Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Marielle still hadn’t texted Inigo back.
Instead she was hanging with her bestie, Siobahn Murphy.
Siobahn had been the lead singer for Venus Rising since she was fourteen.
The band had been comprised of older members and they’d been put together by a producer who.
..was no longer with the band. Marielle and Siobahn had met at a party at the Royal Bahamas club when they were both eighteen.
They’d been young, had too much money and both of them had a simple goal: live life to the fullest. For Marielle she’d just wanted to not be like her parents and her older brothers.
It wasn’t much of a goal, but it had worked.
Looking at both of them now, eight years later, it seemed that life had certainly not worked out the way either of them planned.
Siobahn was fresh off a breakup; her ex, a singer-songwriter, had immediately eloped to Vegas with one of her dancers.
It had almost broken Siobahn, who had truly loved Mate.
Sitting in Marielle’s apartment eating vegan pizza on a Friday night wasn’t what they had envisioned for themselves at twenty-six. They should be owning it. But sometimes Marielle thought this was owning it.
Her mom hadn’t tried to speak to her again after Darian had sent his last message to the group chat and Marielle was relieved but also a little sad. Would it kill her mom to act maternal to her for once?
“Ugh. I don’t really like this cauliflower pizza crust,” Siobahn said. “Just got an invite to the Polar club. Want to check it out?”
“Yes. I was just thinking we should be out on a Friday night... I need to meet someone and hook up so I can wash away my last one,” Marielle said. She wouldn’t have admitted that to anyone other than Siobahn, but her friend understood.
“Me too. Mate is posting pictures of him and the wife on his yacht. Last year that was me. And I hate that I still care, but...”
“Let’s go. We’re going to find some hot guys, hook up, and then we’ll both be in a better state of mind,” Marielle said.
“Let’s do it,” Siobahn said, following her into her bedroom, which had a huge walk-in closet that Marielle had spent a year designing and having built.
She’d sort of retreated to her apartment and spent a lot of time redoing it. That was how she started her social media channel, just working on the apartment and working through her issues at the same time.
They raided her closet and both came away with outfits that suited them.
Then she called down to her driver, Stevens.
Technically he was Darian’s driver, but Dare hardly ever used him.
Her brother liked to walk so he could eavesdrop on conversations and hear what was really on people’s minds.
He used that information when plotting strategy for his clients.
He really was too good for this world, she thought, not for the first time.
He could be tough when he had to, but he always put everyone else first. Especially her. She needed to figure out how to deal with her mom without involving him.
Someday.
“Girl, we are going to own it tonight,” Siobahn said as she snapped a selfie of the two of them.
Twenty minutes later, seated in the VIP section of Polar, Marielle wasn’t too sure her plan for the evening was the best one.
Sure, there were a lot of guys who seemed to be willing to hook up with her, but she just felt.
..they weren’t doing it for her. She couldn’t help comparing each man to Inigo.
She wasn’t trying to, but she’d notice that one’s jaw wasn’t as strong as his was.
That another one’s eyes weren’t as warm and chocolaty.
That yet another suitor didn’t smile at her smart-ass comments the way Inigo did.
He wasn’t the man for her. She knew this. So why was every guy not as good as him?
That ticked her off. She was headed to the bar to get a couple of shots of tequila, which always made even the most mediocre of evenings better, when she heard a familiar Texan drawl. She stopped and glanced around, and there he was. The very man she’d come here to forget—and failed.
Was it karma?
She’d decided to move on and couldn’t because...they weren’t done with each other, she thought. He glanced over in her direction, and their gazes met. His face tightened for a moment, and then he shook his head.
He lifted his hand and crooked his finger at her, and she stood there and started laughing. It didn’t matter that they weren’t perfect for each other. That the world was never going to be a place where they could be a couple because of her past actions. He got her.
She walked toward him, and he moved away from the high table where he’d been toward her.
“How is it that the one woman I’m trying to forget I keep bumping into?” he asked.
“Karma. I’ve just decided it’s karma. I’m not sure if it’s good or bad or what,” she admitted.
“Karma, eh? Sure, I’ll go with that,” he said. “I promised myself I wasn’t going to sleep with you again, but you look so damn hot in that...is that even a dress?”
“Of course it is,” she said. They were both trying so hard to avoid fate, she thought, but there was no way they were going to be successful.
“Dance with me, Inigo. Let me put my hands all over you and we can pretend that it will be enough until midnight, when we both have to leave and go home to our real lives.”
“Is that what you said to Jose?” he asked.
And it was like a knife right in her heart. “No, it’s not.”
Surprised at how deeply that had hurt, she turned and walked away from him. She was used to jabs from the media, from her mom, but Inigo had surprised her. He definitely didn’t get her if he could say something like that to her.
Inigo almost let her go, but he wasn’t an asshole—as much as that comment had made him sound and feel like one. The thing with Jose was harder to shake than he wanted to admit. And he was in the club trying to forget Marielle, but then there she was.
He had to force his way through the crowd to her. She was seated in the VIP area, but luckily the club’s owner was an F1 fan and the bouncer knew him. The man lifted the rope and let Inigo through, but as he got closer and saw her face, he knew he should just apologize and leave.
His thoughts of revenge were a distant memory at this point because he’d never witnessed the aftermath of his senseless tongue before, and he definitely didn’t like what he saw.
Her friend noticed him before Marielle did and came at him with attitude and probably more than a bit of violence on her mind.
“I’m a total d-bag. I know it,” he said as she approached. He recognized her as the singer Siobahn Murphy, not just because everyone knew who she was but also because she’d been in Cole’s Hill for a month with Scarlet a few months ago. His sister liked her.
“You really are. Wait, aren’t you Bianca’s little brother?”
“I am.”
“I guess it’s safe to say that every family has assholes,” she said.
He started to argue, but she interrupted him.
“Don’t. I know you’re mad, and you might feel slightly bad about what you did to her, but she deserves better. No one is perfect—you might want to remember that.”
“I know that better than most. Listen, I shouldn’t have said it, and I need to apologize, but not to you. So, either sit down or go and do your thing.”
Siobahn raised her eyebrows at him. “You’ve got five minutes and then I’m intervening, and trust me you aren’t going to like that.”
Siobahn walked past him, and Inigo realized that while he and Siobahn had been talking Marielle had composed herself. She looked bored and beautiful, but he felt like maybe he could still see the hurt in her eyes. That she wasn’t really ready to talk to him.
But this wasn’t something that he could let go.
“I’m sorry,” he said as he approached her booth and slid onto the bench across from her. “I have no excuse except that I guess it bothers me that I want you so much when I know that I can’t have you.”
She didn’t say a word, just shook her head. And he guessed he didn’t deserve anything more than that.
“The truth is—”
“I don’t care,” she interrupted. “I thought you were someone...that doesn’t matter now. Fine, I heard your apology and I accept it. You can leave now.”
Leave now.
He should do just that. He’d seen what happened when he hurt her, but she had been quick to move on.
Would he even be able to make her feel bad if he dated her and broke up with her in a public way?
Also, could he stop himself from falling for her?
It was harder than he had imagined. There was something about her. ..
He’d told himself there was no way he could be with her and that wasn’t just talk to keep himself from getting involved during the racing season. He legitimately couldn’t be with her.
But he’d hurt her, and he hated himself for that. He’d meant to remind himself that she couldn’t be his, and probably he’d sealed his fate. Ensured she’d never look at him with that heady cocktail of lust and affection again.
“I could. But I... I can’t. I just don’t want to leave it like this. Every time I try to fix this, I seem to be making it worse. And believe me when I say that’s not how I normally operate.”
She almost smiled. He saw her lips twitch.
Aware that the clock was running before her friend came back and kicked him out of Marielle’s life, he knew the next few seconds were very important.
But his whole life was measured in seconds.
In making snap decisions and trusting his instincts.
He felt time warp around him the way it did when he was driving.
He knew that whatever he did next would decide if he spent more time with this woman or lived with regret the rest of his life.
His pulse was racing, but he felt calm. He was in his element, and unlike earlier, when he’d been riding hormones, he was ready for this.
“I want to believe you, but you keep letting me down,” she said.