One King's Way (On Dublin Street #6.5)(13)

He mirrored my amused smile, and I wanted to punch the expression off his face. “I’m good. A little surprised you’re talking to me after the drama your sister caused.”

Fucking rat bastard dickhead traitorous villainous arsehole!

I waved his comment off and rolled my eyes. “Darcy being a drama queen. Again. You know she took off on me. We have a business to run,” I complained.

There was a hint of suspicion in his eyes but still he nodded sympathetically. “Left you in a lurch. What a surprise.”

Fucker f*cker f*cker f*cker f*cker FUCKER!!!

I sighed wearily. “It’s not the first time.”

“Still, she is your sister. And I never really got the impression you liked me.”

Hiding my tension I gave him a lazy smile. “You were my sister’s boyfriend. I wasn’t allowed to like you.”

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“I had to keep my distance with you because . . . well . . . let’s just say I’ve been accused of trying to steal Darcy’s boyfriends in the past.” My insides twisted so badly at my lies I froze inwardly, wondering if it was possible to keep this pretense up. It was much, much harder than I thought it would be.

But Angus wasn’t going to make it easy on me. He raised an eyebrow at my lie, looking intrigued by it. “Any truth to it?”

His friends snickered at the question and I gave him a mock look of admonishment, wishing I could just turn my back on this whole damn thing. Somehow I gathered the strength to flirt back. “I don’t need to steal men from my sister, Angus.”

But my words escalated the flirtation as Angus raked his heated gaze over my body in a way that left no room for me to be wrong about what he was thinking. “I bet you don’t.” When he brought his gaze back to mine, I’m not sure I succeeded in keeping the revulsion out of my eyes, and that’s when I realized I wasn’t ready to do this yet.

“Well, I suppose I’d better catch up to my friends.” I took a tentative step away from him.

“Stay.” He grabbed my wrist to stop me and brushed his thumb across my skin. Try not to be sick, Rain. “Let me buy you a drink.”

If ever there was a man more arrogant than this one I was yet to find him. I’d hoped he’d buy my lines about Darcy, but at the same time I couldn’t believe any man could think so much of himself as to be blind to the truth standing right in front of him. He saw what he wanted to see because he couldn’t imagine a woman wouldn’t be attracted to him. This was my opportunity to take him down and I couldn’t believe I was wimping out.

“Come on.”

I smiled, hoping there wasn’t a tremor in the gesture. “Okay. You’ve twisted my arm.” Almost literally, you bastard.

“Red wine, right?”

He’d been paying attention to me. That should have made me happy since it meant his crush on me would make my revenge easier. But it didn’t. It made me uneasy because my plan had never been to seduce the bastard for my revenge. And yet that’s where this hellish endeavor was quickly taking me. Fuck. “Yes.”

He turned toward the bar and my eyes automatically moved there too.

My gaze clashed with Craig’s as he stood mixing a drink.

He looked angry.

I looked away quickly, finding refuge in Angus’s friends. “I’m Rain.”

“I remember,” the tallest bloke said, grinning at me. “I’m Jack. This is Mike and—”

“I’m Lola,” the pretty blonde sneered at me. “You’ve not got much in the way of sisterly loyalty, have you?”

I felt more than a flash of guilt for the lies I’d perpetrated tonight, but I smiled through her accusation. “Darcy’s never been that loyal to me. Plus . . . she did make the sex tape. It’s not like Angus filmed her behind her back. She’s a grown-up and she made a grown-up decision. Now she has to live with the consequences.” Please forgive me, Darcy, you beautiful girl you. Hopefully she’d never have to know the things I’d said and done tonight.

Lola narrowed her eyes on me. “How convenient for you that they broke up.”

“Lola, sheathe the f*cking claws already,” Mike moaned.

I shot him a grateful smile. “Some cats don’t know how to.”

The guys laughed and Lola’s expression darkened. “Very nice.” She gulped back her drink, slammed the empty down on the nearest table, and scowled at me. “I’m suddenly not feeling so great. I think I’m going to go home.” Thirty seconds later she was gone.

If only she knew what a favor I was doing her. “Something I said?”

Jack laughed. “Lola doesn’t like women who are hotter than she is.”

Dick. “I’ll take that as a compliment.”

“Oh, you should.”

An arm draped around my shoulder, a glass of red wine appearing before me. “Here you go,” Angus murmured in my ear.

That familiar queasiness roiled in my stomach and I stubbornly kept the feeling out of my expression. “Thanks.” I took the glass, and thankfully Angus removed his arm from around me.

“Where did Lola go?” he said.

“She was being a bitch to Rain. Turns out Rain can handle bitches.” Mike winked at me and I fought the urge to punch the licentious look off his face. It would seem that creeps hung out in packs.