“It’s not as great as it sounds,” I inform him, wanting him to know the reality and not the glamorized version they sell to young kids. “Asking permission to take a shit is next level.”
“Yeah, I’m good,” he replies, holding up his hands. “I couldn’t make it through boot camp anyway. I’m not in good enough shape.”
“What are we going to do if you’re not a match for Ian?” Quinn asks, switching topics as he rubs the back of his neck.
“Whatever happens, we’ll figure it out as a family,” Finn says, and he speaks those words looking right at me. “All seven of us.”
I let out a deep breath I’ve been holding. For the first time in years, my brothers are including me, and I have a brief glimmer of hope that things could work out…at least with my family.
19
ROSIE
I walk in and sit down next to my sister, joining my cousins at the bar to get out for a night. It was their idea, not mine. They wanted to get my mind off what happened with Dylan, and I came along, but not without dragging my feet.
“So, don’t get mad,” Gigi says, and I already know I’m not going to like it.
Nothing good starts with that statement. Nothing.
I let out a deep sigh before giving her my full attention. “What?”
She ticks her head toward the bar, and my eyes meet Dylan’s.
I slink down in my seat, feeling like a fool. “What’s he doing here?”
Luna shrugs. “He’s filling in for Ian, which is weird.”
I sit up again, fidgeting with the waiting beer bottle. “What happened to Ian?” I ask.
“He collapsed earlier today and is at County for the night,” Luna replies.
“And you know all this because…” I wait for her to answer me, tapping my foot feverishly under the table.
Luna rubs her forehead, avoiding my gaze. “Because I ordered the beer and made small talk with him.”
I groan. “Why would you make small talk with him?”
“He started it. He asked about you first.”
My back stiffens. “What did you say?”
Luna rolls her eyes before she answers. “I said you were great. Totally played it off like everything was fine and you weren’t the pitiful mess that you actually are.”
I lift my chin, hating to be a victim. “Good. I’m perfectly fine without him.”
“Whatever you need to tell yourself, babe,” Tamara adds after my grand statement. “I heard you were bitchy at work all day today, and you’re never bitchy. There’s only one person to blame for that, and he’s standing over there looking all tall and handsome.”
“Hey now,” Mammoth says to his wife, sliding his arm around the back of her chair and resting his hand on her shoulder. “You have someone tall, dark, and handsome right next to you.”
She smiles at him and gives him a kiss. “I only have eyes for you, baby.”
“Better only have eyes for me, princess, or I ain’t doing something right.”
“You do everything right.”
Luna pretends to gag. “You two seriously make us ill.”
“Speak for yourself,” Lily says with a goofy smile. “They’re adorable. You’re just jealous.”
“Oh yeah. I’m so jealous about sleeping with the same man for the rest of my life,” Luna tells Lily, rolling her eyes the entire time.
“That’s because you haven’t slept with the right one,” Gigi says, putting her in her place. “Once you do, you’ll stop looking for your next.”
“Never happening,” Luna mutters. “I’m too young to settle down. So much peen, so little time.”
An awkward silence falls over the table. The men are mortified, and the women are holding in their laughter at the ridiculousness of my sister.
“Someday, you’ll grow up,” Nick tells her, shaking his head, judging her.
Luna grabs her beer, raising it in the air. “Not anytime soon. I have too much life to live before I’m tied down.”
Mammoth grunts again, something he does well and sounds so sexy when he does it, too. “You really need to be tied down and taught some restraint,” he tells her.
I almost fall off my chair, but somehow, I stay seated because his statement is so damn on point. She’s not going to be an easy catch for any man. Wild doesn’t even begin to describe my sister, and that’s probably what I love about her most.
“Not funny,” Luna snaps as the table erupts in laughter at her expense.
“I have to go to the bathroom,” I announce, pushing my chair back.
“I’ll come,” Luna says, but I put my hand on her shoulder and push her back down.
“I need a minute alone.”
She puts her ass back in her chair, studying my face and seeing something that makes her say, “Okay.”
I don’t need to look Dylan’s way to know he’s watching me and every move I make. I can feel the heat from his gaze all the way across the room. Somehow, I keep my head high and eyes forward, concentrating on every step I take. I will not show any emotions. I won’t let him know that I felt any pain when I woke up without him or his palpable silence afterward.
Once inside the bathroom and behind the closed door, I lean over the countertop, trying to catch my breath. Seeing him hurts more than I expected since I’ve only known him for a few short days.
Anger, hurt, longing, and a dozen other emotions crash over me all at once. I’m being irrational about someone who’s almost a stranger, but the sting is there, lodged deep in my chest.
I lift my head, looking at myself in the mirror. I look cute tonight. My dirty-blond hair is pinned up in a bun that’s made up of twisted braid. It’s a crazy hairstyle I found on the internet, and somehow, I’m able to pull it off without looking like a complete weirdo. My makeup is flawless, and my eye shadow makes my blue eyes pop.
I am going to march out of here and make Dylan regret walking out and ghosting me the last few days without so much as an I’m sorry. Pulling my lip gloss from my purse, I give my lips a once-over to make them extra shiny and even more noticeable.
Eat your heart out, Dylan Walsh.
The shirt I have on shows a small amount of cleavage, but I give it a good yank, exposing more of my breasts before I walk out the door and into the long hallway. I’m halfway back to the bar when a hand grabs me around the waist, hauling me backward.
I yelp and somehow maintain my footing even though he’s more powerful than I am. “Dylan, this isn’t how you get me back.”
I glance down and realize my mistake immediately. It’s not Dylan’s ink and not his arm around me either. “Shut up, bitch,” he growls before clamping his hand over my mouth, making it impossible for anyone to hear me scream.
But I try anyway, clawing at his hand, hoping someone will hear me over the music and nonstop voices filling the bar. The few sips of beer I drank before I left the table climb up my throat, filling my mouth with nowhere to go. I swallow it down, my stomach instantly revolting, but I scream again, ignoring the pain.
The man’s arm tightens around my stomach underneath my ribs, winding me. “If you don’t stop, I’m going to knock your ass out. But that would be a pity because I wouldn’t be able to see the fear in your eyes at what I have planned for you.”