coming. “I knew you wouldn’t give him a chance. Please try not to judge him based on appearances. I did that when I first met him and I regret it. I really like him, Ian.”
I tried to give him my puppy dog eyes to soften him up, but he just scowled back.
“Jesus, Gwen, another biker? These guys are dangerous, I don’t want you getting caught up in this again,” he barked angrily.
I let out a frustrated noise, sounding like a petulant child.
“You don’t even know him, Ian. Please just reserve judgment until you know him a little better. He does actually care about me.”
Ian gave me a look. “Yeah, I can see that, that’s what I’m worried about,” he muttered.
I rolled my eyes. “Seriously? You’re angry because my boyfriend likes me?”
Ian put down his knife and fork, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand. “It’s just intense, Ace, the way he looks at you. Christ, you haven’t even known each other for two months.”
I kept looking at him, doing what I used to do when we were young and I wanted something. Staring at him looking sad, refusing to speak until he gave in. Ian, knowing my game, growled and picked his knife and fork again.
“Fuck it. I’ll try my best to be civil to the guy,” he conceded before focusing on his food.
I beamed and began to talk about something else when the door slammed and Amy stormed in glaring at me, not even glancing at Ian. She pointed her finger at me angrily.
“You!” she yelled before approaching the table and standing in front of me.
What now?
“I can’t believe the Prick Who Shall Not Be Named called you and I had to find out from freaking Lucy! I mean, I love the girl, but I don’t want to find this shit out second hand. You should have called me the moment you got off the phone with that maggot so I could call him back and reach down the phone and castrate the fucker,” she finished, voiced raised to a near screech at the end.
I gave her a second, knowing that she was just upset for me and a teensy bit of a drama queen.
“Hello, Amy, how’s it going? Want to say hello to Ian who just got here from some unknown war zone?” I asked sarcastically narrowing my eyes.
Amy blanched a little, as if she didn’t realize Ian was even here, she glanced across to him and smiled tightly.
“Sorry, Ian, I didn’t mean to be rude was just a little preoccupied with the whole ‘Gwen getting a phone call from a murderous psychopath’ situation.”
I was about to reply, when Ian pushed back from his chair, staring at Amy with a weird look on his face. He advanced on her in two strides and engulfed her in his arms. She looked surprised for a second, then melted into his embrace.
Ian released her, looking her up and down, eyes twinkling. “You look great, Ames,” he said softly.
She returned the favor, her gaze scanning him until her eyes rested on the scar I spotted today. She nodded her head towards it. “Just another one to add to the collection,” she remarked dryly.
Before I could think too much of this strange display, they both seemed to snap out of whatever it was and sat down, Ian back to where he was, Amy beside me. She took a pull of my beer and grabbed my fork, which was halfway to my mouth, eating my last piece of steak.
I glared at her. “That was my last piece, you bitch.”
Amy said nothing, just smirked. Her face suddenly got serious. “So what happened with this phone call, Gwennie? How did it even happen in the first place?”
I told her about what Luke told us, leaving out the part about one of my friends possibly giving out my phone number because that was just bullshit.
Amy was fuming. “Right, I’m calling my father and he can talk to one of his buddies about sorting out the guards at that prison,” she snapped, betraying her upper class breeding.
“Can we not worry about it right now?” I pleaded, standing to take our plates and serve dessert.
“How about we talk about where you’ve been all day, Abrams?” I shouted over my shoulder as I got the torte and some plates out. “Having some make-up sex with Brock maybe?” I gave her a wink, walking back to the table. Her face blanched, a panicked look on her face was quickly replaced with a glare.
“Who’s Brock?” Ian clipped, jaw hard.
I set the plates down with a smirk. “Oh, just some guy that won’t take Amy’s shit but is so totally under her skin.”
Amy scowled at me, quickly glancing at Ian, who was staring at her with a blank look on his face.
“He’s no one. No one special, and I certainly won’t be talking to him again. Subject closed,” she exclaimed grumpily before dumping a huge piece of torte on her plate.
I raised an eyebrow, she usually avoided refined sugars and carbs like the plague. She scowled at me yet again. “It’s my cheat day,” she declared defensively.
I held my hands up, serving myself a piece, choosing to ignore the weird atmosphere and instead enjoy the deliciousness of peanut butter and chocolate.