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I leaned back onto the couch, my head spinning. The thought of being forced into an arranged marriage was ludicrous to me. I had always been independent, making my own decisions and living life on my own terms. Yes, I was part of the family business, but that was because I wanted to be.
“Or it could just make everything worse,” I argued, my mind already conjuring up a thousand different scenarios where this plan could go horribly wrong. “I don’t trust the Callahans any more than they trust us. And to marry one of them? It’s insane.”
“Believe me, I understand your reservations,” Carmen looked into my eyes when she spoke. “But sometimes we have to make sacrifices for the greater good. Dad believes this is what’s best for our family, and so does Mal Callahan.”
“Cool. And Callahan is known for his wisdom.”
Carmen chuckled, a small smile forming on her lips. “I’m not saying it’s foolproof, but it’s worth considering,” she tucked a strand of red hair behind her ear. “We could end this feud once and for all, and who knows? Maybe you’ll even like the guy.”
“Highly doubtful,” I shook my head as I tried to remember the last time I had seen one of the Callahans. “Every Callahan I’ve ever met is an asshole.”
Carmen finished her drink and stood up from the couch. “I won’t argue with that. Just think about it, okay?” she placed a hand on my shoulder. “And be careful. I have a feeling things are about to get even crazier around here. Obviously when they tell you, pretend to be shocked. Also, count your blessings. Malachy could be the one asking.”
“Oh fuck, I didn’t even think about that. And yeah, I got you,” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Thank you for warning me. Really.”
“What are big sisters for?”
She gave me a hug before she left my apartment, leaving me alone to contemplate the insanity of what she had just told me. An arranged marriage to a member of our biggest rival family? It sounded like something out of a bad romantic comedy.
But as I thought more about it, I couldn’t help but wonder if maybe there was some truth to what Carmen had said. Maybe it was time to consider all options in order to bring peace to the two families. It didn’t sound too appealing, but peace would be much better than continuing the bloody war that both sides were currently engaged in.
I sat down in front of the computer again, but my focus was shot.
If I was going to marry this guy, I was, at the very least, going to look him up.
I jumped onto Facebook, searching for Callahans on it. Of course, there were a hell of a lot of them, so I narrowed my search. Boston. Tristan. Mid-20s. And yeah, there were still a lot of results…but I was good at what I did, and part of that was gathering information. We had mutual friends and it didn’t take long before I found his profile.
Tristan Callahan. Twenty-seven years old, with piercing blue eyes with a black ring around his irises that drew the attention of everyone around him. He looked like he towered above his friends so he had to be over six feet tall with a muscular body that any man would kill for. His face was made up of strong cheekbones and well-defined lips, and his nose was just a little crooked from having been broken in a fight once, from the look of it. I had known him when he was a kid; we ran in the same circles, had gone to the same school. But I hadn’t seen him in a while, and beyond a smirk or a nod in a hallway, I had never actually known him.
Time had been kind to him. Ink curled down his muscular arms, toward the back of his hands. He really was fun to look at.
Okay, so he was handsome. Handsome men could be horrible. They often were, in my experience.
But there was no ignoring the throbbing between my legs when I saw him. Jesus, I really just needed to get laid.
The Callahan brothers really were all attractive. And I knew exactly why Carmen had suggested that if I was forced into an arranged marriage, at least one of the Callahan brothers would be preferable to Malachy. At the very least they were better looking than their father...who had been widowed years before.
I sighed heavily, shutting the lid of my laptop and looking at the rain trickling down the window. Trouble was brewing, I could feel it, and I knew in my gut this ‘arranged marriage’ was just the beginning of it. Deep down a simmering fear began to grow, knowing that deal or no deal, the war with the Callahan’s felt like it was far from over.
My gaze subconsciously drifted back to the closed laptop, images of Tristan’s chiseled face swimming in my mind. This was ridiculous, but the knot in my stomach told me this was far from a joke. This was a game of high stakes where my life was now the bargaining chip and I could not predict the outcome.
My phone buzzed beside me, breaking the silence of the room and causing my heart to pound, as if anticipating the gravity of the incoming news. I quickly reached for it and as I glimpsed the caller ID, my heart stopped.
The screen displayed a name I wasn’t expecting, sending waves of dread coursing through me.
My stomach knotted as I picked my phone up.
Somehow, the rain outside had begun to sound a lot more like the raging storm that was about to consume my life. I looked away from my phone, as if looking away would make it stop ringing. When I looked back at it, I saw his name again.
Tristan Callahan.
He had never called me once before in his entire life.
And I had a feeling everything was about to change.
Chapter Two: Tristan
The inside of my mouth tasted like copper as I walked into the back of the pub, pocketing my phone when Adriana didn’t answer my call.
