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“No, I’m not.” I clucked my tongue at her. “This place doesn’t exactly have potential tenants lining up to take over the lease, and it’s only for a short time.”
She sniffed. “You said you’d never let any man stop you from doing what you want.”
“And Finn isn’t—”
“Bullshit, you’ve been dating him like four weeks and now you’re getting married? And he’s asking you not to get started on the bakery? What the fuck is that about, Aoife?”
I resented that she thought I was too much of a dumb bitch to see the bigger picture. Finn wasnotmanipulating me. I knew that like I knew Jenny was spitting fire at me now because she was jealous.
And it was for a stupid reason, too.
I knew Jenny thought Finn was hot, but more than that, it was to do with the fact that I’d be getting married first.
Being someone’s wife had never been on my to-do list. It really hadn’t been an issue for me if I were to never marry at all. Definitely an anti-Catholic sentiment, but I wasn’t exactly devout. Mom would have liked me to settle down, so I could have kids, but, shock, horror, I didn’t need kids to make me feel like I’d lived my life.
Not that I’d have told her that.
She’d probably have thought she’d raised me wrong. Either that or would have asked me if I was, gasp, a lesbian.
Jenny, though, was just jealous because she was the kind of girl who’d been dreaming of her wedding day since she was four and had learned that men and women got married.
It didn’t help that Finn was gorgeous, loaded, and seemingly head over heels for me when he’d seen Jenny at the same time.
It sounded so petty in my head, but that was the gist of it. Jenny wasn’t happy for me, and she was showing that now.
I was pissed at her stupidity, to be honest. Pissed that she was letting the fact I was going to be married first get between us. Who did that?
Christ, I’d only said yes to Finn because of who he was. Not just his status as a Five Points man, but because, internally, he was a possessive man. I knew he wouldn’t have stopped asking me until I said yes, and even if he thought he was mature enough to let me walk away—like he’d done three nights ago by letting me in on the fact there was a war brewing—he never would.
I was his.
Had been since he’d figured out I was a virgin.
Was I enamored with the fact he’d put his stamp on me because he’d taken my hymen? Nope. But Iwastouched by the respect he gave me because of it. That kind of chivalry didn’t exist that much anymore. Having a cherry to pop was more of a hindrance than anything else, but not to Finn. He’d put me up on a pedestal because of that, and I was charmed by it.
So, rather than be happy for me, Jenny was just being a Bridezilla. Without the fiancé.
“Finn isn’t going to put a halt to my dreams, Jenny. I will make this bakery, but there’s shit you don’t know.”
“Shit like what?” she sneered.
Jenny wasn’t a stupid woman, even if she was being really fucking stupid now. She knew what my next words signified, “Finn’s a Points’ man.”
Her mouth dropped open, and her arms, still raised to encompass the building, dropped to her side. “He’s one of them?”
I dipped my chin brusquely. Maybe this wasn’t wise to talk about, but I wasn’t about to have a fall out over this.
Jenny and I had been friends for too long to let a man get between us, and it wasn’t like she wouldn’t figure shit out quickly. If there were bodies suddenly piling up in morgues around here, the gossip mills would already be churning.
Because she’d lost her position with me, she’d picked up a waitressing job at a diner around the corner to tide her over—soon enough, news would pass around the tables there, and everyone would know a war had come to our streets.
“Fuck, Aoife,” she rasped, her eyes wide, pupils dilated. “Aren’t you scared?”
My lips curved. “No.” The question amused me because I knew she’d dated several Points men in the past.
“But he’s dangerous.”
I shrugged. “Not to me. And he isn’t a danger to my dreams, either. Something’s happening, Jenny,” I warned her, and she winced.
