“Thank you, sir.” Nina beams at us.
My hand tightens around my glass when I see Lucca walking toward me, a scowl on his face. Prick. I called him once Sofina scampered away and told him to meet me here before hanging up. I didn’t know if he would show, but I needed to know I tried for my girl.
He slips into the booth and glares over at me, arms resting on the table. He’s out of place here with his tattoos and attitude. “Got in okay then?” I smirk. I had his name added to the guest list, and I know it pisses him off that I can pull strings he can’t.
The thing he needs to learn is this isn’t a pissing contest. I’d win, and it’s pointless. We both want the same thing, I hope—Sofina’s happiness.
“What the hell do you want, Hayes?” he growls.
I pour a drink and shove it across the table toward him. “Drink.”
He picks up the glass, swirls the amber liquid, and then sniffs it before taking a swig. Like he has any clue about the quality of the whiskey.
“This why you brought me here? To show me you can afford the good whiskey?” he sneers.
“That good whiskey is what you should be pouring at your place. It has the potential to be a great bar. It’s in a great location.”
He holds a hand up and shakes his head to stop my talking. “What is this? You want to talk about my bar?”
“No, I want to talk about your sister.”
“Where the fuck is my sister?” he growls, leaning toward me. The friction is palpable in the air between us.
“She’s going to be performing, and I wanted you to see her.”
Snorting, he grabs the bottle of whiskey and pours himself another, leaving my glass empty. He reminds me of when Ren went through a rebellious phase. Hated the world for the shitty cards it dealt our mother.
“I’ve seen her sing. She’s been singing since before she could talk.”
“Then why do you not want her to pursue her dream?”
Grinding his jaw, he narrows his eyes on me before sighing and knocking back the drink. “I didn’t want it to eat her up and chew her out. I didn’t want her dreams tarnished by disappointment and opportunists.” He glares at me like I’m some predator.
“So you wanted to keep her as Cinderella in your dive bar?”
“Fuck you, man. I only keep that place so she has something. A place to provide for her,” he says with a heavy sigh, rubbing his hands down his face. “I fucking hate that place and I failed her anyway.”
“What does that mean?” Color me curious.
Folding his arms, he stares off into the crowd for a few silent beats. “The bar’s a money pit. It was in debt when our dad died, and I’ve tried to claw us out of it, but you have to have money to make it. Right?” He looks tired. Maybe we had this all wrong. He’s not angry—he’s frustrated—exhausted.
“What were you studying before you came home to raise Sofina?” I pour us both another drink and wave the bottle at the waitress behind the bar, who nods in acknowledgment of my request.
“Art.”
“Really?” I raise a brow and get a middle finger from him in response.
“I wanted to be a tattooist, not some shit one in a ten-dollar skull store, but real art. Intricate and life-changing. Not just inking skin, but creating art.”
“Let me buy the bar,” I say abruptly, taking him off guard.
He tenses, scowling at me. “Fuck no. You think I’d let you buy my silence so you can use my sister how you see fit with no interference from me?”
I can’t help it. I laugh. He’s watched too many movies or is simply fucked in the head. “You’re insane. You know that, right?”
“I didn’t give up my entire life to come back here to raise Sofina only to allow some pervert hanging a contract like a fish hook so she’d spread her legs for him.”
My fist slams down on the table, startling him. “You’re way out of line, Lucca, and should hold your fucking tongue.” I roll my neck and open the new bottle the waitress placed on our table. “Sofina’s contract was in place and signed before anything progressed with us. If she wanted to leave me right now, she would still have an ironclad contract that offers her all her heart could desire.” I push the bottle toward him and continue. “I’ve never dated or had relations with an artist from our label before and I take my business very seriously. I’ve never had to use tactics to get women. What Sofina and I have is real. A connection I didn’t expect or was looking for. It just was.”
“She’s too young,” he snaps.
“To know she’s in love? To know her own mind and make her own choices? How old were you when you fell in love?”