Bratva Beast: A Dark Romance

Or working with one.

“You watching anything good lately? You’re always watching good stuff. Like documentaries and shit.” Cath giggled a little and took a long swig of her beer. “Like that one about those whales, what was it called?”

“Blackfish,” I said, watching Tully. “Horrible stuff.”

“Fuck SeaWorld,” Cath said firmly.

“Did you just say, ‘Fuck SeaWorld?’” Imogen asked.

“Yeah, I did, seriously, fuck SeaWorld.”

“What’d SeaWorld ever do to you?” Imogen leaned closer, glaring. “I like fish and shit.”

“You ever see that movie Blackfish? They captured these like killer whales or whatever and kept them in this tank and it made them go crazy. And now all the killer whales in captivity are like psychos that want to murder people and shit, and they have these terrible abusive lives, and—”

“Okay, okay, geez, I get it.” Imogen grinned at me and rolled her eyes. “Every time she watches shit like that, she’s talking about it for months. Please don’t give her anything else.”

“You see Tiger King yet?” I asked, leaning close to Cath.

Her eyes lit up. “Tigers? Nah, I haven’t seen it.”

“It’s on Netflix. If you don’t have a password, you can use mine.”

Imogen sighed and rolled her eyes. “Great, now I gotta hear about tigers for the next month. Thanks, Fi, I can always count on you to roll up and ruin my life.”

I laughed and winked at her. “You love it though. I’m charming.”

“Pain in the ass, more like.” Imogen stood up. “Come to the bathroom with me, Cath. I’m gonna try to convince you to watch Vanderpump Rules instead.”

“I’m not going to,” Cath said, sing-song and grinning, and the two girls took off. Donal and Shannon were still at the bar, leaning close to each other.

Fiona watched them with a frown then shifted over to Ferris. “Hey, when did that start?” She nodded toward Donal and Shannon.

He frowned and shrugged. “Honestly? Maybe just tonight, I dunno. This is the first I’m seeing it.”

“Good for them, finding true love in all this shit.”

Ferris snorted. “You’re such a cynic, Fi.”

“Didn’t know you even knew that word, Fer.”

“We’re not all morons, despite what you might think.” He stood up and stretched. “Gonna get another drink and spy on those two. Tull, you need?”

“No, thanks. I’m good.”

Ferris shrugged and walked off, leaving me alone with Tully. I moved closer to him and leaned across the table. “How’s it going?”

“Fine.” He didn’t look at me.

“You still mad about the other day?”

“Yeah, Fiona, what do you want me to say? That you pressured me into some shit?”

“I’m sorry. It was really helpful though.”

“Whatever. Why’d you even come tonight?”

I chewed on my lip, considering. “I wanted to ask you something.”

“I’m not telling you anything else.” He glared at her.

“Just one thing. I just need to know how many guys are going to be at that drop.”

“God damn it, Fi. No way in hell. Even if I knew, I wouldn’t say.”

“Don’t be like that, Tull. You know how this has to go.”

“Screw it.” He slammed his palms on the table. “I’m sick of you, okay? Always looking down on us like just because you’re not working corner, you’re somehow better than everyone. But you know what? You’re just a fucking bartender.” He threw back his beer, chugged it down, and slammed the empty mug onto the table. “So you live on your own, good for you. Doesn’t mean you have to be a dick.”

His words hurt more than I thought they would. I leaned back, staring at him, not sure what to say when Donal and Shannon came back. She hung on his arm, her cheeks bright pink and her eyes shining.

“What’s this all about then?” Donal asked, looking between me and Tully. “What’d you do, Tull?”

“Not me,” Tully said, standing. “She’s the one being an uppity bitch. You said so yourself last night.”

Donal grimaced. “Come on, man, you don’t gotta—”

“It’s fine,” I said quickly. “I can be an uppity bitch sometimes. Honestly, I get it. I don’t come around much.”

“We just wish you would hang out, that’s all,” Shannon said, looking awkward.

Tully stormed around the table. “I’m out of here.”

“Tull,” Donal said, but I quickly got to my feet.

“I’ll talk to him. Really, it’s my fault. We had an argument about something the other day and he’s not over it.”

Donal’s eyes were shrewd as he nodded at me. “Go on then, uppity bitch.” He smirked slightly, and I couldn’t tell if he was joking or what.

I didn’t stick around to find out. I hated the way they thought of me and hated that I could see myself in all their accusations. I held myself away from the family for a reason—there was too much pain and suffering, and I couldn’t sit around and watch these guys get themselves killed.

To them though, I probably did seem selfish and arrogant.

I caught up with Tully outside the bar. He tried to light a cigarette and cursed as the lighter clicked over and over.