“Well, I mean, if you want to bring something, that’s up to you,” she said. “I do like a nice scotch.”
“Is there any, in particular, you like?”
“Surprise me, dear. Surprise me” She beamed. And then she looked over at Dylan. I could tell she wanted to hug him, but she was hesitant. I caught Dylan’s eye and nodded towards his aunt. He let out a slight sigh but walked over to her and gave her a hug.
“It was nice meeting you,” he paused, “Auntie Barbara.” He stumbled a little over the words, and they didn’t feel natural to him.
“Oh, dearie. This has made my whole year,” she said and gave him a kiss on the cheek. “God bless you, my son.” She back down. “I’m just going to finish my scone and my scotch, and then I’ll be out of here. But you two don’t have to wait on me.”
“If you’re sure,” I said. It felt odd leaving her there.
“Oh, yes, dear. I love my own company in a nice restaurant like this. It’s not often I get a treat like this, you know?”
“Oh, well, if you’re sure.”
“She’s sure,” Dylan said. “Have a great rest of your afternoon and thank you again.”
Next thing I knew he was walking past me and out of the restaurant. I followed behind him, waving at Barbara as I walked through the door and into the street.
“You didn’t have to be so rude, Dylan.”
He stopped short and turned to me. “You had no right to accept that dinner invitation.”
“You were going to say, ‘No.’”
“Because I didn’t want to go. I thought that was obvious. Or are you just dense?”
“Of course, I’m not dense.” I scowled. “You don’t have to be so rude.”
“I think you were being rude by accepting an invitation that wasn’t for you.”
“I know it must hurt,” I said softly. “It’s a lot of information and I know you’re overwhelmed. But she’s your family, and you’ll get to meet other members of your family. And I think that’s important to you.”
“It’s not important to me. My family is my brother, Kent. He’s the only family that I need.” Dylan whirled away and began walking down the street.
I walked quickly to keep up with him. “He might be the only family that you need, but he’s not the only family that you have. And I think it is important to you, or you wouldn’t have found her in the first place.”
“I didn’t find her. A private detective found her.”
“Who was working for you, right?” I snapped. He stared at me. There was anger in his beautiful blue eyes, but behind it was pain. “It’s okay to be hurt and angry, Dylan.”
“So you’re a psychiatrist now, as well as a secretary and a stripper?”
I pressed my lips together. I knew he was trying to antagonize me, and I was not going to let him get me into an argument. “You know I’m not a stripper, Dylan.”
“Well, when you popped out of that cake shaking your titties for everyone, it sure seemed like it.”
“I was shaking tassels.”
“And where were the tassels? Attached to tits.”
I took a deep breath. “You know what? I’m not even going to answer that, but I think that it would be a good idea for you to spend some time with your family. Family you didn’t even know existed. Maybe you could even find out more about your mom.”
“Don’t talk about my mother.”
“I know it must hurt, Dylan. And I’m—”
“Enough! Okay, Abby? Yes, we fucked last night, and yeah, it was great. But that doesn’t mean we have the sort of relationship where you can act like my girlfriend or my wife and pretend that you care about how I’m feeling.”
I stopped short in the street. “I’m not pretending!”
“We fucked, Abby. You know how many women I’ve fucked? So many I can’t even count. Okay? And you know how many of them got to tell me what I should be thinking, or what I should be feeling? None of them. Stay out of my business, and please don’t make me ask you again.”
“Okay.” I shrugged trying to pretend I didn’t care. “If that’s what you want.”
“That’s what I want.” His voice was cold and hard.
Even though I knew this was his defense system kicking in, it still hurt. It really, really hurt. I was close to tears, and my heart was close to breaking. I couldn’t believe that I’d let him in enough to affect me this way.
“Do we have to work this afternoon?” I asked quietly.
“Not really. Why?”
“Because I’d like some time to myself.”
“What do you mean to yourself?
“I mean, I want to spend the evening by myself, doing things by myself without you, okay?”
He snorted. “What? Are you trying to go and look for another man?”
I couldn’t tell if he was trying to pick a fight with me or not, but he was getting on my last nerves. “Yeah, exactly what I’m looking to do,” I said, rolling my eyes. “I’m going to find myself a Scottish hunk so that I can give him a lap dance and strip for him and shake my tits in his face.”
His face grew even darker. I could tell he was pissed and I hated that we were fighting, but I just shrugged nonchalantly. “Bye, Dylan.”
I turned around quickly and headed down the street. I had no idea where I was, or where I was going, but I just needed to get away from this man. The last thing I wanted to do was cry in front of him. I knew he was hurting, and I knew this was a lot for him to deal with, but I wasn’t going to allow him to treat me like shit.
I didn’t let anyone talk to me like that, especially not Dylan McAllister.
Chapter 37
Abby
* * *
I called Isabella. I didn’t even care that it was long distance, I just needed to speak to someone. She answered on the third ring.
“Hey, Abby. How’s Scotland?” Her voice was cheerful.
“It’s okay,” I said, trying not to cry.
“Oh no, Abby. What’s wrong?”
“Could you tell I was upset?”
“Of course, I’m your best friend. I can always tell.”
“It’s Dylan, of course. He’s such a jerk.”
“What did he do?”
“I just don’t even know where to start.”
“Start at the beginning, Abby.”
“Well, we slept together.”
“Oh … and I guess you regret it?”
“No, not really. I don’t regret it. I just …” I chewed on my lower lip. “He’s horrible. He completely shut me out and—”
“What do you mean he shut you out? You have to explain, Abby.”
“So, do you remember I told you that he was in foster care when he was younger?”
“Yeah, I think so.”
“I guess he tracked down some relatives of his, and we met up with his great-aunt in a coffee shop. It was all kinds of sad. His mom died when he was younger, and I think it might have been his dad that killed her.”