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Meanwhile, I get up off Tomcat and walk to the front porch to wait for the party.
Seven fucking hours later, I’m still there. Chicks come and go. Songs change overhead, until I realize the playlist is on repeat and I’ve heard the one by Jane’s Addiction a dozen times.
“Don’t you want to come inside where it’s warmer?” Goose asks with our club brother Smokey at her back. “You’re starting to make people feel sad.”
Embracing the full power of my brooding, I mutter, “Leave me alone.”
“There are many brunettes inside,” Smokey says, leaning forward like a dad talking to his dumbass kid. “Have you considered fucking one of them instead?”
Sullen like I’d get as a kid, I refuse to answer them. My mom was the only one capable of luring me out of those funky moods. She’d sit next to me and stroke my head while speaking quietly. I’d be so mad at how I was stuck in the basement while the rest of the family had fun together. My sisters weren’t better than me. I didn’t ask to be born a bastard.
Slowly, I’d focus on my mom’s gentle touch and her soft voice. She’d just be talking about regular stuff. Not about how I was special, or she was sorry, but I felt how much she loved me. I’d eventually stop sulking and let her hug me.
“It’ll get better,” she’d promise as her arms wrapped around me like they did when we lived alone in the shack. “You’re unique, Rhett. There’s no one like you in the world. I know you’ll do things no one else in the family can even dream of.”
She was right, too. I have more money than all my sisters combined. I live a good life, unburdened by the shit dragging them down.
However, I can’t feel any of my good stuff when I’m this low. The party inside is a nuisance. My friends can’t understand me. I’m an outsider, wanting what I can’t have.
Then, just after eight, when I feel myself sinking deeper into a world where she doesn’t exist, Irina appears from the darkness. I can’t wait for her to get to the porch. I nearly fly off the steps to erase the space between us.
“You work for that evil son of a bitch,” I spit out before cupping her face and kissing away her ability to respond.
Irina wraps her arms around me and holds on tight like she’s drowning.
When I peel my lips free, Irina grips my shirt. “I missed you.”
“Give me your phone.”
Irina obeys, fumbling it out of her bag with one hand while holding me with her other. I text myself so she can’t disappear again without me being able to get hold of her.
“That evil son of a bitch knows I’m here,” she says breathlessly while staring hard at me. “I brought one of his cars. I need to be home by four.”
I want to tell her to quit her job and stay with me. I’ll pay her bills. She never needs to return to that fucker or his money.
Instead, I hurry her into the warm Pigsty once I notice her shivering in the cold night. The crowd inside feels too loud and wild. I don’t want to share Irina with these people, not after weeks without her. I grab a few drinks and rush her upstairs to my room. Once she’s locked inside, I lose some of my primal rage.
“You should have called,” I mutter, nursing weeks’ worth of resentment.
“I wasn’t sure you wanted me to.”
“Why the fuck wouldn’t I?”
Though Irina flinches at my tone, she doesn’t back down easily. I appreciate how she isn’t broken by whatever her past involves. I never want her to suffer. Of course, right now, I’m the threat.
“My name is Irina Vickers,” she says, and I frown at how she shakes my hand. “My salary is paid by Todd Rogers. He is not my friend or ally. I think he’s a horrible man while you’re the most intoxicating man I’ve ever met. I want to see if maybe we can start over.”
Realizing what she’s doing, I fight the urge to pout more. Except her soft, half-smile works the same magic as my mom’s affections did. I lower my guard and shake her hand.
“I’m Rhett Finch, but no one ever calls me that. I don’t like the name. I’m just Eagle,” I say and then let go of her hand. Hugging Irina to me, I trap her in my embrace. “I don’t want to start over. You already feel like mine.”
Irina’s smile makes my head swim. Over the last few weeks, I’d doubted what we shared. Mostly, I missed the shit out of a woman I barely knew.
“Why can you stay so long?” I ask, freeing her long enough to slide off her jacket and ditch mine on the nearby couch.
“I think it was a peace offering from Todd.”
“What’s that mean?”
