I dropped down onto the couch next to her and took a large gulp of my screwdriver.
“Can we just make out instead?” I asked.
“Not a single lip until you tell me,” she responded bluntly.
Well, damn.
“My uncle owns Silver Springs Hotels,” I finally said.
“The entire chain?” Tria asked with surprise. “They’re all over the place.”
“A hundred and fifty or so in the States, yes,” I told her. “There are a couple dozen outside the US, too.”
“So, he’s rich.”
“Without a doubt.”
“What’s with the earrings?” she asked. “I thought you just wore them to look cool.”
“Are you saying they don’t look cool?” I smirked at her, and she blushed. “I bet they make you hot, don’t they?”
“I’m not going to dignify that with an answer,” Tria said all haughty.
“You don’t have to,” I responded, “I can just tell.”
She snickered and then pondered for a minute.
“Wouldn’t he…you know…give you a job? I mean, if he’ll give you a suite for the night, he’d give you a job, too, wouldn’t he?”
“Yeah.” I shrugged and downed the rest of the bottle. I dropped it on the dark-stained coffee table, careful to avoid the coaster because I felt like being an asshole. “He’s offered.”
“Liam!” she exclaimed. “Don’t you realize what that means? You wouldn’t have to live like that anymore!”
“Like what?” I asked, knowing full well what she meant. I was baiting her, and I didn’t care. It was better she understood this now.
For a moment, she just stared at me.
“Like in that horrible neighborhood,” she finally said. Her face was tight, and her eyes narrowed at me. “You wouldn’t have to let people beat you up for cash.”
“They don’t beat me up.”
She reached over and touched the spot over my eye that still held stitches.
“Really?”
“It’s nothing,” I responded. I pulled back a little.
“You could live better,” she emphasized.
“I don’t care about any of that, Tria,” I informed her. “I’ve been there and done that, and I can tell you right now, it doesn’t mean shit.”
There was a long pause as I stared out the window and wondered who would be the most pissed off if I smoked in the room. There was a nice, big balcony—maybe I’d just go out there.
“What happened to you?” Tria asked quietly.
“Nothing,” I said automatically.
“Bullshit.”