Chapter 2
It has been a long fucking day. Twenty-four-hour shift. Six newborns delivered in distress. That was just the first thirteen hours. I had to give heartbreaking news to parents that left me crying in the breakroom. It’s been a long-ass time since that’s happened. Then back to rounds to check on infants who’d recently come out of surgery and were remaining in the NICU along with the other babies receiving ongoing care. All those surgeries were successes, but none of them come without serious chances for post-operative complications.
I really want to go home. I really want to shower. I really want to go to bed and sleep for a week. I really don’t want to go to Tony’s birthday party. I’ve told him I don’t want to go, but he’s been insisting since it’s his thirtieth. What can I say? I’m a cougar, but what I’m pissed about is he insisted on having it at McGinty’s. His brother’s dating a bartender. I guess the red-headed guy from the other day won’t be there tonight. Even if he isn’t, nothing good can come from going back there. But I feel responsible for Tony. Which I fucking hate. I’m not his fucking mother, but I can see how I could turn into her.
We’ve been going out for two months, but I’ve known him since I started working at the hospital as a resident. He was one of the first nurses I worked with. He seemed like a nice guy, but I was seeing someone else at the time. I’ve had four boyfriends— including Tony —since I started at the hospital nine years ago. I broke up with my last boyfriend eight months ago.
I finally said yes when Tony asked me out after he hinted at it for weeks. This was like the third time we’ve both been single at the same time. Third times the charm. At least for him.
He is completely different as a boyfriend rather than a friend. He’s so fucking needy. I can’t with him. If tonight weren’t his birthday party, I would dump him. His birthday was last week, so I thought I was in the clear to do it, until he announced this party at lunch three days ago. We were sitting with a bunch of coworkers in the cafeteria, and he made a big thing about having me on his arm.
A couple of my friends looked at me, and I just smiled. They know I’m nobody’s arm candy. I didn’t work as long and as hard as I have to be reduced to a pretty doll a guy takes out to dinner then takes home to play with. Tony is a himbo— ya know, the male version of a bimbo. I didn’t think he was before we started dating. He’s a fucking nurse anesthetist. But away from work, he’s— too much.
Lord, let me survive tonight, then I’ll be done with him.
I’m practically dead on my feet now that I’ve changed into jeans and a cute top. I have ankle boots on, and I feel good about how I look. Too bad it’s wasted on a night that I’d rather spend curled up with my pillow. I’m off tomorrow, so at least that’s a plus.
I walk over to McGinty’s with Tony and a handful of his friends that went to high school with him. They met us outside the hospital. I haven’t met too many of his friends, but now that I’ve met these… It makes so much more sense. They’re straight up gumbas. Like complete idiots. They should have left their sense of humor back in middle school. I have nothing in common with them. It wouldn’t surprise me if at least one of them is a flat Earther.
As we walk into the bar, I scan the crowd that’s already gathered. A woman waves to us. It’s Tony’s brother’s girlfriend, Shannon. She works here, so she’s generous when she serves us. If I drink, I’ll have fucking heavy head and be asleep in five minutes. Besides, Tony’s already talking about getting wasted because he has the next four days off. Drunk Tony as a friend is different from drunk Tony as a boyfriend. He clearly isn’t still trying to make a good impression on me.
In all fairness, it hasn’t been horrible dating him since day one. It’s just gone downhill over the past two weeks. It started just before our last time here. I don’t know what he said that pissed the owner off so much.
The owner. The man is the hottest guy I have ever seen. Like if he told me to strip, I’d run around like fucking Lady Godiva. If he told me to bend over a table, I’d clear it with one of those TV arm sweeps. If he wanted to tie me up and do dirty, dirty things to me, I’d hand him the rope.
He was calm and confident as he threw my boyfriend out of the bar. He could have been an asshole in response to whatever Tony said. My soon-to-be-ex-boyfriend refuses to repeat it. I haven’t seen the guy he was sitting with that night and don’t know him, so he wasn’t an option to ask. McGinty’s owner seemed like a man while Tony was a boy.
I’ve bitched about my boyfriend in my head for the last fifteen minutes. I’m ending it in the morning. Let me just get through tonight.
We slide into a booth with five other people, so it’s cramped. We wait for a waitress, but no one comes. It’s obvious they didn’t expect a crowd like this tonight. The last time we were here, it was an office party. It was booked in advance. Tony might have been planning this for a while, but they must have assumed he wouldn’t come. He clearly didn’t let them know. He couldn’t since he’s banned.
“Whatcha want?” Tony’s staring at me as though he’s annoyed I’m keeping him waiting. I know he hasn’t asked more than this one time.
“Gin and ginger, please.”
He curls his nose, but I don’t care. I watch him cross the bar, and I breathe easier. My friend, Dana, leans across the table to whisper.
“I thought you were going to dump him.”
“I am. But I felt obligated to come to this with him since I didn’t break up with him before I found out about it.”
“I can’t believe what an a-hole he’s turned out to be.”
“Me neither. It’s a total Dr. Jekyll-Mr. Hyde. It’s weird.” I twist to see him at the bar, and my heart sinks. “Fuck me.”
“Huh?”
“The red-headed guy over there is the owner. Tony had a run in with him. He banned Tony from here.”
“And you let him come back?”
“I didn’t let him do anything, Dana. He’s a grown ass man. He heard through his brother that the guy wasn’t supposed to be here.”
“I don’t think he’s seen Tony yet. Can you get him back over here before he does? It’s crowded enough he might not notice Tony. That’s assuming Tony stays hidden.”
“How fucking ridiculous is it that he has to hide at his own party because he insisted upon coming somewhere he knows he’s been blacklisted? Dana, I’m done tonight. I won’t make a scene here, but I can’t wake up in the morning knowing we’re still dating. I have to have some self-respect.”
She just looks at me as if to say, “about time.”
“Look, you’re nice, Ally. You wanted to believe you could go from friends to lovers. It’s not your fault that he’s actually a frog under his princely disguise.”
I laugh. “You hit all the romance tropes, didn’t you?”
“Not all. But, yeah, you get my drift.”
“I do.”
“Shit.” Dana points toward the bar.
I don’t think Tony’s seen the owner— yet —but the owner sees him. I slide out of the booth and squeeze through the crowd, people saying hi as I go. I get to the bar just as Tony says something that makes me freeze.
“She’s an Oreo, and I like licking her cream.”
My mouth has to be hanging open. He did not just call me that. He doesn’t stop with just that.
“Being between her thighs makes me think of caramel swirls?—”
It’s like slow motion in my head as I watch the bar owner lunge at Tony. He grabs him by the back of the shirt and with only one hand, yanks him off the stool. He’d struck up a conversation instead of getting my drink. Jackass. But I already know that.
“Get the feck out of my bar.”
“Feck? What are you? The leprechaun from Lucky Charms?”
I cringe.
“What I am is an O’Rourke.”
I’m not sure what that means, but Tony goes stiff as a corpse. He seems to know. I watch as this man spins Tony to face him. He’s at least four inches taller than my soon-to-be ex-boyfriend. He’s gotta outweigh him by at least fifty pounds of solid muscle. This O’Rourke isn’t even as big as the two guys who tossed Tony out the last time. But his tight button down shirt is the equivalent to women’s lingerie. The only thing sexier on him— short of nothing at all —would be gray sweatpants. I bet his ass would look divine in those.
I glance down at his shoes, then at his hands. I wonder if everything is proportionate. I shouldn’t be thinking about what it would be like for him to lift me onto the bar and go down on me. I shouldn’t be thinking about what it would be like to go in the back and suck him off. But it’s taking my mind off what Tony said. It hurt along with pissing me off. The comments themselves stung, but for them to come from him? I refuse to allow anyone to see they bother me.
“I banned you from this bar and all the others my family owns. From your expression, you know who I am now. Who should I call first? The Diazes? The Mancinellis? The Kutsenkos? Actually, let’s put them on a conference call. That would be a fuck ton faster.”
“Be pissy. I’m still the one drinking the milk from that coconut.”
What the ever-loving fuck? He’s being disgusting on purpose now. He’s egging Mr. Gorgeous on, but that he would say any of this for any reason shows me a side of Tony I never want to see again. A side that makes me ashamed to admit I was his friend, let alone dated him.
My hottie hero still has a hold of Tony, but now it’s the front of his button down. He pulls his phone out and shakes in front of Tony’s face. I creep closer and watch— fuck, I don’t have a clue what his first name is —O’Rourke unlock it. He taps something, and we can hear it ring.
“Finn—”
“Enrique, hold on. I’m calling Maks and Salvatore, too.”
“Why?”
“Just hold on. You’re on speaker at McGinty’s by the way.”
“Wonderful.”
I guess he called the Diazes first. But I don’t know why. Finn— that’s fucking hot —taps his phone again.
“Sal, you’re on speaker at the bar. Enrique’s on the line too. I’m calling Maks.”
I hear the phone ring twice before a man’s Russian-flavored accent fills the bar that is now so silent a pin could drop.
“Mother—”
“Maks, you’re on with Sal and Enrique. I’m turning this into a video call. I’m at McGinty’s. There’s someone all of you need to meet. He’s already banned from O’Rourke establishments. I want him banned from yours, too.”
The man named Enrique doesn’t agree. “You don’t tell me who can and can’t come to my businesses.”
“You’ll swallow those words when you hear what he just said to a woman in my bar. A woman he’s dating.”
“Was dating.” I blurt that as I get close. “’Scuse me.”
I push my way through two cardiologists who are blocking my way. As they both look over their shoulders at me, I realize they’re purposely blocking me. I don’t know if they’re trying to protect Tony from me. Trying to keep me safe from winding up near a fight if it breaks out. Or just not willing to give up their front row spots. I still make it through.
“I was dating him. Never again. Tony, you can go fuck yourself. And believe you me, there isn’t a woman at the hospital who’ll want you after they find out what you said about me and hear about your micro dick.”
It’s not quite micro, but I can promise you, it isn’t anything like the outline of what’s pressing against the front of Finn’s pants.
Finn looks at me and smirks. “Not surprising.”
“I’m waiting.”
That’s Salvatore Mancinelli. The accent is straight up New York Italian. I don’t know who he is either, but he sounds like a man used to being in charge.
“Fecker, repeat what you said.” Finn looks at me as he speaks.
I want to crawl into a corner. I don’t want to hear it again.
“Wait. Hold on.” Finn drags Tony with him as he heads toward the back. “I don’t want the lady to hear it again.”
“That bad?” It’s the guy named Maks. He must be one of the Kutsenkos.
Tony and Finn disappear, and I’m left not knowing where to look or what to do. The anticlimactic moment tempts me to grab my purse and make a break for it. But I want to see what happens to Tony. I hope he comes out with his face fucked-up. Finn seems smart enough not to do more than fist Tony’s shirt in public. What’s happening right now, wherever they went, is anyone’s guess. What I want most is to thank Finn for defending me twice. The way he looked at me just now… It made my toes curl. He’s pissed on my behalf. But the expression was—reassuring. Like he was silently promising to take care of everything, so in turn, take care of me. It made me feel safe.
Dana walks up to me and hands me my purse. “Wanna split an Uber?”
“I want to know what happens.” I need to know what happens.
“It looks like the closest car is like ten minutes away. We’ve got time. But I’m getting out of here. I’m not associating with Tony anymore. Are you all right? I should have asked that first.”
“Yeah. It’s not the worst thing I’ve been called. But it blind-sided me.”
It makes me feel utterly shitty about myself to know he made some other racial comment the last time we were here, and I gave him a pass. I figured Finn overreacted when Tony downplayed it. But watching Finn tonight— he doesn’t strike me as a man prone to overreacting. He strikes me as a man who’s methodical in everything. A man who isn’t easily rattled or dissuaded from anything.
“I can’t believe he’s a racist.” Dana offers me a sympathetic smile. I refuse to consider it might be pity.
“Neither can I. I never would have?—”
“Ally, you don’t need to explain. I know you wouldn’t. I feel shitty for you. I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“Yeah, but?—”
She doesn’t get to finish because Finn returns with Tony, except it’s not just the two of them. The two guys from last time are back along with identical twins. The five men bear striking resemblances to one another. Finn must be the twins’ older brother. Maybe the other two are cousins or something.
Finn hands Tony off to one of his brothers— I’m assuming that’s who they are —and turns toward the waitress who said it was okay to be here.
“Shannon, get your stuff. You’re done.”
She blinks for a moment. “For tonight?”
“For good. You knew I wouldn’t allow him back. Not only did you tell him he could return, you served him. Leave. Let your da know I’ll be dropping by in the morning.”
Why would he go see her father? She has to be in her mid-twenties. She goes white as a sheet, and I take a step toward her. She looks like she’s going to faint. She’s trembling. Why’s she acting like this?
Before I can get to her, Tony calls out to me. “Come on, babe. Let’s go home. They’re just trying to flex. This isn’t about me. He just wants to look like he’s got the biggest dick in the room in front of his mobster friends.”
I walk in front of Tony and keep my voice low. “He probably does have the biggest dick. Or one of his relatives does. Shut up. Go home. Fucking delete my number from your phone. Come near me again, and I will file a grievance with the hospital.” I step even closer and whisper. “Come near me again, and I will make sure no one finds you.”
I might make a lot of money now, but I didn’t come from money. Where I grew up wasn’t rough, but I knew rough people. I have plenty of favors to call in.
I watch as he tries to pull his arm loose from one twin. Needless to say, he isn’t successful. Unlike the office party that carried on without us, no one seems interested in continuing a birthday party for someone who isn’t there.
“The Uber’s pulling up.”
I turn toward Dana, then look over at Finn. He’s watching me.
“Go ahead. I want to say thank you.”
Dana glances at Finn. “Be careful. He looks like he wants to gobble you up.”