“Is it true?” he asked.
She looked at him for a moment, her eyes never quite so blue. She slowly nodded.
“Two weeks!” he snapped, startling her. “Two weeks it’s been since I told you who my father was. And nothing from you.”
“Y-you don’t understand,” she said, her voice so low he could barely hear it. “There’s a reason.”
“Yeah? A good reason you’d lie to me, right to my face?”
“My father is poison,” she spat. “He killed my fiancé because he planned to marry me to one of his friends!”
That stopped him cold. “Fiancé?”
“It was three years ago.”
She interpreted the tone of his question as jealousy. In reality, he was struggling to keep from flying into a rage, and he had no idea why. After all, she was just a chick that he banged sometimes.
So why the fury?
“That’s a hell of a lot about yourself to hold back. Your father, your fiancé… what else don’t I know about you?”
She was silent for a moment, perhaps unsure how to answer. He would be unsure too, in her position.
“Callum…” she tried, but he cut her off.
“This is a lot to take in,” he said. “I’m going out for a drive.”
“Callum, please—” she tried again.
He just shook his head and grabbed his jacket, heading out the door. Thinking for a second, he slid the prisoner lock home, ensuring that she’d be inside when he got back.
He stormed past Jay, not ready to hear excuses as to why he’d let anyone that close to the apartment. Jumping in his SUV, he peeled out of the parking deck, heading into the night.
Where did you go when you were shaking with anger, and you weren’t sure why?
23
“Are you the birthday boy?” husked a brunette wearing barely-there panties and not a lot else. “I’m a surprise for the man of the hour.”
She leaned over Callum’s lap, pressing her enormous silicone breasts close to his face, beaming.
Callum looked around Savannah’s finest strip club for Cormac, who was surely behind this ploy. Cormac was leaning against the bar, innocently chatting up some very hot strippers. With the looks on their faces, he could very well bet whose bed Cor would be slipping out of in the morning.
He sighed and turned back to the girl practically prostrating herself in front of Callum.
“Tell you what. Come back if I’m still here in an hour,” he said, stuffing a twenty dollar bill in her G-string.
“Okay,” she simpered, retreating. Her ass bounced and jiggled as she left, but Callum couldn’t even get excited about it.
“Seriously?” said Declan, watching her ass as she walked away. “Damn, dude.”
“Strippers don’t really do anything for me.”
“Anymore, you must mean. Because I seem to remember a stripper named Brandi that rocked your world. You actually slept with her more than once.”
Callum frowned at Declan. Up on stage, a new dancer came up, grinding against the pole.
“These girls just seem fake, that’s all.”
Declan rubbed the bridge of his nose, sighing. “They’re fake in comparison with Viola, you mean.”
“Fake in comparison with anybody.”
Callum was tired of the talk about Viola, even though that was what he’d sought out Declan’s company for. Of course Cormac was euphoric upon hearing of Callum’s plight. He’d suggested the location for their meetup.
“Callum, you care for Viola. Obviously, since you’ve tolerated her presence for a month.”
Callum’s jaw tightened, and he glanced away.
“She’s a liar.”
“So? That’s practically on your dating checklist. You don’t want the girl you’re seeing to tell the first police officer she sees that you’re with the Cúram.”
Callum glanced at Declan. “I also want her to be honest with me.”
“So, she didn’t tell you some stuff about herself.”
“Like the fact that she had a fucking fiancé.”
Declan was quiet for a minute. “She said her fiancé was dead.”
“Yeah, she did. How am I supposed to know what he was like?”
“You mean figure out if you two are the same??” Declan said. “And what would you do if you weren’t?”
“Damn you, Declan.”
“Don’t damn me. I’m just saying, you didn’t even get the whole story. Maybe she’s attracted to something different in you.”
Callum raised his hand to the waitress, who rushed over with two more shots of whisky. He pushed one to Declan without a word, and they both drank. Silence reigned for a full minute.