Chapter 1

Chapter One

Alice

S omeone pulled my hair back and whispered, “Looky looky, it’s Alice from Wonderland.”

Inwardly, I groaned. Only one person would call me that. I twisted my body in my chair and glared at the handsome face in my space. It was Declan West, the son of a family friend. He sat beside me and I glanced at my mom. She nodded like she planned this.

“I saw Declan the other day and invited him to dinner with us. He had mentioned he hadn’t seen you in years.”

I widened my eyes to prevent myself from rolling them. “Maybe that was on purpose, mother, ” I snapped. I closed my eyes as I realized that came out harsher than I meant and sucked in a quick breath. Declan spread his legs and my heart raced at the sudden touch. My eyes snapped open, and I glanced at him. “Sorry.”

My mother cleared her throat. “Like I was saying, I wanted to get everyone together. It is my birthday dinner.”

“Sorry, mama,” I mumbled as Declan chuckled under his breath. What my mother didn’t know was the reason I avoided Declan for the last few years. As an adult, you find out what people are truly like. I found out Declan’s family was involved with the mafia. That was enough for me to steer clear of him. I wasn’t sure if he was high up or anything. I tried to forget about Declan and my childhood crush on him, which was easy since he teased me mercilessly as a teen. “Declan’s and my life diverged in ways we’d never be around each other normally. It’s just how things are.”

“That’s so sad,” she said with a hand over her heart. I don’t think anyone in my family knew about his dealings. I didn’t want to tell them; it wasn’t my place. The server walked to our table and my mother started to ramble off her order. I turned towards Declan.

“Why’d you accept?” I hissed.

“I wanted to see you again, and I wanted a chance to ask the pretty Alice out.”

“The answer is no. Anyway, I have a date tomorrow,” I whispered.

“He’s the wrong fella for you,” he replied as he brushed a stray lock of his dark hair out of his eyes.

I rolled my eyes before turning towards the server. “What would you like, ma’am?” he said brightly.

I quickly rattled off my order before waiting to finish my conversation with Declan. Once the server left, my mother turned towards my brother and chided him over something he had done recently. Same shit different day. Declan grinned as I turned towards him. His hand darted to my thigh, and I shoved it off.

“You can’t say that. He seems pretty perfect from the app we clicked on,” I said.

“Oh, I know things like this.”

“You’re still a dick. Anyway, you should have refused my mom.”

Declan’s eyes locked onto mine, and my heart skipped a beat. “I wanted to see you.”

“But I didn’t want to see you,” I said.

“Alice, are you and Declan catching up?” my mother said and my head swiveled towards her again.

“Yes, I was just telling him about my plans tomorrow. I have a date with a lawyer I met recently,” I exclaimed.

My mother smiled. “That’s good to hear. Maybe you’ll settle down like your brother. How far is the wedding?” she asked.

My brother chuckled. “Dawna is busy planning the wedding. She can’t wait to be a spring bride,” he said. He turned towards Declan. “I’ll have to talk to Dawna about an invitation for you. How’s your business going?”

Declan leaned forward as he sipped his wine glass. “It’s been good.” His eyes drifted towards me before returning to my brother. “Been single for a while. Been focused at making a name for myself at work. Not all of us are as blessed as you to find the partner of our dreams. The person who completes us and makes us whole.”

I stared at him over my glass. Was he hinting at something? My brother nodded. “Yeah, I’m lucky. What do you do?”

“Family business. Got in with my uncle when he moved to town,” Declan replied. “Been moving up in the ranks. It’s been good.”

“Better than Alice. She’s working at a bookshop.”

He turned towards me. I waved my hand. “Not everyone aspires to be globetrotting girl bosses,” I replied.

“You left a decent job a few years ago.”

“Too much stress, mother . I’m not cut out for that sh—stuff,” I said.

Declan laughed as he placed his hand on my thigh again. I smiled again and pushed it off again. My father and mother started to argue back and forth about wedding plans with my brother. I turned to Declan. “Stop touching me,” I whispered.

“Fine. I thought you might still have that crush on me.”

I shook my head. “Nope. I don’t deal with criminals.”

Declan grinned. “Oh, so you are the only non-idiot here, aren’t you?”

“That’s my family you’re talking about.”

He leaned in closer and whispered, “I know. They like to see the nice things in life, don’t they? Everything is always so nice and cheery for them. But there’s a darkness in you. Or you’ve seen the dark.”

I pursed my lips, but before I could argue with him again, our food came to the table. We muttered our thank you’s. I pulled my phone out and checked for any messages. I had a message from my date tomorrow and I tried to respond when Declan grabbed my hand. He pulled my phone from my hand and opened my phone book app.

“I want you to remember if you need anything— and I mean anything—you need to call me.”

“Oh, whoop de doo. I don’t think there is anything that could ever happen that would make me do that,” I snapped.

“Just wait. The dark will come to get you again,” he said with confidence.

“Are you threatening me?”

“Absolutely not. Now enjoy your meal,” he said. “Let’s stop these petty quibbles.”

“Petty for you. Your trouble. Always have been,” I replied as I shoved a bite of pasta in my mouth.

“Didn’t you date that Dillion at one point? He sold drugs. Bad boy type.”

“I didn’t know at the time.”

“But he was a ‘bad boy’, as you girls like to say,” Declan argued. “I’m just your type.”

“Stop it,” I hissed. “Be pleasant.”

Declan chuckled. “I can be very pleasant. You just have to spread your legs for it,” he whispered. The fiery touch of his breath traced down my neck and straight to my pussy.

I shook my head and grabbed my cup again to distract myself from my feelings. This night was going awful and my family kept getting wrapped up with my brother’s wedding plans instead of talking to me, which meant Declan could flirt with me all he wanted. “I would never.”

“Never say never. Life has a way of finding a way.”

“Oh, are you quoting Jurassic Park?” I snapped.

“It’s a good movie. Better than their wedding planning. What do you want yours to look like?”

“Not like Dawna’s, that’s for sure.”

“Well?”

“She wants a princess style fairytale wedding. I don’t, but it doesn’t matter. I’m not getting married anytime soon.”

“What if…” He glanced at my phone sitting between us as the notifications lit up once more. He tapped the screen and grinned. “Harry here is the one?”

“He’s not the one. But he’ll be fun to be with for a while. Plus, it’s only the first date. Can’t be all weird and plan a wedding after a first date.”

“Alice, why are you monopolizing Declan’s conversation?” my father said.

I turned away with my cup covering my face to hide the sneer I made. “Sorry. I don’t think he wants to talk about weddings and gowns,” I replied. “I was giving him better conversation.”

Declan winked. “Yes. Absolutely. I was telling her how much I missed her over the last few years and I was curious about how we all grew apart.”

“That’s the sad thing about growing up. We all grow apart.”

“Our lives diverted. It’s what always happens,” I mumbled.

His hand lifted and ghosted my hair like he was touching me. I waited for his touch, but he never touched me. “How poetic.”

The server walked back to our table and asked about the checks. Declan cleared his throat and offered to pay for everyone’s meals. As soon as he passed the card to the server, I said bye to my family and stood up. Storming to my car, I enjoyed the chilly breeze hit my face, a hand gripped my shoulder, and I turned around. Of course, it was Declan.

“What are you doing?”

He glared. “You didn’t say bye to me.”

“Of course not.”

Declan frowned. “Remember what I said,” he said as he stepped back.

“More like a threat,” I hissed. “I know what you do. And I want nothing to do with it.”

He shrugged. “Well, I want you to remember that you always have a friend in me.”

“You’ve said it. It’s kinda creepy now.”

He smirked, his eyes glittering with mirth. “Good luck on your date tomorrow. I feel like with some jerks around here, you’ll need it.”

“I’m a big girl, I can handle myself,” I snapped as I opened my car door and flipped him off as I shoved my keys into the ignition.

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