Page 65 of Shiny Things

“Some people hold on to the old ways and cling to the class system, but there’s a lot of us that think it’s complete bullshit. I know your brother. He’s a really great guy and a good friend.”

“You’re friends with Andrew?”

“Yeah. We grew up together. I’ve known him for years and he’s definitely one of the good guys. I’m just saying. Not allof us believe in all that crap, Kim. I’m really rooting for you two and hope you find a way to make it work.”

“Uh, thanks.”

The elevator doors opened, and she stepped out then turned around and gave us a little wave. “See you guys around.”

“That was super weird,” I told him after the doors closed.

He wrapped his arms around me and pulled me to him so he could kiss me.

“Not all of us Deans and Davenports are bad, babe.”

“I don’t know, rumor has it that Elias Davenport is a notorious bad boy,” I teased.

“Asshole is more like it.”

I frowned. “Bad boy I can get behind, but never really been attracted to assholes before.”

He chuckled. “You sure about that.”

“Oh, I’m sure.”

“Well then, I suppose it’s time to live up to my reputation and be very, very bad.”

The elevator doors opened, and we stumbled out kissing and laughing as he tried to hastily unlock his door. The commotion we made must have drawn Ryan’s attention because when he cleared his throat behind us, I yelped, and Elias let me go quickly.

“Sorry,” I muttered, knowing I was blushing.

“Gia’s looking for you. Apparently you haven’t been checking your phone.”

I sighed. “I thought she said we’d deal with this tomorrow.”

“Deal with what?”

“My job. I sort of quit on her tonight. Not that she’d accept my resignation.”

“You quit? Why?”

I cringed. “Well, it started with your aunt asking that I never work there again because she got complaints. Turns out Joe complained. Needless to say, I didn’t handle it well. I don’t think she realized I was there when she was discussing it with Gia, and David did try to come to my defense.”

“What did you do?” Ryan asked.

“I told them I quit, then I handed Ginny my dirty rag and advised she helped clean up, and I also told her I really hoped she enjoyed being groped since she was so okay with it happening to me, or something like that. I don’t know. The adrenaline had kicked in by then.”

Ryan burst out laughing, but Elias didn’t find it so funny.

“I’ll talk to her in the morning.”

“Don’t bother,” I tried to say.

“No, she’s family and she needs to hear how inappropriate that was. Family takes care of one another, and they are going to just have to realize that you are family now.”

I didn’t bother to argue with him. I doubted some in his family would ever come to accept me, but with Gia, David, and Ryan on my side, I held out hope that things would mostly be okay.

We said goodnight to Ryan and walked into Elias’s apartment. I wasn’t sure I could ever consider it mine, but who knew, a week ago I would have sworn there was no way I’d ever show him my bird for fear that everything that was happening would happen.

---