“It was the middle of the night, and I was a bit preoccupied with you. Getting her number wasn’t exactly my main focus. I made sure to thank her. Do you really want the club to know what happened?” The implication hung in the air.
If it became club business and the Brothers got involved, Dad would find out. She frowned in frustration before giving me an odd look. Tired and irritated, I ended the conversation, and we entered into a tenuous truce.
A week later, and I still couldn’t get Fiona off my mind. Flashes of her creamy skin and guileless eyes would hit me at odd moments. Her apartment had smelled like a mix of vanilla and honey, and I could have sworn I got wafts of it every now and then. Charlie had begged me to get her information all week, and it took everything in me to shut my sister down. I knew it was because I didn’t trust myself not to reach out, rather than any concern about what Charlie would do with the information.
Meanwhile, I was trying to track down the douchebag who left my sister blacked out in a bar. The weekend had finally arrived, and I was about ready to give in and have Keys run a full check on Fiona in exchange for the name and number of the guy Charlie went out with.
To my dismay, work seemed to be one clusterfuck after another. I ran a garage with some of the Brothers. We did a mix of standard repairs, with a special department for custom jobs.By the time I closed up for the day, it was almost 8 p.m., and I wasn’t sure where to find Charlie.
I tried giving her a call, but it went to voicemail. Hesitating for a moment, I cursed as I pulled up the tracking app Keys put on my phone so I didn’t have to bug him every time my sister went off the radar.
My stomach jumped in my throat as the dot loaded. She was at Fiona’s apartment.How did she find her? What are they doing? How does Fiona seem?That last thought had me shaking my head at my own idiocy. I went back to my house, waiting for Charlie to come home.
Typically, she spent the weekends there since we’d been making her stay close to the club grounds. The dot marking her location finally started moving around ten, and I was relieved to see her heading my way rather than our parents’ house.
My instinct was to snap at her, ask why she deliberately went against what I asked, but I knew how determined Charlie could be. I also understood why she would want to see Fiona again.
Lord knew I was dying to. And wasn’t that the biggest bitch of it all? There I was on a Friday night, home alone, trying to figure out if I was mad at or jealous of my sister, all because of a woman I had spoken with for less than an hour.
When Charlie finally got home, she looked happier than I had seen since we got the news about Dad’s condition. My sister seemed startled to see me. Then a look of determination came over her.
“I tracked Fiona down. I know you told me not to, but I had to talk to her, and I’m so glad I did. We’ve decided to be friends. I didn’t tell her anything about the club. You can tell me what I’m allowed and not allowed to say, but I really like her, and I think I need someone like her in my life.” It was the most enthusiastic I had seen my sister in a while, and I obviously wanted her to have friends.
There was no reason to say no or have an issue with it. Part of me felt guilty for keeping the information from her, seeing how much lighter she seemed after talking to Fiona. I realized I hadn’t spoken, so I forced myself to nod.
“That’s fine. Keep her on a need-to-know basis for now. Anything you’re unsure of, just run by me first. We’ll keep a prospect outside her building when you’re there.” She looked surprised, her posture visibly relaxing at my response.
“Fiona seems like good people. I’m happy you guys hit it off. I do have something I want to ask you, though.” Her brow creased as she frowned, suspicion radiating in her gaze.
“I need the name, number, and whatever other info you have on the guy who left you at the bar. And before you try to blow me off, consider the fact that he could do this to another girl who doesn’t have someone like Fiona around to save the day. He needs to be taught a lesson on how to treat a lady.” Charlie stared at me for a moment, trying to read something in my expression.
“You’re right. He was a mistake, and I have to learn from it. If I can stop other girls from having to endure the same experience, I should.” She grabbed a pen and paper and quickly jotted down some notes.
“This is the name and number he gave me, as well as where he said he worked. I don’t know how much is true, but it’s all I have. I’ll forward you a picture I took of him from earlier in the night.”
“Thank you,” I said as she passed me the paper. She stood up and gave me a side hug.
“Thank you, Bash. I’m going to bed now. Love you.”
“Love you too. Sleep tight, Little Bit.” She smiled at the old nickname before heading for the stairs. I forwarded all the information she gave me about that prick to Keys, then headed to my room.
Alone in my bed, I let myself think about Fiona, about the possibilities of seeing her again now that she was friends withCharlie. She had fully consumed my thoughts. Unknowingly, Fiona was pulling at a long-forgotten wish, a buried dream of an all-consuming love similar to what I had only seen between my parents.
Right on its heels was the growing feeling of hope; she was getting closer to my world, getting pulled into my orbit. I was desperate for another glimpse of her, for a chance to talk with her. To top it all off, I was finding it increasingly less difficult to feel bad about what that all meant.
All I cared about was when I’d get to see her next. By the sounds of things, it would be sooner than I had originally expected. With that final thought and the comfort of knowing I would get to see Fiona again, I fell asleep to visions of her.
Chapter 3
Fiona
The next few weeks felt like a crash course on what to do when Charlie Williams chooses you as her best friend. That first night, Charlie showed up at my apartment, she stayed over, and we chatted until almost ten. We swapped numbers and had been in contact every day.
She texted constantly, and I never knew what to expect. Most of her messages read like random streams of consciousness, interspersed with memes and trauma dumps. It was both heartwarming and hysterical.
Charlie had a wicked sense of humor and a wildly entertaining view of people. We met for lunch during the week, and I learned she was twenty-two and had recently graduated college, but was struggling to figure out what she wanted to do with her life.
“I wish I could be a nurse like my mom, but I’m far too squeamish, plus science wasn’t my strongest subject. I want to do something so I can help my family and the Brothers, but I don’t know what that looks like. That’s how I wound up working for Bash. I tried to explain to my dad how I felt, and he suggested it, but I don’t want to just help out as the club’s go-to secretary for the different businesses. I want something more.”
