Chapter Twelve
Daisy
After work, I met up with Caroline for a drink.
“You won’t believe it,” I said, “but that red-haired guy that we see here sometimes is a client of Ian’s. He came into the office today.”
“He’s hot,” Caroline said. She leaned toward me. “You know whose son he is though, don’t you?”
“Son? No, I don’t.”
“Seamus McAllister. He’s basically the head of the Irish mafia. Well, it’s not really the mafia, but it’s kind of like that.”
I gave her a skeptical look. “How do you know?”
“I don’t know; it’s one of those things that I thought everyone just kind of knew.”
“I certainly didn’t know that. And why would someone from the mafia need security services?”
“It’s not really the mafia. But it’s like it.” Caroline’s eyes shifted past me toward the door. “And speak of the devil,” she said.
I turned and looked over my shoulder. Billy had just breezed in, and it was like he had a homing device or something, the way he looked right over at me, even though we were toward the back.
“Oh crap,” I said. “He’s coming over.”
“Of course he is.”
“I was hoping you might be here,” he said when he reached our table. “Mind if I join you?”
Caroline shot me a glance; she was going to leave this one up to me. “No, that’s fine.” He plopped down at the table; one of the waitresses was already coming over with a black and tan for him.
“Daisy,” he said. He had blue eyes with a mischievous glint in them, and short, rust-colored hair. His skin was pale, lightly freckled. “You know, it’s funny that I ran into you like that at Ruby’s.”
“Ruby?”
“Roubideaux. Ruby. It’s nicer than calling him Dodo. It’s a term of endearment, really. But yeah—fancy meeting you there! And now here. Because I’ve actually had my eye on you for quite some time.”
Caroline cleared her throat.
“I’m being rude.” Billy held his hand out. “Billy McAllister,” he said to her. “And you are?”
“Caroline. Daisy’s best friend.”
“Ah,” he said. “A best friend. That’s good. Ruby and I used to be best friends.” He looked at me. “I don’t know if he ever mentioned that to you.”
“No, he didn’t.”
“I’m not surprised. He doesn’t really like to talk about his past much, if you haven’t been able to figure that out for yourself. Me, though. I’m all about reliving the good old days.” He smiled. “You two barely look old enough to have had any good old days.”
“We’re old enough,” Caroline said. Billy laughed.
“I like this one,” he said, patting her on the shoulder. “Can I buy you ladies a round of drinks?”
Caro looked at me. “Sure, why not,” I said.
“Great. Much obliged.”
He signaled to one of the waitresses, and she returned a minute later with three bottles of Beamish.
She brought them over and Billy gave her a grin. “I’ve got two lovely ladies tonight,” he said.
“Good for you, Billy.” We all laughed, and he held his beer up and we clinked them together.
While we drank our beers, he told us a story about a famous actor who had come to one of his father’s poker clubs.
“This guy,” he said. “You all know him. You’ve probably swooned over him, got his posters hanging on the wall in your bedroom.”
“Yeah right,” Caroline said, rolling her eyes. “We’re not in high school.”
“Well, either way. You know this guy. I know this guy. The whole fuckin world knows this guy, and he shows up at my dad’s club, a hundred grand that he thinks he’s going to triple by the end of the night. Ambitious guy. Now, I usually don’t play, but that night I couldn’t resist. I’m not the best poker player, but our A-list actor, by this point, he’d had a few drinks, was feeling a little cocky, and went all in and lost to my pair of aces.”
“Who was the guy?” Caroline asked.
“Yeah!” I said. “Who was he?”
Billy shook his head. “That, my lovelies, I can’t tell you.”
“Pictures or it didn’t happen.”
He grinned. “Not going to fall for that. You’re just going to have to take my word for it.”
Billy was funny and easy to talk to. He wasn’t someone that I’d go out on a date with, but he was definitely a lot of fun to hang around.