Page 41 of Elevating Eve

Warren tilted his head slightly to one side. “You didn’t know him?”

Something in the man’s tone set off a warning in her head, though she wasn’t sure why. She decided to remain as polite as possible and hope it was her imagination. “I unfortunately didn’t get the chance to meet him. I really wish I had.”

“How long have you and Jonathan been dating?”

Oh yeah, it definitely wasn’t her imagination. She had no doubt that he’d react poorly to the true answer to that question. “Not long,” she said noncommittally.

“And yet you sat in the first pew with Jonathan and the girls,” he said, tone making it abundantly clear what he thought about that. His eyes narrowed almost imperceptibly as the silence stretched out.

“Jonathan wanted me there,” she said at last, not liking the direction of this conversation at all. The hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. “I want to support him, and all of you, any way I can. Now if you’ll excuse me, I need to get back to Jonathan. It was nice meeting you.”

She scurried away faster than was strictly polite, but she didn’t care about that anymore. The way he looked at her made her instincts kick into high gear. If she had to walk past him alone in a parking lot, she’dput her keys between her fingers in case she had to go all Wolverine on his ass.

Eve nearly made it back to the table where Jonathan sat with various members of his family when Warren caught up. “Those are interesting bruises around your neck,” Warren said just a tad too loud, eyeing the band left by Jonathan’s belt with raised brows. “I wonder how you got those.”

The jerk clearly had no intention of letting it drop. He’d cause a scene whether she participated willingly or not. Cheeks heating with a betraying blush, she turned to face the older man. “That’s none of your business.”

“But it is yours, right?” At her confused look, he said, “Your business, I mean. I assume you work at that hotel of his. I must say, bringing a prostitute to his own father’s funeral is a bit too far, even for him.”

Eve’s mouth fell open, her mind going completely blank. How in the fuck was she supposed to respond to that?

Before she could figure it out, Lucy Hale stood at her side. The woman leveled her brother-in-law with a death glare that would’ve sent her running. “Shut your damn mouth, Warren. One more remark out of you and I’m going to ask you to leave.”

Jonathan moved up to Eve’s other side, putting a protective hand on her shoulder. “What’s going on?”

“Eve was just telling me about her work at that little hotel of yours,” Warren said, a cruel glint to his eyes.

Frowning, Jonathan looked down at Eve and his mother, then back up at his uncle. “Eve has been working in construction her whole life. She’s absolutely brilliant. The whole project would be a mess without her.”

It was Warren’s turn to frown. He opened his mouth, closed it again, and then began fidgeting with the buttons on his suit jacket.

“Jonathan’slittle hotelis doing so well, they’ve had to expand,” Lucy said, looping her arm through Eve’s. “As I understand it, this lovely young lady here is one of the two people leading the whole team. We’ve all been enjoying learning more about her accomplishments.”

Warren continued to look uncomfortable for a few more seconds, but he rallied quickly enough, that cold, hateful glint back in his eyes. “Oh, get your nose out of the air, Lucy. Your boy runs a sex hotel, for heaven’s sake. And I’m sure you’ve noticed the bruises all over the girl. Did you raise your son to hit women, or was that Orson’s doing?”

By the time he finished speaking, the entire room had gone silent. As if this needed to be any more mortifying.

“Fuck off, Warren,” Jonathan said, the hand on her shoulder shaking with rage. “As usual, you have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Warren gave Lucy another superior look. “It was definitely you who taught him not to respect his elders.”

She glared back at her brother-in-law. “No, it was me who taught him he only has to show respect when it’s been earned.”

A few people Eve didn’t recognize walked cautiously up to the group. One middle-aged brunette woman had her hands out in front of her, like she was approaching a stray dog and didn’t want to startle it into biting her. “Why don’t we all calm down,” she said in the most kindergarten teacher voice Eve had ever heard. “Dad, let’s go for a walk.”

Warren glowered at the woman who was apparently his daughter. “You’re tellingmeto leave?”

“You’re out of line, Uncle Warren,” Alice said, moving up to stand at Jonathan’s other side.

“I just had to listen to a goddamn pimp give the eulogy at my brother’s funeral, and you’re telling meI’mout of line?” He barked out a callous laugh, then looked Jonathan right in the eyes. “Orson was ashamed of you. He would’ve wanted me to give the eulogy.”

“That’s a lie,” Lucy said, hands fisted at her sides, every muscle in her body rigid. “Orson was so proud of all three of our children, as am I. They’re all happy and being true to who they really are. What decent parent would want more than that for their kids?”

Scoffing, Warren shoved a finger toward the center of Jonathan’s chest. “Proud? After all the shit this one put him through, it’s no wonder he had a heart attack.”

Without any warning at all, Jonathan drew his hand back and punched his uncle in the face. For the space of a heartbeat, everything went completely silent and still, as if a spell fell over the room.

A second later, it all devolved into chaos.

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