Page 180 of Dissolving Prejudice

“I’m starving. Have you ordered already?” Shay-Lee cut in, his eyes fixed on the menu.

“No, we all waited for you guys to join us,” Soren explained as he refilled his wineglass. “But I think we could just ask the waiter to bring us the whole menu, right?” He turned to face Chief, who frowned in response.

“Wouldn’t that be too much?” he asked, and I shared his thoughts.

He and I had both married men who loved spending their money like it was fairy dust. Take last week, for example, when Shay-Lee and Soren went to the spa, only to return home with a new yacht. Each.

“Order whatever you want. It’s on us,” Shay-Lee said.

“Oh, nonsense.” Soren fixed his glasses to sit higher on his nose. “Tonight is your night, darling, and I insist on paying.”

“You can buy me food, I don’t mind,” Jessie told Soren.

“Jessie, you can’t just ask people to buy you food,” Levi immediately whined.

Jessie’s expression fell. “Why not?”

“Because—” Levi paused to rethink his words. “It’s just rude.”

“But they’re loaded, and I’m hungry!”

Ha… this is going to be one long dinner, I thought and was right. Two hours and lots of food later, we were still sitting around the same big table, talking over everything and nothing. It was actually nice, and I missed our family chaos. While we did attempt to meet up at least once a month, it wasn’t always easy, with everyone having their own life going on. Still, we saw each other frequently and were all involved in each other’s lives whether we wanted to be or not.

A fresh bottle of champagne just arrived at the table, and I found it to be the perfect opportunity.

Getting up, I cleared my throat, catching everyone’s attention.

“I have a big announcement,” I said and picked up a glass of champagne when all eyes turned on me.

“As long as it’s not another wedding,” Levi muttered.

“Why not? I love weddings. They are fun!” Jessie jumped in.

“Not theirs.” Fear filled Levi’s eyes. “Their wedding was a disaster.”

“What? It was awesome,” Miles said after he pulled his eyes off his phone.

“Because you didn’t almost die—”

“Why would we get married again?” I shut them all up.

Levi narrowed his eyes at me. “Everything is possible when it comes to you two.”

“True.” My sweet husband nodded while drinking his wine.

Bitch.

“Remember that ski trip we all took last winter?” Andrei burst in with irrelevant comments.

“Oh my God!” Miles gasped. “It was hilarious! I think I’ve still got videos on my phone—”

“For fuck’s sake, can’t a man raise a toast without being interrupted every fucking second?” I snapped, and the whole table went silent.

Fucking finally.

I took a deep breath to calm down, then fixed my posture. “I wanted to make a toast para el familia,” I said, eyes moving between all the familiar faces I recognized, even in the dark. “I want to say thank you, to all of you—” My eyes skipped to Miles. “—for coming all the way to Milan to support us tonight.” They all cheered, and I waited for the table to calm down before moving on. “But before I move on to praise my incredibly talented Llorón for being the brilliant guy that he is, I want to raise a glass to all of you.” My eyes moved to Jessie. “Jess, congratulations on publishing your latest comic. It’s hot as fuck.” I smiled, thinking back about his lewd art that was sexy enough to make me hard.

“Oh my God, yes,” Shay-Lee added from beside. “So hot.”