Page 84 of The Enemy of My Enemy Is… My Fake Boyfriend?

Something else caught my eye, and I nearly dropped my fork, catching it at the last second before it made an awful clanking noise.

My fucking uncle sat across the room, and the bastard was staring right at me.

Twenty-Seven

Aria

Although one of my mom's protégés was in charge tonight and doing a great job, she'd still needed help managing a technical glitch in the audio system. We'd worked together to fix it fairly quickly behind the scenes, and now I was making my way back to our table, wondering how Ethan had fared with my family.

Before I'd left, he'd been deep in conversation with my dad. I'd strained my ears to listen, only catching a few words here and there, and apparently they'd been talking business, not surprising since that was my father's favorite topic.

As I approached our table from the side, I kept my eye on Ethan's profile, his posture suddenly changing, his back rigid, his shoulders tense, as he stared at something on the far side of the room.

I hurried over to him, gesturing for Annalise to move her butt from my chair, which she swiftly did. He didn't acknowledge my presence, didn't move, didn't speak. What the hell was going on?

Following Ethan's line of sight as I sat down, I saw a couple, maybe about my parents' age, the man with his graying hair meticulously combed, his sharp gaze cutting through the room with an air of superiority. The woman beside him looked like she'd sucked on sour lemons all her life. Actually, they both did.

Ethan said something under his breath, something I just barely heard that sounded like the word "uncle."

I gasped. "That's your uncle? And your aunt?"

Right when I said it, the man looked my way, his eyes shrewd and assessing as they moved along the table from my sisters and mother to my father, where his gaze rested for a long moment. Something about it gave me chills down my spine.

"I have no idea why they're here," Ethan said quietly. "I prefer having three thousand miles between us."

I knew they lived in Orange County now, and Ethan hadn't seen or talked to them in ages, essentially cutting them from his life. His uncle still watching my dad, I had the distinct impression he wanted something. And when he started to rise, Ethan stiffened even more.

"I don't want him coming over here and fucking with your family," he said to me. "So I guess I'll be going over there to greet my dear old Uncle Dick."

Ethan stood up, and so did I, drawing his gaze.

"What are you doing?" he asked.

I smoothed my dress. "Coming with you."

"You don't have to do that, Aria."

"Too bad. I'm doing it."

It's what a good girlfriend would do, right? Or that's what I told myself. Because truthfully, I didn't like seeing Ethan like this, agitated and bothered, and I wanted to help in any way I could.

He didn't argue further, instead helping me from my seat like a gentleman and putting a hand at the small of my back as we walked toward where his aunt and uncle sat. A tremor of nerves settled into my gut, no idea what to expect from these two, trying to remember the very brief times Ethan had mentioned them and what he'd said.

Nothing really, nothing to prepare me. But I knew that Ethan despised them, and practically speaking, that was everything I needed to know.

Right when we approached, the man stood tall, his stern countenance on Ethan, like he disapproved of something. It chilled me honestly. He hadn't seen his nephew in years, and this was how he greeted him? Did Ethan grow up with that cold frown looking back at him all the time?

My heart broke for the little boy who'd lost his parents and had to go live with such nastiness.

I reached for Ethan's hand, a small gesture that his uncle didn't miss, his eyes going to our clasped palms.

"Richard," Ethan said evenly.

"Ethan."

"What are you doing here?" No beating around the bush, Ethan getting straight to the point.

"Why don't you have a seat?" Ethan's AuntCynthia said.

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