Shrouded in Blackness

by Karlsson, Norma Jeanne

  The sting ripping through my skin shocks me. I was not expecting that.

  “You left me,” Quinn seethes, staring ferociously into my eyes.

  “Never,” I say definitively. “I couldn’t go out there with you. I’d have fucked up and it woulda gotten messy. Couldn’t take that risk with you three out there. I called my cousin. It was the best option. I had your back, Quinn I fuckin’ swear. If shit woulda gone south, I was there. I promise.”

  She nods and one tear slides down her cheek. I quickly swipe it away with my thumb. I wanted to be at her side out in the gym. When I saw what was going down my vision blurred and the murderous, violent criminal within me awoke with fervor. Then my logic kicked in and I backed down. If I’d gone out there running my mouth and waving a gun, people would have gotten hurt, most likely Quinn and the kids. I couldn’t take that risk. As a result, she thinks I abandoned her in a time of need.

  I pick her up under her arms, pulling her tiny frame against mine. Quinn wraps her arms around my neck and her legs around my waist, burying her head in my neck. The feel of the warmth of her body against mine relaxes me. I’ve been a live wire since I found motherfucking Sean Casey pinning her against the wall in the alley. That was a bad moment for me.

  Then I was a dick to Quinn about him being her boyfriend. I was a jealous little bitch and I’m not afraid to admit it. The idea that he’s been inside her before me turns my stomach. I know she’s been with other men (she has two kids), but that fucker—hell, no. I’ll take pleasure killing him when the time comes. And that time is coming, don’t doubt that.

  There’s a soft knock at the door before Connor and Owen fill the doorway.

  “O’Sullivans are ready for you,” Owen whispers. Connor walks around us and slides in bed with the kids, pulling them into his side. He has guilt all over his face. I don’t blame him, I’d feel like shit too if it were me. He didn’t do anything wrong, though. I’ll sort him out later.

  Owen walks past us, a mask of frustration covering his face. He wants action. I’ll make sure we get the action we’re all craving. He climbs in bed on the other side of the kids, snuggling into them with a gentleness I didn’t know he possessed. I know they love Quinn, but what they feel for her kids is beyond love. I don’t have words for it.

  I carry Quinn from the room in search of my cousins. I find them in the kitchen, sitting at the table, chatting quietly. It’s just Hugh and Collin. These two could be twins. There’s hardly a difference between them with their dark hair, chocolate eyes, same height, same weight and same bravado that marks the O’Sullivan clan.

  They eye Quinn’s back with concern as I approach the table. She slides down my body and climbs into a chair which I slide flush against mine, pulling her tightly beneath my arm. Hugh looks at the table and smirks. They’ve never seen me like this…I’ve never seen me like this. Collin clears his throat, bringing his younger brother’s features back to professional.

  “Miss Quinlan, I’m Collin O’Sullivan and this is my brother, Hugh. We weren’t introduced the last time I was here,” he says softly.

  “It’s nice to meet you, Detectives, please call me Quinn,” she responds professionally. Her upbringing in a crime family is showing. She knows how to play innocent and sweet. She doesn’t have to do that with my family, though.

  “Quinn, please call me Collin.”

  She nods.

  “Are the kids doin’ all right?” Hugh asks sweetly.

  “They’re asleep,” she whispers. I know she’s afraid this thing will have fucked Jack up. It may for a while, but that kid’s resilient. He’ll be okay sooner rather than later.

  “We won’t keep you long,” Collin assures her and goes about asking regular cop questions. Quinn answers them all truthfully for the most part. She says she doesn’t know why her uncles are after her (lie) and that she’s been laying low because she wanted out of the criminal lifestyle she’d grown up in (lie number two). Other than that, she tells the truth.

  I remain mostly quiet throughout the process, just letting my presence support her.

  “I think that about covers everything, Quinn,” Hugh finishes politely.

  “Thank you for comin’ when Kieran called. I don’t know what woulda happened if you all didn’t show up,” she says sincerely.

  “We’re family. It’s what we do.” Collin offers me a pointed look. I smirk at him. I’m the reason Collin and Hugh were left out of Shannon’s rescue mission back in December. They’re still holding a grudge.

  “From the sound of it, you’re our family, too. Here’re our cards. If you ever need anything don’t hesitate to call,” Hugh says, pushing two business cards at Quinn. Her cheeks flame and she studies the cards like they hold all of the answers to the world.

  “I wrote my cell on the back,” Collin finishes with a panty-dropping smile. He did not just hit on my woman. Quinn’s cheeks go from pink to crimson, her eyes bug out and then she giggles.

  “We done here?” I growl at my cousins who are both pleased as shit to have irritated me.

  “Yup,” Hugh says, popping the p. “You want me to put my cell on my card for you, Quinn?”

  “No,” I answer for her. She may burst into flames if her cheeks get any brighter.

  The O’Sullivan brothers chuckle as they stand from the table.

  “Nice to meet you, Quinn. Hope to see you around again soon in better circumstances,” Collin says nicely.

  “It was nice to meet you, too. Both of you. Thank you again for your help,” she says, beaming a smile at them.

  Hugh fucking winks at her and then they leave, clapping me on the shoulder as they each pass by, gaining growls in return. Fuckers.

  “You want some ice water to cool down?” I snarl.

  “Sorry, but wow. They have a way about ’em that makes me nervous,” she apologizes with a lie.

  “Don’t think that’s nerves, Quinn,” I admonish.

  She furrows her brow, looking at me with sincere confusion.

  “They were flirting with you.”

  “I know.”

  “And you liked it,” I prompt.

  “It makes me nervous.”

  “You don’t like it?”

  “I’ve never been flirted with. I’ve been propositioned more times than I can count, but flirting is new for me. Are you mad?”

  Well, not now. How can I keep forgetting she’s been living in solitude on the streets her entire adult life? I’m sure no one flirted with her in high school because of that chump, Sean. He probably didn’t flirt with her because they were going into a modern-day arranged marriage.

  “I’m not mad. I don’t like men flirting with my woman.”

  “I didn’t flirt back,” she says defensively.

  “You giggled,” I growl, pulling her into my lap. “Your giggles are mine, too.”

  “You’re a bit of a caveman. You know that, right?” she huffs, snuggling into my chest.

  “Yeah.”

  “Don’t be too ashamed of yourself,” she snarks.

  “I’m not. I turned into a caveman the first time you held a knife to my back. It’s not changin’ so get used to it, Shorty.”

  She rolls her eyes but doesn’t comment for a long while.

  “Let’s go home,” she finally whispers and I do as she commands.

  Jack was really fucked up from the O’Boyle fiasco. After making a few calls I found a therapist that treats kids like Jack within criminal organizations. Money is a good motivator. He’s been in therapy twice a week for a little over a month and is doing really well. He’s clingy when we’re in public and he won’t set foot in the gym, but the nightmares have stopped.

  Calling cops has never been my go to, but it was a smart move that day. Most of the men that were there will be spending a few years behind bars other than Sean Casey, who got off because he wasn’t armed when the raid happened. He was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, according to his attorney. Connall O’Boyle got off for the same reason. H
e was unarmed and had no warrants.

  Because so many of the O’Boyle Brothers’ men are behind bars, the streets have been quiet. I’m not stupid enough to think they’re done with Quinn, but they’re nursing a slow bleed right now. The hacker teenager I hired to try and move the stolen money around called me this morning with a plan. I don’t begin to understand it, hence the reason I hired him, but he thinks he can move the money with ease once I need him to.

  Now I have to decide my move. I’m not confident they’ll let Quinn go even with their money back. She’s a liability for them and Sean Casey has a thing for her. It would serve their organization well in the streets if the long lost mafia princess came home and married the promising enforcer. Over my dead fucking body.

  I leave my bedroom. Quinn still won’t move in here with me. She sleeps with me occasionally, but she’s usually in the guest bed with both kids. I’m trying to be patient. Trying being the operative word. We haven’t had sex, either. This is the longest I’ve gone without pussy in my life and it’s making me a little cranky. Quinn and I fool around a bit, but with two small children it’s rare. Since she won’t sleep with me, my opportunities are few and far between.

  My parents are watching the kids tonight so I can take Quinn out. She deserves a nice night. It took me two weeks to convince her, but she finally agreed with some help from my mom. Quinn and my parents get along really well. They were pissed at me for a few weeks when I first lied to them, but they bought the lie and have taken to grandparenting like champs.

  Jack and Ashling love them. My parents spoil the hell out of them every chance they get. Tonight they’re going to watch movies and make fudge. I can only imagine the mess we’ll come home to. It’ll be worth it to hear Jack’s stories tomorrow.

  I walk down to the basement where Quinn is playing with the kids. Ashling is cooing and kicking, lying on her play mat while Quinn and Jack put together a puzzle.

  “Hey, Daddy!” Jack exclaims like he hasn’t seen me in days.

  “Hey, bud,” I say with a smile, plopping down on the ground next to Ash and blow a raspberry into her cheek. She squeals and giggles, which is my new favorite sound in the world. Jack got her first laugh making faces at her, but I get them the most often. She’s a daddy’s girl through and through.

  “What’s Girls Gone Wild?” Jack asks, not looking up from his puzzle. Quinn doesn’t look up either, but there’s a smirk playing at her mouth.

  “It’s a movie about crazy people,” I lie.

  “How come you have so many?”

  “Uh, I didn’t know I had a lot,” I lie again, feeling like an old pervert.

  “You have twelve. I counted ’em. You like lookin’ at ladies’ boobies a lot, huh?” He looks up at me with a curious gaze. I should have hidden my shit better when he started playing down here.

  “Uh.” Thank Christ the doorbell rings. I fly up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

  “Go help your dad with the rest of the bags,” my mother instructs as she places a soft kiss on my cheek. I do as I’m told, happily avoiding my son’s awkward questions. That kid is too smart for his own good.

  My dad and I lug way too many bags for just making fudge into my kitchen. He grumbles something about turning into a donkey as we start unloading the confections.

  “Kieran Michael Delaney!” my mother screams up the stairs from the basement.

  I burst into deep belly laughs imagining what Jack has told her. I hear her heavy clomps up the stairs as I wipe away tears from my laughter, my father staring at me with a mischievous grin.

  “You had best get that smut outta this house where my grandchildren live!” she screeches, smacking my ass like I’m five. I fight off another round of laughter, knowing it’ll buy me the business end of a spoon.

  “Your son has porn in the kids’ play area,” she complains to my father.

  “I doubt he put it on while they were in the room, Clare,” he says with a smirk.

  “He asked me why his daddy likes to look at boobies. He asked me if you like to look at boobies!” She stomps her foot in frustration.

  My mother is a strange combination of old fashioned and modern. She knows what my father is and always has. She took him willingly into her life and loves him more than anything in this world. Well not really, but he’s in a tie with me and the kids. But being married to a thief didn’t turn her into a hard edged crime lord’s wife. She bakes, sews, knits, goes to book clubs, volunteers at charities and generally lives in the 1950s most of the time. Me having porn in the house is a violation of her good values.

  “I do like lookin’ at boobies,” my father teases and stares at hers.

  “Jesus, I’m leavin’ the room,” I say with a fake gag. I don’t really give a shit, but I play the part well.

  “You two are incorrigible!”

  She thuds back down to the basement, no doubt to vent to Quinn about how awful my father and I are.

  “Should probably hide the porn, son,” my father says through a snicker.

  “I thought I did.”

  “Kids find everything. Best place to hide that kinda shit is in the trash until you’re ready to talk about it.” Wise words from the old man.

  Quinn tops the stairs, giggling, and breaks into a full laugh when she sees me.

  “It’s not that funny,” I admonish her.

  “If you coulda seen your face,” she stutters between chuckles. “Your mother is about to have an aneurysm.”

  “She’ll be fine,” my father dismisses, placing a quick peck on Quinn’s cheek before heading downstairs.

  “So you like young drunk girls that take their shirts off in public?” Quinn asks teasingly.

  “I’m not talkin’ about this,” I grumble.

  “If I flash you will you give me a free T-shirt?” she asks in a squeaky high pitched voice.

  I growl and glare at her until she pulls the hem of her shirt up, flashing me her black lace bra. I move to grab her and she takes off down the hall in a sprint. I easily catch up, heaving her over my shoulder, stalking into my bedroom and locking the door for good measure.

  I dump her on the bed, covering her tiny body with my own.

  “My rules are different. You flash me, I get your shirt,” I purr in her ear.

  “Kieran, your parents are here,” she whispers in my ear, making no move to push me away.

  “Good, they can watch the kids and I can get some nookie.”

  She giggles.

  I drag my nose along her jaw before smashing my lips against her roughly. With no preempting she opens her mouth and thrusts her tongue in my mouth with a pleading moan. I growl and rip my mouth from hers. I pull her T-shirt over her head with little finesse. She sits up and unclasps her bra while I divest her lower half of yoga pants and boy shorts. She yanks my shirt over my head while I push my sweats past my ankles.

  I can’t wait any longer to be with her. The wait is killing me. I don’t want our first time to be while my parents are here, but I’m done jacking off like a teenager. I’m getting calluses.

  I climb further into the bed, dragging her with me, my mouth melded to her soft, sweet lips. Her naked body beneath me is silky and warm, begging for my touch. Once her raven hair is covering my pillows I begin my exploration, tasting and licking her neck and collar bone until she glistens. My large hand palms her tit while my mouth devours the other, scraping my teeth against her peaked nipple until she shudders from head to toe. I switch and offer her other tit the same treatment as she moans and tugs at my hair, urging me to give her more. With her raspberry nipple solidly between my tongue and top teeth, I trace my hand down her body, rubbing one long finger between her folds.

  Coated in her juices I rub her clit slowly, watching the flush creep from her chest to her cheeks as her body begins to quiver. When she’s breaths away from coming I pull back, causing a frustrated moan to escape her lips. I return the pressure and bring her to the brink again before backing off just in time.

&nbs
p; “Kieran,” she complains and encourages simultaneously.

  I smile around her nipple and move up her body, capturing her mouth in mine, keeping my body off to the side of hers. She reaches out with her small hand and grasps my cock firmly. Her tiny fingers barely reach around my girth as I thrust into her hold three times before pulling away.

  “I’m not comin’ in your hand,” I whisper against her lips before she can argue.

  I move across her body and settle between her legs, nudging her thighs apart to accommodate my larger frame. My dick lies over her pussy and I move my hips slowly across her clit causing her icy eyes to roll back in her head. When her orgasm is beginning to tremor through her I palm my cock and barely breach her entrance, shocked at how difficult it is to enter her.

  Using a little more force, I surge forward until I’m stopped. Stopped by something a woman with two children shouldn’t have. I look down at her face, a question (fuck that, a thousand questions) in my murky blues. Her crystal eyes shimmer up at me and I know. She lied. She lied about those kids.

  Quinn runs a shaky hand up my neck and cups my cheek.

  “They’re mine,” she says through a sob.

  We hold each other’s gaze for a long while, me still inside her and Quinn’s legs wrapped around my waist, waiting. She lied to keep those kids safe. I know like I know I did the same thing. She’s their mother no matter how they came to her. She sacrificed eight years of safety for two kids that I’m guessing she didn’t know. It’s in this moment I know for sure.

  “I love you,” I whisper.

  “I love you too,” she whispers back.

  I press a soft kiss to her lips as tears leak from the edges of her eyes and thrust my hips forward, carefully breaking the barrier of Quinn’s virginity. Once I’m fully seated within her I stop. I’ve never fucked a woman without a condom and certainly not a virgin. This isn’t going to last long.

  Quinn’s face grimaces in pain for a few moments as I rest my forehead against hers and slowly begin to rock. The furrowed brow of pain changes to the blush of pleasure and I pick up my pace. Slowly stroking the length of my cock in and out of Quinn is the most fantastic feeling my dick has ever experienced. I bury my head in her neck and thrust harder as her nails begin to score my back, causing a feral growl to rumble in my chest.