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As they were finishing up their dinner, Mikelina visibly began to unwind. He encouraged her to drink some more wine and by the time they finished with dessert, she was a little bleary-eyed but back to her old self.
“Are you ready to get out of here?” he asked.
“I’m ready to make some new memories,” she said, slurring her words a bit.
“I hope it involves a moonlight swim without suits.”
Her smile was bright and happy. The tension inside him broke apart. She was okay. They were okay. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a determined woman in a skin-hugging dress storming over to them.
Mikelina gasped. “Carmen,” she said.
Carmen grabbed hold of Mikelina’s water glass and dashed it in her face. “How dare you? How dare you come to this restaurant?”
“Hey!” Bastien lunged out of his seat and wedged himself between the two women. “Just who the hell do you think you are?”
“You stay out of this.” Carmen drilled her finger into his chest.
He slapped it away.
“I thought your family sold it. I would have never,” Mikelina babbled, wiping herself off with her napkin.
“This is between me and her. Move.” Carmen tried to get around him.
Good luck with that. There was no way he was going to let her get another cheap shot in on Mikelina. “You need to back off, lady, or I’m going to call the cops.”
“That’s a laugh,” Carmen said, trying to push him. He removed her hands from his chest, releasing her immediately.
“You want to make sure you keep your hands to yourself.” A man sauntered up behind Carmen. He was trim and light on his feet and looked familiar. Bastien outweighed him by a good twenty pounds. He hoped the man wasn’t looking for trouble because he was just in the mood to give him some.
“Is this horrible person with you?” he asked him.
“That’s my sister,” the man said between his teeth.
“Bastien,” Mikelina shrieked. “That’s Pedro Santanna. The former middleweight boxing champion.”
Bastien nodded. “I saw you fight in the Garden. You’ve got a glass jaw.”
“Oh. My. God,” Mikelina said.
“Is he nuts?” Carmen asked.
“We could step outside and you could try to shatter it,” Pedro said mildly, gesturing toward the door.
Bastien reached inside his jacket pocket.
Pedro tensed and went up on the balls of his feet. Bastien pulled out his billfold and smiled at him. Tossing three hundreds on the table, he tucked his wallet back inside his jacket and gave Pedro an after you wave.
“How did this become about them?” Carmen said.
Bastien had no illusions that he was about to get his butt kicked, but he needed to blow off steam. Otherwise, he might be punching Jace out later.
“You sure you want to do this, man?” Pedro asked.
“Your sister threw a drink at my date. I can’t hit her, and since you butted into the argument, that makes you fair game.”
“How well do you know that little chica you’re with?”
“I know she’s my girlfriend.”
