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She scoffs, her eyes wide. “I am no one’s fucking prey!”
“Not even mafia god’s back there?” I ask, grinning. “If you ask me, you’re definitely easy prey. He only had to send you a text, and you went running.”
“Well, maybe he has something worth running for.”
“Yeah, a flashy car and a big bank balance. And if he’s all that, why are you out here right now looking ready to cry while he’s back inside with the woman he’s gonna marry?”
Raven pauses, gathering herself. She looks upset. “He has to marry her. It’s not his choice,” she mutters.
I roll my eyes, breezing past her. “Everyone has a choice, Raven, and he’s chosen her. Save yourself the drama and forget about him.”
“What, so I can move on to men like you?”
I laugh, glancing back. “Don’t flatter yourself, darling. I’m not after anything from you. I like my women . . .” I pause, then shake my head. “Forget it.”
She rushes after me. “No, tell me.”
“Just, yah know, like ol’ lady material.”
“Right,” she mutters, keeping in step with me. I have the feeling it isn’t the first time she’s heard that line.
“No offence,” I add because she does look offended.
We walk in silence for another five minutes before she stops outside a small bar. There’s low lighting and a mellow tune drifting from the open doors. “One for the road?” she asks. I find myself nodding, even though I’ve managed to convince her I’m not interested in her. This will only make things worse for me, but damn, I can’t stop the pull.
* * *
We sit by the window, and a waitress comes to the table to take our drinks order. This isn’t my kind of bar, but Raven seems relaxed. “What is ol’ lady material?” she almost whispers while avoiding eye contact and picking at the tablecloth edge.
“I guess it’s different for everyone. We all look for different qualities in a partner.”
“Well, tell me what you’re looking for. I know it’s not me.” She blushes. “I’m not trying to hit on you or anything.”
“Why do you want to know?”
She shrugs, looking embarrassed before sighing. “I’m never the one they choose. I’m the good time girl or the part-time girl but never the one they take home to meet their mum or the one they cuddle up to at night, and I don’t know what’s wrong with me.”
In that moment, under the flicker of the orange low light, she looks so beautiful, it almost takes my damn breath away. So vulnerable and broken, I have to stop the alpha in me demanding I pull her into my arms and take care of her. “There’s nothing wrong with you, Raven,” I say. “You just haven’t met the one.”
She rolls her eyes again—it’s becoming my favourite thing to see. “What if I never do? Am I supposed to settle for second place all the time?”
“What’s the hurry? What are you, like twenty-something?”
“Thirty this year,” she mumbles, and my eyes widen. Not because it’s old, but because she’s closer to my age of thirty-five than I thought. “Most of the women I know have kids already and they’re younger than me.”
“I don’t think anyone knows you feel like this, Raven. The guys seem to think you’re happy just doing you. The impression I get is that you’re too busy for dating because you’re always at work. Chains told me you’re not the settling down type, that you’re having fun and working hard.”
She lowers her eyes as the waitress places our drinks on the table. Once she’s gone, Raven takes a large gulp of her wine. My mobile rings and I glance at Ruby’s name on the screen, then I cancel the call. “Wife?” asks Raven.
“I don’t have a wife or an ol’ lady.”
Ruby immediately calls back. “Seems pretty desperate to get hold of you.”
“Are you and Vinn done?”
“Are you and Ruby?”
I smirk. “He’ll never treat you how you deserve,” I point out, but I know she already knows that.
