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I call my brother to have drinks and he mercifully agrees to meet me tonight. I can’t fathom another night alone in my apartment, wishing a certain redhead would call and agree to hear me out.
When I get to the bar down the street from my apartment, he’s there, along with Aiden. I like the guy fine now. Aiden started as just being Donovan’s security specialist, and one of my annoying babysitters, but then he fell in love Lindsey, and now it seems our lives are more intertwined than I ever thought possible when he was only working for my brother. There was definitely a rocky few years there in our relationship, but I think we’ve moved past it. It only took him punching me in the face and then getting almost blown up for him to relax a little with me. I suppose I can’t really blame him for the punch to the jaw. Honestly, if I were in his shoes with Abigail at the time, I probably would have done the same. I mean, not to him. I don’t have a death wish.
“Hey fellas,” I say in greeting as I sit down on the other side of my brother. “Aiden, I didn’t know you would be joining us tonight.” I wave to the bartender, and she gets to work on my drink. This place is down the street from me, so I may frequent it on occasion. Owning a club is great, but sometimes—okay, a lot of the time—I just want to have a peaceful drink by myself in a quiet bar.
Donovan nods at me. “We had a late meeting with some new security team members, so I invited Aiden to come along.”
“Hope you don’t mind, mate. Lindsey is having dinner with her mom, so I had a little time to kill,” Aiden explains.
“Not at all. It’s been a while since I’ve been in the presence of a superhero.” I’m referring to the nickname Captain America that Abigail and I gave Aiden months ago.
And now I’m thinking about Abigail again.
“I’m British, for Christ’s sake,” he mumbles into his beer.
I chuckle as I accept my drink from the bartender and take a sip of the deliciously aged scotch. I don’t mean any harm whatsoever, but there’s something fun about ruffling Aiden’s feathers every once in a while. Some things will never change.
“I heard you showed up at Abigail’s place yesterday. And it didn’t go so well,” Donovan says.
I let out a deep sigh. “Yeah. She doesn’t believe me. Not that I can really blame her. It’s not looking too good for me at the moment.”
Fuck, I wish I could think of a way to prove to her that I had no idea what was going on. My mind goes back to what Donovan suggested the other day. Maybe I had been drugged. But by who?
“Aiden, would you happen to know how long after you’ve been roofied it can still be detected with a drug test?”
He raises his eyebrows in my direction. “Rohypnol is in your system for about sixty hours, give or take. Where’s this idea coming from?”
Obviously, my brother hasn’t filled him in on my last night in Charleston.
I take another sip of my drink, prepping myself to rehash one of the worst nights of my life.
“At Abigail’s sister’s wedding, I think I was drugged. It’s the only explanation I can come up with. There’s no way I would have done what Abigail saw in any other state. And the fact that I don’t remember anything. It’s the only reasonable explanation.” Saying the words makes me feel a kind of vulnerability I’ve never felt before. It’s amazing how easy it is to do something like that to someone, and potentially get away with it.
“Brother, if you say you wouldn’t have done anything like that on your own accord, and from what you’ve told me, it sounds like it wasn’t, I believe you.”
My eyes go wide at Donovan voicing his faith in me. That hasn’t always been the case, at least not for many, many years.
Aiden looks over at Donovan, surprised by his declaration as well. “If Donovan trusts what you’re saying, I do as well, then. You may be a twat most of the time, but I believe you weren’t out to hurt Abigail.” He shoots me a wry grin and I roll my eyes.
“Wow, thanks for the vote of confidence there,” I deadpan.
He simply shrugs his shoulders and takes a sip of his beer, completely unaffected by my tone. “It’s not as though you would be brave enough to fuck her over. I’ve been trained how to kill a man silently twenty-three different ways, but I would still think long and hard about crossing that woman.” A slight shiver runs over him. “Also, I know a place you can get drug tested. They’ll keep it quiet.”
I quirk a brow at Aiden. “Do I even want to know why you would need those services?”
“In another life, I needed them for a client. Thankfully, I haven’t had to use them in several years, but I’ll make a call for you.”
I tip my drink to him. “Thanks, I would appreciate that.”
“What are you going to do if their drug test comes back negative?” Donovan asks.
Rubbing my hand over my face, I shake my head and look him in the eye. “Whatever I have to do to fix this. Is it weird to hope I was drugged, though?”
Both men look at me thoughtfully.
“No.” Aiden is the first to answer and my brother nods in agreement. “But you have to do more than just prove you were drugged. There’s a lot of baggage she carries between her ex and now you. This isn’t the first time she’s caught you in a compromising position. You have to figure out a way to prove to her you’re more than just a pretty face,” Aiden finishes.
“So… you think I’m pretty.” I bat my eyelashes and blow him a kiss. Aiden shakes his head and mumbles something about me being insufferable.
