Page 62 of Shiny Things

I watched as the man’s face paled, and he jumped up, shielding his eyes from even looking in her direction as he ran away from the party.

“I’m pretty sure he left a trail of piss in his wake. Jesus, Eli, remind me never to piss you off.”

I shrugged, reached over and grabbed the glass of whiskey Joe left behind, and swallowed it down in one gulp. The burning trail felt good and soothed my nerves.

Kim walked over and started clearing the table.

“Joe seemed to leave in a hurry,” she commented while she worked without really looking my way. “Is there a reason for that, Elias?”

I cringed at the tone of her voice.

“It’s all under control,” Ryan assured her. “As long as that asshole has the good sense not to come back here tonight.”

She sighed. “You can’t run off everyone that comes on to me while I work,” she said under her breath.

“He touched you, twice. I think all things considered, I handled it well. I could have just pecked his eyes out instead of warning him.”

She gasped. “Are you kidding?”

“After what he said to you last night, he’s lucky to still be alive.”

“Wait, last night? What happened last night?” Ryan asked.

“Joe said some inappropriate things to me and made me upset. It’s not a big deal.”

“Yeah, that’s kind of a big deal,” Ryan agreed with me.

I shot her a knowing look, happy to see she was actually watching me this time.

“And I’ll see to it he never does or says anything like that again.”

Kim

Chapter 17

Overall the evening hadn’t been that bad, at least not after Elias had scared off Joe. But there had been whispers and despite him keeping his distance and not drawing too much attention to me, people had still noticed the way Joe had left in such a hurry and the way Elias had watched me like a hawk the rest of the night.

For those that had been at his apartment complex and were speculating on which of the Davenport brothers I had been visiting, the answer was now clear.

Still, no one had made a scene or anything to anger Ginny or Helena throughout the evening. And despite a few early attempts in the beginning, his mother hadn’t pushed any women his way like she had been known to do at past parties. I couldn’t help but wonder if Ryan had been running interference for him as the two of them had remained suspiciously close all night.

If that was the case, I was going to have remember to thank Ryan for it. It had certainly made the night a lot easier to get through.

Long after the guests had left, I stayed behind cleaning up. Gia and David were there too, though they’d let the others go already. Things were lighthearted and fun until Ginny and Helena came out to join us.

Maybe it was just my nerves, but it felt as though they sucked out all the air around me and my chest burned in discomfort. I was pretty sure it was just a panic attack.

“Happy?” Gia asked them.

“Everything was wonderful, as usual. Thank you Gia,” Ginny said. “Except there was one little incident. That Grimes girl that works for you, I don’t want her coming back here again. I got some complaints from my guests.”

“About Kim?” David blurted out. “That’s not even possible. She’s the best there is.”

My heart swelled hearing him come to my defense, but I still had a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. They were talking about me as if I wasn’t standing right there in front of them.

“Well, I’m just saying there were complaints. You know how I pride myself on my garden parties. I cannot have such rumors floating around.”

“This complaint didn’t happen to come from Joe Montgomery did it?” Gia asked.

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