Forever Too Far

as her eyes took in everyone at the table with a haughty glance.
         The irritated gleam in her eyes as she noticed Blaire was nothing compared to the hateful glare she shot at Harlow. I waited to see if she was going to say something I needed to shut down. Harlow kept her gaze down and she played with the napkin in her lap. The tension in the room was thick and I hated that Nan thought she had to do this to get attention.
         “Sit down girl and stop standing there snarling. We want to eat,” Kiro said flippantly and Nan’s eyes flashed angrily. She looked at the other seat beside Kiro and then walked past it to sit down on the other side of Dean. The little girl in her was still afraid of rejection. She knew my dad wasn’t going to reject her.
         “I didn’t know you’d brought her,” Nan snapped.
         Blaire was so tense beside me I wanted to pull her up against me until she relaxed. “Of course I did. She goes where I go.”
         Nan rolled her eyes. “I miss the old Rush.”
         “I don’t,” I replied.
         “This is a family matter. You think you could handle just a few moments away from him or are you planning on smothering him the rest of his life?” Nan’s hurt was turning into bitterness fast. She wasn’t going to take it out on Blaire, though.
         I leaned forward on the table and leveled her with my steady gaze. “Do not ever speak to her that way again. If she hadn’t agreed to come with me I wouldn’t have come. Don’t underestimate her importance. She’s mine. Respect that.”
         Nan bristled and sat back in her chair. I hated talking to her this way when I knew she was hurting. But Blaire came first. Always.
        “I’m starving. Where’s the damn food?” Kiro called out loudly.  Two women in their early twenties came hurrying out with trays. Normally there weren’t waiters for meals around here. Dean and Kiro weren’t big on formal meals. But Dean had called in a catering company to handle tonight’s meal. The women had a star-struck look in their eyes as they set about putting the appetizers on the table and taking drink orders.
         “Look at you,” Kiro said as he slid a hand up one of the women’s leg.
         “Daddy, don’t,” Harlow whispered.
         Kiro let out a hard laugh and winked at the server. “Later.”
         “God. I can’t believe my mother slept with that man,” Nan said a little too loudly.
         “Don’t go there, Nannette,” Dean warned her. It was too late. I could see the annoyed amusement in Kiro’s eyes.
         “Why ever not? I’m a fucking rock god, little girl. A fucking. Rock. God.” He took a sip of his drink then smiled. “All women want a taste. Your momma was no different.”
        “Daddy, please,” Harlow said , reaching over and touching his arm lightly.
        “My mother was too young to know better,” Nan shot back.
        “She wasn’t that young. She was just trying her damnedest to sleep with every one of us. I think she can officially claim the record of ‘has fucked all of Slacker Demon’ and that’s not an easy feat. Dean is pickier than most.”
         Nan’s face paled and I knew I needed to step in before this got out of hand. “Thanks Kiro for making sure we were aware of our mother’s sexual habits when she was younger. Now, could we move on from that and try to all get along?”
         Kiro nodded. “Of course. Let’s eat some of this shit.”
         The servers quickly started walking around the table with the trays of food and asking us what we wanted. Blaire turned down most all of the appetizers. She only took a slice of bread.
         “Why aren’t you eating more than that?” I asked , concerned.
         She leaned into me so no one would hear her. “Because I can’t eat raw meats or cheeses with unpasteurized milk while I’m pregnant.”
         Shit. Something else I didn’t know. I pushed my chair back and headed for the kitchen. They were going to make her something she could eat. 

 
    BLAIRE
     
         I didn’t have to ask Rush what he was doing. I already knew.  He would be back with food I could eat. If I wasn’t so hungry I would try and stop him but I really did want to eat more than bread.
         “You’ve turned my brother into your bitch. It’s pathetic,” Nan hissed across the table.
         “Claws in Nan. Blaire is pregnant and needs to eat. Rush