Chapter 159

DAHLIA

If awkwardness were a physical thing, I’d be drowning in it.

The moment Alex’s family laid eyes on me, the temperature in the room dropped ten degrees.

The mother—diamond necklace, frost for skin—lifted her chin in a way that said, ‘Oh.’ This is what he dragged in?

The father stared like I was a stain on the tablecloth he couldn’t scrub out. The brothers sized me up like I was a new species they weren’t sure should be classified as animal or plant.

No one smiled. No one welcomed me. No one even pretended.

And Alex? He sat down, picked up the wine list, and acted like I did not exist.

A chair was pulled back for him. Not for me.

I stood there like an ornament someone didn’t know where to place.

His mother leaned toward him. “This is the girl?”

What did she mean? He spoke to his mom about me?

Alex didn’t even look up. “Yes.”

His father frowned. “She doesn’t look… prepared.”

What the fuck? Even his dad