Page 54 of Twist of Fate
“Oh! Spin the bottle!” Niall shouts from the living room.
Shea whips her head around, a look of horror on her face. “What are you? Twelve?”
“Oh, come on! It’ll be grand!”
Damien approaches the other side of the kitchen counter, an amused expression on his face. “While we don’t have a ‘no fraternization policy’ at O’Connell,” he informs us. Wait, we don’t? That little piece of information shouldn’t make me feel a rush of excitement.No, Ash. He’s still your boss. Still off-limits. Oh, and he’s still a jerk.“Somehow, I think management would frown on the idea of the four of us making out.”
“Yeah, and I have no desire to kiss a guy. Like ever again,” Shea adds.
“Not even me, Shea?” Niall slaps a hand to his chest as if he’s been wounded. “How could you say that?”
Shea smiles, clearly amused by his antics. “It’s like discovering you hate a specific kind of beer. Why would you ever order it again? Gross.”
I snort out a laugh while Torey plants a kiss on Shea’s cheek.
“All right, how about truth or dare?” Niall suggests instead.
“I might be interested in that,” Damien chimes in.
“No dares that involve kissing, though,” Shea adds.
Niall rolls his eyes. “You guys are no fun.” He turns to me because, apparently, Torey doesn’t get a say. She’s just along for the ride.
I let out an exaggerated breath. “Fine.”
Why do I feel like I just made a horrible mistake?
* * *
Finn
I’ve done a lot of stupid shit in my life.
There was that time when Rian and I released a bunch of sheep in Parliament Square at Trinny. Don’t even ask how or where we got the sheep. Or about the kissing booth we set up on St. Patrick’s Day at a local pub, so tourists could go home saying they kissed a real Irishman.
Father was not pleased when that one made the papers.
It was all in good fun when I was at uni, but when I started working for him and continued to pull that shit? That’s when I found myself sitting on a tour bus instead of in the corporate office. His message was clear—stop fucking around, or this was as far as I’d get in the family business.
I’ve been living on the straight and narrow ever since. Every decision I make is made with the best interests of the company. Everything I do is calculated.
Until she came back into my life.
Nothing I do makes sense when it comes to her.
It’s been weeks since Aisling moved in. Weeks since I gave her the key to the flat across the hall, and I made my life a living hell—because that’s what it felt like to have her so close but so far away.
Fucking hell on earth.
It’s past sunset, and the only light illuminating the room comes from the city outside and my laptop screen. I rub my eyes and glance toward the front door of my flat, something I’ve found myself doing often since she moved in, as if I’m constantly being drawn into her orbit.
That, or I’m a fucking stalker. Either, or.
There was a time in my life when I would have loved nothing more than to have Aisling Farrell living close to me. But that was back when the possibility of “what if” still lingered in the air, and I had convinced myself that I really could have it all. Now, all that exists between us is a broken promise and torturous thoughts like “what could have been.”
I glance at the door again and head to the kitchen, picking up the half-empty bottle of whiskey. I pour a glass and gulp it down in one go before pouring another.
I didn’t think it was possible, but I’ve been working even more over the past few weeks in a futile attempt to avoid my new neighbor. I wake up before sunrise so I can sneak out to the office ahead of her. I make sure I’m the last to leave at night, knowing I won’t have to encounter her in the hall or lobby.
