Page 37 of The Switch: A Friends To Lovers Romance

“Hi, Lin,” Luke said weakly, not wanting to come under fire along with Harold.

Lin spun and fixed her sharp eyes on him. “I blame you.”

“Me?” Luke frowned.

“You’re supposed to keep these two in check. You know they have no self-control.”

“We have self-control.” James hiccupped.

Lin smacked him behind the head. “You’re supposed to be a good influence. What nonsense is this?”

While James nursed his head, Luke cleared his throat and jumped away from the table to get out of Lin’s aim of fire. “Weng, help me take those two to the car. Michelle, can you take care of Ashanti while I’m gone?”

She raised a thumb in reply.

Luke helped James up while Weng grabbed Harold. Lin spun with a twirl of her skirt and marched toward the car parked in front of the bar.

Harold got into the vehicle easily, but James got clingy and didn’t want to let Luke go. “I love you, man,” he kept mumbling. “I love my family.”

“Yeah. Love you too,” Luke said, shoving James’s face away.

Weng rounded the car and tried to help him. When he got one whiff of James, he leaned back. “Oh, he stinks.”

“Get in the car, James,” Luke coaxed.

“No.” His cousin threw his arms around his shoulders.

Lin spotted them over the roof of the car. Luke stiffened and smacked James’s shoulder. In a low voice, he warned—“James, get a hold of yourself.”

James ignored him.

The earth thundered as Lin stomped toward them. Weng slowly backed away, like the coward he was.

Luke wanted to join him, but he couldn’t move an inch with his cousin clamped around him like a howler monkey on a tree trunk.

Lin stopped in front of James and growled, “Get in the car. Now.”

James’s arms got as limp as noodles. He slipped away from Luke, his head bowed like a petulant child and he disappeared inside the car.

Lin slammed the door and approached Luke and Weng. The men visibly shirked back.

Lin pointed behind her shoulder. “Weng, come with me. I don’t want to crash because of their antics. Keep them in line.”

“But…”

Lin didn’t wait around to hear his protests. She got into the car and started the engine.

Weng frowned. “Guess this is goodnight.”

“Later.” Luke squeezed his cousin’s shoulder and watched him walk away.

When the car sputtered down a curve, Luke hurried back inside the bar and found Ashanti’s entire face in the leftovers from the dumpling bowl. He rushed over and gently pried her head out of it.

“Michelle!” he thundered. “I told you to take care of her.”

“I’m sorry. I went to the bathroom for a minute and found her like this.”

Luke grabbed a wad of tissues and cradled Ashanti’s neck and chin while he cleaned her face off. She moaned and mumbled something he pretty sure wasn’t English. Or any other language that existed in their universe.

---