Misguided Vows: Chapter 17

“You fucked that one up.” I’m clipped in the back of the head, and when I turn around, Anya is standing there with her arms crossed over her chest.

“What?” I say, shrugging my shoulders.

“You thought you could get her into bed with that stupid game?” Her gaze moves to River, who’s stepping out of the restaurant. “And you!” She points to him. “You shouldn’t have entertained this stupid game in the first place.” She shakes her head before she stomps off to the waiting car.

“Man, you made my wife mad,” River says, although I can tell he’s amused.

“To be fair, I didn’t think both of them would be this angry. It was just a little cheek.”

He shakes his head. “For someone so smart, you’re really dense when it comes to women. Maybe more so because you don’t know how to deal with them outside of fucking them.”

My phone buzzes, and I see it’s my sister. I ignore it. “That might be true, but I’m certain I can win the next bet.”

River looks at me in disbelief. “I don’t think you have a second plane to spare. And besides, I don’t think she’s going to play that game twice.”

I casually shrug. “So I let her choose the guy next time.”

River laughs. “You’re out of your mind if you think she’ll fall for that a second time. And it’s not as if you would let her take any other man’s number anyway.”

I’m quiet for a moment as his words sink in. Alina and I aren’t anything. But neither would I let her go home with another man. Would I? It shouldn’t affect me. So why does just the thought bother me so much?

River’s smiling now. “Grovel, my friend. It’s all you have time for. I’d watch that one, actually, she was pretty smooth. Good luck with her ever speaking to you again.”

“Fuck off.” I flip him off and he laughs.

“Anyway, now I gotta suck up to my wife because she’s mad,” he says as he waves and heads to his car.

I watch as he gets in, and they drive off just as my phone starts buzzing again.

Maria.

Fuck. I approach my car that’s waiting at the curb. I know she’ll continue calling until I answer. Persistence is the one thing we have equal footing on.

I sit in the back of the car but don’t offer my driver direction as I answer my phone.

“What do you want?” I huff into the phone.

“What do I want?” she asks, flabbergasted “What did you do?” she screams. “I warned you to not fuck up my relationships with my friends. Why are you even hanging around Alina? I thought you went to New York for work.”

“She’s a paid contractor working for my friend. We run into one another from time to time.”

“And she is my friend,” she warns. “I’ll tell Mom. Is that what you want? Me to go and tell her you’re trying to sleep with my friends?”

“I did that once.”

Shit, maybe more than once.

But who’s counting?

The juvenile threat of dobbing on me to my mother shouldn’t be as effective as it is. But the truth was we both adored our parents, and no one could be more relentless than my mother. It’d only cause more of a headache as she theatrically claimed she raised a brute of a son.

“And are they still my friends?” she asks pointedly.

“I don’t know, Maria.” I sigh. “But do not go to our mother.” The last thing I want is her badgering me as well. My mother looks at me differently these days. Like she pities me. I don’t need to add ammunition to cause her to worry about me more, or worse, to try to convince me to come back to London; she has tried that already.

“Well, stay away from Alina.”

I’m surprised when my phone beeps to indicate another call. I check the screen and see Alek’s name. It’s not too often he calls.

“I haven’t slept with her anyway. I have to go, work and all. Don’t worry, I’ll make it up to Alina.”

“No, you stay away from her, Will,” she demands.

“Love you too,” I say, hanging up and answering Alek’s call.

“Aren’t I Mr. Popular today? It’s not like you to call me. You must’ve really missed me,” I tease as I bring up the tracker I put on Alina’s phone. I’d be the furthest thing from a gentleman if I didn’t make sure she got back to the hotel safely.

“Do you answer your phone like that all the time?” Alek asks, irritated.

“You’re special to me,” I say, and I can just imagine his jaw ticking.

“I need you to find someone for me,” he states.

My eyebrows perk in surprise. It’s not often Alek calls upon my services. For the most part he’s efficient enough on his own.

“I’m kind of between jobs at the moment and staying in New York for a bit,” I tell him.

“Between jobs?” He sounds shocked. I suppose that makes two of us considering I’ve never taken a break. “I’ll pay you double. It’s local, but I need the person found within a day.”

A challenge. I do like challenges. And local… it’s tempting.

“Why can’t you find him yourself?” I ask, curious now.

Alek is silent for a moment. Without his body language to read, I simply wait until he’s a big boy and uses his words. “I haven’t found him yet. But it’s Lena’s birthday in two days and I want this guy dead.”

“Ah.” I click my tongue. “Can’t be late for wifey’s birthday.” I laugh, knowing how much it pisses him off. But the truth is, as I say it, it brings up something uncomfortable in my own chest.

It reminds me of my previous life, of things that were precious to me before they were taken away. Suddenly, nothing seems funny anymore.

And I’m left with the dire realization that I seriously fucked up with Alina.

“Send me the details. I’ll find him for you.”

I watch the pinpoint of Alina’s tracker. I can’t dispute her accusation that I’m an asshole. And perhaps I should give it a little bit of time before I grovel.

Grovel? Me?

I try not to laugh at myself.

How the fuck did I end up in this situation when I haven’t even fucked this woman yet?