“It’s not Pops’s fault.”

“Fine,” Lucy backtracked. “No judging. Just tell us already.”

“I married Troy Brennan last week. He...he asked my father for my hand and Pops agreed. Probably because he didn’t have much choice. You know they say Troy is some kind of a hitman. A wealthy one, at that. And Pops works for him, so…” I trailed off.

Lucy and Daisy stared at me, bugged-eyed. The three of us stood in the middle of the crowds, with people pushing and shoving us from all directions.

“Sorry I didn’t tell you sooner. It’s not really a piece of info you want to share with the world. And the last thing I wanted was to drag you into this mess.”

I thought Lucy was going to faint, but Daisy gathered her senses quickly. “But we grew up with Troy Brennan. He never looked at you that way. Never even tried to slip his tip in.”

I frowned, annoyed as usual at the way my childhood friend spoke about the opposite sex. Well, about sex in general. “You can like someone without sleeping with them, you know. It’s not like he screwed everyone in South Boston.”

Daisy fanned herself. “Bitch, please. With the amount of pussy your husband’s dick has trekked through, I’m surprised it doesn’t have its own National Geographic show. He is so...mature and old and stuff. Your husband, that is, not his dick.” She licked her lips, thinking. “Wait. Birdie, this makes you rich!”

Rubbing my face, I checked to make sure Connor wasn’t close enough to have heard her. Daisy was too much of a free spirit to offer comfort. She took everything in stride, even when the circumstances demanded some serious running. I turned from her to my best friend. “Lucy, please say something.”

Lucy looked away from me, gripping the edge of a stand and nearly toppling a display of sand art. Her eyes glinted with sadness, the tightly bunched muscles in her neck telling me the lump in her throat was as big as mine.

I threw my hot chocolate in the trash and grabbed her hand, desperate for her touch. It was silly, but I was feeling all sorts of guilty for not inviting them to my fake wedding, now that I had told them about it.

“Birdie, honey, he is...you know that people say he killed a man?” she mumbled.

I nodded. “Yeah, I know, but rumors run marathons in small neighborhoods.”

“It may not be what you want to hear, but you should be scared,” Lucy said. “Terrified, to be exact.”

“You would think so.” I managed to muster a faint smile. “But he won’t hurt me. I’ve gotten to know him a little. He’s not like that.”

“Okay, so he’s not going to hurt you,” Daisy said, “but the rest doesn’t make any sense. How does he go from unattainable lady killer to someone who forces a girl he doesn’t even know to marry him?”

I had the same nagging question in my mind.

“No offence, Birdie,” Daisy continued, “but Troy Brennan has one of the hottest asses in Boston. They say he’s a beast in bed, and he’s done well for himself financially. Why would he pick you? He could have anyone he wants.”

“Thanks.” Leave it to a friend to tell you the truth.

“I still say you should be scared,” Lucy argued.

My head felt like it was ten times heavier than it was when I first arrived. It was bad enough to deal with what Troy stirred in my head, what he kindled in my body. And now the Paddy stuff was out in the open. I had so many fires to put out, it felt like my whole life had burst into disastrous flames.

“Look, he is not that bad.” I exhaled, walking again to put some distance between us and Connor. I didn’t want him to listen to this conversation. “And he’s the owner of Rouge Bis. I’m going to start working there next Monday. I’m sure it will all be okay.”

It was anything but.

“Does he not trust you? Is that why you have a bodyguard?” Lucy squinted over her shoulder at Connor.

I shook my head. “I’m allowed to do whatever I want. I think the guard is to keep me safe from all the nice friends he’s collected over the years.” I offered a sad smile.

“Protecting you? That’s actually kind of hot,” Daisy mused. “How’s he in the sack, by the way?”

I sometimes wondered if she knew life wasn’t some big, ongoing sexual joke.

“Daisy!” Lucy swatted her shoulder. “Birdie isn’t going to sleep with him just because her poor excuse of a father sold her to him.”

I felt my skin heat again as I buried my lower face inside my jacket. I enjoyed the night of our date more than I was willing to admit.

Lucy turned to me, her face twisting with dismay. “Jesus Christ. Don’t tell me—”