by Mari Carr
“Don’t.”
Darcy was taken aback by the pure malice in his voice. He knew he was acting out of character, was showing his sister a side of him he didn’t typically reveal.
When she didn’t reply, he pushed the issue. “Promise me you won’t.”
“What’s going on with you and Layla?”
“Nothing.” Sadly, that wasn’t a lie. Layla had said her goodbyes to him and Miguel this morning, and neither of them harbored any illusions that she wouldn’t move on with her life.
He just hadn’t expected her to do it the same fucking night.
“I don’t believe you, but I’m late. So I’m letting you off the hook for now. You can track me all night if you want. But tomorrow, I’m going to want some answers, okay?”
He nodded. For all their arguing, he and his sisters were close—friends as well as siblings. Hell, maybe Darcy could help him figure out how to convince Layla to…
To what?
The image of Miguel’s face flashed through his mind.
Fuck.
“We’ll talk tomorrow.”
Darcy gave him a quick peck on the cheek. “Love you, big bro.”
He forced a smile and watched as she sashayed out of the bar in her too-short skirt and a shirt that revealed at least two inches of her stomach. God help him if Layla was dressed similarly.
He wasn’t sleeping tonight. No doubt, he’d have his phone in hand all night, constantly refreshing the app, following his little sister and Layla throughout the city.
Chapter Sixteen
It took a lot of effort for Layla to smile at the guy as she excused herself and walked off the dance floor. Kelli and Darcy were standing by the table they were sharing, scream-talking to each other. The music in the club was one decibel away from deafening.
Darcy handed her a full drink when she made her way back to them. “Your dance partner bought you another drink,” Darcy yelled.
Layla grimaced. This was the third drink the guy had sent to her. It was obvious he was expecting to get lucky, but there was no way in hell she was leaving this club with him. The guy—shit, she couldn’t even remember his name—was seriously starting to annoy her.
Not that it was really his fault. He was actually a pretty nice guy. He just…wasn’t Finn or Miguel. Something that was driven home when he’d kissed her at the end of the last song. The kiss hadn’t lasted more than a few seconds, and it wasn’t particularly bad. It just hadn’t done a damn thing for her.
Worse than that, it had turned her off, left her cold inside.
There was no question the guy was more than willing to expand on the kiss later at her place. All she had to do was issue the invitation.
Which she was not going to do.
So much for expanding her sexual horizons and casual hookups. Just the thought of sleeping with a stranger made her stomach turn.
What the hell had she been thinking?
She wasn’t a one-night stand girl.
She was a one-man woman. Or, well, maybe a two-man woman.
“Hey.”
She looked up and inwardly groaned. No Name was back.
“I didn’t have a chance to eat dinner tonight. Thought I might head out for a burger. You wanna come?”
Layla glanced at Kelli and Darcy, who clearly hadn’t heard him issue the invitation over the music. Layla shook her head. “No thanks. I’m getting a headache from the noise in here. I think I might go home.”
Mr. What the Hell is His Name looked hopeful. “Want some company?”
Fuck. How had that sounded like an invitation? “I really don’t feel well,” she stressed.
“Can I call you sometime?”
She didn’t want to give this guy her number, didn’t want to lead him on. She shook her head. “I don’t think this is going to work out. I just got out of a relationship and…”
The guy nodded and gave her a friendly smile. “No problem. I understand. Maybe I’ll see you around.”
Now she felt even more terrible. He was a decent guy, but when he’d kissed her on the dance floor, it had driven home just how fucked up she was.
Her stomach hurt, her chest was tight, her heart ached.
Shit. She hadn’t been this devastated over Marco and they’d dated for five years.
“You guys want to get out of here?” Layla shouted over the music. Both Kelli and Darcy looked thrilled by the prospect of leaving.
“Hell yeah,” Kelli shouted back. “I can’t hear myself think in here.”
They settled up their tab then left the club, stopping on the sidewalk.
Layla tried to unplug her ears with her fingers. “I think I have permanent hearing damage.”
Darcy laughed and nodded. “That was insanely loud.”
Kelli looked at the time on her phone. “You know it’s still early.”
It was. Layla had really built the night up in her invitation, billed it as the ultimate GNO. They’d only been in the one club, but she couldn’t face the prospect of hitting another.
“At the risk of sounding old,” Kelli began. “How would you two feel about blowing off the club scene and grabbing a glass of wine at a very quiet restaurant somewhere on the waterfront?”
“Sounds perfect,” Darcy said.
“Oh thank God. I’m in.” Layla was grateful neither of the other women wanted to hit another club. She’d invited them out this afternoon after spending the entire morning crying over Miguel and Finn. Like a jackass, she’d thought the best cure for her woes was to immediately get back on the horse.
Now, she was starting to think she’d never ride again.
Kelli called for an Uber and they continued to chat about the meat market they’d just escaped. Once they were settled at a quiet table at a restaurant on the waterfront, wine in hand, Kelli asked, “So what’s the deal with you and Finn?”
Layla looked at Kelli, wondering what the other woman had heard. “What makes you think there’s something between us?”
“A little birdie tells me that Finn hasn’t been sleeping at home this week,” Kelli said.
Layla looked at Darcy. “I suppose you’re the little bird.”
“Tweet tweet,” Darcy said, grinning widely. “Let’s just say I put two and two together. Finn’s bed has been empty for a week, and given the grumpy ass I left in the pub earlier paired with your last-minute invitation to barhop, I figure something had to have happened.”
In all of Darcy’s deductions, there was one name left out. Miguel’s. Which meant Finn’s little sister didn’t know the whole story. And there was no way Layla was going to fill her in on that. That wasn’t her story to tell, and “coming out” for a guy to his family would be the ultimate dick move.
So she’d have to give these two women, whom she genuinely liked, half of the truth.
“We sort of detoured out of the friend zone,” she said.
Both Darcy and Kelli looked too pleased, and Layla realized this was going to be harder than she thought. She could practically see the matchmaker in each of them emerging. Which meant Layla was going to have to come up with a lie about why things between her and Finn wouldn’t work.
“And?” Kelli prompted.
“It was nice.” Mind-blowing. Amazing. The most incredible experience of her life.
Darcy turned up her nose. “Nice? Sounds boring.”
Layla needed to backtrack, lest she give Finn a bad reputation. “It was great, but…” She recalled her original reason for not entering into a relationship with Finn, and decided that was probably her best way to go. “But I’ve just gotten out of a long-term relationship and I’m not looking to jump right back into another one. I want to play the field, not tie myself down. Embrace my slutty side,” she added, attempting humor.
“If that’s true, then why did you send that guy back at the club packing?” Kelli asked. “He was more than willing to play with you.”
“I wasn’t attracted to him.”
Darcy tilted her head. There wa
s no denying she wasn’t buying what Layla was shoveling. “I thought that guy was pretty cute and nice.”
He was. He just wasn’t Finn or Miguel.
“I’m playing the field,” she said. “But I plan to be choosy, not promiscuous.”
Kelli laughed. “Feels like someone needs the word slut defined for her.”
Layla was in over her head with these two, which told her with any luck, they were about to become her best girlfriends. They weren’t letting her get away with shit, and if she wasn’t so fucking depressed, she’d love the hell out of them for that. “I just…wasn’t interested in that guy,” she said weakly.
“Can I give you a little advice?” Kelli asked, not bothering to wait for permission to impart her words of wisdom. “When you find the guy who rocks your world in bed, hold on to him. Trust me when I say, there are way more duds than studs in the world. Take it from the eternal bachelorette, playing the field sucks.”
Darcy turned to look at Kelli in surprise. “I never knew you felt that way. Thought you enjoyed your single status.”
Kelli shrugged. “Lately, I’m thinking I’d like to settle down. Have kids.”
Darcy’s eyes widened. “You’ve sworn off kids your whole life.”
Kelli was a kindergarten teacher, so Layla was surprised to hear she wouldn’t want some of her own. She must clearly like kids to be in that profession.
“I swore them off because after you’ve taught a few years, you realize it’s going to be impossible to name a kid of your own because every name in the universe has been tarnished by some little shit in your classroom.”
Layla laughed. “Why do I get the feeling you’re a great teacher?”
Kelli took a sip of her wine. “I love my students. Love my job. And for a while, I loved my freedom. I don’t feel that way anymore. I’m allowed to change my mind.”
Darcy nodded. “You’re right. You are. If you want a relationship, I’m all in on helping you find a guy. Layla will help, won’t you?” she asked, turning back to her.
“Absolutely. I have four brothers I’ll give you for free. You don’t even have to pick one. You can just have all four.”
Kelli pretended to consider that. “An Italian stallion harem. I could go for that. Tell the Moretti boys to give me a call.”
Darcy laughed. “Or maybe you could coax Paddy back out into the world.” It was obvious Darcy was worried about her cousin.
Kelli shook her head, covering Darcy’s hand with hers and giving it a squeeze. “That’s not going to be me, Darc. Paddy is my best friend. Being with him would be like being with a brother. And besides, he’s not ready yet.”
Darcy didn’t look like she agreed.
“How about Colm, then?” Layla suggested.
Kelli scowled. “Jesus. I’d just as soon fuck Hans Gruber, Voldemort and Magneto.”
“Wow. I didn’t realize you and Colm got along so well,” Layla joked.
Darcy rolled her eyes. “Let’s just say Kelli and Colm don’t see eye to eye on things.”
“What sort of things?” Layla asked.
“Basically, everything. In the entire world.” Darcy giggled.
Kelli flipped a long blonde curl over her shoulder. “That’s putting it mildly. He’s a womanizer and a chauvinist and the eternal man-child.”
“I don’t think he’s a chauvinist,” Darcy interjected.
Kelli laughed. “But you have no problem with the other two descriptions.”
Darcy merely winked in reply. “What about Leo’s roommate, Ryder?”
Kelli made a buzzer sound. “Errrr. Nice try, but I wasn’t born yesterday and you’re not fooling anyone. You’ve had a crush on that guy for years.”
“No, I haven’t.”
Darcy’s denial came way too quickly, and while Layla had no idea who Ryder was, there was no doubt Kelli knew what she was talking about.
“Nice call, Kell,” Layla said. “I’d say you hit that nail on the head.”
“I’m kind of brilliant,” Kelli deadpanned.
“I have no feelings for Ryder,” Darcy persisted. “And even if I did, it would be pointless because he views me as too young. I’m the babysitter, for God’s sake.”
Kelli quickly filled Layla in on who Ryder was, explaining that, like Padraig, he’d lost his wife at a young age, the woman dying in a car accident. She’d left him alone to raise two sons—though one of the boys was a stepson. Apparently, Ryder and the other father, Leo, had decided to move in together to raise their sons so the brothers wouldn’t have to be separated.
“I think that’s the coolest story I’ve ever heard,” Layla said. “Leo is the guy Yvonne just moved in with, right?”
Kelli nodded. “They’re the freaking Brady Bunch. Yvonne and Leo, Ryder and the boys. And, of course, Darcy, the hot babysitter.”
“Remind me why I hang out with you again,” Darcy said.
“Because I’m fucking hilarious.”
Layla laughed. Kelli cussed like a sailor, drank like a fish, was irreverent, a straight shooter, and so far from how she’d imagined a kindergarten teacher would be, it was crazy.
She’d invited these women out because she’d thought they’d all hit the clubs, she’d find some guy to distract her from her broken heart and, in doing so, find a way to avoid crying and eating Ben and Jerry’s on her couch all night.
Instead, she’d gotten something much better. New friends who’d found a way to make her laugh.
“So, back to Layla,” Darcy said, clearly ready to get off the subject of Ryder. “What are you going to do about Finn?”
Layla shrugged. Because that was the twenty-thousand-dollar question. “Don’t worry about me. I’ll figure it out,” she lied, hoping it would appease the two women. It did.
They continued to talk for hours, as Darcy and Kelli told tale after tale about the Collins family, then listening as Layla shared about her papa and her crazy brothers.
She was actually smiling when she entered her apartment, well after midnight, but that faded fast when she recalled Darcy’s question.
What was she going to do about Finn?
And Miguel?
What could she do?
She sighed when no answer came.
The only thing she knew was what she couldn’t do.
One-night stands. Casual sex. No holds barred.
Because she’d done the one thing she swore she didn’t want to.
She’d fallen in love.
Chapter Seventeen
Miguel rubbed his eyes as he stared at his computer screen. He wasn’t seeing a damn thing on it, even though he was supposed to finish filling in his report. The masked robber—Darth Vader—had struck again. The guy was reusing the masks, not bothering to change characters anymore.
And because Miguel was avoiding real life, reluctant to return to his apartment—his bed—without Finn or Layla, he’d worked round the clock, determined to succeed at one fucking thing in his life. He wanted to catch the son of a bitch, so he’d been here twenty-four hours, first on the scene and, after that, glued to his office chair. He had the numb-as-fuck ass to prove it.
Finn had called a few minutes earlier to see if he wanted to meet for dinner tonight at the pub. Miguel had bailed, blaming work.
Finn told him that Layla had gone out with Darcy and Kelli last night. Miguel had tried to read Finn’s tone, tried to decide if it was jealousy he’d heard in his best friend’s voice or if he’d only imagined it because that was what he felt.
Then he wondered if Finn had dropped that little nugget as his way of letting Miguel know Layla had moved on, and they could concentrate on their own relationship.
Miguel rested his elbow on his desk, cupped his forehead to hold it up. He was wiped out.
For a moment, he considered calling Finn back and taking him up on his offer to meet for dinner, but thought better of it. If he was a smart man, he’d clock out, head home and sleep for the next twelve hours.
But he couldn’t do i
t. Couldn’t face that empty bed.
He’d spent the better part of the day reliving every second with Layla and Finn. A few times, he’d tried to imagine sex with just Finn, but somehow, Layla always managed to sneak into the fantasy.
He was frustrated as hell. And confused.
Dammit. This was the last time he was going to make any decision based on his dick. Because now, in addition to being head over heels in love with Finn, he’d fallen pretty hard for Layla, who had no intention of dating either him or Finn.
“Garcia, my office. Now.”
He looked up to see Aaron, Finn’s father, glowering at him from his office doorway. As Miguel rose, Aaron stormed back inside to wait for him.
Great. This couldn’t be good. Aaron was mild-mannered and easygoing, attributes he’d passed on to his son. His tone told Miguel this wasn’t going to be a fun conversation.
His partner, Landon, gave him a supportive, if confused, look. The two of them hadn’t worked together much the past few weeks, Miguel focusing on the rash of robberies as Landon did undercover work with the drug task force.
“Everything okay?” Landon murmured.
“Guess I’m about to find out.”
“Yell if you need backup. Figure between the two of us, we can take the guy down.”
Miguel laughed. Landon was probably the only guy on the force who wouldn’t get killed by Aaron for providing backup in this situation. Primarily because Landon was married to Aaron’s daughter, Sunnie. There were some perks to being the lieutenant’s son-in-law.
“I think I can handle it.” Miguel didn’t think that at all, but he wasn’t going to drag Landon into the mess he’d made. Mainly because Landon would be no help. The guy was still a newlywed, which meant he was well-laid and looking at the world through Sunnie-colored glasses.
Miguel walked into Aaron’s office. He’d only made it two steps inside when Aaron jerked his head toward the door.
“Shut that,” his boss demanded.
Miguel closed the door, then took the seat in front of Aaron’s desk. “What can I do for you, sir?”
“Do you think you’re going to pull your head out of your ass anytime soon or is it permanently stuck there?”