Chapter 66: Chapter 66

His words take everyone on the table by surprise, even me and I glance up at him with a widened eyes.

"What?! You can't marry her?!" If I thought that my eyes are, wide I just realised the woman before us were bigger and they are about to pop out.

"Please listen everyone are we here for dinner or are we here to make a scene?"

Not waiting for their answer, he pulls me towards the table where he makes me sit beside him. He also takes his seat and takes one of the many dishes on the table and begins to serve me and later serves himself. His mother walks back to her seat as he begins to eat, but I don't think I dare to take a spoon.

Rory glances at me and he frowns and although he doesn't say anything, I know he's wordlessly scolding me and I explain to him wordlessly that I can't eat in this condition because might choke and die on the spot because of the so much hate and anger passing around. He rolls his eyes and mutters "eat" and I begin to eat, not wanting to get on his bad side now.

Surprisingly the dinner is eaten in silence and I begin to wonder why the man on the table which I know is Rory's father has chosen to stay silent. I wonder and ponder upon the many reasons that he has chosen to stay silent, but I later gave up and ate.

"So tell us, Taylor, what do you do?" The man with brown hair mixed with gold just like Rory begins to speak, breaking the silence that has been around the room for fifteen minutes now.

Rory answers instead defensively. "Why dad? So you can talk down on her like Jennifer and your wife did earlier?"

"I'm only looking out for your own good, son, just like I've always done!" Rory's mom says, making sure I don't miss the emphasis when she says always.

"Calm down, Melinda." Henry hushes in a subtle voice and then to Rory he says, "And no Rory I wanna know who my future daughter-in-law is."

Rory tries to say something, but I quickly move my hand under the table and place it on his lap and gently rub him to be still. He turns to me with a questioning gaze, and I just give him a warm 'I've got this' smile.

"I work."

"Are you done with school?" He asks curiously.

"No." I shake my head, "I couldn't, I had to drop out and assist the family when my mom got sick. Now I have a job and I assist my three younger brothers and the family."

"That's a heroic thing to do girl. I'm glad few people like you exist." He smiles warmly and his dimple appears.

Oh goodness, Rory took his charming smile and dimples from his old man!

"How did you two meet?"

"We met at the five-star hotel six months ago," I respond quickly.

"Rory, really?" Henry asks with humour in his expression.

Rory rolls his eyes. "Yes, dad and no I wasn't there with a girl or whore, just went there to relax."

"You never said anything about meeting her." The man says defensively.

"I know you wouldn't have believed me if I'd told you I'd fallen in love with a girl I randomly met in the hotel and knew nothing about." his cheeks show shades of red as I stare at him.

I don't realise what I'm doing until Rory's hand catches mine which is on his lap and I confusedly look at him and he gave me the what are you trying to do? Eyes and tells me to look down and I see my hand where already past his thigh and is now going for his you-know even when I wasn't conscious to know.

My cheeks flame up in embarrassment and I try to withdraw my hand from his, but he wouldn't let go. The amusement in his eye is not helping matters either.

"You're not listening!" Melinda snaps at Rory and although he jerks back, he doesn't look at her.

"What did you say?"

"Have you spoken to Phoebe? We tried to reach her earlier, but her phone was switched off."

"Leave her alone, mom, let her live her life and stop making it seem like she's two years old." he hisses annoyingly under his breath, only laughing when I struggle to get my hand back.

Melinda casts me a murderous glare as his son's attention is now on me and not her. "I don't know what happened to her, after your engagement party she became someone else. Even if she's gonna date the boy there are steps and ways to do what is right."

"Like."

"Carrying herself with honour and prestige like she has been taught to since she was a child. Not throwing herself at anybody she sees just because they called her pretty."

"You're saying Phoebe has a poor judgement of people?"

"Yes. What do we know about this guy anyway? He's way younger than she is, has not even made a name for himself, doesn't come from a renowned family and is probably just another gold-digger who is only interested in the money they can get from us!"

"That's not true," I say and they, including Rory, look at me. "Jack is a good person, he's not after your daughter for her money and neither am I. Jack cares for your daughter, he loves her with all his might and only wants to do her good. Just because he didn't come from a notable family or have not made any name for himself yet doesn't mean he's out to use your daughter, cause ever since I've known of their relationship, he's only out to make her happy."

"Who are you to interfere in our discussion?!" Melinda snaps.

"I may be nobody, but the boy you're slandering is my younger brother and I'm gonna stand for him any day. Talk down on me all you want, but you have no right to talk bad about my brother." With that, I get up from the table and walk away from them wanting to get away from there as fast as possible.

I walk outside, finally being able to take in a deep breath and I bring out my phone from my pocket to dial Mycole's number when I feel a pair of strong arms wrap around my waist. I slip my phone back into my pocket and turn to him.

"I'm sorry that had to happen, I just-"

He places his finger on my lips and shakes his head. "You did the right thing by standing up for your brother and if I didn't love you before, I think I love you after what you said inside."

I roll my eyes even though the evidence is visible on my cheeks. "Why is your dad so cool? As your engagement party, he was ready to kill your other woman and today he's quiet and reserved."

"Dad is bipolar." He quickly answers.

"Really?"

Amusement flicker in his eyes and I immediately groan. "No, just kidding." He laughs.

I jab his side with my elbow and he steps back, laughing harder. "You should have seen your face." he teases.

"I hate you."

"Aww." He purrs at me with a pout. "You're cute."

"I hate you."

"You love me."

"I hate you."

"No. You love me."

"I ha-"

His mouth cuts off my words as they meet mine in a soft kiss. I lean in into him and my hands move to wrap around his neck. He pulls back from me and I can't hide the hunger in his eyes, neither can I deny mine.

"Let's out of here."