Eighty five

Chapter fifty four

Luke

Eva was already there at the office when I got in the next morning, and just seeing her put a smile on my face.

“Hey there,” I said. There was no one else in the office, so I went over and gave her a kiss, forcing myself to pull away after a moment, even though I would’ve liked to just continue on in the direction that was headed.

“Mmm, hi,” she said. “I was wondering where you were.”

“Am I late?”

“A little. Or no, since you’re the boss, I guess you get to decide when you come in. But Sean Acher has been calling.”

“Oh yeah? And what does he want?”

“He wouldn’t say; he just asked if you’d call him back. Even when I asked him what it was in regards to, he wouldn’t tell me. So you should probably call him back.”

“Sure,” I said. “I’ll do that now.”

I went into my office and called Sean. This was probably about that Ghanizadeh coming back into town or some shit.

“Luke,” Sean said, picking up after the second ring. “Thanks for returning my call. I’d like to meet with you. What is your schedule looking like? Why don’t you meet me for an early lunch.”“Hi, Seamus,” I said. “Early lunch? I haven’t even had breakfast yet. What’s is that you wanted to talk about?”

“I’ll let you know when I see you. That’s the whole reason why I’d like to get together.”

I could tell by his tone there was no way he was going to tell me over the phone and save me the trip, and I also knew that if I didn’t agree to meet with him, he’d keep calling until I did. So I told him my schedule was relatively open today, and we could meet up since he clearly had something of the utmost importance to discuss with me. I hung up the phone, trying to not feel too agitated.

“Everything okay?” Eva asked.

“Just fine,” I said. “I’ve got to leave in a little bit to meet up with Sean. Apparently, he doesn’t want to tell me over the phone what it is, either.”

What the fuck did Sean Acher want to talk about? He rarely ever wanted to talk in person—I couldn’t actually remember the last time that we’d had a face-to-face meeting. That’s what Billy was for—Sean just called the shots and then did who knows what with the rest of his time.

Sean had me meet him in Chinatown, at the restaurant that fronted for his underground poker club. By the time I got there, I had it figured out: Word had gotten out about the shit that went down with Martin, and Seanbwanted to can us. Even though nothing like that had ever happened before, and would not happen again. I would make sure of that.  The air smelled greasy, and there were people sitting at the bar, hunched over bowls of noodles. Sean was sitting at a table by the window, with a plate of egg rolls in front of him.

“Luke.” He gestured to the empty seat across from him. “Have a seat.”

I sat, then rested my hands on my knees. “Hi, Sean,” I said. It had been so long since I’d last seen Sean that I’d almost forgotten what he looked like, though really, he looked like a slightly older, wiser version of Billy. Billy, though, exuded this attitude of merriment, while Sean, undoubtedly, could send off some very heavy don’t-fuck-with-me vibes.“Look, Sean,” I said. “I know why you wanted to meet with me.”

He raised an eyebrow. “You do?”

“Yeah. Which is why I’d like to start the conversation off by saying that it shouldn’t have happened in the first place, and though I’m not trying to make excuses, there’s no direct evidence that it was from our end. There just isn’t. And ultimately, everything worked out, so it’s not like—”

Seamus waved me off. “That’s not what this is about,” he said. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about. It sounds like there was a fuck up. Was there a fuck up? Here, have an egg roll.” He pushed the plate toward me.

“No thanks, I’m good. It’s still alittle early for egg rolls.” I looked at him closely. “Wait—if this isn’t about the thing with Martin, what is this about?”

It was then I realized that this whole time, Sean had been looking rather chagrined. As though this were a conversation that he didn’t actually want to be having.

“You know me, Luke,” he said. “And you know that I’m not generally interested in getting involved with . . . most things. I like the simple life. I like life to uncomplicated. That might be hard to believe considering some of my endeavors; I realize this. Most of which I’m involved in because my father was. So it’s like a legacy. But you probably don’t care to hear about any of that sort of thing. I only bring it up for context.”

“Okay,” I said slowly, completely not following what it was he was trying to say.

“And my son, Billy, though he certainly has his faults—as any man does—has done a surprisingly good job thus far at managing the things that I’ve asked him to, at handling the aspects of my various enterprises that I’d rather not deal with. Because I like the simple life.”

“Right,” I said. “You said that already.”

Sean nodded. “Indulge me a moment. When things are working, I can rest easy, which, at this point in my life, is exactly what I want to do. Things have been in a bit of a disarraythough. Nothing major, which is good. But lately, I have noticed that whenever I see Billy, something seems wrong. At first, I dismissed it, figuring he’d had a bad day, or maybe Mercury was in retrograde, or some other voodoo nonsense like that. But it lingered, which uncommon for Billy. He has a buoyant spirit. That’s how his mother always described him as a child. You remember Imogen?”

“Yes,” I said, vaguely recalling a tall, chestnut-haired woman with a kind smile.

“I always thought of him more as one of those children’s toys that are weighted at the bottom, so no matter what you do to it, it always springs back up. Anyway, after this morose attitude continued for several more days, it finally came out: Billy had found a girl he was interested in.”

I took a deep breath and nodded, suddenly understanding exactly where this conversation was headed.

“And it would seem that at first she showed some interest. But you’re interfering with that.”

“I’d have to respectfully disagree with that,” I said. “While it might be true that Billy likes this girl, she’s also someone that I happen to feel strongly about. I’m not trying to interfere or ruin his life by any means. He really doesn’t factor into this equation.”

“You don’t have any regard for anyone else when it comes to this sort of thing, do you?” Sean asked. “When it comes to women. I know aswell as you do that you could have any woman you wanted. I know that you’ve used that to your advantage on more than one occasion.” He held his hands up. “And I’m not judging you. If I had your looks, I’d do the same thing. Hell, back in the day, I got with more than my fair share of women, and I’m only half as handsome as you are.”

“Stop,” I said. “You’re making me blush.” I did feel better though, now that I knew this was all that Sean had wanted to talk to me about. The whole thing was actually a bit absurd—Billy complaining to his father and putting Sean up to talking to me. What the hell did they think I’d do—tell them I’d just walk away, he could have her?

“Billy and I have always had a very close relationship,” Sean said, as though he could read my mind. “Which, considering some of the relationships I’ve seen between other boys and their father—or step-fathers—I have come to truly appreciate. Though trust me Luke—I normally wouldn’t meddle in this sort of situation at all. Billy’s had girlfriends before, and he’s had relationships end—both by him and by the other party. It happens, it’s part of life. But I have never seen him so enamored with someone, who, according to him and some of the people who have seen them together at Failte, seems to get along with him quite well. And would probably continue to do so if you were not in the picture.”

“So what?” I said. “Are you going toorder a hit on me or something if I don’t break up with Eva?”

“Are you two together?”

“Yes, we are.”

“Would she agree with that statement?”

“I believe so.”

Sean sight. “Billy has never met a girl that he wanted to settle down with. He’s getting older, though. His mother would like grandchildren, because we are getting older as well.”

“Billy barely even knows Eva.”

“And I’m not saying that I think she is necessarily the person that he’s going to end up with. But I’d like him to have the chance, and I don’t think that’s going to happen if you’re around. It’s his birthday soon, youknow.”

“So what—this is your early birthday present to him? A new girlfriend?”

“Come on, Luke. Stop fooling yourself. We both know that she doesn’t really mean anything to you.”

I leaned back in the chair and rubbed my hand across the lower part of my face. It seemed beyond surreal that I was sitting here with Sean Acher, who was asking me to stop seeing Eva so she could get together with his son instead. Was I dreaming? It wouldn’t seem to be so. This was really happening, but why the hell did Sean think I’d ever agree to something like this?