Playing with Piper (Menage MfM Romance Novel) (Playing for Love Book 3) (14 page)

“
P
iper
,” Gabriella’s voice sounds from the monitor. “Spill.”

While I’ve been busy with the changes at my restaurant, Gabby’s been making some changes of her own. She’s in a relationship now. She moved to Atlantic City a month ago, which is why she’s on Skype, not here in person. Though I miss my friend, I’m really happy for Gabriella. She reunited with the two guys she had a one-night stand with. She’s got her own mini-family now, complete with two boyfriends and a new nephew, an adorable toddler called Noah.

Unfortunately, Skype or not, Gabby always has an eagle-eye. “I don’t know what you are talking about.” It’s a weak answer. The truth of the matter is, I’m not looking to keep last night a secret. My girlfriends are good at advice, and I need it.

“Piper,” she warns me. “There are consequences to keeping secrets from your best friends.”

“Shot, shot, shot,” chant the others. I smile inwardly as I remember the night Owen, Wyatt, and I sat around a table at
Aladdin’s Lamp
and had a drink. That was the moment everything had changed. I take a shot of vodka, coughing from the burn of the alcohol as it flows down my throat. “We miss you, Gabby,” I tell her. “There are no sandwiches.”

“I’ll be in Manhattan in two weeks,” she promises us. “Dominic has some kind of work thing, and we are all coming down for the week. I’ll bring sandwiches then. And Piper?” She gives me a dirty look. “I know an attempt to change the topic when I hear it.”

“Okay.” It’s confession time. “I may have been inspired by you and Bailey, and done something stupid.”

“Wait a second,” Wendy leans forward, her mouth open. “You jumped on the ménage wagon?”

“I didn’t go all the way.” God, that sounds lame, not to mention I’m bending the truth a little. I’ve decided that in a ménage, going all the way is anal sex. That’s my position and I’m sticking to it.

“Who with?” Miki, who’s also Skyping in, looks absolutely fascinated. “Anyone we know?”

Oh God, can this be any more embarrassing? Bailey, who knows who the guilty parties are, grins in her corner, but lets me flounder. “Sort of,” I whisper, mortified. “It’s Wyatt and Owen.”

Gabby bursts out laughing. Bailey’s grin widens into a smirk, and Miki chuckles. Damn it. I try to change the subject by asking Gabby about her new relationship, but she doesn’t let me off the hook. “No, no,” she says. “I move to Atlantic City and all of a sudden, you’re getting crazy and adventurous? How did this happen?”

“I am being crazy, aren’t I?” I wince as I sip at my drink. “What was I thinking?”

Miki frowns in puzzlement. “Why are you crazy? Because you were in a threesome? Two of your best friends are in ménage relationships. You’re not going to get a lot of judgment in this room over that.”

“Not in this room. But my parents will absolutely lose their minds.”

Wendy makes a face. “It seems to me, Piper,” she says, “that your parents disapprove of everything you do anyway. So they’ll have another thing to add to the list. So what?”

That’s true. My mother wants me to move back home, get married, and launch into the business of being a society wife. She’ll go ballistic if she finds out about Wyatt and Owen, but it’s not as if I’m basking in the glow of parental approval right now.

I still quail at the thought of telling them.

“The timing isn’t great.” I lift my chin up. “The first
Can You Take The Heat?
round is this week. Shouldn’t that be my focus?”

Bailey speaks up. “Life isn’t perfect, Piper,” she says gently. “It isn’t a to-do list where you check off one item, then move on to another. I was really busy when I met Daniel and Sebastian. You just make it work.”

“That’s the way I’ve always lived my life,” I reply.

“And have you been happy?” Bailey asks pointedly.

For the last six years, I’ve been alone. I can’t lie; it’s been tough. I think back to the way Wyatt and Owen insisted on accompanying me to the accountant this morning, the way they’d calmed me down when I was almost overwhelmed with nerves. “It’s nice to have someone to share stuff with,” I admit.

Katie gets up to refill our glasses and empty a fresh packet of potato chips into the bowl in the center. Jasper, who thinks he’s getting fed every time someone goes into the kitchen, looks up hopefully and goes back to sleep when he realizes that fish isn’t on offer.

“Talking about the contest,” she says, “we’re all coming to dinner to
Piper’s
on Thursday. Adam and I, Bailey, Sebastian, Daniel and Wendy. I made reservations yesterday.”

“You are?” I grin delightedly at Katie, warmed by the gesture of support. “All of you? Including Sebastian Ardalan? I don’t know if I’m thrilled or intimidated.”

“Be thrilled,” Bailey advises. “Sebastian is just a guy, though admittedly, a very hot one.” Her smile turns fond. “If you see him bumping into furniture in the morning because he hasn't had a cup of coffee, you’ll never be intimidated by him again.”

Katie chuckles. “Adam’s the same way. He’s completely helpless in the morning. Incidentally,” she turns to me, “the woman who took my details was a bit of a hot mess.”

“Kimmie,” I groan. “I know. We’re trying to hire someone to act as hostess, but it’s been difficult. I can’t afford to pay very much, and Owen and Wyatt are being very particular. It’s insane. We have someone filling in this weekend, but we need a long-term solution.”

“You’ll figure it out.” Wendy’s voice is confident. “You don’t give yourself enough credit, Piper.”

My thoughts return to last night, and I decide to confide my worries in my friends. “There’s something else.” My cheeks heat and I keep my gaze fixed on my drink. “Wyatt and Owen asked me out again.”

Gabby punches her fist in the air in celebration. “That’s awesome. You do like them, don’t you?”

“I do, but I don’t have a lot of experience, and I’m afraid they’re going to get bored of me. They probably think I’m a prude.”

“You’re definitely not a prude,” Bailey says, her voice emphatic. “Like Miki said, two of your friends are in ménage relationships, and you’ve been nothing other than supportive.”

Gabby shrugs. “So fix it.” she suggests, her voice unconcerned. “If they think you’re uptight, do something that will prove them wrong.”

Hmm. That makes sense. The beginnings of an idea start to form in my mind, and I can’t hold back my smile. I’m going to give Owen and Wyatt one heck of a surprise.

S
eamus Cassidy had ordered
the hit on my family to make us an example of what happened when people opposed the mob. I still had a death sentence on my head, but my troubles paled in significance when compared to my uncle.

After the murder of my parents and my sister, Patrick Sarsfield had gone to the cops in Dublin and he’d told them everything he knew. He named names. He provided details of crimes, and more importantly, he had evidence that could be used to jail the ringleaders for life. Almost ill with grief at his failure to keep his sister’s family safe, he walked into the line of fire.

In return for our troubles, the police had put us in witness protection. For me, they arranged for a foster family in New York. A cop called Eduardo Mendez and his wife, Nina would take care of me until my eighteenth birthday.

For Patrick Sarsfield, they needed to do more. My uncle’s testimony was responsible for convicting six of the Westies’ most senior leaders. His life was in acute danger. In order to protect him, the two of us were separated and we were ordered never to communicate with each other.

I’ve obeyed that order for seventeen years. For seventeen years, Mendez, the man who was supposed to protect me has used me as a pawn in his schemes. In the years when we don’t talk, my life flourishes. Whenever he re-enters my life, he sucks me in, and my hard-won peace of mind disappears.

I want Piper to win
Can You Take The Heat?.
I want more nights with her. This morning, when Wyatt had asked me if I was ready to walk away, I’d almost said
yes
.

First, I need to know the truth.

It’s three in the morning. In Dublin, it’s eight, and the day has just started. And the woman I need to talk to, Aisling Rahilly, would have arrived at work, a large cup of coffee in her hands.

I dial her number. It’s time to find out where my uncle is. Who better to ask than the woman responsible for his disappearance?

T
he phone rings once
, twice, a third time. Fear skitters down my spine. If Seamus Cassidy is out of jail, then none of the people responsible for putting him there are safe. Not my uncle, not Aisling Rahilly, not me.

I’m about to disconnect the line when she picks up. “Constable Rahilly.”

I exhale in relief. Aisling Rahilly was kind to me during a very difficult time in my life. She’d comforted me as I’d mourned my family. She’d arranged for a way to keep me safe, and she’d done her best to find me a better life.

“It’s Owen Lamb.”

It takes a few minutes for her to recognize my name, then she gasps. “What’s happened?”

The rules are designed for our protection. I’m never supposed to contact Aisling Rahilly. “Is Seamus Cassidy still in jail?”

No one will talk about the Westies. Their trials were behind closed doors. Their sentencing was shrouded in secrecy. Their locations, once they were jailed, was unknown, never revealed to the public.

Just as I feared, her reply is not helpful. “I don’t know.”

My uncle will be able to answer my question. For Patrick Sarsfield, this isn’t a matter of idle curiosity. It’s a matter of life and death. “Then I need to reach Patrick.”

She inhales sharply. “That’s a foolish request.”

“It’s not a request.” My voice is hard. “For seventeen years, I’ve done as I’ve been told. Now I hear that Cassidy might be free, that he might be in New York. I have to know the truth.”

Several moments elapse before she replies. When she breaks the silence, she reels off a phone number. “I hope this isn’t a mistake,” she adds quietly.

I close my eyes in relief. If Constable Rahilly had refused to help, I wouldn’t have known what to do next. “Thank you.”

She clears her throat. “Are you well, Owen?” she asks, a tremble in her voice. “We sent you away from your home when you were just a child. Did we do the right thing? Has life been kind to you?”

I reflect on her words. My friendship with Wyatt has enriched my life and our partnership has made both of us wealthy. And there’s Piper. In her arms, the ghosts are silenced, the past a distant memory.

What would have happened if I’d stayed in Dublin? I’d been heartbroken and angry; reckless in a way only a sixteen year old could be. I’d craved revenge. I would have died before my seventeenth birthday.

I swallow a lump in my throat. At the time, I’d been angry about being sent away, but I realize now that Aisling Rahilly gave me a precious gift. She’d given me a second chance. “Life has been more than kind.”

Once I hang up, I stare at the phone number I’ve scribbled down for a long time. I can’t shake off my premonition of doom. The world I’ve so carefully built will come crumbling down if I dial that number.

You have to know if Cassidy is in New York,
I reason with myself.

I punch in the digits and make the call. There’s no turning back now.