Page 41 of When It Reins
I shake my head. “I’m not Hero tonight. Just Mitch.”
Juniper smiles wider and reaches forward. I let her take my hand willingly, and before she can, I tug her to me, loving her little gasp of surprise. “Well, just Mitch, shall we go have some fun?”
“Let’s do it.” I grab my blazer off the bed and sling it on just as a knock on the door sounds.
We make our way into the hallway, seeing Felicity, Jax, Ezra, and three new bodyguards standing in the hall.
“Ready for some fun?” Felicity asks excitedly, and I catch her eye, lifting a brow. She knows what I’m saying just from the look on my face, but just grins wider and shrugs like she’s Miss Innocent.
The restaurant we end up at is far fancier than anything I’ve ever been to in my life, and I laugh internally at how comfortable my little brother is here in this setting. He talks to the waiters with knowledge about meat and wine pairings and settles everyone’s choices with us. I keep my big brother barbs tomyself, trying to enjoy the fact that we are in a private VIP area, and I am sitting next to the most beautiful woman in the world.
Life was surreal.
During dinner, everyone chats around me, letting me add in the bare minimum to keep myself in the conversation. It is refreshing to be sitting with the people who know me the best, who know that I am better off just listening to the conversation.
Juniper launches into a story about her childhood, and I feel myself hanging on to her every word, smiling at her when she laughs at certain parts.
I’ve only met her other two sisters a couple of times, but it sounds like when they were younger, they got into all sorts of trouble, just like me and my brothers.
The stuff we used to get ourselves into gave our mom more heart attacks than she would have liked, and I’m sure we were the reason she started dying her hair to hide the gray as early as she did.
I think about my brothers and mom and how they’ve been trying to reach out to me since I’ve been home. I haven’t made it easy on them, but keeping the secret of my trade with the MC, to hold our biological father back from messing with them, weighs heavily on me.
Knowing Juniper knows that about me makes her even easier to be around than normal. She is the one person in the world who knows almost everything about me and never judged me for it.
Felicity blows out a breath, slapping her napkin onto the table. We all fell into a quiet calm as we ate our dinner, and the sudden slap makes Juniper jump. I place my arm around the back of her chair, letting my thumb brush lightly over her shoulder.
I watch as goose bumps raise on her skin and hide a smile at the way her body reacts to mine.
“I say dancing,” Felicity says, looking at Jax with mischief in her eyes. I must have missed the start of the conversation, my eyes and attention on Juniper.
“How can you even move after that meal?” Jax asks playfully, rubbing his hand over her back. “I’m so full.”
“Come on!” She grabs his other hand, tugging on it and then looking at Juniper for backup. “What do you say, Junie? Dancing?”
Juniper laughs and nods her head. “Hell yes. I’m up for it.”
“Yeah! That’s my girl!” Felicity cheers and turns to Jax, pouting out her lip and batting her eyes. I chuckle as I watch my little brother crumble. “Come on, Jax. Lawson is asleep. How often do we get to go dancing!”
It’s not a question, and everyone at the table already knows what Jax is going to say before he says it, but we wait in silence for it, anyway.
“Fine,” Jax grumbles, slapping a credit card on the table. I reach for mine, and he waves his hand at me. “Nah, man. Let me, please.”
I frown. “Dude, let’s split at least.”
“I can contribute too,” Juniper says, grabbing her bag. “This was so nice. Let us help.”
I turn my head and frown at her. “No.”
It was one thing to let my brother pay, but Juniper sure as hell would never pay when I was around.
“Guys, please. We picked the place and wanted to treat you both.” Felicity’s statement snuffs the fire that was kindling out, and I nod at her, putting my wallet away.
“Well, thank you. I don’t think I’ve ever had such a nice meal in my life,” Juniper says, putting her purse away.
“Well, let’s roll then.”
We head out of the restaurant, security surrounding us and people staring at Felicity. When we step outside, flashes start,and people start yelling with excitement. Felicity’s and even Jax’s names are being shouted as we head to the car. I reach out, grabbing tight to Juniper’s hand, hating the way we are surrounded by people.
