“I don’t want her to hate me,” Aidan said softly.
Nodding, Ethan pushed away from the wall with a, “Then don’t give her a reason to.”
Chapter 24
“How are you holding up?” Adam asked with a pitying look on his face as he reached over to-
“Please don’t touch my bitch,” Rebecca, whom Melanie would really like to point out that she absolutely adored right now, said, pushing Adam’s hand away as she smoothly stepped in front of Melanie.
Blinking, Adam noticeably swallowed as he took a step back and started to look over his shoulder only to stop and focus his attention back on Rebecca as though he was afraid to take his eyes off her. “What are you doing here?” Adam asked, noticeably struggling not to look over his shoulder as he took another step back.
“Why wouldn’t I be here, sunshine? Didn’t you miss me?” Rebecca asked, blinking innocently as Melanie stood there, watching as all the blood drained out of Adam’s face as he mumbled something, cleared his throat, and-
“I didn’t hold back,” Rebecca said, shrugging it off as Adam opened his mouth to say something only to decide against it.
With a muttered, “Excuse me,” he fled the room.
“I really don’t understand what you saw in him,” Rebecca said with a heavy sigh as she grabbed Melanie’s hand and pulled her in the opposite direction. Melanie glanced back over her shoulder in the direction of where Adam disappeared and-
Found herself wondering the same thing as she watched him step back into the foyer with Caitlyn hanging onto him. Once upon a time, she’d thought the world of him, but now, Melanie really couldn’t help but wonder why. When she was sixteen, she thought that he was incredibly handsome, sweet, and everything that she could ever want in a man. But now…
She couldn’t help but admit that they’d never had anything in common. While she’d always been happy working on a computer, wrapped up in blankets while sitting in front of the television with a pile of junk food by her side, he hadn’t. He wanted more, wanted to travel the world, and wanted the best of everything. He spent too much money, cared too much about what other people thought of him, and if she was going to be honest, being around him had always left her feeling exhausted.
“I hope you’re hungry,” Mrs. Bradford, or Mary as she’d been asked to call her, said with a polite smile and a nervous glance when they walked into the large dining room, reminding Melanie that she had bigger problems to worry about than a man that really wasn’t worth her time.
“Everything looks wonderful,” Melanie said as she took in all the food covering the large dining room table.
“Thank you,” Mary said after a slight hesitation, making Melanie bite back a wince as she tried to figure out how they were going to get past the fact that Melanie had a one-night stand with her son.
“What did we talk about?” Lucifer demanded as he walked into the room, carrying a foil-covered plate with a glare aimed at his mother.
“Many things?” Mary said as she sat down at the head of the table and absently gestured for Melanie to sit down next to her. Knowing that she didn’t have a choice, Melanie sat down and resigned herself to getting through an incredibly awkward dinner when Adam sat down across from her with Caitlyn by his side.
“You had gluten next to my wife’s food,” Lucifer bit out as he placed the foil-covered plate on the table in front of Rebecca, who was busy shooting Adam a smile and a pinky wave that had him turning an interesting shade of red.
“What? No, I didn’t. I’m very careful about that,” Mary said, looking confused.
“You had the plate of rolls within ten feet of her food, woman,” Lucifer said, narrowing his eyes accusingly on his mother as he sat down on the other side of Rebecca. When she opened her mouth to argue, Lucifer bit out, “I measured.”
“You always were a difficult child,” Mary said with a sad shake of her head as Melanie sat there, glancing around the table for those rolls, knowing that she was going to need carbs to get through this meal.
“He really was,” Ethan easily agreed as he walked into the room with her parents by his side.
When her parents saw that Adam was sitting across from her, their eyes narrowed, and her father moved to take a step towards him when Aidan stepped into the room. He barely spared Adam a glance as he said, “Move down.” Clearing his throat awkwardly, Adam forced a polite smile on his face and did just that, giving Caitlyn no choice but to move down so that their parents could sit across from Melanie.
Once that was done, Aidan walked around the table, pulled Rebecca’s chair back, picked her up, and deposited her on Lucifer’s lap before his brother could kill him. He sat down on the recently vacated seat next to her while Rebecca kept her gaze locked on Adam as she shifted to get more comfortable on her husband’s lap. With a heavy sigh, Lucifer grabbed her foil-covered plate and placed it on the other side of him before depositing Rebecca on the chair next to him as she continued watching Adam’s every move.
“Everything looks wonderful,” her mother said as Melanie glanced over at Aidan’s mom and-
Did she just move her chair closer? Melanie wondered as Mary murmured a “Thank you,” and gestured for everyone to start eating. Telling herself that she’d imagined it, Melanie glanced at her father and-
Once again found herself wondering if Mary had just moved her chair closer to her when she looked back at Aidan’s mother to find her sitting there with an innocent expression on her face and…shifted closer, making Melanie’s lips twitch. This was definitely an interesting family, Melanie thought as she glanced back at her father and-
“M-may I?” came the softly whispered words that drew Melanie’s attention to find Mary weakly gesturing towards her belly.
“Of course,” Melanie said, barely getting the words out when Aidan’s mother was there, placing her hands on Melanie’s belly with a gasp and a, “Who’s Grandma’s little boy? You are!” Mary said excitedly while Melanie sat there, not really sure how to respond.
“Poor thing held off as long as she could,” Dr. Bradford said with a sigh, drawing her attention only to add, “She was afraid of scaring you off,” at her questioning look.
“Oh, I love you! Yes, I do! I love my sweet baby boy!” Mary said with a pleased smile as Drew pushed against her hand in greeting.
“What’s his name?” Mary asked, glancing up at her.
“Drew,” Melanie said, unable to help but relax when she saw the huge smile on Mary’s face.
Nodding, Mary returned her attention back to Melanie’s large belly. “Grandma loves you, Drew! Yes, she does!” Mary said with a huge smile when Drew pushed against her hands. “Are you Grandma’s little baby boy? Yes, you are!”
There was a heavy sigh and then, “Let her eat, woman, my godson is hungry.”
“Don’t bother me while I’m talking to my sweet little baby boy!” Mary snapped, earning a grumble, but Lucifer smartly kept his mouth shut and left her alone.
“It’s fine,” Melanie said, painfully aware of the man sitting next to her who hadn’t said anything to her since he’d walked into the room.