Page 26 of Tristian (The Doherty Mafia)
“Anyway, you’re not here so you can listen to me bitch and moan. Tell me what you’re here to say.”
“I need some advice,” I admitted.
I wasn’t sure Nolan would know what to say, but I was here now and he expected to hear it.
He dusted his hands together. “I’m all ears.”
“I fucked her,” I admitted.
“Her? Who? The Harlow chick? Elsie Harlow?” Nolan’s first reaction was complete shock, yet he grinned like he was about to burst into laughter. Then he caught the expression on my face and knew I was serious.
That was when he put the juice carton down and drew in a deep breath.
“Well, I can’t say I’m totally surprised. We all saw it, even though we didn’t gossip about it behind your back. You made the decision to trust her and believe her story from the moment you met her. You were protective of her. You wanted to keep her safe like she’s a little wounded bird. So I’m not surprised by the fact that you wanted to bang her too.”
Even though I didn’t want to admit it, Nolan was right about everything.
I’d decided on Elsie from the moment we met. There was something about her that drew me in immediately. And it was more than just her big brown eyes and olive skin. It was more than the fact I wanted to claim her.
“So what is the problem? You fucked her. It looked to me yesterday like she wanted to fuck you too.”
“I don’t know what she wants. I don’t know what she really wants.”
“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?”
I glared at Nolan who looked at me suspiciously. Then he understood what I was trying to get at.
“You think she’s hiding something?”
“I don’t know.”
“Has she done anything? Slipped up?”
“No.”
“Then why don’t you buy her story?”
“I don’t want to believe her because she seems to be just too good to be true.”
Nolan tried to work it out in his head.
“Is this about the Christie chick?” he finally asked.
“Maybe, yeah, I’ve been thinking about her lately. Ever since Elsie came into my life. I don’t want to fall for that kinda bullshit again.”
“Bullshit?”
“I don’t want to be an idiot.”
“You were a kid, and they manipulated you. You were too young to know what you were up against.”
“I don’t need a lecture on that. I know I was a kid, but the lesson I learned from that isn’t something to be taken lightly.”
“And what lesson is that?”
“No beautiful woman can be trusted.”
Nolan breathed in deeply. At first I thought he was just getting impatient with me, but then he came over and put his hands on my shoulders. He looked straight into my eyes and I had no idea what he’d say. There was a part of me that realized my brother had grown up and maybe I didn’t have him figured out at all.
“I’m going to tell you two things, and you can take it or leave it.”
I waited for him to continue.
“Firstly, not all beautiful women in this world are going to be bitches like the Christie chick who tricked you. They’re not all going to try and get you nabbed. Most importantly, you are now a man who knows how to protect yourself from shit like that. Nobody fucks with you.”
It wasn’t the best advice, but it was something. So I shrugged in response.
“Secondly, why don’t you go find this chick? Christie. I know you don’t want to ever see her again, but she can’t be difficult to find. You could track her down. Talk to her. Figure out what the story was with her. You could finally put an end to all of it. Get some closure or whatever the fuck they call it,” he continued.
Now, that was advice I wouldn’t have gotten anywhere else.
Fifteen
Elsie
Isabelle left soon after we finished our coffees. She said she needed to get her hair done and she’d check up on me soon. I told her she didn’t need to and I’d be fine, but I figured she’d check on me anyway. She was just that type of person.
I wondered if the Doherty brothers even knew how lucky they were to have a sister like her in their lives.
As much as I was grateful she'd stopped by, I was also happy to see her leave. I knew I had to make a quick decision on what I’d do. Isabelle would tell Tristian eventually that I had my doubts about staying, so if I was going to leave—it had to be now. Before anybody from the family stopped me.
I had nothing to pack and nothing to take with me. I didn’t even know where I’d go to get far away from Aldo. Was he even looking for me anymore?
It had been several days and there wasn’t any sign of him or his thugs anywhere. Maybe he had bigger fish to fry than me. Maybe they wouldn’t even notice if I slipped out of this apartment, and eventually slipped through the cracks.
