Spiked by Love (Bellevue Bullies #6) - Toni Aleo Page 0,23

I’m Petty Patricia. She’s a nasty bitch, but I feel her on many levels. She’s probably my mom’s cousin. “It is what it is.”

“It could be more. I think he’s head over heels for you.”

I scoff. “In your head, yes. But here in reality, he doesn’t see me as more than just a big sister.”

I glance over to where Asher is laughing at whatever Angie has said. She’s so beautiful, and I know his type. He loves dark-haired women and super-skinny girls. Jasmine was model-thin, and Angie is on the thinner side. That’s why she is a great hitter. There is no weight holding her down. Also, she’s got a great personality. He’s gonna fall for her, and I’ll have to watch and hear it go down.

As I exhale deeply, I see Taco entering the room. He’s cut his hair; it’s shaved up the sides and wild on top. He looks like a J.Crew bad-boy model. He comes from money, but unlike the men in his family who work for everything they have, he likes to have everything handed to him. It’s annoying. Don’t get me wrong, my parents spoiled me, but I know what sacrifices were made to give me what I had. The weeks we’d go without my dad, the long hours my mom put in at the studio when my dad was blowing their money on pills, and the interminable six months without my dad while he got clean. He did that for us, for my mom, and my mom worked her ass off to make sure we had everything. Journey and I have already said that, no matter what, we’ll care for our parents when they’re old and gray. One of the many things I love about Asher is he always has said he would help care for my parents too.

He’s a good dude, and Taco is nothing like him.

I text him quickly to meet me at the bar. I don’t want my parents to see him, but of course, that’s not my luck.

“What the fuck is that Chalupa asshole doing here?”

My dad sits beside me, his brows drawn in as my mom whips her head around and then back to me, her brows matching my dad’s and her lips in a snarl.

They don’t like Taco. Like, at all.

“Guys—”

“Is he here for you?” Mom asks, directly and with such revulsion.

“Of course he is. Look how he is staring over here. Fucking hell, Allison. What are you doing?”

“You promised me,” Mom says, and I hold up my hands to calm them down, but it would take a tranquilizer to do that. “I am very disappointed.”

I groan loudly. “I get it, and no apology will help, but I need some closure.”

And to feel something other than jealousy over Asher.

My mom knows the reason and purses her lips. My dad, though, he is pissed. He throws some twenties on the table and glares over at me. “I will never forgive that asshole for what he wanted you to do. You deserve better, Allison, and I refuse to sit here and watch you get closure.” His words are like jabs in my heart. He turns his attention to my mom. “Either you’re with me, or you’re getting an Uber.”

She gives him a dry look. “Like you’d let me get an Uber.”

He shrugs. “I wanted to sound like a badass.”

“Eh, more like a dick,” she says, draining her wine.

He pulls her to his side, still very much pissed, but even more in love with my mom. “Forgive me?”

“Yeah, we’ll both just be pissed at her.”

They look at me, and I feel like I’m four again when I ate a whole basket of cinnamon rolls. “Good plan,” he agrees, and I roll my eyes.

“I’m twenty—”

“Allison,” my dad says, stopping my words. “You can be a hundred and four, and I will still tell you that you deserve the world. That asshole is not it.”

He starts to walk away, but my mom’s gaze stays on me. “That is not going to heal the pain in your heart. Honesty will, though.”

And then she walks away.

I exhale loudly and almost follow them out, but then I see Asher looking at me, perplexed. I push my shoulders back and send him a grin before standing up. As I gather my things, I know I am making a mistake, but the other option scares the shit out of me. I head toward Taco, and his brown eyes light up. I love how they make me feel. But