48. Cairo
FORTY-EIGHT
cairo
“Here.” I’m immediately handed a glass of top-shelf whiskey, and my sister, Luisa, is at my side. She’s been a faithful companion tonight, fully aware this party was strategically rushed to make my father feel better. “You’re going to need this.”
“Why?” I ask over the rim with zero energy. “Did Mom finally find the distributor who sells loofahs?”
“What—no,” she replies with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Dad invited Sienna Matthews.”
I lick at my bottom lip because my parents are serving expensive shit tonight, apparently. Why not? Their only son is officially being coronated as King of Wharf Bay. An expedited and grand affair I believe my mother has been planning for longer than she’s let on. Especially since my father has been on one since Wallace died and Bay is— was pregnant.
Shit is going to hell real quick around here, and my father won’t allow any more time to go by to secure my place.
“Cairo,” my sister urges with a gentle nudge of her elbow. “Sienna Matthews is here.”
“Who?”
“Mystic Hallows…your so-called arranged wife is here.”
I jerk my head to my sister, eyebrows pinned furiously at the fucking audacity my old man just pulled after all the shit I have going on.
Bay and the baby.
Torin trying to make peace with the fact he doesn’t have a pot to piss in.
Reeve being a fucking stupid lunatic with getting his hands on blow.
I don’t need this on top of it.
This whole marriage bullshit was spoken about last year, but with everything happening, I’ve completely pushed it back to the spare space in my head. Why the hell would I think of some random bitch when I have a woman that takes up all my spare time.
“Where?” I grind out because I’m ending this shit right now. I’m not getting married. I’m not having a wedding. I haven’t met this woman yet, and I sure as fuck am not going to add more problems to the laundry list I already have.
“Did you ever tell Dad you wanted out?”
I clutch my glass harder. “I thought I made it abundantly clear when I’ve been taking care of Bay Astor.”
Luisa bats her fucking eyelashes at me. “So?” My nostrils flare. “Easy fix, brother. Tell her you’re committed elsewhere.”
“Easy for you to say when this arrangement has nothing to do with you.”
“She’s beautiful.”
“My cock is a little more deep than that. Beauty has nothing to do with?—”
“ Disgusting ,” Luisa extolls, wrinkling her face. “Honestly, Cairo…what the hell does Bay even see in you?”
I can’t help the silly-ass smirk from forming on my lips. “Well, speaking of my?—”
My sister’s hand rises in the air, cutting into my words. “I swear to God, you finish that sentence, and I’m outting you. You’re foul.”
“You asked.” I scan the room of over a dozen people I hardly know. Business owners wanting to make pacts to make more money, a few family friends, and the rest I barely register because frankly, I don’t want to be here.
“Why is Vivian Muncy here?”
For the love of fucking God…
I follow my sister’s line of sight just to fall on Vivian’s ambling toward us.
Uninvited.
She’s wearing a shit-eating smile with a tight pink dress, and her focus already landed on me before I saw her coming.
This night just keeps getting better and fuckin’ better.
“Hello, Luisa,” she beams at my sister, immediately stepping in for a hug as if they’re besties and kick it whenever they can. “You look so pretty. Where did you buy this dress?”
Luisa half-ass hugs her back and pulls away slowly. “Vivian, we weren’t expecting you tonight.”
My ex doesn’t miss a beat with her excuse when she says, “Well, I figured I’d stop by. Since this event happened so quickly, I assumed my invitation got lost in the mail.” I don’t respond because I’m not looking to make a scene. I’m not looking to do anything but get rid of Sienna, whatever her name is, and go hole up in a corner somewhere. “Hi, babe.”
Vivian makes a move for me, but she second-guesses the action when my eyes slice back to her with a glower.
She knows she’s not welcome here, but she came anyway. There was no way in hell she was getting a happy greeting from me.
“Babe, will you go get me some lemonade?”
My brows raise because this isn’t a fucking picnic. “Lemonade?” She beams at me expectedly, and she’s stupid enough to give me an escape, so I take it. “Sure. I’ll be right back.”
Or not.
Stealing a look at Luisa as I walk away, I shake my head to tell her I’m not coming back for shit and not to expect me. She’ll make her own escape from my ex. Vivian won’t spend too much time shooting the shit and will end up looking for me, but I’ll be long gone by then.
In one of the many rooms in this house or outside smoking a blunt.
Speaking of the latter, I forge to the French-styled doors and fish for a lighter. I couldn’t feel more pressure if my parents put me in a sardine can with this little soiree. I knew there would be a coronation; I’m just not in the right headspace to do one.
Maybe if I didn’t feel like I was getting hit from all sides, I’d soak this in more. If there wasn’t a multitude of looming threats that posed death and destruction in their wake, I’d feel more at ease.
I’m fully aware of why my father shoved this on my plate, however. With all that being said, I need to take my official title and finally wear it. There wouldn’t be any perfect placement of time in the near future, and there’s no time like the present—my father’s exact words tonight.
“That’s my door, Sinatra. I charge a toll.” My hand freezes over the latch, and I recognize the voice. This was the same set of doors Bay barreled through when she found my family took in her sisters. “Running away from your party?”
Turning on my heels, Bay stands there expectedly, prompting my immediate perusal of her attire, and it’s not at all what I expected.
She’s in a white dress that looks more girly than her normal badass black. It has thin straps on her shoulders, and the material drapes fluidly and loosely off her body, to just above her knees.
It appears comfortable yet foreign. She looks like the kind of girl you’d take home to meet your mother before you got her home and she fucked your brains out.
And I like knowing what lies underneath the persona she’s trying to portray tonight. Replays of her on my bike, taking my cock, makes said body twitch in my dress slacks, and this gathering just became bearable.
“Where did you get the dress?” I mutter. “I wouldn’t think that would be in your closet?”
“You don’t like it?”
I take another generous look down her body and shake my head. “You could pull off a potato sack, and I’d think you were still the sexiest woman in the room.”
She gives me a weak smile. “Thank you. I like the tux.”
I don’t.
Not for shit like this.
“It’s getting stuffy in here,” I reply. “How about you come outside with me and smoke a joint?”
She quirks an eyebrow. “Is that what the King of Wharf Bay is supposed to be doing during an event like this?”
“Does it look like this King of Wharf Bay gives a fuck?” I reach and hold out my hand for her. “I’d rather spend time with my girl.”
Bay hesitates for the briefest of seconds, and I can’t blame her. We haven’t always been on the best terms and I’m either comforting or bitching at her. There hasn’t been much in between.
Sliding her hand into mine, she allows me to guide her outside and into the cool night air when I ask, “How did you know about this tonight?”
“Luisa.” I roll my eyes. “Figured you’d want the company.”
“I didn’t want you to feel obligated to come,” I answer honestly. “I’d prefer if you rested.”
“I’m not going to lie, showing up with The Nameless and seeing half of these Baby Boomers shit their pants was the highlight of my week.”
I chuckle. “I wish I would’ve been able to see that.”
“Well, we can drag them around the whole room with us. You wanted to be seen together anyway.”
“Yes”—I pivot and wrap my arm around her waist, pulling her snug to my chest—“I think the Queen of South Shore should be on my arm the whole night.” Fuck Vivian. I clear my throat. “I should warn you Viv is here. Uninvited.”
Bay lifts her shoulders. “Desperation has a funny smell to it. I saw her already.” I grunt my disapproval that we even have to talk about my ex’s presence. “I’ll behave.”
“I won’t,” I retort. “I’m tired of that bitch.”
Bay lifts her head, her lips curling into a bigger smile. “I didn’t know you liked stirring up trouble.”
“You’re rubbing off on me.” I lean in, unable to help my damn self because I’m feeling a whole hell of a lot better now that she’s here. “There’s another piece of you that can rub on me, too.”
“Oh,” she whispers, running the pads of her fingertips along my hips. “And what would that be, Mr. Black?”
“It’s Sinatra,” I lightly chide, brushing my lips lightly over hers. “And I wouldn’t object to your cunt grinding against my thigh while we’re smokin’ this blunt?—”
“Cairo?”
My spine snaps straight at the sudden intrusion, shattering through my moment with Bay because why the fuck not?
A woman stands within the French Doors. A sparkly gold dress hugs her body and glimmers off the sunset and lighting inside as she takes it upon herself to step closer and not leave.
“I was hoping to run into you at this party. But you’ve been preoccupied. I didn’t realize you had company.”
“What can I do for you?” I hedge tersely even though I have a funny feeling I already know who this is.
She steals a quick glance at the woman still pressed up against me but doesn’t give anything away. “I’ll come find you when you’re not otherwise engaged.”
“Not sure who I’m looking for when I don’t have a name.”
“Sienna Matthews,” she deadpans, folding her hands together in front of her. “I’ve come to talk to you about the arrangement our fathers discussed.”
I nod. “Go ahead.”
“I’m not going to in front of company.”
“Care to explain this one?” Bay mumbles underneath me, her hand still tucked away around my waist beneath my suit jacket. “Or do you want me to handle this myself?”
“You wouldn’t believe me if I tried,” I whisper before releasing a small sigh of exasperation and say to Sienna, “I’m sorry you wasted a trip. I’m no longer in need of your family’s services.”
“You are the King of Wharf Bay, aren’t you?”
“What did you think the party was for?” I retort, sharper than I intend.
“Then our agreement is still intact.”
Bay shifts, tilting her body to face Sienna, and it’s a tale-tell sign she’s going to jump in blind.
“I got this, baby,” I vouch simply. “Don’t start getting upset. I’ll explain later.”
Sienna continues to stare at me. If you would’ve asked me about six months ago if I would’ve gone through with this, I would’ve said maybe.
But now, everything’s changed.
Sienna was meant to build in South Shore so we could pull from Emilio and give them something worth allying over. Money speaks above all else, and I’m confident I would have been able to, eventually, strike a deal with Wallace.
Nonetheless, I can’t say the one I struck with Bay Astor is anything less than intoxicating and more than giving.
“The deal is off, Miss Matthews,” I profess evenly. “I plan on going a different direction.”
“It’ll still need to be discussed. I had things riding on this arranged marriage as well.”
I expect Bay to flinch, but she remains perfectly still. And I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a really bad thing.
“And randomly calling off business dealings isn’t how I conduct mine.”
“And random pop-ins when we never discussed you coming in the first place isn’t how I run mine,” I shoot back.
“Your parents invited me.”
“And what did you expect out of this discussion, Miss Matthews? Trust me, you don’t want anywhere near the bullshit I have cooked up right now.”
“Women like Bay Astor don’t scare me, Mr. Black. Because I know that’s who is currently on your arm.”
I hang on to the silence because how would she know? Sienna is from Mystic Hallows, a town an hour away and with their own business dealings. Bay has been in the game for two seconds, and, I’ll admit, it irks me that she knows her by name.
“Then you haven’t heard the right things,” I emit evenly. “You haven’t met her brand of petty yet.”
Sienna slices her attention to the woman in discussion. “Do you allow him to speak for you, or do you have a voice?”
“I think he’s handling it just fine,” Bay recites.
“Aren’t you married?—”
“Are you a new stalker?” my woman addresses with a bit of warning. “I really don’t like people who hover and profess all these things about me. It makes me anxious and frankly, a bit paranoid.”
“You’re not even on my radar.”
“But now, you’re on mine.”
Sienna’s lips coil as if amused. “That’s fair.” She glimpses over her shoulder then and adds, “Looks like you have more visitors coming this way.”
Of course, I do.
“How about you go around back?” I suggest to Bay. “I don’t want you stressing out and?—”
“I won’t say a word,” she claims. “You said you were going to handle this.”
I did.
But it’s getting more complicated by the second.
“Trust me,” she tacks on. “I trust you, Sinatra.”
I squeeze her tighter to me, letting her know I not only heard her, but I’m going to fuck her any way she wants because, for once, she’s listening to me.
“I hope you didn’t like this dress,” I state as Vivian steps outside and eyeballs the fuck out of Sienna. “Because I’m tearing it off you later.”
“Cairo, what the fuck?!” Vivian’s voice is like a fucking pterodactyl. You can never fully prepare yourself for the screeching sound, but it still rips across your flesh and makes you cringe. “What is going on here?”
“A private gathering,” I issue. “Go away.”
She doesn’t heed my advice, warning, or anything, stepping around Sienna. Maybe this will make her go away—too much drama, and we’re not committed in any way.
“What’s going on here, Cairo?” she presses, glowering at my arm wrapped around Bay. “How many times do we need to go through this?”
“You might want to leave, Sienna,” I vouch lightly. “Save your sanity.”
“I couldn’t agree more,” she replies evenly. “I’ll be in touch to call off the marriage arrangement. I want to make sure it’s nulled through and through.”
Vivian suddenly whips her head around. “ What ?”
Sienna isn’t affected by my ex’s sudden outburst, appearing annoyed, and that she clearly wasted her time here. “I don’t know who you are, but if you’re connected to him, girl…I’d leave it alone.”
Vivian scoffs as Sienna makes her way back inside the house, which means Vivian has no other choice but to face me and pop off with her questions.
“Is this the way it’s going to go?” my ex gripes as she steers her focus back to me. “You lied to me.”
“Did I?”
Her skin turns a bright shade of red as she erupts with, “You said you were playing this bitch?” I send Vivian an exasperated look because, even if I was, she just blew it. “I mean, right?”
“I dunno, Viv,” I quip with a glower. “Is that what I said to you? Or is your jealousy coming out to play?”
Vivian shifts her weight, realizing she may have just blown something for me. That even though I left her house and told her something came up without her blowing me, I still left the door wide open. For me to buy some time to keep her reined in.
“Cairo, I love you,” she says softly. “I can’t do this anymore.”
“Do what, Viv? I’m with her , remember?”
She stretches her jaw but doesn’t batter up with anything else.
Turning on her heels, she exits the space and gives me back mine.
But with Bay Astor still at my side.
“You suck at lying,” she replies flatly. “But you can explain the other bitch to me while you light that doobie.”