Tiernan: A Dark Irish Mafia Romance

by Henry, Jane

  “Breakfast, love?”

  His hair’s all sticking up crazy.

  “What?” he says, scratching his chest while I laugh.

  “You’re so cute when you first wake up in the morning.”

  “Cute?” He scowls at me.

  “No, not so cute. Cute like a bear that’s been hibernating all winter, then comes out and blinks in the daylight, ready to eat anything he finds.”

  He rolls his eyes but smiles. “We need to meet up with the others.”

  “Aw, no more morning snuggles?”

  “We’ll snuggle later,” he says. “Promise.”

  Today’s a dismal, rainy day, with thick storm clouds making it look like it’s still nighttime. The skies open just as we get to the hall for breakfast.

  “Dammit, you’re soaked,” Tiernan says.

  “How’d I manage to get soaked and you’re nearly fine?” I ask, trying to wring out my hair.

  “Timing,” he says with a chuckle.

  “Tiernan, I was looking for you.” Malachy’s at the head table, buttering a scone. “Can we talk about class today?”

  “Aye.” I join him, but really want to at least wring my hair out a little more.

  “Need to use the restroom, Tiernan.” I say as he sits beside Malachy.

  Tiernan nods and says to Malachy, “We’ll be right back.”

  I shake my head. “Tiernan, I’ll be fine for one little minute without you, especially with your brothers here.”

  But the look on his face brooks no argument. He walks me down the hall to the restroom and waits just outside the door. I feel like I’m on parole or something.

  I do my best to dry off a bit with some paper towels, tipping my head upside down to shake the water out. When I stand, I find myself staring right at the headmaster.

  I jolt. I thought I was alone. And what’s he doing in the women’s loo?

  “Hello,” he says with a smile. “I’m sorry, you were likely looking for the ladies’ room?”

  I look in astonishment at the door. “Oh. Oh, aye,” I say, confused. Did I use the wrong one?

  “Nothing to worry about,” he says. “I’ll be sure no one comes in.”

  “No, that’s quite alright,” I say, flustered. I turn to leave. “Tiernan’s just outside, I’ll just —”

  I feel his hand on my arm, and spin around to look at him. I’m so shocked, I don’t know what to say at first.

  “I… let me go, please.”

  I try to shake him off, but he doesn’t let go. He’s much bigger and stronger than I am, and he’s using the element of surprise to his advantage. Anger surges up in me, hot and furious.

  “If you don’t let me go, I’ll scream for Tiernan.” I’ve got half a mind to do it now, but I’d hate to scare anyone.

  He shakes his head and smiles so benevolently at me that I wonder for a moment if I’m actually the one who’s out of line. “Relax. I’m not going to hurt you.”

  Said the Big Bad Wolf to Little Riding Hood.

  I tug my arm away, and he lets me go. “I was just trying to have a nice conversation is all. I was trying to prevent you from running out of here all scared. Just wanted to lead you to where you wanted to go. There’s no need to be afraid, now.”

  I open my mouth to scream for Tiernan, but the words won’t come out.

  He reaches a hand to me, and I freeze as his fingers stroke my cheek. A chill runs down my spine. “You are awfully lovely,” he says, his voice affected. “And if you’re ever in need of a little adult companionship… I’ve heard you like all kinds.”

  I feel frozen in place but finally get my nerve up, place my hand on his, and shove him away.

  “Don’t ever touch me again.” My head feels warm, and I’m trying to decide what to do. I want to smack him, or shove him away from me, but he’s the headmaster of the McCarthy family school.

  I’m just a prostitute on the run.

  Who would they believe?

  I shove his shoulder, but he doesn’t move.

  The door to the bathroom swings open, and Tiernan stands in the doorway, looking mildly surprised. At first, the headmaster can’t hide his own surprise and fear when Tiernan looks at him, but a moment later he’s got the same placid expression as usual.

  “Looks like your lady friend got lost,” he says with a frown. “I was just showing her the way.” He takes a step back and scowls at me. “You’d better keep an eye on her, Tiernan. She was making some rather unwelcome advances. My wife wouldn’t be pleased.”

  I stand, agape, so shocked I don’t speak at first.

  Tiernan looks from me to him, then back again.

  “So sorry Deacon gave you a bit of trouble as well,” the headmaster says to Tiernan. “He’ll be dealt with.”

  He gives him a tight smile, and the door shuts behind him.

  I look, stricken, at Tiernan, whose gaze is curious and borderline accusatory.

  “What the bloody hell was that?” he asks. “Did he hurt you?”

  I shake my head. I did nothing wrong, my logical brain tells me this. Yet why do I feel guilty?

  I swallow and open my mouth to protest, then shut it again.

  Why would he even believe me?

  “What are you doing in the men’s restroom, Aisling?” Tiernan asks, his brows drawing together over his stern green eyes.

  “I suppose I went into the wrong one,” I say, confused. Did I? Is it possible someone changed it on me? “I didn’t mean to come into the men’s jacks, Tiernan.”

  “And why did you have your hand on him?”

  I feel my jaw slacken even further as I stare.

  “Are you kidding me?”

  He shakes his head, one swift jerk that looks almost painful. “I’m fucking not,” he says, his gaze furious. “You come into the men’s room, and the next thing you know, you’ve got your hands all over the headmaster.”

  I stare.

  What?

  “I did not,” I say, my cheeks flushed. “Tiernan, are you mad? He came after me. He told me if I… he said…” My cheeks flame, my ears are ring. What did he say? I’m so shocked at Tiernan’s accusation I can only stare. I don’t recall at all.

  He blows out a breath. “Let’s go.”

  “No.” I’m angry, now that the initial shock has worn off.

  He turns, glaring, and I should heed the deadliness in his warning tone. “No? Are you really defying me? Now?”

  “Yes, I said no. I won’t go with you, not when you’re a fucking douchebag.”

  His brows snap together. “Who the bloody hell do you think you are?”

  I slap at his chest. “Who do I think I am? Are you out of your mind? I was just approached by your fucking headmaster, who nearly fucking assaulted me, and instead of rescuing me….” My voice catches, “You… accuse me.” I don’t know if I’m more angry or hurt.

  He blows out a breath. “Aisling, I’m sorry. It’s just that…”

  “Just what?” I glare at him. “Say it.”

  He isn’t over the fact that I was one of Vivian’s girls.

  He says he doesn’t care, but look what happened at the first possible opportunity for him to prove his loyalty to me.

  He fucking failed.

  He cares, whether he wants to admit it or not.

  “You think it’s possible I wasn’t innocent,” I say. My voice catches. “I thought you were here to protect me. You had your chance and you fucking blew it.”

  I’m so angry and hurt I don’t know what to say.

  He’s been the one to watch over me, to protect me, and now to have him accuse me of something so dreadful…

  I can’t believe he’s accusing me. Worse yet, I can’t believe he believes it himself.

  I can handle all sorts of criticism and pain. I can handle people hating me or mocking me. But this… this burns.

  “You’re right, Tiernan. The only accident… was us.” I point to him, then to me, and shake my head.

  He reaches for me, but I
shove him away.

  My heart feels as if it bleeds.

  Chapter 15

  Tiernan

  I feel as if someone’s dashed cold water on me.

  I want to believe her. Christ, I have to believe her. But what if she’s telling me a lie? What if she absolutely did hit on him? The idea sickens me.

  I can’t bear a lie, and I hate the idea of Aisling being anything but the woman I’ve come to know and love. One of the things I love best about her is how honest and direct she is. So I’ve come to… expect that she’ll tell me how she really feels, regardless of the circumstances.

  “Let’s go.” My voice is harsher than I intend, and I hate the way she looks at me, betrayal and anger in her eyes. I reach for her hand, but she shoves me away.

  “Don’t touch me.”

  Her eyes are ice-cold, and her body’s tight, like a bowstring ready to snap.

  “Aisling…”

  “No.” Her voice trembles.

  Bloody hell, I’m a fucking twat.

  I don’t trust easily. I never have. It’s hard for me to take what she says at face value, to not question fucking everything. My Clan brothers are the only ones I truly trust, and it’s taken fucking years to get to that place. Years.

  Malachy stands in the hall, scowling down at us.

  “What is it?” he asks.

  “We need to talk.”

  He looks from me to Aisling, then back to me. “In my office.”

  Malachy’s one that I trust. He’s one of us.

  He shuts and locks the door behind us, then looks around his office. He looks under his desk and in his closet.

  “What the hell are you doing?”

  “Looking for bugs.”

  Jesus.

  “Why the hell are you doing that?”

  Aisling blows out a breath. “Because he knows something we don’t.” She mutters something under her breath that sounds like dumbass. I narrow my eyes at her.

  She’s put up her walls again.

  I know how to break them down.

  “Not sure if we’re safe in here,” Malachy says. “Out to the lawn. Let’s take a walk.”

  I reach for Aisling’s hand, but she yanks it away from me. My palm tingles to smack her little arse, but I refrain. I let her go her way.

  We walk on the pathway amid green grass that leads from the hall to the rooms. Malachy speaks in a low tone.

  “Deacon came to me this morning.”

  “The boy?” I whisper.

  One curt nod of his head. “Seems the headmaster put him up to spying on you.”

  Bloody hell. “Did he? What’d he say?”

  “The headmaster said he suspected you weren’t using your real name. Asked Deacon to see if he could find out anything suspicious.”

  Christ.

  “Did he hear anything?”

  Malachy blows out a breath. “Aye. Heard you call her by her given name.”

  Fuck.

  “Anything else?”

  “Aye. The boy said he told the headmaster, under threat of expulsion. Seems he played the heaviest card in the book.”

  “I’ll tell Keenan,” I say. “Keenan will—”

  “Not yet,” Malachy says, holding up a hand. His steel blue eyes swing to mine. “You must be careful, Tiernan. Do you understand? You can’t let that hot head of yours allow for rash moves.”

  Always the fucking sensei.

  “Bloody well told you,” Aisling says between gritted teeth, her nostrils flaring. Malachy’s brows shoot heavenward.

  “Fucking Clifford caught her in the men’s room. Hit on her.”

  “Oh, so now you believe me?” She’s seething.

  “Hush. You’re too loud. I don’t want to be overheard.” She clamps her mouth shut and fumes.

  Malachy looks from me to her, then back to me. “Did he touch her?”

  I look at her, the need to beat Doran Clifford’s arse sudden and vicious. I slice my eyes to her.

  “Did he?”

  She shakes her head. “No.”

  Aisling’s eyes flash, her nostrils flared. “I can’t believe you wouldn’t believe me,” she says. “The headmaster had the fucking bollox to blame me, said I was hitting on him.”

  Malachy rolls his eyes and whispers to me, “You didn’t believe her? Don’t you know what an arse Clifford can be, Tiernan?”

  I grit my teeth. “It’s complicated.”

  “I’ll tell you what’s complicated,” Malachy says. “The headmaster’s spying on you, and she’s supposed to be safe here. Is he in contact with anyone else?”

  “Of course he is.”

  “Take her home, Tiernan. Do it now.”

  I nod. “Aye. I’m on it.”

  We leave Malachy’s office and make it back to the room.

  “Pack your bag.”

  “Fuck you.” Something smacks the back of my head, and I spin to look at her, my temper flaring. Her bag’s hit me smack on the back of the head. Christ.

  “How dare you?” she says, picking up her shoe before she whips it at me. It sails through the air and crashes into a lamp. “You still think of me as a prostitute. Admit it!”

  “Don’t you fucking throw another thing at me. I’ll redden your damn—”

  Her second shoe flies through the air. I duck, and my fighter’s instincts kick in. I pivot, spin, and have her up in my arms before she can run.

  “Let me go!” she howls, smacking at my back but I don’t feel it. I carry her to the bed, toss her belly down, and slam my palm against her arse. I yank down her trousers.

  She howls. “You fucking—”

  I spank her again, not holding back. She arches her back and fights me, but I’m not letting her get away. I spank her again, my bright red handprint blooming on her white skin. Her breath hitches and she damn near chokes, whimpering and out of breath. I spank her again, and again, until her arse is bright red and hot to the touch.

  “I hate you,” she sobs. “I fucking hate you.”

  “You don’t hate me. You hate that we fought. You hate that I was a douchebag. You hate the past that drives a wedge between us and the faults of my fucking past.” I pause, my hand on her lower back, holding her still. “You hate that you’re afraid.”

  My cock is a fucking battering ram, hard as fuck. I pull her trousers down fully, noting the way her arousal glistens on her thighs. She loves being fucking dominated even when I infuriate her. Jesus, we’re made for each other.

  I unfasten my trousers and grab my painfully hard dick.

  She cranes her head to look at me, protesting even as her eyes are half-lidded and her cheeks flushed. “Don’t you fucking—oh!”

  I impale her in one savage thrust.

  The walls of her pussy clench around me, hot and slick and welcome. She braces herself on the bed, gripping the duvet.

  “Tiernan,” she pants, tears flowing freely down her face. She isn’t trying to get away now but pushing herself back against me, her heated skin against mine.

  I slap her arse again.

  “We need to talk,” I say through gritted teeth before I give her another searing spank. “And we’ll talk with your pussy hugging my cock and my palm against your arse whether you like it or not.”

  “You fucking twat!”

  I spank her again, my cock throbbing when my palm connects with her naked skin.

  “Jesus,” she whimpers, and she collapses on the bed.

  “Let it go,” I whisper as she finally gives into me. “That’s the girl I know.”

  That’s the girl I love.

  I thrust in and out, my need ramping up with every stroke of my cock in her hot, tight cunt. She grips the bed, white-knuckled, as I fist her hair and shove in and out. Owning her. Branding her.

  “You’ll listen to me now, won’t you, Ais? Or do you need my belt against your arse?”

  “Jesus Christ,” she groans. Her cheeks are flushed. “You’re a monster.”

  “Aye, lass,” I say, not bothering
to deny it. “But this monster will fucking slay your demons.”

  She whimpers and rolls her hips as I slam in and out. I draw my cock to nearly out of her, and she arches her back for more. I spank her again, a hard smack where the curve of her arse meets her thighs, and my cock throbs. Again and again I thrust, relishing every moan and little scream she emits.

  “Don’t you come,” I order. “You’ll fucking come when I allow you.”

  “You’re maddening!”

  “Aye,” I say with a dark chuckle. “As are you. Fucking match made in heaven, I’d say.”

  She whimpers as my need ramps higher. I’m on the cusp of release, and I know she is, too.

  “Will you behave yourself?”

  “Aye,” she says. She’ll say fucking anything now.

  “Will you listen to me and not hide?”

  “Ayyyyeee,” she moans, her eyes shut tight.

  Thrust.

  “Will you trust me?”

  A pause, a tear, and a whimper.

  “Aye,” she whispers.

  “Good girl,” I say, bending down to kiss the curve of her back. “Good girl. Come for me, love. Come with me.”

  She’s crying freely as I roar through my release, her body spasming beneath mine. She’s moaning and gripping the bedclothes when my hot come lashes into her. I fuck her until I’m spent, until she is too, and she collapses from exhaustion and relief.

  I lay the weight of my body on top of her, holding her beneath me.

  “The next time you throw something at me, I’ll cane your willful little arse before I fuck it.”

  She blinks and looks abashed. “You wouldn’t.”

  “Fucking try me.”

  She bites her lip. “I will.”

  Jesus.

  I roll over and tug her onto my chest, my temper not yet sated. I grasp her chin between my fingers and hold her gaze.

  “I’m sorry I was a fucking douche. I wish I’d kicked Clifford’s arse from here to fucking Wales. Given the chance, I still might. Next time, I will. You deserve that and so much fucking more, and I’m sorry.”

  She blinks, her eyes watering. “I’m sorry I lost my temper, too. And you can’t beat up the headmaster. That’d be terrible for… publicity and public relations and all.”