“That’s when we fly out,” she said, suddenly annoyed with me.
“Who else is going? Tiago?”
She shook her head. “No, I’d hardly want my overprotective cousin spying on me when I want to get naughty with my man.”
“You’re going on his private jet, alone, to another country with no one else with you after knowing him for a couple of days?”
“He’s just a guy with a private jet, I don’t know why you’re so fussy about it. I really didn’t think you’d be like this.”
“Frankie, Manny’s name is Mannix Charman. He’s the head of the Ironborne Crew in Sydney. I’d be a shit friend if I wasn’t worried how fast this was.”
Hilarious. I’d even questioned whether I should wait to marry Reaper earlier, but truthfully, even though I’d known him for years. I didn’t really know him all that well, just that we fit together perfectly. Now, I was questioning my best friend on her choices.
Yeah, way to go, Rowan.
I think a small part of me was hoping she would fix whatever had happened between her and Chaos. The guy was a lost cause. I truly believed he had fallen for her, and she had for him, but she knew what kind of guy he was.
A serial non-monogamist.
And after what happened with her mother and father, I doubted she wanted anything but one hundred percent loyalty.
“Maybe you’re just jealous because your man doesn’t want to take you out and show you off. He probably can’t even afford to fly to another country.”
I knew this Frankie. She was upset, and she lashed out, but I couldn’t let her think this was okay. What if he truly was using her against us?
She pushed off the stool, annoyed.
“Frankie, just take Tiago. He’d probably love it. At least you’d have someone with you.”
“Yeah, maybe. Look, I got to go. I just figured I’d tell you face to face. I’ll call you when I’m back.”
“Frankie…”
She was walking out of the clubhouse before I could stop her. Reaper was by my side, his hand on my hip, squeezing comfortingly.
“You okay?”
“Yeah…did you hear?”
“I did.”
“What do you think?”
“I think you did the right thing, but I also think she needs to figure it out on her own.”
“What if…”
“Look, I have friends in Europe. I can get them to keep an eye on her in Portugal, if you want, but if she were to find out, I doubt she’d forgive you.”
“So just let her go off with…the literal enemy in a foreign country?”
Reaper turned me to face him, wrapping his arms around my waist. “Look, Mannix isn’t his Dad. He’s got ideas to change the Ironborne into something different. We had a conversation and didn’t end up wanting to shoot each other. I don’t actually think he’s planning anything, if that makes you feel any better.”
“So I just pissed off my friend for no reason?”
“No, you did what any friend would do…but if he’s going to break her heart, he needs to be the one to do it, not you.”
I sighed, leaning into him. “I don’t want her to be mad with me.”
