Page 32 of Secret Triplets for Christmas

“Not to me.”

Mother fucker. “What about rumors?”

He shrugged and drank another gulp of his beer.

"Help me, Johnny. Liam was my brother. He was all I had."

Johnny winced and blew out a breath. “Liam made some enemies with the crew.”

“How?”

He took another long swig of his drink. “Some thought Liam was snitching.”

“What? Like, to the cops?”

He nodded.

“About what?”

“That I don’t know.”

“Do you have a guess?”

He arched a brow. “No.”

The pool hall door swung open, letting bright light in that made me squint. Johnny's eyes darted toward the person walking in, his body tensing. I followed his gaze, spotting Darcy Patrick as she strolled in. At one time, she was the most beautiful woman Liam and I had ever seen. She had taken my virginity when I was sixteen. I remembered Liam gushing after she’d given him a blow job for his sixteenth birthday. Not long after, he lost his virginity to her as well. Jesus, twice, Liam and I had shared a woman. I pushed that disturbing thought away.

“You should ask her.” Johnny interrupted my thoughts.

“Darcy?”

“She and Liam were close.”

“When?” That was news to me.

“Always,” he said in a tone that suggested he was surprised I didn’t know. My brother had a lot of issues, but surely, he hadn’t been cheating on Lindsay.

“Thanks.” I rose and with my beer headed back to the bar. “Buy you a drink?” I took the barstool next to Darcy.

Frankie gave me a look that suggested he didn’t like me poking my nose in the wrong business with his patrons but didn’t say anything.

“Oh, my God, Oliver Quinlan.” She looked me up and down, and I swore I could see dollar signs spin in her eyes like a slot machine. Up close, I noted that despite her only being three or four years older than me, hard living had aged her. Not that she wasn’t good-looking, but there was a hard, tired edge to her.

“Absolutely, you can buy me a drink. Vodka tonic, Frankie.” Her long red nail ran down the front of my T-shirt. “Me and Ollie want to catch up.” There was no missing the hint of inuendo that catching up could get me a fast fuck in the bathroom. At sixteen, having never had an orgasm given to me by a woman, that prospect had been exciting. Today, it made me pity her.

Frankie set the drink in front of her “No doubt, Oliver has important things to do that don’t involve us.”

“What can be more important than home?” She sipped her drink and sighed as if savoring it. “You know what I miss most in jail?”

“What?”

“Booze and dicks.” She winked.

“You just got out of jail?” I asked.

“Yep.” She sipped her drink.

I waited for her to say more, but when she didn’t, I asked, “I got a text from a friend of Liam’s.”

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