“Seriously, baby, if he opens his mouth and says something, I’ll set his ass out. You do not need to worry.”
A third pound came and Trey took a deep breath before he came to me, kissed my cheek, and asked, “Do me a favor and turn down the burner, yeah?”
“Yeah.”
He left the kitchen and I went to the stove to do as he asked. I also flipped the chicken and pushed around the vegetables in the other pan. I took my time, making sure every broccoli floret was turned over.
“Babe?” Trey called, and I jolted before I gave myself a mental pep talk, plastered a fake smile on my face, and turned.
Holy crap.
Not what I was expecting.
At all.
Not being mean, but Trey was exceptionally good-looking, so I’d envisioned a devastatingly handsome older man and beautiful, graceful older woman.
Trey’s father was shorter than him by at least three inches, he had a beer belly that strained against the buttons of his shirt, and his hair was gray. Not in a devastatingly handsome way that makes a man look interesting and arresting. No, in an unkempt, uncared for way that looked almost oily.
His mother was pretty with delicate features. She was indeed aging gracefully, but not gracefully enough to be considered a beauty.
I noted all of that and felt like a royal twit for thinking it. It was mean, but I only thought it because I couldn’t imagine how the two of them had created a man as beautiful as Trey.
Next to them was a younger man. And he was openly staring at me in a way that made me want to take a shower to wash the ick off. He was not good-looking, or handsome, or beautiful. He was average and that was at a push. I didn’t know how old he was, just younger than Trey, but he still had acne and it could be described as not attractive.
“Hi, I’m Adalynn.” I introduced myself, not knowing why, just wanting to get it over with so the three of them would stop staring at me.
“Fucking-A, brother. Even with your face all fucked up, you still nail down a hot piece.”
“CJ,” Trey rumbled at the same time his mother gasped.
“What? Dude, just saying it like it is. Thought for sure after you got mangled, your options would dry up. Clearly, they haven’t.”
“Clearly,” Trey’s dad agreed.
Yuck.
“This is your only warning. Both of you. One more comment like that and you’re gone.”
“Hello, Adalynn, I’m Paige. Trey’s mom.”
I glanced at Trey’s mom and took her in. Weary. That was the first thing that came to mind. Weary and bone-tired.
“Paige. Nice to meet you.”
“This is Carl, his dad. And CJ, his brother,” Paige continued.
“Carl. CJ.”
I didn’t add the ‘nice to meet you’ part because so far it hadn’t been pleasant and my mama taught me it wasn’t right to lie.
I turned to Trey who’d made it to my side and asked, “Should we order something in?”
“Why?”
Why? How was it possible he was asking that? Three guests had arrived and the meal he’d been making surely wouldn’t feed five. And as mean as it was to think, but I wasn’t too torn up about it because Carl was more of a butthole than Trey had explained. He alone could eat all the stir-fry that was on the stove.
“Have y’all eaten?” I asked.
“Been driving ten hours. I’m starved,” Carl answered.
“Well, Trey made dinner. It won’t be enough to feed us all, but how ‘bout we use it as an appetizer and we’ll order—”
“Trey cooked dinner?” CJ snickered.
“Hm?” I glanced up at Trey to find his jaw clenched.
“What can I help you with, Adalynn?” Paige asked.
I didn’t know the answer to that. I wasn’t the one cooking, but I felt it was in everyone’s best interest not to bring that up again.
“Trey, honey, you wanna tell me what needs to be finished, or do you want me to call in an order?”
“What are you doing here?” Trey asked instead of answering me.
“Driving down to Florida. Thought we’d stop and spend the night,” Carl replied.
Anger started rolling off Trey so I stepped closer and slid my arm around his middle. His hand went up, rested on my shoulder, and he pulled me to his side. Only then did he speak.
“Florida?”
“It’s your Aunt Betty’s birthday. We’re going down for the weekend. Big bash for her seventieth.”
“Right. So you thought what, you’d use my house like a hotel? No call? No invite? You just show up unannounced and uninvited?”