Chapter 4
Vienna
Now
Groaning, but pulling the pint glass closer to me, I took a sip and slammed it back on the bar with more force than was necessary.
All it succeeded in doing was making my head throb worse than ever. But it seemed a fitting punishment.
She flicked the light, though. And that’s all that matters.
I’d lose all the sleep in the world, so long as she was safe.
“Uncle Vienna!” a soft but excited voice called out, and the next thing I knew, Bee was rounding the corner of the bar and throwing herself at me. Her nanny, Heather, was hot on her heels, scolding her under her breath.
“There she is!” I grinned at her, lifting her onto my knee. “The light of my life. How was your morning?” I asked her, knowing I was unlikely to get a response.
Words still failed her sometimes, but that was okay. I’d accept Bee in whatever form she chose to give us.
Silence was usually her go to, and I was getting better at the sign language—despite what Rachel had to say about it.
But instead of silence, she shocked the hell out of me by saying, “You smell like beer.”
“Better to smell like beer than to smell like a horse,” I replied, not making any sense, but that didn’t matter to a seven-year-old.
“Your beard makes you look like a horse,” she whispered with a giggle.
“You’ve been spending too much time with that mother of yours,” I replied, pushing my beer out of the way and sitting Bee on the bar in front of me. “You like Rachel better than me?” I asked her, a pretend threatening tone in my voice.
“Rachel is a girl,” she replied, as though that answered everything.
“Rachel is a—”
“Is a what?” Rachel replied, coming into the garden.
“Fucking hell, we’ve turned her into Beetlejuice. Quick, Bee, run!” I said, grabbing Bee’s waist and placing her on the floor. “Run far and run wide, I will slay the beast!” Pushing her back, I nudged her towards her nanny, and she went running with a squeal.
“Have you really just encouraged her to call me Beetlejuice?” Rachel asked once Bee had left the room, raising her eyebrow at me.
“I’m sure you’ve been called worse.”
“Yeah. Usually by you,” she said, and then paused before walking closer to me.
“Actually… it was Dante who was the worst this time. Remember, he named her snake after you.”
“Yeah, and he paid a hefty price for such insults,” she said, a scary smile on her face. “Anyway, what’s this I hear about you smelling like beer?”
Her eyes scanned the bar, her lips thinning slightly when she saw the half-empty pint glass.
“Vienna… it’s not even eight in the morning. You can’t keep doing this.”
“Doing what?”
“You know what,” she said softly.
I saw the hurt in her eyes. I could see she was worried about me. I knew she was concerned that I was here, every single morning, pissed as a fart.
But she didn’t know everything.
She didn’t know I spent every night watching, waiting, needing the reassurance. She didn’t know every night I was in Rough Rider territory, needing just a glimpse of the woman I craved like oxygen.
She didn’t see any of this. None of them did.
They just saw the drunk bum at the bar, following in his mother’s footsteps.
“I know, I know… I need to change my ways. And I have the perfect idea.”
“Oh, yeah?” Rachel asked, eyeing me with suspicion.
“Well… you know how I’m starting a band?”
“Ye-es?” she said slowly, her look of suspicion only becoming heavier.
“I’ve had a brilliant idea!”
“I highly doubt it.”
“Oh, ye of little faith! You, my dear little hair buddy, you are going to be the lead singer.”
“In the nicest way possible, Vienna, no the fuck I am not. But you go live your dreams, you hairy weirdo.”
She pushed away, knowing she wasn’t getting any further with me.
No one was. They didn’t need to see the madness behind the mask. They didn’t deserve for my darkness to be their burden. They could have my humour and my light. The rest I’d shoulder alone.
“Oi, oi, oi,” I called out to her, frowning as I finally took in her attire. “You lecture me about the time of day, where the fuck are you going at this hour dressed like a streetwalker?”
“First of all, I look fucking iconic, bitch. Second of all, none of your business,” she said over her shoulder, raising her middle finger behind her back and not bothering to turn around.
“Vienna, would you like to explain why Rachel has just shoulder barged me on her way past?” Dante asked as he came into the bar, shrugging into his leather cut.
“Fucking hell, is there a revolving door back there or something? What’s with the one-at-a-time entrances? Can’t a man have a drink without all the questions?”
“You’re drinking at my bar…” Dante replied, raising one eyebrow at me.
“Our bar.”
“For the last time, Vienna, you’re not a co-owner.”
That was my go-to lately. Ever since Dante had made a pact with the Rough Riders to get weekly updates on Gabriella, things had felt too heavy between us.
And so, I had made up a story about wanting to be a co-owner.
It started as a way of deflecting the conversation.
I kept it going because I knew it annoyed him.
“Not a co-owner? Why must you hurt me? We share everything else.”
“What else have we shared?”
“Oh, a challenge. I love one of these,” I said, throwing back my drink and twisting in my seat to face him. “One, we have shared a lifetime of memories. Two,” I brought my fingers up and began counting on them. “We have shared war and bloody battles. Three, we’ve shared Rachel. Four—”
“We have not fucking shared Rachel!” he snapped, and I pursed my lips to stop myself laughing.
Thank fuck for my magnificent beard, because it hid most of my lip work anyway.
“Didn’t we? I could have sworn I remembered her kisses and her—”
“Well, don’t fucking remember!”
“How could I remember something you claim never happened? Are you calling me an oracle, Dante? Because I’m not opposed to changing from Vienna to Oracle if you want to appoint me…”
“I give up. Get your cut on and get to Church. We’re late.”
I hopped off my seat and shot a small wink at Bee who was sitting in the corner watching the entire exchange behind her hands, giggling to herself.
She winked back at me—which was more of a blink—and I followed her dad into Church, grabbing my Vice President cut as I did so.