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She giggled. “Me?”
“Yeah, why you looked close to crying? Do I need to go and kick the crap out of someone?” he asked.
Aria thought this was the funniest thing she had ever heard. She also snorted, which was a gross sound.
She covered her face. “Sorry. You would kick the crap out of someone because they had upset me?” she asked. “Isn’t that a little extreme?” The words seemed to roll off her tongue.
Should she warn him that she’d never drunk anything before in her life? Never drank at a party, not even with Lidia. She’d always been the designated driver and she took her role seriously.
Grant had poured her a second glass of whiskey. “What is extreme?” he asked. “Protecting you from the evils of the world?”
“The world cannot be that evil.” She sipped the whiskey and the fire in her stomach was building.
“There is evil in the world. Fucking monsters that would kidnap dogs and have them kill other dogs. Rapists, murderers, all that shit. You know the drill.”
Aria sighed. “Wow, now I do feel like utter shit.”
Grant laughed. “Why?”
“With everything going on in the world and how bad it can be, my problems are not that bad.”
“Everyone has bad shit. Don’t compare yours to others, but whatever it was, it made you cry.”
“I didn’t cry.”
“I saw you wipe at your tears. You can’t argue with me.”
She wanted to stick her tongue out at him but she stopped herself. Grant was … she didn’t exactly know what he was, but it didn’t seem right to stick her tongue out at him.
Grant swallowed back his third whiskey while she was still drinking her way through her second. She finished her second and he immediately poured her a third.
“Are you starting to feel better?”
“Yep. You’re right, but it could just be you.”
“I’m the best medicine there is.”
This made her laugh and snort.
“You know, my sister is pregnant.”
“Is this good news or bad?”
“Good news. I’m happy for her.”
“But?”
Aria finished her third whiskey, knocking it back, swallowing it, and then trying not to cough.
“Brave woman,” he said.
She had lost count of the number he drank.
“My mom is already putting my sister on a diet—a pregnancy diet because no man wants a fat woman. No man wants a woman like … me.” Aria hated how fucking pitiful she sounded.
“What?” Grant asked.
“That’s what I hear all the time I’m near my mom. ‘No man wants a fat woman.’ No one wants an ugly ass like me.” She laughed. “That’s why I get gym memberships. That’s why I get to eat sprouts, carrots, and a few slices of beef. I have to watch my weight because I’m not good enough for my mom.”
