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Vince nodded, and suddenly, another young guy in a suit hurried forward, an envelope stretched out in front of him.
Bishop tightened his grip on me, and I grabbed his hand to let him know I was okay before reaching out and plucking the envelope from the guy’s grasp. He backed away, and Vince stood silently, watching me like a hawk as I tore it open and pulled out a small black card with gold foil writing.
“An invitation to Frank Martelli’s birthday celebrations,” I read aloud, skimming over the details to find Bishop’s and my name handwritten across the line in the middle. “This weekend.”
Bishop scoffed. “Not a fu—”
“You should hold that thought,” Vince interrupted, cutting off what I was sure was going to be a very colorful rejection on Bishop’s part. “My father has insisted that you and Shay attend. Not only to apologize for my actions but as a show of good faith between our families, to make sure there are no more misunderstandings.”
Vince knew.
He might be a complete psycho, but he wasn’t stupid.
He was well aware that the story of Bishop and me being together was a straight-out lie. But Bishop had said it for a reason. And I needed to trust that he knew what he was doing.
So I sucked in a deep breath and forced a smile on my face. “Wow, this very kind of your dad,” I said, holding up the invite. “We would be honored. Thank you.”
Vince’s smug grin only grew, and his eyes shifted from Bishop to me and then back to Bishop again, waiting excitedly for his response. “Fantastic,” he exclaimed, practically bouncing on his toes. “I’m so excited to see you there.”
“Great,” Bishop hissed, sweeping his hand around my waist and directing me to the back of the bar. “Now get out of my fucking bar.”
Vince and his buddies backed away, slipping out the front door just as silently as they’d come in, like snakes slithering back to their holes.
Bishop grabbed my hand, and I said nothing, following his lead as we headed toward his office. Kadey was sitting in the chair behind his desk when we stepped inside. “Hey, kid, you can head out now,” Bishop told her, his tone softening. It always did with Kadey. The girl had a way of making these rough-and-ready bikers turn into pussy cats real quick.
“Who was that guy?” she questioned, rounding the desk to stand beside me. “He was so weird. It was creepy.”
I forced a smile and brushed her hair back from her face, hoping neither she nor Bishop noticed my shaking hand. “Just some guy who thinks he’s hot shit,” I told her. “Can you get your mom to order me a burger?”
She nodded. “Okay, I’m pretty hungry too.”
“Sounds like a plan. I’ll come out and eat with you in a few minutes, okay?”
“Okay!” she sang, bouncing out of the room.
I released a heavy sigh, my shoulders slumping. “You want to tell me what just happened?”
Bishop scratched his hand over his beard. “Frank Martelli is head of the Martelli Family. They’ve been running Detroit City for longer than I’ve been alive. Vince out there is Frank’s kid, though I’m pretty sure not exactly a loved one. Frank knows he’s crazy.”
I pinched my eyes shut and shook my head, wondering if the lack of sleep was actually starting to make me imagine things. “And you told Frank we were dating?”
“No.” Yup, I was losing it. Hearing things. “I told Frank you were my Old Lady.”
My eyes shot open. I knew what that meant. Bishop had told him we were practically married.
“Why?”
“Because that was the only way to keep Vince from killing you.” Jesus fucking Christ. “You took something of his, and in his mind, someone had to pay for that. It was going to be you, so I did the only thing I knew I could do to protect you. Vince might be fucking unstable, but Frank won’t let him touch you if it means risking a war with me.”
“And what if they find out it’s not real?” I whispered, suddenly feeling very hot.
“They won’t.”
“But what if they do?” I repeated through clenched teeth.
He met my hard stare head-on. No backing down. No shying away.
“Then we go to war.”
