gaze before it was shuttered away. What was the deal with them? Dawson finished. “Just because you don’t see it, doesn’t mean I’m not getting help.”
Jada hopped up, sitting next to me on the counter while I peeled the potatoes.
“I didn’t realize you were so upset last night,” Jada said. “Was it Silas or the idiot that put you over the edge?”
Dawson’s eyes narrowed. I hadn’t told him what the drunk had said before he’d puked on me.
“I’m not upset. I wasn’t upset last night either.” It was a half-truth, but I didn’t intend on letting them dwell on it. “My God. I got drunk. It happens.” I waved the potato I was holding at the two of them. “Something both of you should understand completely.”
They had the grace to looked chagrinned.
“You know what you need?” Jada asked.
I shoved my braid back using my elbow and then said with a huff, “No, what do you think I need?”
“A break. A mini-vacation. A party.”
I couldn’t help the sarcastic laugh. “As you’ve both just spent the last few minutes reminding me, that didn’t work out so well last night.”
“That’s just because the idiots of New London tried to make you feel like a schmuck for your father. You should come with us to New York,” she said.
I snorted, and Dawson said, “What idiot?”
His tone spoke volumes into that one word, the same protectiveness that had come over him when he’d thought Silas had hurt me when he’d seen the bruises on my arm. The same protectiveness that had him sweeping me up in his arms like some romance novel throwback last night on the stairs.
I glared at Jada before answering him. “The drunk who threw up on me thought I was Jersey. It isn’t a big deal. None of it is a big deal. You both should just let it drop.”
I flicked a look in Jada’s direction, and she was sending some kind of nonverbal message to Dawson. Them being able to communicate silently pricked at my heart and soul more than sending Silas away ever could.
She turned back to me.
“Seriously. We’re leaving tomorrow to celebrate Dax and Dawson’s attempt at the Conquistar de la Atlántica Cup. Come with us.”
“Jada,” Dawson said, a warning in his tone I didn’t understand.
“Don’t get all burly protective,” Jada said. “Violet needs to be cheered up, and I need to escape before the noose closes around me. Partying in New York is the perfect solution.”
“What noose?” I said just as Dawson sounded another cautionary grunt.
It just pissed me off more. I was tired of everyone feeling like they had to shield me. Protect me. Tell me what to do.
“A date has been set for my upcoming nuptials,” Jada said dryly.
“Last night you said it was just being discussed,” I said, shock settling over me.
“Well, a lot can change in a few hours.” She gave a wry shrug. But I knew the painful truth of her words. A lot could change in minutes. Seconds. Nanoseconds.
“Who exactly is it you’re supposed to be marrying?” I asked.
“Ken’Ichi Matsuda,” she said.
I frowned. Dawson brushed a hand through his hair, frustration radiating from him.
“Ken’Ichi,” I said, trying to place him. A vague image of a suave but silent man rushed into my head. Dark and handsome but with an aura screaming, Keep away. “As in the guy who is your dad’s chief operating officer? Isn’t he, like, forty or something?”
Jada jumped down and opened the fridge. “Don’t you have any wine?”
“It’s barely one o’clock,” Dawson said.
This time it was Dawson’s and my turn to share a look of concern. Jada always lived on the wild side. I knew there was alcohol, and even drugs, involved with her parties, but it always got worse when she was like this―calmly nonchalant. The pure casualness of it meant she really cared a lot.
Jada shut the fridge and looked at both of us. “Lighten up, my peeps. I feel like I’m going to be celebrating from here until January.”
“This January?” I said, stunned.
Jada nodded. “Yep.”
Her face got a little twisted, as if she were preventing herself from crying before it disappeared. “I gotta use the restroom. You two can talk about it while I’m gone. But once I come back, I don’t want to hear another word about him and me or the wedding until I’m walking down the aisle.”
She sashayed out of the room on her four-inch heels. Glamorous and perfectly dressed as always.