Page 64 of Inevitable
She had the same chocolate-brown hair and dark brown eyes her son had. Same sharp cheekbones and same bow-shaped lips. Bas wondered if she had ever looked Drew up online. Had she at least made sure everything was all right with her son? Had Ellie given them updates? Had they even cared?
Bas forced his attention back to the conversation. He had to be supportive, even if the only thing he wanted to do was to grab Drew’s hand and drag him out of there. Away from the potential of getting hurt again. He didn’t trust Alicia with Drew, no matter how amicable she sounded.
“Good,” Drew was saying in the meanwhile. “Work’s still busy, so no changes there.”
Alicia nodded, but then something else seemed to catch her attention. She frowned and let out a small laugh as she looked somewhere behind Bas and Drew.
“I’m sorry. We’re being rude and blocking the way.”
Bas closed his eyes for a moment. Here he had actually hoped that by some miracle, Ezra would be left out of this. Like standing in front of Ezra and not even introducing him would make him invisible.
“Mom, Ellie, this is Ezra,” Drew said. “He’s our…”
Drew didn’t seem to know how he should end that particular sentence, so eventually, he just let it drop.
“Nice to meet you,” Alicia said with a healthy dose of distant politeness.
Ezra reached out his hand. “Hello. Nice to meet you, too.”
“It’s good to finally meet some of Drew’s friends,” Alicia said.
Bas gritted his teeth. Alicia had no right to sound like that. No right to act as if she’d never been introduced to any of the important people in Drew’s life simply because Drew had kept them from her.
He could see her looking at Ezra curiously. Taking everything in. Trying to pinpoint something in his appearance that would allow her to judge. That would allow her to think, “You’re not suitable. You don’t fit. You’re no longer welcome.”
Like the time when Bas had experimented with makeup when he started high school. The small bit of eyeliner had been like a red flag to Drew’s family. Suddenly, Bas hadn’t been asked to stay for dinner any longer. And Drew hadn’t wanted them to hang out in his house anymore. And when he came out and Drew hadn’t yet, Alicia had crossed the street when she happened to see Bas approaching, pretending she hadn’t seen him.
He didn’t want Ezra to experience that same rejection. And fuck it, he didn’t want to see Drew’s hope dashed.
Alicia was still smiling. “If you have time, maybe you could—”
“Well, it’s been nice, but we have to go,” Bas said loudly, drowning out whatever Alicia was about to say. “I have work to do.”
“Oh.” Alicia blinked in confusion.
Bas could feel Drew glaring at him.
Alicia and Ellie started moving past them. Alicia stopped next to Drew and squeezed his arm. Drew’s eyes slammed shut, and Bas could see him leaning into the touch.
“I’ll call you,” Alicia said.
Drew nodded, and Ellie beamed as she gave Drew a quick hug and whispered something in his ear that made Drew smile.
Bas couldn’t take a second more of this. The moment Alicia and Ellie started for their table, he stormed out of the restaurant like the place was about to go up in flames.
“What the hell was that?”
Bas stopped and turned around slowly at Drew’s voice.
“What?” he asked. Bas’s whole body was tense like a guitar string.
“Why did you shoot her down like that?” Drew had his arms crossed over his chest, and every cell of his body spoke of the fact that he was not pleased with Bas. “She was going to ask us to stay for lunch with them.”
Bas had no doubt that that was where Alicia had been headed, but he would have rather jumped barefoot on a bed of nails than stay for that event.
“We both know you’re the only one she wanted at that table.”
Drew looked conflicted as hell. “No, we don’t know that.” Nothing about Drew’s voice said that he was certain about that.