I looked down at my hands. “Am I?”
“Don’t misunderstand me, please. I mean it in a good way. You’ve got more balls on you. More you’re own person.”
“You mean I’m not the quiet, demure little princess anymore.”
He shook his head. “Nah, missus. Ye’ll always be that, but you’re not afraid to show your claws anymore. When you need to. It’ll serve you well.”
I fiddled with the stupid giant crown on my finger that I hadn’t had time to take off before leaving school. “A woman isn’t supposed to see the men’s business, Marco…”
“They’re not...” he agreed, waiting to see if I’d continue.
“And yet I’ve seen more in the last two weeks than in all my years before.”
He nodded slowly. “God’s...a right cocky bastard, that’s for sure.” He scratched his ear. “Way I see it, missus. There comes a point where the women in our world become kind of invisible. It’s ironic really, as to become invisible, ye first have to become special.” He shook his head. “I’m not making any sense.”
Weirdly, he was making a kind of sense. It was a theory I thought I could at least follow the points through to their conclusion.
“Like, the more we’re a part of our man’s life, the more we see?” I clarified. “Except we have to pretend we haven’t, everyone else pretends we haven’t, and we’re not supposed to talk about it?
Marco nodded. “Exactly.”
I sighed. “I don’t think I’ll ever really understand this world, Marco.”
His nod this time was more solemn. “Aye, me mam says much the same.”
I huffed. “And she’s an O’Malley. I’ve got no fucking hope.”
“Would swiping some plastic make you feel better?” Marco asked kindly, indicating the dress.
I looked down at myself and smiled. “Yes. I’ll change, buy this, then how about we grab some dinner?”
“I could eat.”
We dropped my totally unnecessary purchase off at the car, then decided on where to eat. We didn’t go toBieito, though I didn’t doubt they’d find a table for me. Instead, Marco showed me a little burger place where all the boring, normal locals frequented. Everyone there seemed to know him and greeted him with warm smiles, open arms, and free beer.
It was honestly the most normal I’d felt in…forever. This felt like the way life was supposed to be. It’s what all the movies and TV shows said normal life was. Just laughs and greasy food and no one worried about your bank account or what you could do for them or how many carats sat on your finger or strands at your neck.
It was late by the time Marco and I were heading back to the car.
“You still should have let me pay,” I insisted.
“Nonsense,” he replied. “You said you’d pay me with your company. And you did.”
“I’ll not haveyoutreating me like a kept woman as well.”
He laughed. “I wouldn’t fucking dare. Besides, I can claim it as a business expense.”
I froze. He kept walking.
“You claim stuff as a busi–?” My words were cut off with a scream as foreign arms grabbed me from behind.
Fight or flight kicked in and my legs flailed like champions, they just failed to hit anything useful.
Marco was in fight mode within seconds. I saw him turn and size up whoever had me. I saw recognition cross his features.
“You don’t want to be here,” he told them.
“Don’t we?” the guy at my back asked as two more stepped out of the shadows around us.