“I wasn’t obsessed,” she muttered, her chin trembling yet again.
“Whatever. Call it what you want, but he was constantly on your mind.” I released her and sat back, turning my gaze out the window. “Maybe I was a little jealous of him. I don’t know.” Looking at her again, I reached out and pushed her hair back from her face. “But that was only because you’re my other half. If he makes you happy, then I wouldn’t ever want you to stay away from him.”
A single tear fell down her face, and she closed her eyes. “He doesn’t want me.” Scrubbing her hands over her face, she made a pained sound in the back of her throat and lifted her lashes. “Please, can we not talk about this tonight? Let’s have some fun. Since we’re going to be with Maverick and the other boys, Daddy won’t freak out as much, so we can have a better time than with the spoiled little rich girl.”
“Ah, so you haven’t been completely out of it,” River said with a grin.
“Oh, please.” Monroe forced a smile. “A coma patient would have been able to see that she was a stuck-up bitch who was too used to getting her own way. She wouldn’t even eat. Who doesn’t like Taco Bell?”
It wasn’t long before the taxi pulled up in front of the club where my brother was hanging out with our cousins, Theo, and Theo’s own cousins. The oldest Donati brother, Zariah’s twin brother, Zane, met us outside. The bouncer didn’t say a single word to us as Zane stepped forward once we were out of the taxi and ushered us through a side entrance.
River took one of Monroe’s hands, and I took the other, the three of us linking fingers as we followed Zane through the club and back to the VIP where all the guys were having a considerably better time than we had been.
Theo turned from where he was talking to Jack and Kingston. His eyes narrowed as we approached. “So, you just left Tavia? Nice, ladies.”
I shrugged. “If we could have snuck her away with us, we would have. But we couldn’t. And trust me, it was a good thing we did. Because if I’d stayed, your sister would not have looked so pretty in all those wedding photos you’ll be taking tomorrow.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” he growled.
“Oh, please. She’s your sister. Don’t tell me you aren’t aware of what a spoiled little bitch she is.” Understanding filled his face, and he pressed his lips into a hard line. “Girl needs to take five minutes and realize she’s not the center of the universe.”
Sighing, he pulled his phone from his pocket. “I’ll take care of it.”
“How?” I asked, curious.
“There’s a reason why I have an entire army of men watching out for Tavia.” Lifting the phone to his ear, he spoke into it. “Ivan. Take Sofia home, and tell Yury to bring the others over here.” When he was done, he slid the phone back into his pocket. “The bar is open, girls. Order whatever you want. Do whatever makes you happy. Just don’t leave this area. My men can’t protect you if you’re running all over the club.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “I don’t need your men to protect me.”
“Be good, Mila,” Jack said, lifting his beer to his lips, looking so much like Uncle Hawk with that cocky as hell tilt to his chin.
He was only a few weeks older than me, but he acted like there were years between us. He, like Kingston, was an only child, but because we were all so close in age and our family was tight, that didn’t seem to matter.
I gave him a once-over. In tight jeans and a vintage rock T-shirt, he looked older than eighteen. His blond hair was always in need of a trim, it seemed, and his green eyes saw everything whether you wanted him to or not. Kingston looked a lot like Jack, so much so that they could have passed for brothers instead of first cousins.
Theo’s family must have owned the club because neither of them was even trying to hide the fact that they were underage and drinking. Theo said we could order whatever we wanted, so I was going to take full advantage of that generosity.
“Monroe, you thirsty?” I asked just as Maverick came up behind River.
His arms went around her tiny waist, and he kissed her neck. She sighed contentedly and leaned back against him, but not before Jack and Kingston narrowed their eyes on Mav. He gave them a smirk and kissed her again, his gray eyes daring them to say anything.
We were all “cousins,” but other than Lexa, we weren’t related to anyone by blood, so there wasn’t anything wrong with Maverick and River being together. Not that Jack or Kingston or anyone else cared about that. They were just overly protective of all us girls. Besides Lexa and Nova, River was the only other girl in the Hannigan family, so they tended to get just as overprotective as the dads did.
“I don’t want anything,” Monroe said, glancing around for somewhere to sit before walking over to an empty chair away from everyone else.
“What the hell’s up with her?” Maverick asked as he watched our sister curl up in the chair and rest her head on the back of it. She looked small, fragile, and so damn sad, it hurt just to look at her.
“She’s just PMSing,” I told him, effectively shutting him up. “I’m thirsty. See you losers later.”
“Be good, Mila,” Maverick called after me, echoing Jack’s earlier warning.
I flipped them all off as I walked away.
The music at this club was better, the lighting almost intimate and allowing for anonymity. As I glanced around on my way to the bar, I could only make out the shadows of people’s faces, and I wondered how many celebrities were partaking in the VIP treatment.
There was a line at the bar, even with five bartenders taking care of everyone. Groaning, I stood back, trying to see where the best place to squeeze through would be so I could order a drink.
“Fuck it,” I muttered to myself and just dived in.
I was tiny—maybe not as small as Mom, but enough that I could get into smaller places than Dad or Maverick ever could. I dipped under some guy’s arm and squeezed between two other men who were right at the bar. But as the one right beside me turned, his drink in hand, our gazes locked, and I suddenly found all the air pushing its way out of my lungs.
Holy hell, those eyes. This close, I could see the way they swirled, shifting from one shade of brown to another in the blink of any eye.
At first, I thought it was just the lighting. No way could a person’s eyes do that. Not without contacts or…something. But no. I saw no outline of contacts on the whites of his eyes.
I stood there, dumb struck and more than a little turned on—by just his fucking eyes—no doubt looking like a complete idiot. With eyes like that, he must have had girls throwing themselves at him all the time. They were…beautiful.
“What’s your name?” Beautiful Eyes demanded, his voice deep and full of all the hunger I was feeling low in my gut.
My mouth instantly snapped shut, and I shook my head, trying to clear it. I finally focused on the rest of him. And there was a lot of the rest of him. He had to be at least a foot taller than me, his hair dark and cut short. Something about his face struck a familiar chord in me, but I couldn’t immediately place him.
His shoulders were so wide, he took up the space of two people at the bar, making the black T-shirt he was wearing stretch tight over his massive muscles. His waist was lean and narrow, causing his jeans to hang low on his hips, and I felt a small shot of disappointment that they weren’t tighter across his crotch so I could see the outline of his cock. His boots were black and scuffed, as if they were his favorite pair and he couldn’t bear to part with them.