Page 29 of Peasants and Kings
“Excuse me?” I squawked.
Tiffany laughed when she saw my indignant face. She’d only had two shots of tequila, and then had switched to club soda.
“You know what I was doing while I was sitting with my boys talking about club business?” the blond asked.
“Can’t even imagine,” I said, brushing his arm off my shoulder.
“I was thinking about you.”
“Seriously, dude,” I said to him with a laugh. “You’re ballsy.”
He flashed a grin. “Have I got your attention?”
I gently pushed against his chest, noting the solid muscles beneath his white cotton T-shirt. “I’m flattered. Seriously. But I’m not interested. I’m just here to have a good time with my friend.”
He sighed but inclined his head. “Alright. But if you change your mind, my name is Boxer. I’m a Blue Angel, and me and my boys run Waco. If you need anything, you come to me.”
I raised my eyebrows but nodded. Boxer held my gaze and then reluctantly slid out of the booth and sauntered his cute butt up to the bar where he no doubt was attempting to coerce Mia into giving him another free drink.
“Nicely handled, doll,” Tiffany said, slinging back the rest of her club soda.
“The last thing I need is a complication right before I…”
“You’re also not allowed to get involved with anyone outside The Rex.”
I leaned back against the booth, my gaze flitting to the bar where Boxer stood. He caught me watching him and gave me a mocking bow.
“Would you have gone for it? If you weren’t in the situation you’re in?” Tiffany asked.
A vision of the hot Scot I’d met that afternoon flashed in my brain. If there had been anyone to make a mistake with, it would’ve been him.
“Sterling?” Tiffany prodded.
I shook my head and came back to the moment. “The biker is hot. Clearly. But no.”
“Because he’s not white picket fence material?”
“Pretty much, yeah.” I frowned. “Though I guess that dream is null now. I mean, what man wants to marry a…well, what we are.” I shrugged. I shot back the rest of the tequila, embracing the burn. “What do you plan to do, Tiff? I mean, when you run your own floor. Can you date then?”
“Yes. I could date then. But I don’t want to get married and have babies. I never have. I want what I’ve always wanted. Wealth, the ability to travel, nice things. I plan on choosing lovers who don’t care what I’ve done for a career. It’s different for me than it is for you.”
I wondered what I’d become in a few years. Would I still recognize myself? Would I resent the woman who’d been the catalyst for all of this?
No, it wasn’t fair to blame Mama for how I chose to disappear, how I chose to hide and find a way to live with the repercussions of her actions.
But I could blame her for leaving me this mess.
I knew she’d loved me. She’d said it in her letter which I’d read often enough. The lengths she’d gone to protect me from her family as well as the Foscari couldn’t be denied.
And yet, I condemned her. For leaving me alone. For not telling me the truth. For taking the coward’s way out. For ruining my only chance at having a normal life, when that’s all I’d ever wanted. For putting me in a position where I had to go on the run. For making me live this strange half-existence where I could never bemeever again.
“I need to get out of here,” I said, feeling the tequila infusing my blood with rage and destruction. “I need to get out of here before I do something catastrophically stupid with a really hot guy. Rex or no Rex.”
“Say no more. Let’s go.”
I slid out of the booth and looked around the room. Boxer was sitting at the bar, talking to another man in a leather vest. A big, brawny man who leaned over the plank of wood and kissed Mia on the lips.
My eyes slid to Boxer who was watching me with a glittering gaze.
