Heir's Affair

by Scarlett Finn

  That Saturday, Tally got the oddest call from Max’s friend, Robbie, asking her to come to Fitzpatrick’s. Max hadn’t been in touch since the night of his dinner, so the call from his friend was perplexing. Robbie hadn’t said much other than it was urgent, which only made her worry about Max.

  So, after asking one of the other girls to cover for her, Tally went straight over there without taking the time to change out of her floor-length chiffon cocktail dress. The crystal detailing around her waist stopped glittering as soon as she stepped into the dark atmosphere of Fitzpatrick’s.

  It wasn’t busy, but all the patrons who were there had chosen to gather at the furthest, darkest end of the room. Trey was behind the bar, and she immediately saw what was making the other customers nervous.

  There at the bar were two plainclothes cops. It wasn’t only their stern expression that betrayed their profession, she knew these particular guys personally. She’d liaised with them after the car accident that killed Laura, Teddy’s wife, when it was discovered that jewelry and personal effects had been stolen from the scene.

  Detectives Sanford and Calder had been more than thorough in their investigation and had interviewed all the Stretton staff from the estate, which was how they’d become part of the employee poker games too.

  The last place she’d expected to see them was here at Fitzpatrick’s. Three people rushed from the back of the room, and she barely made them out as Robbie, Ryan, and Mark. But she didn’t wait for them to reach her, she headed straight for the bar.

  “Sanford?” she asked.

  The cop closest to her turned around. “Tallulah.”

  She accepted his kiss on her cheek, and Calder’s too. “Calder.”

  Ryan, Robbie, and Mark skidded to a halt. Trey was definitely examining her, but she was focused on the cops. “We pulled you away from something,” Sanford said, looking at her dress.

  “Yes, and I can’t thank you enough for it,” she said, smiling. “You saved me from the Yates engagement. Is something wrong? What’s going on?”

  He took a small plastic baggie from his pocket and put it on the bar; inside was her diamond earring.

  Oh no.

  “Got a report of this. Someone sighted it, said it might be stolen,” he said. “When we came to check it out, we recognized the stamp on the gold, it’s a Stretton.”

  “Yes,” she said.

  All valuable jewelry that was custom made for the Stretton family was etched with a specific identifying mark.

  “We called in and the guys checked out the insurance docket… this is one of a pair of earrings Laura gifted you three years ago.”

  “Yes,” she said again, looking at the stone on the bar.

  “We were going to arrest him, but these guys said it was legit,” Sanford said, nodding backwards at the trio. “Said they knew you… is that true?”

  Glancing at Trey, it was clear he didn’t expect her to vouch for him. Robbie, Ryan, and Mark looked similarly concerned. “Couldn’t anyone get in touch with Max?” she asked Robbie, who shook his head.

  Calder, the other cop spoke up, nodding at Trey. “All he told us was it belonged to Max’s girl.”

  Sanford looked at the trio on their side of the bar. “These stooges said they knew who Max’s girl was… Are you Max’s girl, Tally?”

  Well that was a complicated question for so many reasons. She didn’t want to answer because these cops might have contact with the Strettons. If Sanford and Calder had been at Fitzpatrick’s for a while, they might have learned just how intimate she’d been with Max on her first night here, when she’d dragged him from the bar and screwed him in the back alley.

  Calder’s hand began to move as though he was going for his cuffs. “Tally?”

  “Yes,” she said on a long blink. “Yes, I am… and Trey did nothing wrong, the earring was given to him as a gift. That’s all.”

  A gift or payment, she didn’t really want to commit. Sanford and Calder sneered at the environment. “You can do better than a scumbag from this joint.”

  These cops were her friends, but offense scalded her, and she had to remind herself that they didn’t really know what they were talking about because they’d never met Max.

  “Maybe,” she shrugged and smiled. “But he’s my scumbag.”

  “Ok,” Sanford said, and straightened up. “You call us if you think of anything else.” Or change your mind, that’s what he was saying. It seemed that he was leaving it open for her to change her story when there weren’t so many witnesses around. “Do you want us to take you home?”

  As cops, they were supposed to look out for citizens. Choosing not to look deeper than that, she accepted their question at face value and ignored its undertones.

  “No,” she said, holding her clutch in two hands in front of her. “I’m good here for a while.”

  The Yates’ engagement party was still going on, and she could go back, or go home. But she felt it was important to show a sense of solidarity by standing here. Tally wanted to prove, not only to the cops, but to the patrons, that she wasn’t afraid to be here, and that she didn’t share Sanford and Calder’s disdain.

  “You sure?” Calder asked, sneering at the guys around them and the customers who were beginning to spread out again. “It’s not safe around here… especially for a woman dressed like you are…”

  So he was going for direct? But that was ok, he could warn her as much as he liked, Tally wasn’t scared anymore. “I’m Max’s girl,” she said and as soon as she uttered the words, an odd, unexpected heat spread through her. “And now everyone here knows it.” Even if it hadn’t been her plan to out them. “That makes this room the safest place in the world for me.”

  They didn’t seem to understand. The cops exchanged a confused look, but Sanford tipped his invisible cap at her and glared at the trio behind them before heading for the door.

  When they were gone, the whole bar let out a collective breath that they’d been holding all this time.

  “Someone get this girl a drink!” Mark called out, but Trey was already pouring tequila.

  He held it up for her and she went over to retrieve it. But when she took the glass, he didn’t let go. “Your drinks are free in here, forever,” Trey said, and she was touched by how relieved he looked. “That would’ve been my third strike.”

  He took her hand and kissed the back of it. “Ok, ok,” Robbie said, coming over to pull her hand away from Trey. “Didn’t you hear her say she’s taken?”

  She sipped her tequila and Robbie turned to demand that the music be turned up. Now there was a real party spirit and it seemed like she was the guest of honor. Tally was standing next to the stool she’d been sitting on when Max taught her about fitting in around here. His lessons gave her an idea.

  “Do you have scissors?” she asked Trey, who frowned but ducked down to retrieve some from beneath the bar.

  After taking another drink, she put her glass on the bar and bent to cut into her dress. Max’s lessons got her approval because when others saw her hacking the length from her skirt, they cheered along, and she laughed as Ryan and Robbie bent to help her rip it free.

  Sliding the scissors across the bar to Trey, he caught them and the skirt that Ryan tossed at him next. Now she fitted in much better. Taking a deep breath, she relaxed. Despite the circumstance, Tally felt so much happier, and so much freer here. In fact, she was so glad that she wasn’t at the stuffy Yates engagement that all the tension slipped from her shoulders; she just couldn’t stop smiling.

  “Come and dance,” Robbie said and pulled her toward the jukebox at the back of the room. “There’s a card game going and pool, do you know how to play pool?”

  “Pool?” she asked, calling over the music. “No, but cards… what cards?”

  Robbie stopped to turn back to her. “Texas Hold’em,” he said, suspicious as he examined her innocent expression.

  “I… might give that a go.”

  His smile was slow to spread, b
ut when it did, she laughed. Yes, she knew how to play, but she wasn’t going to tell anyone that. Sean had taught her how to hustle, though she’d never believed she’d have the chance to use those skills.

  “You got it, MG.”

  That wasn’t a name she’d heard before. “MG?” she asked.

  “Max’s Girl.”

  “Ah.”

  It fitted, at least tonight it did, and it was sort of insurance that if the cops ever came around again, everyone would know who to call. But this wasn’t a night for worrying about tomorrow. Tally let Robbie pull her over to the jukebox and didn’t hesitate when he demanded that she choose the next song.

  She had never known Fitzpatrick’s existed before she heard the name on Max’s lips, now, the place was starting to feel sort of like home.

  Tally had been banned from the card table. In the nicest way possible, that was how Ryan had explained it to her when he drew her away from her seat. What he really meant was that no one wanted to play with her anymore because they’d figured out that she knew what she was doing.

  But she was alright with giving up poker; it gave her a chance to watch the pool game. Standing with her back to the card game she’d been banned from, Tally observed others playing pool and tried to work out if she wanted to give it a go.

  Something hit the back of her leg and she looked down to see there was a poker chip on the floor. Doing a good deed, she crouched to pick it up, but she wobbled when she surged back to her feet, probably as a result of the alcohol streaming through her system. Someone put their arm around her and she pushed back against the embrace until she looked up and met the eye of a surprised Max.

  Identifying that he was the one steadying her, Tally relaxed. “Hey, handsome,” she said, and smiled before turning out of his arms to face the table. “Who does this belong to?” Tally held up the chip, but the last two players, Doug and Andy, weren’t looking at her, they were growling at each other. Edging the chip toward her cleavage, she waited for one of them to claim it, and hoped she’d distract them before they could make something of their obvious tension. “Going, going, gone…”

  “Mine, MG,” Andy growled.

  She flicked it over to his stack. “Please, boys, play nice. Winner gets a dance,” she said and they both perked up. “As long as there’s no more fighting.”

  They had the decency to appear contrite. “Sorry, MG,” both men muttered.

  An arm came around her and this time she assumed it was Max’s, so she didn’t resist when it pulled her away from the table.

  “Hey,” she said again when she looked up and saw he was scowling.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Max asked her.

  “MG!” someone hollered, and she turned to see Ryan holding up a glass.

  “Oh,” Tally said, pushing away from Max. “Excuse me.”

  Hurrying to the other end of the pool table, she accepted the drink and was swallowed into the circle of men she’d been hanging with.

  “So, are you going to do it?” Bobby asked her.

  But Max loomed large behind them. “What the fuck is going on here?”

  “Where the fuck were you earlier?” Robbie asked, noticing his friend for the first time.

  “Cops were in here asking questions,” Ryan said, and a somber kind of mood spread through the group that made her smile.

  “Ms. Taylor saved the day,” Mark said, leaning over to kiss her cheek.

  All the men did the same, making her laugh. It had become a joke at the poker table. Whenever she’d won a hand, they’d all kissed her cheek in congratulations. They probably assumed she’d be lousy, except, she’d started to clean up, and the frequency of kisses became so ridiculous it was laughable.

  “Who?” Max asked.

  Her smile fell, and she rolled her eyes as she held up an open hand at shoulder level. “Me.”

  “Huh,” Max said, taking a second to look at her.

  “Trey kissed me too,” she said, touching her liquor and licking it from her finger. “Everyone around here is damn friendly.”

  The guys sniggered. All except Max. “Yeah, until you took them all for a bunch of losers at poker,” Robbie said. “She’s a hustler, Max, man.”

  “They banned her,” Ryan said. “After Dib was tossed out on his ass for squaring up to her.”

  Max’s brow rose and his shoulders went back. It was like he seemed to grow, and as he tensed up, she sensed danger, so quickly worked to calm him. “It’s ok, I was taken care of and Trey barred him…” Leaning to the side, she tried to seek out the bartender behind the bar. “I think he likes me.”

  “I think he loves you,” Mark said. “I think we all do. If Trey’s gone then this place shuts down and then where would we hang out?”

  He hugged her and then Robbie did, and she laughed as they each showed their appreciation.

  “You fuckers are all drunk,” Max snapped. “What did I tell you about three feet?”

  “Hey, you’re supervising, aren’t you?” Ryan said, sliding an arm around her waist.

  “Oh,” Tally said, tugging at her skirt. “Not too tight, honey. My skirt rides up over my ass if anyone holds me too tight.”

  The guys jeered and laughed. It hadn’t been deliberate, but her skirt had ended up shorter at the back than at the front when it was ripped off.

  “I need a fucking drink,” Max said and spun around to storm away.

  Oops, maybe it wasn’t fun to be the sober one around a bunch of drunkards. The others saw her wince, but she kept her eyes on Max as the guys called after him, mocking him for being grumpy.

  After gulping down her drink, Tally began to follow Max, but the guys kept shouting. Walking backward, she tried to tell them to cool it with a gesture, then she hurried over to the bar where Max was braced on two outstretched arms.

  In a brief crouching move, she ducked under his arm, putting her back to the bar. Linking her fingers at the back of his neck, she tried to get his attention. “I’m sorry, lover,” she said. “If I’d known you’d be pissed at me hanging out, I’d have left as soon as I got here. I didn’t like the way the cops were sneering at the place and trying to take me home like I was unsafe here.”

  He glanced down at her. Trey came up behind her and slid a drink onto the bar. Max tried to offer him a bill, but Trey refused it and ruffled her hair before going to another customer.

  “What the fuck happened in here?” Max asked, holding the bill in mid-air.

  “You can put it in my bra if you like,” she said, eyeing her chest, but he scowled at her joke. “My winnings are in there. You didn’t notice I’d gone up a cup size?”

  Maybe he was just resigned, but he folded it and tucked it into her cleavage. “That’s the rest of your dress up there, right?”

  She glanced back to see Trey had draped her ripped skirt behind the optics like a flag of victory.

  Scrunching her nose, she nodded. “It’s a long story.”

  “How you came to be here alone on a Saturday night to bail my buddies out of trouble with the cops? How you got to be best friends with the hardest guys around here? How you cleaned up at poker? Lost half your dress? And got us an open bar? Yeah, I guess it would have to be a long story.”

  That was a lot, but really, it was simple. “I was worried about you,” she said. “I only came because I thought something might have happened to you… I can leave if you’re angry with me.”

  He sealed his lips as his eyes met hers, subtle anger burning in them. “I wasn’t around when my friends needed me, then I find out some cunt thought about putting his hands on you? I’m angry, Boss, but not with you.”

  She grinned. “That’s why you’re angry? Because you weren’t here for us?” He nodded. “Oh, you’re so sweet… Do you want to tell me where you were?”

  “Tracking down my mom,” he said. “Figured I should tell her about this Stretton shit.”

  “Did you find her?”

  “Yeah, but I don’t know if you’ll like
what she said.”

  Too intrigued, Tally had to ask. “What did she say?”

  “That I should take him for every cent I could, that he owed me,” Max said, his conversation with his mother probably didn’t put him in the best of moods. “It’s weird, I never really see her, but when she was saying goodbye to me…”

  “What?”

  He shrugged. “I don’t know. It was like she thought it would be for the last time. And I guess she thinks if Stretton gets his hooks in…”

  That there wouldn’t be a chance for his mother to compete or that his mother wouldn’t be interested in having a relationship with her son? It saddened her that there might ever be a scenario when his mother wouldn’t be interested in him.

  Tally couldn’t even picture feeling that way herself. “I’m here if you need any help.”

  But he seemed to have forgotten about his mom already. “Baby,” he said, hooking her loose hair over his fingers to push it over her shoulders, letting it flow down behind her. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here.”

  She shook her head because no harm had been done. But this wasn’t the place for them to get heavy or mushy, so she decided to help him take his mind from his troubles.

  “It’s ok,” Tally said. “I’ll forgive you if you kiss me.”

  Stooping to merge their mouths, Max’s tongue glided between her lips making everything in both their worlds brighter. Their kiss didn’t get much further than that; it was interrupted by cheers and wolf whistles coming from the other end of the room. They were the focus of everyone in the place.

  Tally laughed and he swept an arm around her waist to boost her onto a stool so he could slide himself between her thighs.

  “Do you think they’re expecting a repeat of the first night we were in here?” he asked, kissing her cheekbone and her jaw.

  “If you keep doing that, they’ll get one,” she said, running her hands over his ass before sliding them up and inside his tee-shirt to feel the flesh of his back under her nails.

  He kissed her neck, and dipped her back against the bar to kiss her throat. With her head all the way back like this, he could kiss her upper chest, but he kept on going south until he was sucking the supple mound of her breast that was plumped over her neckline.