“Hey, Fiona.” I grin at her. “You haven’t been returning my calls.”
Fiona scowls at me. “For good reason, you fucking prick.”
“Why have you been calling her?” Daley asks me, frowning.
“He’s been bugging me about the past, and I’m not interested in reliving all that.” She turns her scowl to Daley. “Did he rope you into his quest? The fucker kills my cousin, and he has the gall to talk about her. I don’t care if it’s been like eight years.”
Daley takes a breath and lets it out. “Yeah, he sort of did. What did he tell you?”
“All I know is he’s been asking questions about Megan.” She shakes her head, looking annoyed. “Some people aren’t too happy about that. Turns out, when you drive drunk and get a good person killed, people don’t fucking forget about it.”
I should be humbled right now, but something caught my attention. “Who’s pissed about me asking around?”
“Her fucking mom, for starters,” Fiona says. “And my parents. And her other cousins. Why can’t you just let the poor girl rest in peace? Haven’t you done enough to her? Goddamn, Rian. It’s bad enough they let you into the clan. Now you gotta talk about Megan again like you can’t let the past stay the past.”
I clench my jaw and hold back. I want to tell Fiona that it wasn’t me. I didn’t kill Megan, but that won’t change a damn thing. She’ll believe whatever she wants, though, because why the hell should she bother learning the truth? Megan’s dead and gone, and I’m the easy scapegoat. I’m the drunk asshole that got her killed.
It’s easy to offload your grief onto someone else. It’s easy to feel anger instead of sorrow. There’s a reason why people want to treat me like a pariah. I did something terrible, at least they think I did, and it’s better to hate than to grieve. So I’m useful for that.
I open my mouth to respond, but I feel something. Daley’s hand slides onto my thigh, and her fingers press down gently. A sharp pulse of longing tears through my chest, and I’m too surprised to say anything else. Daley’s not looking at me, but she’s touching my leg, touching my thigh high up, and an intense desire’s rolling under my skin in heavy waves.
This is how I used to feel about her. This is how I still feel. The old hunger, the old beast. I thought I shed that part of me a long time ago, back when Megan died and I began to learn what my new life would be like. I fuck around with women from time to time, but I don’t get close to anyone anymore, and I never feel this primal want deep down in my bones.
Not the way I feel it for Daley.
“Listen, Fiona, this is important,” Daley says quickly, trying to defuse the situation. “I know it’s uncomfortable, but believe me, I wouldn’t ask you anything if it didn’t matter.”
Fiona glares at me before she turns to Daley and tilts her head. “Honestly, hon, if anyone else said that, I’d tell them to fuck off, but I know you loved Megan as much as I did.”
“She was like my sister. Honestly, she was more than that. She was like my other half. I still miss the hell out of her, and I wouldn’t be sitting with this asshole if it weren’t important. Believe me, Fiona.”
Fiona sighs and some of her aggression leaks out. “Yeah, okay, I get it. What do you want to know? I don’t know how any of this matters anymore, and it’s been a while, but I’ll tell you whatever I can.”
I lean forward now. “In the weeks before she died, did you hear any rumors about her?”
Fiona glares at me. “What sort of rumors?”
“Like did she have any contact with the clan? Anyone involved in the business?”
“No, Megan kept clean. I mean, aside from everyone in this fucking family getting their shit mixed up with the clan, but no, not Megan. What are you trying to imply? You get her killed, and now you want to tarnish her fucking name?”
“Fiona,” Daley says quietly. “Please, do you remember anything?”
Fiona takes a breath and lets it out slowly. She closes her eyes like she’s trying to clear her head of something and rubs her temple. I can only guess how hard this must be, standing there and answering questions for the guy she thinks murdered her cousin, and it’s a testament to Daley that she’s managing to keep everyone calm right now. Fiona frowns deeply before she nods to herself.
“I do remember something. A weird rumor I heard. Megan was, I don’t know, involved with some guys. I don’t remember who anymore, but she was like, wrapped up in some scheme with them? I can’t remember the details anymore, but I thought it was really weird and shady at the time, and I heard it from a few different people.”