Her Secrets

36

Several minutes later, Antonio came back holding two glasses of champagne. He handed one to me then the other one to Sean. We drank, exchanged a few words then Antonio walked away to talk to someone who called him.

I was left alone with Sean in an uncomfortable silence.

I began thinking of the dream again. Why did my life have to suck this much?

"You're being quiet." Sean spoke up making me glance at him as he continued, "why are you being quiet? Did something happen?"

"No," I was quick to say, "no, nothing happened. Why would you think that? Everything is completely totally incredibly very fine."

"Okay..." he drawled out, shooting me a look of confusion. I nodded, exhaling, "yep. Everything's fine."

"That's good—" he paused, "I have to go talk to someone. I'll be right back." I gave him a nod in response and watched his retreating figure as he went to talk to Alessio.

I released a breath I didn't know I was holding.

The scenes of that dream replayed in my mind on repeat making me grit my teeth together. I walked towards the small bar which I had no idea why it was there considering it was a kid's birthday.

"Give me something high?" I asked the bartender who shot me a confused look, raising his brows, "what?"

"I asked whether I could have something high." I repeated, confused at the man's question. He let out a chuckle, pushing the strands of his blond hair which fell on his forehead away as he stared at me with amusement filled in his eyes, "you do know that this is a child's birthday party, right?"

"Yeah. But this is a bar—" I furrowed my brows, "is it not?"

He nodded, "yes but we don't have anything high considering the fact that this is a kid's birthday party. You can have juice or champagne, not vodka or whatever."

"I see," I mumbled, leaning my elbows on the bar, sighing while the guy stared at me, looking highly amused.

"Why do you wanna get high anyway?" He questioned, tilting his head to the side, looking highly amused, "have you tried the cake? It's delicious!"

"Wait, you ate the cake?" I asked, "don't you, like work here? I mean, you're the bartender..."

"I may or may not have told one of the kids to grab me a piece." He admitted sheepishly. "So, did you?"

"No I haven't," I responded, shaking my head, "I'm not in the mood for cake."

"That's alright," he chuckled, "so why do you want something high?"

"Because," I groaned, "there's something on my mind which I want to get rid of but I'm unable to, you know?"

His mouth formed an 'O' before he nodded his head in understanding, "yeah, yeah, I know that feeling all too well. But trust me, drinking isn't gonna help, it's only a temporary fix. I would know. Or it can also worsen the thing. You know, the drunk mind speaks the sober heart or whatever shit it is that they say."

"Here," a guy came and stood beside me, placing an empty tray on the bar beside me as he looked at the bartender, "fill this up, Carter."

Carter placed empty glasses on the tray before filling them up with champagne one by one. The guy nodded at him and held the tray carefully as he walked away to serve the guests.

"So, Carter," I shot him a smile which he instantly returned, "how old are you?"

He took another empty glass from under the counter and filled it with champagne, pushing it towards me when done, "twenty one. Here, drink up."

Wrapping my fingers around the thin glass, I brought it to my lips and gulped down the entire content while he asked, "since you know my name and age, what's yours?"

"Athena," I replied, putting the glass back on the table, "twenty."

"Athena as in Athena Greene?" He raised his brows. I nodded, narrowing my eyes in curiosity and confusion, "how do you know?"

"Let's just say that I work for your boyfriend," he shrugged, pouring himself a drink. Was he even allowed to do that? As if reading my thoughts, he looked up and flashed me a grin, "I don't work here. I just came for fun."

"Wait, you work for Sean?" I asked with my brows raised. He gave me a nod in response, "yep."

"Well what exactly are you doing here then?"

"I came here because I can," He laughed, pouring himself yet another glass, "and also because Sean asked me to."

"Why did he ask you to?" I questioned curiously. Why would Sean want this guy here? Carter was silent for a while before he finally decided to give me an answer, "it's some sort of agreement between him, Enzo and Alessio. They ensure that they have men from the three mafias everywhere and since they don't really trust the others, they choose their second in command to play the—" he pointed to the bar, "typical bartender or just someone nobody would suspect, really— just in case someone decides it would be a good idea to just pull out a gun after having neutralised the stupid guards."

What kind of idea was that?

Why did I feel like he was lying?

"So you're the second in command of the American Mafia?" I asked the guy who shot me a nod, "yep. Carter Grey at your service. So, should I start calling you lady boss since you know, you're dating boss and all that?"

"No," I replied just as my eyes caught sight of Azalea making her way towards me.