Irish: A Reed Security Romance (Reed Security Series Book 5)

by Giulia Lagomarsino

  “There is too,” I grumbled. “And I’m going to find him and thank him for saving my life.”

  It was obvious that she didn’t believe me, so I wasn’t going to push it. I didn’t need her thinking I was crazy. But I knew what I saw and there was no way that man was close enough to shove me out of the way. I just had to find him and prove it.

  She sighed and plopped down in the chair. “When are they going to get here with the paperwork? I want to get home.”

  “The nurse said she would be back any minute.”

  The door opened and the nurse walked in looking completely frazzled. “I’m so sorry it took so long to get back here,” the nurse said.

  “You can stuff your sorries in a sack, lady,” my sister said. The nurse turned to her with a look of shock. “I was just joking,” she said quickly. “Haven’t you ever watched Seinfeld?”

  “Who?”

  My sister rolled her eyes, obviously irritated that the nurse didn’t know what she was talking about. It was a great TV show after all. Who doesn’t quote it?

  “Am I ready to be discharged?” I asked.

  “Right,” the nurse said as she walked over to me with paperwork. “You have a concussion, so take it easy and make sure you get plenty of rest. Headaches, dizziness, and nausea are all common symptoms after a head injury, so try to avoid doing anything that could make that worse. Your symptoms could last for several weeks, so take the time you need to recover. You need someone to stay with you for twenty-four hours to keep an eye on you. Will your sister be staying with you?”

  “Yes.”

  “Good. Well, here are your discharge papers,” she said hurriedly. “Someone will be by in a few minutes to take you down.”

  “I’m ready now. We’ll just head down on our own.”

  “Hospital policy-”

  “Look, I can tell you’re very busy and I don’t want to be a nuisance, but I’m ready to get out of here. I have my sister and I promise she’ll hold my hand the whole way down.”

  With that, I stood up on shaky legs and walked to the door with the nurse staring at me like I had lost my mind. Lucy and I were out the door and by the entrance doors before she came rushing after us. Luckily, she wasn’t actually trying that hard to catch up to us. We slowed once we got outside, which was good because my head was pounding and that dizziness she was talking about was kicking in.

  ✯✯✯✯✯

  “Daddy, I’m fine. I promise. It’s just a little bump on the head. I hardly feel a thing,” I lied. My dad still thought I was a little girl at times. He wasn’t all there any more and it was easier to let him think that I was still his little girl than correct him and see him suffer through the confusion.

  “Claire bear, I don’t understand how you hit your head riding your bike. Didn’t you have your helmet on?”

  “I didn’t tighten it all the way. It fell off when I fell off the bike.”

  He shook his head at me and walked over to the fridge. “I’ll make some dinner. Why don’t you sit down?”

  “Daddy, I can make dinner.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. I’m your father. It’s my job to take care of you, not the other way around. Just because your mother isn’t alive anymore doesn’t mean that you don’t have a capable parent.”

  “I know. I think I’m in the mood for pizza. Can you put in a frozen pizza for me?”

  “Anything for you, Claire bear.”

  I had a lot of frozen pizza. Daddy had Alzheimer’s and didn’t remember a lot at night, so he still thought that he had to take care of me. He wasn’t a very good cook, and frankly, I didn’t trust him at the stove. I could keep an eye on the pizza fairly easily without letting him know that I was watching over his shoulder. It was getting to the point where I wasn’t sure how much longer Lucy and I would be able to look after him. He had started getting worse earlier in the day and we weren’t always around to keep an eye on him. One day I found him outside trying to fix the roof of the shed. His balance wasn’t that good anymore, but in his head, he was back fifteen years ago when he was younger and more capable.

  I didn’t want to put him in a home. It was my job to take care of him and make sure that he still felt loved. Lucy agreed to a point, but she was also the more pragmatic of the two of us. She had already started calling around to different nursing homes to find a spot for him. She knew that we wouldn’t be able to keep this up too much longer. I just didn’t want to admit that we wouldn’t be able to take care of him soon.

  “I made a call today to old man Wilson. He’s selling his horses and I was thinking we could buy one off him. You and Lucy would have to share, of course.”

  “Daddy, that sounds great. You know Lucy and I have always wanted a horse.”

  “Well, things will be tight around here, but I think we can swing it.”

  I smiled at him lovingly. This had all happened twelve years ago. We never ended up getting the horse because we’d had other expenses come up. Lucy and I took it well, knowing that if Daddy had been able to get us that horse, he would have. Still, this was one of those times that I didn’t mind when he slipped back in time. I loved seeing his eyes light up at the mention of getting those horses for us. He loved us so much and would do anything to make us happy. That was exactly how I felt about him and I’d do anything to keep him here as long as possible.

  After dinner, I hopped on my computer and started researching people that had displayed extraordinary abilities. There was a man from Malaysia that could stick metal objects to his body like a magnet. He could also pull a car with his abilities. Interesting, but not quite what I thought my mystery man could do.

  There was an 89 year old grand master of Kung Fu, Tai Chi, and Qigong that could generate heat through his palms. I wondered exactly how that was done, but it definitely sounded like a superpower to me. He was also able to stand on a thin sheet of paper without falling through. That sounded more like flying to me. Definitely a Superman quality. I would have to do more research on him.

  Michel Lotito was a French entertainer who could eat everything. He even ate an entire Cessna 150 airplane. While that didn’t seem like a superhuman quality, but more of an anomaly, I didn’t want to rule it out.

  Scanning the internet for other strange incidents, I came across a runner that could run continuously for more than three days and nights without stopping and without sleeping. Hmm. That also seemed a bit like Superman to me. I continued to write out a list, sure that one of them would lead me to what I was looking for. After two hours, my head was throbbing and I had seen more crazy things than I thought possible.

  “This is crazy,” I said, slamming my laptop shut. I crumpled up the piece of paper I had been writing on and threw it in the trash. “Superheroes aren’t real. Whatever happened was some kind of weird fluke and now you’re letting your imagination run away with you. Just stop!”

  I got up and quickly showered, the whole time thinking about all the things that I had read online. Shaking my head, I got out of the shower and dried off quickly, getting in my pajamas and climbing under the covers.

  “There’s no such thing as a superhero,” I muttered before I rolled over and went to sleep.

  CHAPTER TWO

  Derek

  I STARED DOWN at the woman beneath me and watched as her eyes fluttered closed after she called me Superman. I wasn’t going to lie, it made me feel ten feet tall to have a woman refer to me as the man of steel, which I was currently sporting at the moment with this woman spread out beneath me. I should have been thinking about the fact that she smacked her head on the pavement and not what she felt like beneath me, but my body was on a different track than my brain at the moment.

  “Claire,” I said, patting her cheek. She didn’t respond. Luckily, I heard someone on the phone with 9-1-1, so they should be on their way soon. I shifted my body so I was no longer on top of her, but I stayed close to her. I wasn’t ready to leave the warmth of her sweet, little body yet. She was a tiny little thing. P
robably not any taller than 5’3”. She had shoulder length brown hair and I had seen before she passed out that her eyes were a beautiful ocean blue.

  When I landed on top of her, I could feel all her curves under me and they were damn good curves. She wasn’t fat, but she wasn’t thin either. When I was with a woman, I wanted something to grab on to. I didn’t need a twig that I could snap if I fucked her too hard. By the feel of her hips under me, I could tell she would be perfect for gripping onto as I fucked her from behind. Exactly my kind of woman.

  The ambulance showed up and checked her out before loading her in the back. They didn’t allow me to ride with her since I wasn’t family and had already admitted to them that I didn’t know her. I jumped in my truck and followed her to the hospital, but they wouldn’t allow me back to see her after she was stabilized. I was pacing the waiting room, hoping for someone to tell me something, but the last time I asked, the nurse told me that I should leave because they wouldn’t allow me to see her or give out any information.

  Since I had her number, I decided that I would text her tomorrow and find out how she was doing. I was just getting back to my truck when I finally checked my phone. I had dozens of missed calls and text messages. Shit. I was supposed to be getting the food for the party over at my boss’s house and I had completely forgotten.

  “Irish, where the hell are you? Maggie’s over here bitching because she doesn’t have the food you promised her you’d pick up!” Cap yelled at me through the phone.

  “Sorry, Cap. I had a bit of an emergency.”

  “It better not have involved your dick.”

  I hesitated for a moment as I remembered the feel of her body under mine. “Nothing like that. A woman almost got run over at the store and I knocked her out of the way, but she ended up smacking her head. She’s in the hospital.”

  “So, where’s the food?”

  “At the store,” I gritted out, trying to hold back my anger. “Don’t be such a dick. I wanted to make sure she was alright.”

  “And is she?”

  “I don’t know. They wouldn’t give me any information on her. All I have is her phone number.”

  “How the hell do you have her phone number?”

  “She picked me up in the store. She was following me around and eating grapes, trying to pretend like she wasn’t watching me. It was cute as hell, but then she choked on a grape and I had to give her the heimlich.”

  “She sounds like a fucking mess.”

  “So did Maggie when you first met her, but now you’re married and have a kid together,” I snapped back at him.

  “Jesus, we don’t need any more crazy women surrounding us.”

  “Relax, we’re meeting for coffee, not getting married. I’m on my way back to the store now. Give me a half hour and I should be there.”

  “Hurry the fuck up. I’m hungry.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I’m on it.”

  I hung up and went back to the store and reloaded a grocery cart with everything I needed. I didn’t take my time this time around. I just threw shit in the cart and hit the road. When I got to Cap and Maggie’s house, everyone was out back already, drinking beer and shootin’ the shit. Mark “Sinner” Sinn came out to help me unload the truck and grinned at me.

  “I heard you picked up a pretty little lady at the store.”

  “I didn’t pick her up; she picked me up.”

  “Did you know she was after you?”

  “Yeah. She was following me around. At one point, she stopped with two other ladies and they were watching me pick out corn.”

  “Did you put on a show for her?”

  “Give me some credit. This isn’t my first rodeo.”

  “So, that’s a yes.”

  “Of course, it’s a fucking yes. She’s smokin’. Nice, round curves. Big breasts. Juicy ass.”

  “Did you get her number?”

  I shot him a look, telling him he was off his fucking rocker if he thought I didn’t. He held up his hands and grabbed his beer off the counter. “Alright, alright. So, you got her number.”

  “Yes.”

  “And you knew she was there.”

  “Yes.”

  “And you put on a show.”

  “Yes,” I said in frustration.

  “Then you picked her up. Tell yourself whatever you want, but you laid all the groundwork to score.”

  I went to tell him he was wrong, but then I realized that even if I wasn’t trying to, I really had been reeling her in the whole time. I had seen her watching me and I wanted her to approach me. I hadn’t realized how batshit crazy she was at the time, but then again, my body stood to attention from the first moment I saw her delicious body.

  “Fine. I picked her up. Can we move on now?” I started chopping up the watermelon while Sinner started shucking the corn.

  “Cap said she’s in the hospital and you have her number. You should have Becky look her up. She’s out back with everyone else.” Becky was one of our computer techs and could find anything you wanted in a matter of minutes.

  “Nah, I don’t want to bother her today.”

  “Becky would have all her information in five minutes. Just do it so you aren’t moping around the rest of the day.”

  “I wouldn’t be moping around after a girl I just met.”

  “You keep telling yourself that,” he grinned.

  We finished cutting up all the fruits and vegetables and got it all set out. Freckles, Cap’s wife, had been upstairs taking care of her daughter, Caitlin and just came down the stairs looking exhausted.

  “I don’t understand how women have more than one kid. Caitlin’s been teething for weeks now and I haven’t gotten any sleep.”

  “Why don’t you just go to sleep now? You know none of us care. We’ll take care of everything.”

  “But then I don’t get to talk to anyone. Do you know how long it’s been since I talked to an adult? I swear, my vocabulary has been reduced to talking about poop, farm animals, and food.”

  “We’ll hook you up, Freckles. I promise, no talk of food, farm animals, or poop.”

  We walked outside and sat down around the bonfire that Cap had started. Julius was in the middle of a story about his latest conquest.

  “So, I woke up the next morning thinking that things were going pretty good between us. I gave her orgasms and I figured it was only right that she make me breakfast,” Jules said.

  “What’d she make?” Burg asked.

  “Protein smoothies,” he grimaced.

  “Not what I would have expected, but at least she made something good for you,” Chance said.

  “Not fucking good for me. Apparently, she was offended that I asked her to make breakfast and she put a shit ton of laxatives in the smoothie.” A round of groans filled the air. We all knew what was coming. “I was on the fucking toilet with diarrhea for two fucking days.”

  Maggie stood suddenly, looking pissed off. “You know, I came out here to talk about something other than shit.” She spun around and looked at me. “You promised,” she yelled before marching off to the house. We watched her walk away and started laughing when the door slammed closed.

  Cap was grilling out and we sat around bullshitting for a few hours. As much as I tried to enjoy the company, I couldn’t stop checking my phone, wondering if Claire had been released from the hospital yet. I was pretty sure that she would be okay, but I wanted someone to actually tell me. Sneaking away, I dialed her number, hoping that someone would answer.

  “Hello?” I breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Hey, this is Derek.” There was no response. “From the grocery store.” Silence again. “Hello?”

  “This is her sister, Lucy.”

  “Oh, hey. I was just calling to see if she was alright. They wouldn’t let me in to see her at the hospital.”

  “She’s doing okay. She has a concussion and she’s supposed to take it easy.”

  “That’s good. It looked like she smacked her head pretty hard.�
��

  “You saw it?”

  “I was the one that pushed her out of the way of the car.”

  “Oh. Well, thank you.”

  “Listen, just have her call me when she’s up to it.”

  “Will do.”

  I hung up and turned around to see Lola smirking at me. “What?”

  “Another one bites the dust.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m talking about another man at Reed Security who’s going to fall to his knees over a woman.”

  “I’m not falling to my knees. I’m checking on a woman that was almost hit by a car.”

  She quirked an eyebrow at me and grinned. “The only women you check on are the ones currently warming your bed.”

  “That’s not true. I check on you.”

  Her face turned darker and her eyes flicked away. “I don’t need you to check on me.”

  “You sure about that?”

  “Since when have I ever needed a man to check up on me?” she said angrily.

  “Lola, you don’t have to put on the tough girl act all the time. It’s okay to tell us you need help.”

  “I don’t need help. I’m fine and I don’t need you and Hunter treating me like I’m going to break.”

  “We don’t think you’re going to break, but we’ve heard you screaming from nightmares. It’s been years and you still haven’t gotten any fucking help.”

  “Because I don’t need it! Stop trying to fix me,” she yelled.

  “That’s bullshit and you know it. Hunter and I both saw someone after that shit went down with Alex and Cole and we didn’t deal with half the crap you did. It has nothing to do with you being a woman and everything to do with the fact that that fucker messed with your head. Literally and figuratively.”

  “I don’t need this bullshit from you. You may be my team leader, but you don’t run my life. Until I start fucking up on the job, you have no say in anything but my job performance.”

  Lola stormed off for the door and I did something real fucking stupid. “Yeah, go to the bar and pick up another one night stand so that you can sleep through the night,” I shouted. She turned and glared at me, but behind the anger was hurt and I felt like a complete ass for using her coping mechanism against her. I just didn’t know how to get through to her any more. Years later, we all knew Lola was still struggling with her demons, but she wouldn’t allow anyone in to help her.