As I awoke, the vicious and unrelenting pounding inside my head quickly reminded me of my error in drinking too much. Cain had never allowed me to truly kick back and enjoy the feel of getting drunk before. He said sloppy drunks made for sloppy whores.
Waking up with one of the few hangovers I’d ever had almost made me thank Cain for the one small thing he’d ever done to protect me.
But then I remembered how much I despised him, and slowly, as I showered and got dressed and headed out to the kitchen to find something to settle my stomach, the memories of the talking I had done last night entered my mind.
Shame at how callously I had spoken of the things I did under Cain’s control filled my already queasy stomach. It was no wonder I hadn’t heard from Ryker that morning.
A small part of me had hoped that I’d wake up enclosed in his strong, muscled arms, but that was stupid. No way would he want to be with me after I’d spewed all my verbal vomit.
“Good morning.”
I snapped my head to Olivia as she practically waltzed into the kitchen behind me.
I took in her bedraggled hair and sleepy eyes and smiled. “Looks like you had a good night.”
Her cheeks blushed as she reached for the coffee pot. “It was an early morning before Daemon and the men left.”
I cleared my throat. “Left?”
She turned to me, her head cocked to the side slightly. She took her first drink of coffee, sipping it slowly. “You seemed surprised.”
“I…” I turned to the eggs, cracking them into a bowl. “Where’d they go?”
“You can’t think you could tell Ryker everything you did last night and he wouldn’t handle it immediately, do you?”
What? My eyebrows drew together and I paused on whipping the eggs. “Tell him what?”
“You don’t remember?” She smiled and then laughed. “You told Ryker about Cain’s brother on a lake or something,” she paused to wave her hand dismissively, “I don’t know, Daemon tells me little, but he said they were riding out early this morning to go see him.”
My throat went dry as I stared open-mouthed at Olivia. “I told them… about Nathan?” The kitchen tipped and tilted on its axis as I realized what I had done. “And they went to see him?”
“Yes…” Faith said, slowly. She closed the space between us and took the bowl of raw eggs out of my hands. “Sit down and tell me why knowing that makes you look like you want to puke.”
“It doesn’t,” I insisted. “It’s just… Nathan’s innocent in all of this, and I can only imagine what Ryker would do to him.”
I listened to the frying pan sizzle and spit as Faith poured the eggs into it. She was silent for a moment before she turned to me, her hip propped on the counter next to the stove top. “He’ll kill Nathan if he doesn’t get the information he wants from him. You know this and yet act like it surprises you.”
I examined Olivia and the truth she spoke. I remembered the way she looked, so innocent and sad, when we met for lunch for the first time in five years a couple of months ago.
“You’re different,” I told her.
She nodded and checked the eggs. “I suppose when you remember who you are and the weight of trying to be someone different is lifted, you tend to change.”
I stared at the girl who was two years younger than me, but suddenly seemed so much wiser and older. Two months ago she’d snuck her way into Penny’s Boarding house, begging for my help, and I hadn’t been able to turn her away then. Now, I knew that I would do anything to repair my friendship with Olivia Masters if only so I could have one good thing to hold on to once again.
“Who did you remember you are?” I asked, filling my own coffee mug and dumping in a spoonful of sugar.
I returned to the kitchen counter as Olivia plated up eggs and toast for us, a bottle of hot sauce included. My favorite.
She grinned at me, showing a full mouth of sparkly white teeth. She seemed so happy her eyes might have actually sparkled. “The Princess of the Nordic Lords…” She raised an eyebrow, half in jest and half in reminding me of my own club heritage. “Don’t you know who you are?”
Princess. I hadn’t felt like a princess since I was eighteen years old and fell in love with Ryker. I doubted I would ever feel like a princess again.
I shook my head. “I’m happy for you, Liv.”
“I’m happy for me, too.” She pointed a fork full of eggs at me. “I’ll be happier when you’re happy again, too.”
I rolled my eyes, but somehow, her lightheartedness and kindness infused the space between us.
“Do you know what we need?”
I raised my eyes to Liv’s. She looked full of mischievous plotting. It wouldn’t be good for me. “What?”
“A girl’s night.”
“You’re kidding.”
“Come on,” she said, planting her hands to the kitchen counter before pushing off and began cleaning up the plates. “Me, you, and Jules need a night out at The Tavern. We’ll get drunk, we’ll dance on bars—”
“Please tell me you’ll do this while taking off your bras and getting naked.”
We snapped our heads to the male intruder. Liv immediately grinned at Finn as he stood in the doorway, encompassing the space with his large chest and angrily inked forearm. He smiled, something I learned he didn’t do often. That, along with talking.
Liv pointed a finger at him. “That would drive Daemon crazy and probably get me on lockdown for a month.”
Finn pushed off the doorway and helped himself to the leftover eggs. “Probably why you’d do it,” he said, his mouth full of eggs that he ate directly from the pan with his fingers.
I watched their flippant conversation in envy. Liv had only been back in the club for less than two months, and yet seeing her in the space we had both occupied so freely as children and teenagers, she was the only one of us who looked like we still belonged.
“I don’t drive Daemon crazy,” Liv demanded. Then she crossed her arms and made a funny face. “At least not intentionally.” She shrugged over Finn’s smirk and turned back to me. “Come on. We’ll have to take guards—probably that lug.” She pointed to Finn who grunted. “And I can’t imagine Ryker won’t be there, too. But it’ll be fun and I really think you need to kick back and have some fun.”
“If the fun you’re intending is going to leave me with a hangover like I have today then I’m going to pass.”
“Gin.”
“What?” I dragged my confused face to her smiling one.
“Gin. It doesn’t give nearly the wicked hangover as all that yeast-filled beer does.”
I knew the look she had. I knew that look like I knew her when we were kids. Her grin and her clasped hands told me I was going whether or not I wanted to.
She squealed and threw herself into my arms when I finally agreed.