Page 114 of Forever Fighting
The guys race to their feet, reaching for their credit cards. “Here.” One of them hands Eliza their card. “Put a fifty percent tip on for her. We’re sorry. No harm, no foul.”
“Yeah. Truly, we’re sorry.”
The guys continue to go one by one, apologizing up, down, and sideways for being twats and following Adam’s lead.
Meanwhile, Adam doesn’t move. He has a look on his face. A gleam in his eyes. I’ve seen the same thing on the faces of my opponents when they think they have something on me. An upper hand that will let them beat me.
I walk around the table until I’m standing above him. “Do you have a problem with that?”
“Whatever you say, Chef,” he replies evenly as he stands, but he’s not as tall as I am and not nearly as in shape. He’s sure as hell not a boxer, and he knows I could crush him with my pinky.
Everyone falls silent again, waiting to see what I’ll do. But I’m not a hothead. I never throw the first punch. I don’t lose my cool for anyone, not even this guy.
I put my hands on my hips, making sure my wedding bandis visible. His gaze drops to my hand, and he sees it. What he doesn’t see is the tattoo I have beneath it, but that’s not for him.
He smiles, complete with full teeth. “Still married, I see.”
I don’t reply. It was rhetorical anyway.
“She told me about the show. When I went to fire her, and she tried to blackmail me, she told me about the show.”
I have whiplash with him, but it takes me a second to realize he’s talking about his girlfriend and not Braelyn.
“It was never about me or even you,” he continues. “It was always about her. She would have done anything to hurt her, and I was the hero. Not only that, she ruined you, and I didn’t even have to lift a finger. You’re finished. You don’t even know it yet, but you are. Don’t be shocked when Braelyn comes crying and begging me to take her back. I’ll have the pleasure of saying I told you so first.”
Without explaining further, he shoves past me, jabbing his shoulder into mine like the tough guy he’s not, and he and his friends shuffle out. I hear them apologize to the waitress, who tells Adam to learn some manners and respect.
That’s how it ends, and I get myself back to work, finishing off the night since it’s already close to closing.
I check my phone, anxious to message Brae about this, but see a text as part of a group message with my other cousins and some of her closest friends informing us that Katy had her baby. What happened is terrifying, and I’m more than a little relieved to know that both she and Baby Callan are doing well now. My cousin Keegan posted a picture of the baby in the NICU with Bennett, who is giving a thumbs-up.
I reply back and after I text Braelyn, except she doesn’t reply.
Just as she has intuition, I do too.
And no matter what, I’m unsettled even as everything goes smoothly here. I can’t make heads or tails of what Adam said. It could have been drunk musing. Or not.
An hour later, everything is shut down and the cleaning staff is taking over. I head to my locker, change out of my white coat, into a clean shirt and my leather jacket, grab my bag, and head out the back door.
Only I’m greeted by the last person I ever expected to see. “What are you doing here?” I ask for the second time tonight.
36
ROMAN
Liam, Seamus O’Brien’s bodyguard, is standing in the dark, his eyes fixed on mine with an indecipherable expression.
“You need to come with me.”
Shit. That’s not good. Not good at all.
“What for?” I ask, leaning against the side of my building, trying for unaffected and feeling anything but. He’s armed. I know he’s armed because he’s always packing.
“Seamus needs a word.” His Irish brogue is as thick as his beard, and I glance to the side of him and see a black Mercedes sedan, nearly hidden in the shadows.
I shift back to him. “What about my bike?”
“You won’t need it tonight. We’ll drop you off back here later.”
