Behind the bar, a little pixie of a woman with her dark hair cropped to match her stature grinned. “Was starting to wonder if you’d chickened out, Master O.”
“Never. Tara, have you met Aria?”
“Nope.” Interest lit the bartender’s eyes as she raked her gaze up and down Aria. “Gotta be honest, I assumed those rumors about you and the boss’s daughter were, well, just rumors.”
“Luckily for me, they are not.”
“Killian?”
Turning at the familiar voice, he grinned at the sight of Jacob standing behind him, eyes wide and mouth open as he stared. “In the flesh.”
He was forced to release his hold on Aria when Jacob rushed him, wrapping his arms around him and squeezing. “Missed you.”
Closing his eyes, he let himself enjoy the moment, abbreviated as it was likely to be, and returned the embrace. “I’ve missed you, too.”
When Jacob finally let him go again, Killian reached for Aria, who was watching them with open curiosity. “Aria, you’ve met Jacob, I assume.”
“I have. Cordelia’s boy. I was under the impression they were avoiding the club until my father—” She cut herself off, her cheeks turning pink.
Killian had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep from laughing at her near confession. “Have you been eavesdropping, little girl?”
“Ah… I plead the fifth.”
“Unfortunately for you, princess, that amendment doesn’t hold up in the court of Daddy. We will be discussing this later.”
He wasn’t mad, not in the least, but it was just so damn fun to watch her blush and squirm. “Well, I guess since I already tattled on myself, I might as well ask. What are you doing here? Did Cordelia and my father make up?”
Jacob winced. “Not exactly. But Ivy really needs her people so Cordelia finally relented and let us come tonight. With the understanding that if we see Braden we’re both to walk away and find Daddy so she can deal with him.”
Grief and guilt tangled in his chest, a messy combination he was all too familiar with. “I’m sorry, Jacob. I never should have put you in the middle of this.”
An uncharacteristic fury lit Jacob’s pale eyes. “It’s not your fault. Braden is being completely fucking unreasonable about this whole thing.”
“Is that so, boy?”
All of the color drained from Jacob’s face before he whipped around to gape at the man himself, looking cold as stone and equally as unbendable. “I-I didn’t mean… I just meant…”
“Jacob.” Keeping his voice low, Killian put every ounce of authority he could manage into those two syllables. Jacob turned, his expression panicked, and the guilt in Killian’s chest threatened to smother him. “Go find your Daddy. Now.”
“But—”
“Now, Jacob.”
With a single sharp nod, Jacob hurried off, leaving Killian faced with his former best friend, and the cold anger burning in those too-familiar eyes.
“Hello, Braden.”
Chapter Thirty-Five
Aria
Oh, fuck.
It was one thing to feel brave walking into the club, with visions of a showdown with her father playing through her mind. But standing in front of him, that icy fury rolling off him in waves as he stared down a mob boss, was another thing altogether.
She wasn’t even sure who she was more afraid for at that particular moment.
Desperate to alleviate some of the tension, she stepped forward, drawing Braden’s attention to her. “Hi, Dad.”
