There was one thing he was right about, though. Regardless of what I thought about him as a person, I craved him like a crackhead.
Troy Brennan was the devil, but sometimes, even good girls wanted a healthy dose of evil in their lives.
He’d spent Saturday and Sunday mostly holed up in his office, but this morning I’d hoped to try and make him breakfast again. Stupid, I knew, but feigning emotional attachment made what we did together seem less dirty. More real. But by the time I woke up after another night of tossing and turning, he'd already left for work.
Whatever work meant in his world.
I was almost glad I’d rescheduled my plans to meet Lucy and Daisy, my childhood (and essentially only) friends, and agreed to join them for late morning coffee. Anything was better than another day in the empty apartment. Well, empty except for Connor, that is.
Lucy and Daisy waited for me on our usual bench, sharing a box of donuts and coffee. Lucy, a plump, pretty chick with curly blonde hair and freckles like mine, cradled the donut box as protectively as a newborn baby. Daisy was holding our foam cups. Daisy used to work in a strip club not too long ago. Men dug her raven black hair, shapely legs and impressive bust. She reminded me a little of Catalina. A less bitchy version of her, anyway.
Lucy and Daisy got along like the Starks and the Lannisters, meaning they were at each other’s throats every time I wasn’t looking, but they kept things civilized for my sake. Each of us had her own reason for being lonesome and together. We were all outcasts, but at least we had each other.
The minute my friends spotted me, they got up from the bench and threw their arms over my shoulders. Daisy placed a cup of hot chocolate in my hand. I was always the only one not to drink coffee.
Lucy tucked the donut box under her arm and brushed a few strands of red hair off of my forehead, inspecting my face. “Are you okay?”
My cheeks heated, and I hid the lower part of my face behind the foam cup. I’d taken off my engagement ring and wedding band minutes before I got out of Connor’s car, but somehow still felt them on my finger. Guilt gnawed at my gut, but I tried not to squirm.
When I didn’t answer, Lucy and Daisy exchanged meaningful looks and frowned in unison.
“Where do you live nowadays?” Lucy shoved the donut box into my chest, daring me to lie.
Well, that was fast. Not even a Hello, how have you been?
“Home,” I said, trying to muster some conviction. “At Pops’s.”
I had no idea where I was going with this. There was no plan, other than vehement denial or breaking down in tears and admitting to everything, or maybe stalling by hyperventilating.
“You never seem to be there.” Daisy narrowed her eyes, her glossy lips pouting in disapproval.
I started walking deeper among the tourists and locals, passing stands and people. I wasn’t planning on buying anything but time that day. Time was all I needed to figure out how to break the news to my girlfriends.
“Gee, thanks for the vote of trust.” My mouth twisted. “You think I’m hiding something?”
“I know you’re hiding something.” Lucy cocked her head to one side before pointing her thumb in the other direction. “And I was hoping you could start by shedding some light on why that six foot giant is following you. And don’t tell me that you haven’t noticed him, because you kept glancing his way before you saw us sitting on the bench.”
I silently cursed Connor. He was following me 24/7 and being about as discreet about it as Paul Revere announcing the British are coming. But I couldn’t explain Connor, because I couldn’t explain my marriage to Troy, because I didn’t understand it myself. My friends knew my dad was not exactly Father-of-the-Year material, but even I found it difficult to tell them I suspected he’d sold me to the son of a dead mobster.
“I don’t wanna talk about it,” I said.
“No shit.” Daisy threw her hands in the air.
A bunch of kids in matching shirts on a fieldtrip ran between our feet, and I used my friends’ distraction to look behind me. Connor was there, still following me like I was a moving target.
Lucy, the voice of reason among the three of us, spun on her heel and sent him a threatening glare. “Take another step forward, buddy, and I’m calling the cops.”
But Connor continued flowing with the crowd, doggedly moving in the same direction as us, his eyes dead. With every step he took, my lies suffocated me a little more, the walls inching closer in on me. The box Troy put me in was becoming ridiculously small, even for a petite girl like me.
“Is he a bodyguard? Are you in trouble?” Daisy panted as Lucy quickened her pace and we followed suit. “And more importantly…is he single?”
I shook my head, snorting a tired sigh. I wasn’t in the mood for jokes.
Lucy was power-walking away from Connor as fast as she could. “Please tell me your dad didn’t get you into trouble.”
I stopped walking and stared down at my Keds. There was no more point in hiding what they’d pretty much already figured out. I was stupid to try and hide it from them in the first place.
“Don’t freak out,” I warned.
“The bastard.” Lucy strangled the donut box she carried and swung toward my bodyguard. I hoped she wouldn’t do something stupid like try and hurl a chocolate glazed at him. She would, too. If I was fire, she was an active volcano.
“It’s not Pops’s fault.”
“Fine,” Lucy backtracked. “No judging. Just tell us already.”
“I married Troy Brennan last week. He...he asked my father for my hand and Pops agreed. Probably because he didn’t have much choice. You know they say Troy is some kind of a hitman. A wealthy one, at that. And Pops works for him, so…” I trailed off.
Lucy and Daisy stared at me, bugged-eyed. The three of us stood in the middle of the crowds, with people pushing and shoving us from all directions.
“Sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. It’s not really a piece of info you want to share with the world. And the last thing I wanted was to drag you into this mess.”
I thought Lucy was going to faint, but Daisy gathered her senses quickly. “But we grew up with Troy Brennan. He never looked at you that way. Never even tried to slip his tip in.”
I frowned, annoyed as usual at the way my childhood friend spoke about the opposite sex. Well, about sex in general. “You can like someone without sleeping with them, you know. It’s not like he screwed everyone in South Boston.”
Daisy fanned herself. “Bitch, please. With the amount of pussy your husband’s dick has trekked through, I’m surprised it doesn’t have its own National Geographic show. He is so...mature and old and stuff. Your husband, that is, not his dick.” She licked her lips, thinking. “Wait. Birdie, this makes you rich!”
Rubbing my face, I checked to make sure Connor wasn’t close enough to have heard her. Daisy was too much of a free spirit to offer comfort. She took everything in stride, even when the circumstances demanded some serious running. I turned from her to my best friend. “Lucy, please say something.”
Lucy looked away from me, gripping the edge of a stand and nearly toppling a display of sand art. Her eyes glinted with sadness, the tightly bunched muscles in her neck telling me the lump in her throat was as big as mine.
I threw my hot chocolate in the trash and grabbed her hand, desperate for her touch. It was silly, but I was feeling all sorts of guilty for not inviting them to my fake wedding, now that I had told them about it.
“Birdie, honey, he is...you know that people say he killed a man?” she mumbled.
I nodded. “Yeah, I know, but rumors run marathons in small neighborhoods.”
“It may not be what you want to hear, but you should be scared,” Lucy said. “Terrified, to be exact.”
“You would think so.” I managed to muster a faint smile. “But he won’t hurt me. I’ve gotten to know him a little. He’s not like that.”
“Okay, so he’s not going to hurt you,” Daisy said, “but the rest doesn’t make any sense. How does he go from unattainable lady killer to someone who forces a girl he doesn’t even know to marry him?”
I had the same nagging question in my mind.
“No offence, Birdie,” Daisy continued, “but Troy Brennan has one of the hottest asses in Boston. They say he’s a beast in bed, and he’s done well for himself financially. Why would he pick you? He could have anyone he wants.”
“Thanks.” Leave it to a friend to tell you the truth.
“I still say you should be scared,” Lucy argued.
My head felt like it was ten times heavier than it was when I first arrived. It was bad enough to deal with what Troy stirred in my head, what he kindled in my body. And now the Paddy stuff was out in the open. I had so many fires to put out, it felt like my whole life had burst into disastrous flames.
“Look, he is not that bad.” I exhaled, walking again to put some distance between us and Connor. I didn’t want him to listen to this conversation. “And he’s the owner of Rouge Bis. I’m going to start working there next Monday. I’m sure it will all be okay.”
It was anything but.
“Does he not trust you? Is that why you have a bodyguard?” Lucy squinted over her shoulder at Connor.