Page 8 of Twisted Fates
The bar was in a one-story building that looked much like the ones in the town where I grew up in Illinois. Most buildings had been built in the middle of the last century. It looked pretty seedy, but I knew from experience that oftenmeant a fun place to hang out if you had friends with you. Hopefully, he did, and no one would kill us for stepping on their territory.
We walked in and immediately heard someone shout, “Bitch!”
I looked over to see a voluptuous, red-headed diva plow into Damian. “My God, Molly, you’re going to knock me down!” Damian said when the woman let him go.
“I missed your brooding ass way too much,” she said, then grabbed his face and pulled him down before laying a kiss right on his lips.
Okay, I totally misread the signals. I’d thought the guy was as gay as me. When Molly glanced over and saw me, she smiled mischievously. “Well, well, who is this?” Her expression reminded me a lot of Angelina Jolie inMaleficentwhen she said almost the same thing.
“This is my attorney, Owen. Owen, this is my best friend, Molly. She just got back in town from vacation. Apparently, she missed me,” he said chuckling.
Oh, best friend made more sense, provided my gaydar wasn’t broken.
“Attorney? Why do you need an attorney?”
I watched as Damian tried to figure out what to say. “I… I sorta inherited some stuff. It’s a long story,” he said, and I could tell he wanted to leave it at that.
Molly, however, clearly wasn’t one to let things go. She drew us both to the bar, where a group of people ranging from Gothto weird stood. Two men gave me a once-over, then looked at Damian with pure hatred, telling me they were likely exes. What had I gotten into?
“You guys, this is Owen. He’s an attorney,” Molly said and then all but pushed me into a chair and pulled Damian away from the group.
“What kind of attorney?” a woman dressed all in black with various tattoos and piercings asked.
“Um, I work for a small firm, so I don’t have a main focus, but I prefer real estate and corporate work.”
“Are you any good?” she asked, and I laughed.
“I’m great for a newbie,” I responded.
“Seems like destiny has brought you here to me, so here’s my card. I’m looking for someone to help me with my contracts. I’m a singer,” she said.
“Oh, um, I didn’t grab any cards. Can…can I send you an email tomorrow with my information?”
Someone in the group laughed, and I glanced over. “She’d have dumped you if you’d brought cards,” they said when I made eye contact.
The woman beside me all but purred. “I don’t like conventional business tactics. Attorneys brandishing cards is a sure sign they aren’t for me. You, however, seem perfect.”
I swallowed hard, suddenly unsure whether being in the haunted house wasn’t better than being here. I was totally out of my element.
“I’ll be sure to email you as soon as possible.”
She winked at me, then turned and began talking to the others in the group. Luckily, everyone seemed to leave me alone, and when the server came over, I ordered a beer. It’s not like I didn’t like groups. I did, at least groups of people I knew.
I hadn’t anticipated being pulled into a group of people I didn’t know, or I would’ve requested something a bit more neutral. However, if I got a client for the firm, that would definitely work well for me.
Damian and Molly returned shortly, thank goodness, and Damian sat down beside me. “You okay?” he asked quietly.
I nodded. “Yes, um, I might have a new client.”
Damian cocked an eyebrow when he looked at the card in my hand. “Wow, that’s significant,” he said, and the woman, Shadow, whose name was on her card, winked at him.
“Come on, we can sit over there for some privacy,” Damian said, and I waved awkwardly to the group, not knowing how else to exit the weird situation.
When we sat down, Damian explained how Shadow was a famous local singer and that several record labels had been courting her for the past year, but she’d refused all of them. “If she offered you her card, she must really like you.”
I didn’t know how to respond. Honestly, I couldn’t imagine how meeting me for the first time, especially with how awkward the entire thing felt, would make anyone want to work with me.Oh well, I won’t kick a gift horse in the mouth.
“What happened in the house tonight? Is this all real? I mean, cut to the chase, Owen,” Damian said.
