EighTy six

Chapter fifty five

The thing was, up until Eva, would have. If this conversation were happening, say, five months ago, and Sean was asking me to stop fucking Anna because Billy was interested in her, I probably would have resisted a little—because who really wants to be told what to do?—but really, I would have had no problem in letting him have her. Because what we were doing was just for fun, it wasn’t serious, and it would eventually end. I knew this, even if she didn’t. With Eva, though, it was different.

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that,” I said.

“I heard something interesting about you,” Sean said, completely ignoring what I just said. “I heard that every Wednesday, you go visit yourstep-father, Peter, at that god-awful nursing home he’s spending the rest of his days in since that second stroke did him in.”

“Correct,” I said, wondering who had told him that.

“A lot of people probably think that’s very kind, very compassionate of you to continue to see him.”

I shrugged. “I don’t really care what other people think.”

“You know what I think?”

“What?”

“I think you’re doing it to spite him. I don’t think there’s a single compassionate bone in your body, at least when it comes to that man.”

I held Sean’s gaze, wondering what he was trying to get at. “You’re entitled to think whatever you want.I’m not going to change your mind. You’re not really the sort of person who can be swayed by what others want, anyway.”

“Most people probably don’t know how bad it was between the two of you,” he said. “Did you ever wonder why he suddenly started leaving you alone? That would be the summer of your sophomore year. Do you remember that?”

“Of course I do. It was because he finally realized I was big enough that I could fight back.” I was still kind of scrawny that summer, but I’d shot up in height, and I was doing what I could to build muscle. That summer—and every year after that—Peter had left me alone. Barely even looked at me. I had felt as though I’d achieved some sort ofvictory.

“You might’ve stood more of a chance with him than when you were in sixth grade,” Sean said, “but I remember you at fifteen. You weren’t much. He still would’ve been able to lay you flat on your ass. But he didn’t.”

Sean kept his eyes on me, watching, waiting. I tried to keep my face impassive; I didn’t want to give him the satisfaction, as it slowly dawned on me what he was saying.

“So what did you do?” I asked. “Tell him you were going to kill him if he didn’t leave me alone?”

“Oh, we weren’t going to kill him,” Sean said. “But we were at least going to match him up with someone so it would’ve been a more fair fight. And he backed down immediately. It probably didn’t seem that way to you at the time, but Peter wasn’t a hard guy, and he didn’t want to be on the receiving end of anything violent. One of those guys that could dish it out but couldn’t take it. And do you know how I knew this was going on? Billy.”

“I see.” I shifted in my seat and leaned forward, resting my elbows on the table. “So now you think I owe you some debt because you did something for me—when I didn’t even realize it—and now you’re calling it in. Is that what this is?”

“If that’s how you want to look at it. Come on, Ian. You know as well as I do that you could get any woman you wanted. Walk out of here and you probably wouldn’t even make it aroundthe block without catching at least three ladies’ eyes. It’s a gift that you were born with. Unfortunately, good looks is one of those impermanent gifts, but no one would argue with the fact that you’ve been taking advantage of this gift while you still have it. So keep on doing what you’ve always done, give my son a chance at this girl he’s so interested in, and everyone will be happy.”

“I won’t be,” I said. “Because she’s not just some girl that I want to use and get rid of. And you do realize she works for me. You know, so I see her pretty much every day.”

“I trust that you’ll be able to find something else to occupy your attention. Or—fire her. It wouldn’t be the first time.”How did he know all this shit? It was a little disconcerting. Then again, I knew that Sean had people all over the city—all over the world, probably. He had connections. He had ways of finding things out.

“What if I refuse?” I asked.

“You won’t,” he said, giving me a level look.

And he was right—I wouldn’t refuse him. I couldn’t. It would be one thing to lose Martin Harris as a client, but it would be another thing altogether to lose Seamus. To lose both would basically be the end of the company, and I had a sneaking feeling that Seamus would have the ability to get Martin to walk if he did. And if I refused, it wouldn’t surprise me if badthings started happening to people that I cared about.

“Billy isn’t going to find this at all shameful?” I said. “That his father has to go around setting things up for him?”

Sean ignored the question. “Life has a funny way of working out,” he said. “Things that seem like a big deal at the time will often be looked back upon in the future, and you’ll realize that it wasn’t nearly as problematic as you felt like it was.”

I tried not to roll my eyes. “That’s very philosophical of you. Maybe that’s what I’ll tell Eva when I have to break up with her.”

“Break-ups are never fun. But I have no doubt that you’ll be able tothink of something to tell her that will be satisfactory. Now really, why don’t you help yourself to a few of these egg rolls? They’re delicious.”

“I’m all set,” I said. “If that’s all you wanted to talk about, then I better get going.”

“That’s it. Thank you for meeting with me. It’s been a while since I’ve seen you. Though I do plan to make an appearance when our friend from Dubai is back in town, so maybe I’ll see you again. Take care, Luke.”

“Yeah, you too.”

I left him there to eat those fucking egg rolls and feel self-satisfied that he could now add professional matchmaker to his resume. Fuck him! I was seething as I walked back toward my car, but there was nothing I could do about it. And fuck him for only now telling me about that shit with Peter. I wanted to think that he was lying, but I knew he wasn’t.

Now all I had to do was figure out what the hell I was going to tell Eva.