Page 54 of Hardcore Vanilla
"Mark," Courtney answered, her smile returning.
"And did your parents want her to marry Mark?"
"Definitely not."
Melinda had met Mark at college and while he was successful in his own right, he didn't 'bring anything to the table,' as Aunt Lorraine put it. Nothing other than warmth, love, and making Melinda excessively happy.
"So, who would you choose as relationship goals?"
"Yeah I get it," Courtney said, elbowing Sharon gently. She sighed. "It's just harder than it sounds."
"Oh, I know, honey," Sharon sympathized. "But it's worth it to be happy in the end."
The muffled ding of the dinner bell had both of their heads turning. Sharon gave Courtney a quick hug.
"We'll talk more this weekend," she told her cousin. "But seriously, just remember, if he really wants you, he needs to be willing to meet you at least halfway and he should damn well be treating you as well as you’re treating him. Which, from what I’ve seen, means he should be treating you a million times better than he currently is."
“Thank you, Shar,” Courtney said, looking incredibly relieved before they went back into the other room, just in time to see Melinda and Mark doing the official welcome for the evening.
Sharon was feeling pretty good about herself until she looked over at Jake to find him staring at her with a seriously pissed off expression on his face with Rina next to him looking smug.
Fucking donkey dicks.
Chapter 14
Dinner was a pretty uncomfortable experience for Jake, although he did his best. He was pissed at Sharon and for some reason she seemed ticked at him too, which only pissed him off even more.
He wasn’t the one who had made a scene, no matter the provocation.
He hadn’t set her up to be looked down on by anyone.
He hadn’t gone around telling anyone they were fuck buddies.
He hadn’t brought her to an event as a guest then attempted to abandon her once before successfully abandoning her.
No, he had been the perfect gentleman. He’d been a good date. He was still trying to be a good date, to the best of his ability considering how ticked off he was.
Somehow, they muddled through, mostly by talking to everyone else at their table. Thankfully there didn't seem to be anyone sitting with them that Sharon felt the need to provoke, otherwise it probably would have been even more uncomfortable.
Of course, getting back in the car with her was even worse.
Neither of them had had much to drink. Jake had been afraid that if he did, he wouldn't be able to control some of his responses, and Sharon had needed to be sober to drive.
There was no buffer against the very tense silence. As cool as the massage chair was in the passenger seat, it wasn't helping him.
It wasn't a long drive, maybe about ten minutes, but every passing minute felt more like an hour. Halfway there, Sharon broke the strained quiet.
"Go ahead and say it."
Jake turned his head to look at her, but she was staring straight ahead at the road, both hands gripping the steering wheel tightly. "Say what?"
She snorted. "Whatever it is you're holding back, whatever the bug is that you've had up your butt all night. Go ahead and say it."
"I haven't had a bug up my butt all night," he snapped back at her. Seriously, if she wanted to know what he was pissed about, couldn't she just ask? Did she have to go straight for the insults? Why not try to make the situation better instead of worse? But that seemed to be her M.O. "Just since you decided to use me to piss off your family."
Sharon scoffed. "I wasn't using you-"
