“Why?”

She shrugs, not looking at me again. She reminds me a lot of Amberlyn. They act more like sisters than cousins. They favor each other. “I have no clue.”

I eye her. “Are you lying again?”

She nods with a grin playing on her lush lips. “Sure am.”

Deciding that she is hopeless, I lay some money on the bar and then turn to leave.

“Did you give up on her?”

I pause, looking over my shoulder at her. “What do you mean?”

“On Amberlyn, did you give up because of Casey?”

“It’s only been a day, Fiona. I just hope it doesn’t work out.”

“And then you’ll ask her out?”

I nod, my face warming with color. “That’s my plan.”

She shoots me a wide grin, one that lights up her whole face, as she leans on the bar. “It’s a good plan.”

My mouth pulls up at the side, and I look down at the floor. Somehow, I feel as if she is telling me that things with Casey aren’t going to last, and that alone has me practically skipping out the door to my car.

Back at the distillery, I’m catching up on work when my mother flutters in. I am surprised to see her, but even more so when my sister comes in behind her. Lena is almost as tall as I am, skin and bones, with long, blonde hair and ice blue eyes. She has sharp angles to her face but lush, pink lips that men gawk at. She looks like an ice princess and I used to call her that, until Casey happened. I’ve always felt like what happened was my fault. I was the one that brought Casey around; I was the one that gave him her number when he asked for it. I thought it was innocent. He said he needed help with school. Casey was really bad off in History. He had failed before and had to repeat it, putting him in her class. Lena was a straight A student. I soon learned it was all a lie. He was looking to get in with my sister, to be set for life.

He comes from a poor family. His da ran out on them when he was born and his ma has always been very sick, rendering him to care for her and work two jobs through school. However, he never let that interfere with his life. He always wore a bright smile; he was happy and carefree. He was a great pal, fun to play with out on the pitch, but that all came to a crashing halt when he came in, hands locked with Lena’s, saying he wanted to marry her. She was so young, so innocent, and over the moon in love with the fucker. To this day, I still get so angry that my heart feels as if it will come out of my chest. I sometimes feel that he’s another reason why I withdrew myself from everyone. How can someone claim to be your friend, but then behind your back pursue your baby sister and then rape her? It’s horrifying, and I still can’t believe it happened to her. She is such a beautiful person, inside and out, and despite what happened, she still smiles.

She reminds me a lot of Amberlyn.

Leaning back in my chair, I ask, “Ma, Lena, what brings ye by?”

It isn’t like the distillery is on the way to the kitchen. It’s a good five-minute drive, and they never make their way here. Ma smiles as she comes towards my desk. Something tells me I am not going to like what she is about to say. “We came up to tell you that we are having a White Ball!”

Yup, I don’t fuckin’ like it. Groaning, I say, “For fuck’s sake, why?”

“Declan! Language!” she scolds as Lena giggles.

I roll my eyes. “I’m sorry, Ma, but why? Why do you have to do this?”

“Because we want to! It is set for a month from now on the 19th. Lena is going to help you find a date.”

She claps her hands happily. I make a face as Lena snickers, her eyes gleaming with mischief. “The hell she will. I don’t need help finding someone to come with me, Ma!”

She waves me off, smiling. “Well, in case you do, she said she’d help.”

Lena smiles. “Yeah, Dec, I’m sure one of my friends would love the chance to date the Whiskey Prince.”

Like a child, I stick my tongue out at her and she does it right back, grinning ear to ear. Glaring at her, I say, “Not a hope! I’m well capable of doing that myself!”

“Okay, well good. Tell Kane the same and please make sure you bring someone. Your da is very adamant on seeing you with someone since you’ve been going out so much.”

“Yeah, I guess there is something better than the food at the Céad Míle Fáilte huh, Dec?” Lena teases and I want to tell her to fuck off, but I don’t want to get in trouble with Ma. So with a smile, I say, “Maybe so.”

She laughs as she heads for the door. My ma gives me a tight smile before saying, “Please make sure you bring someone.”

“Ma! I will, sheesh, off with you. I have work to do, and I don’t want to discuss this anymore.”

She rolls her eyes as she turns. “So much like your da, and for all that is good and holy, will you make sure she wears white!”

And then she is gone. I’m glad too, because I was about to be even more of an arse if she wasn’t. God, they drive me up the wall, and I wonder why I was glad to see them. Getting back to work, my mind is clouded with thoughts of Amberlyn. I wonder when a good time would be to ask her about Casey. I hope that, like Fiona implied, things would go south quickly so I can swoop in and really show Amberlyn what a man is. I still worry about her being with him, dating him, but I feel like Fiona has it under control. I want to question her decision to allow her cousin to date a rapist piece of shite, but that is her business, not mine. But the moment he does something wrong to her, it will be my fucking business.

Fuckin’ tool.

When the door opens, I look up to see Kane coming towards me with my bottle of whiskey and two cups. I glance at the clock. It’s nowhere near time for us to be done and while I’m not one to oppose drinking during work hours, but I still have a lot to do.

“Trouble in paradise?” I ask since his face is long too.

He doesn’t answer as he falls in the seat in front of me, pouring us both a shot of whiskey before raising his glass up. I meet his in the middle and then bring the cup to my lips, taking a good, hearty swig of the warm liquor. Letting out a noise of satisfaction, I put down my cup. “What’s up?”

“Don’t get mad, okay?”

I let out a breath, taking another swig before I shake my head. “I hate when you say that because I know I’m going to get mad.”