by K. Renee
“Be careful.” She finally whispers after a few minutes of silence. I didn’t expect her to say that, but I’m glad that she did. It lets me know that she trusts me to take care of her.
“I’ll be back before ye know it.” I kiss her nose, and she wrinkles it in return. “Once we get moved into the new gaff, we can spend some time just the two of us. No distractions.” Her lips turn up into a grin at that, and I feel meslef start to relax a bit. “Rory and Cara will be helping us move everything along with a few of me lads.” A full on grin spreads over her face, and she leans forward to kiss me.
“I’ve missed Cara.” I can’t help but grin at that. I’m glad that her and Cara got along when they first met. If they didn’t, I would have had to deal with both of their bitching, and that’s just something I can’t stand. Women stand behind their man and deal with the hand they are given in me world and don’t bitch about it. Stana is not from this world, yet she is taking everything as well as you could hope.
“I need to go, love,” I whisper against her lips. She nods slightly and rolls over onto the other side of the bed. Before I get off the bed, I face her and cup her cheek. “When I get back, me and ye are going to be burning the midnight oil.” She rolls her eyes at me before laughing.
Her laugh takes all of me frustration away, and I just want to stay in bed with her longer.
Making me way to the garage that Conaill left Ciaran in, I open the door and see that he’s already hanging from a hook from the ceiling in the garage. This place is protected better than any other place we have so we won’t be having any visitors. I can take care of this before anyone even knows he’s missing.
“Ye done playing house with the bitch?” he grins.
Instead of responding right away, I walk over to the drawers of tools and start opening a few of them. I find something that I can use, and I make me way back over to him. His eyes narrow on me when he sees what I have in me hand.
The screwdriver isn’t a significant tool, but it can bring most men to their knees when you use it to torture them, something I’m counting on right about now.
“Ye’d throw away everything ye’ve worked fer just for that bitch?” he asks, making eye contact with me.
“I’d fecking kill fer her,” I bite out. I run me finger along the tip of the screwdriver before I look back up at him. He’s got a smug grin on his face, and I promise it won’t be there fer long. He’s going to regret ever coming stateside when I’m done with him.
“Yer more pathetic than I thought.”
I don’t say anything, but I grip the handle of the screwdriver and clock the bastard. His head whips to the side and the grin is gone. He thinks he can talk about me lass, he has another thing coming. His life isn’t going to matter anymore by the end of the night. I won’t have to keep wondering when he’ll show up again.
“I’d shut me fecking gob about her if I were ye. Ye know how I get when I’m angry.” His eyes narrow on me, and I take it as a challenge. Before I can move closer to him, I hear the door open followed by footsteps.
“Aye, looks like the party is just getting started.” I can hear the cynical side of Rory coming out. He’s typically the calm one who doesn’t like to get his hands dirty, but I’m sure he’ll make an exception fer what that bloke has done over the years.
“Yer just in time,” I answer, not looking over at them. I hear them grabbing things behind me, but me eyes never move from Ciaran. “Ciaran was just about to tell me why he’s here.”
He spits at me in answer so I hit him again as hard as I can. His head falls to the side, and when he looks back up at me, I see the blood trickling down from his mouth.
“Feck ye!” His voice is low, and I know that last hit hurt. “Ye know ye won’t get shit from me. I suggest ye find someone who gives a feck.” Taking the screwdriver, I jab it into his thigh. His screams filled the room, and I can’t help but grin. I see a monitor flash on and all eyes hit the screen.
Black ski-masked men are walking stealthily towards the border of the house, but one of them gets hit with a few thousand volts of electricity and falls to the ground. The others look towards their fallen lad before continuing their journey towards the house.
All three of us watch as the next one goes down as well and I can’t help but smirk. These feckers thought they knew what they were getting into when they tried to take Stana, but they have no fecking clue what we do to protect the houses. Me apartment was the only place that didn’t have the electrical currents running through the ground around the building. With the high tech security, we didn’t think something was necessary, feck were we wrong.
“Ye think that one is stupid enough to try too?” Rory asks as he continues to watch the screen with a deadly look on his face.
“Aye. It’s not the first time.” Connie says with a sigh. “The kicker is that we have to deal with the bodies now. Can’t just leave them out there all day.”
I chuckle at that. “Well, we can wait until we snuff this bastard too. Make one big trip.”
They both nod in agreement before I turn me attention back to Ciaran. “Just tell me who sent ye fer me lass and I won’t torture ye.”
He spits blood at me this time, and I shrug. “I guess he wants to do this the hard way.” I take the screwdriver and stab him again, but this time in the stomach. He doesn’t scream out like the first time, and I have to give him credit fer that. When he still doesn’t say a word, I stab him again and again until blood is dripping on the ground below him.
The plastic that Connie put down before catches it and I do me best not to step in it. “Who the feck is sending ye arseholes after her?” I ask again, getting right into his face.
I take the screwdriver and press it to his neck. The harder I push the closer he gets to telling me what I want to know. “Liam,” is the last thing I hear come out of his mouth before I shove the screwdriver into his throat deeply before, pulling it out slowly.
“I hope ye burn in fecking hell,” I mutter as I pull away from him. Watching as the blood pours from the wound in his neck, I can’t help but feel a little better about this shit. He was just a sacrifice fer whatever is going to go down.
If Liam is really behind it, I need to play me cards close to the vest. Me Da wouldn’t believe me if I try to tell him, so it’s going to be up to the guys and me. I need to fecking call Colton.
Ciaran’s eyes go wide as he starts to choke on his own blood, but I don’t care. I have a plan that I need to get ready and a lass to protect.
“Ye think yer brother is stupid enough to come after Stana and ye?” Conaill asks.
I roll my shoulders as I think of the answer. “Me Da has been bringing him in more into the family business. I guess he could be trying to cut me out, so I don’t have anyone on me side.”
Me shoulders are tense as I think about the shit that could go wrong with this. If he gets the majority of me people on his side, it won’t be hard fer him to take me down.
“I just have to be smarter than the stupid fecker,” I say as the life drains from Ciaran’s eyes. Connie walks over to him and checks his pulse before he pulls him down and gets him wrapped in the plastic sheets.
Twenty-Five
Stana
I’ve been reading some free book I got on my phone for the last three hours, and I’m getting antsy. Jerick has been gone for a long time, and I’m afraid to leave this room. I know it sounds crazy, but it’s the truth. I know he said that this place was safe, but I don’t trust anything right now.
Well, I still trust him, but only him.
Before I can roll back onto my side, my phone starts to ring. As I stare down at the number on the screen, I think back to the last time I was at work and how Max humiliated me in front of everyone we worked it. Could I really go back there after everything that happened? I know that Jerick doesn’t want me to, but I feel like I should be the one to make that decision on my own.
“Hello?” I answer just before it clicks over to the voicemail
.
“Thank God, you finally answered,” he says quickly.
I roll my eyes at the way he says the words like he’s been trying to get a hold of me for hours or something. He hasn’t called once since I ran away from the office.
“What do you want?” I ask, my voice sounding icier than I expected.
“You are in danger. You need to get away from Jerick Brannigan. He is bad news. You’re only going to get hurt.” I close my eyes and take a deep breath before I even respond to that. “Stana? Are you there?” He now sounds worried.
“He isn’t going to hurt me.” I finally say as I see movement from the corner of my eye. As I turn my head towards the action, I see Jerick coming closer to me. He doesn’t say a word as he gets closer. He’s still wearing the jeans and tee shirt he left in, but he’s covered in dirt and blood. My eyes grow wide as I stare at him, inspecting every inch of him that I can see.
“I have to go,” I say before I hang up, ignoring Max’s pleas for me to stay on the phone with him.
I drop my phone on the bed and push myself up, and off it closing the distance between us. My hand automatically goes to his cheek, and my eyes roam over him to make sure he doesn’t have any cuts on his skin. “Stana,” he whispers, grabbing my hand on his face and leaning into my touch. “I’m fine, love. The blood’s, not mine.”
I swallow and continue to stare at him. “What happened?” I ask, not really sure that I actually want to know what he did. He could have hurt someone. Oh god, he wasn’t lying when he told me that he’s killed people before. My stomach turns at the thought of that, and I try to not make a scene. I just wait for him to say something, anything that might answer my question.
“I found out who is after ye.” His voice is strained, and he still isn’t looking in my eyes. “I swear to ye love, he won’t touch ye.” I suck in a breath as I let his words sit in my head; bouncing around a bit before I can even formulate a sentence.
“Who?”
“Liam.” His eyes meet mine finally, and he blows out a breath before he continues. “Me brother.”
I close my eyes as I think about what this means for him. I know he loves his brother even after all the shit he put him through. He doesn’t want to hurt his brother, I’m sure of it. “Why is he after me?” I ask, hating the way my voice breaks. I’m terrified because Jerick has told me a little about Liam. There are parts of Liam that are dangerous and calculating.
“I don’t know, love. I killed the bastard that gave up his name before I could get any other information from him. He was the reason those feckers came after ye. He was the distraction that got me away from the apartment so they could take ye.” He lifts an arm up and puts his hand behind his neck, rubbing it slightly before he continues. “Ye were lucky. If they would have gotten ye, I don’t know exactly what they would have done to ye.” His shoulders slump, and his arm comes around my waist, pulling me to him.
“I’ll gut me brother before he ever lays a hand on ye, banphrionsa.” The look he gives me is full of promise, and I don’t know why it makes me feel a little better about someone trying to take me. At least I know that Jerick would do whatever it takes to protect me, even if it means going against his own family.
My hands cup both sides of his face, and I press my lips gently to his. His eyes darken as he runs one of his hands up my back, tangling it in my hair. “Táim i ngrá leat I’m in love with you.” His words, as hot as they sound make no sense to me at all.
“What does that mean?” I ask not taking my eyes off of him.
“Ye’ll find out soon enough,” he says quietly before picking me up and walking with me towards the en-suite bathroom. He sets me on the counter and slowly starts to pull my shirt off of me. I watch him as he slowly strips me the rest of the way down before he starts to strip his own clothes off. Once he’s done, he walks over to the bathtub and starts the water.
He doesn’t do more than kiss me as we wait for the tub to fill and I have no idea what is currently running through his head. I hear his phone go off in his pants pocket, but he makes no move to grab it. “Were ye talking to Max when I walked in?” He asks. I nod my head not wanting to lie to him. I know he doesn’t want me talking to him, but I couldn’t help it.
Part of me still wants to believe that Max cares somewhat about our friendship.
“What did he say?” he asks as the water continues to fill. He picks me up and off the counter, stepping into the tub with me still in his arms. As he lowers us into the water, I kiss his lips once more.
“He told me you were dangerous.” The warm water envelopes around me and I let out a hum of appreciation. “He wants me to stay away from you because you’re going to get me hurt.” He moves me so that I am now between his legs and he pulls my upper body back to his.
“What do ye think, love?” His voice is low and dangerous, but I’m not one bit afraid of him.
“I think that he is wrong,” I say turning in the tub to face him. I straddle him and feel his erection as he runs his hands up my back, pulling my upper body closer to him. My hands go to the wall behind him, and I watch his hooded eyes as they scan over my body.
I feel his tongue swipe over one of my nipples, and I gasp. “I don’t want ye to be afraid of me,” he whispers against my skin.
“I trust you,” I choke out as he sucks my nipple into his mouth, lightly nibbling on it before placing open mouthed kisses along my skin, making his way to my other nipple.
“I shouldn’t feel this way about ye, love. It goes against everything ever instilled in me.” He sucks on the skin right above my collarbone, and I press my chest against his and start to rock against him. I’m wet and horny, something I never thought I would be thinking as his mouth continues to suck on the same spot as if he was marking me.
He lifts me up slightly before rubbing his dick along my pussy. It doesn’t take long for him to push me down on top on him, filling me completely. “Ye feel so damn good,” he mutters as I start to rock against him again. His mouth never leaves my skin as he continues to suck and leave trails of kisses up my neck. He bites my shoulder as I grind down on him rougher than usual.
“How do you feel?” I ask, finally getting the courage as I ride him slowly. He leans forward and shuts the water off, but it wasn’t before it started spilling over the side as we continued to move as one. It doesn’t take us long to fall over the edge. His hands grip my back before sliding up towards my neck. He continues to thrust up and into me with hard strokes. Tipping my head back, I let out a moan as I come around his cock, milking him. He bites my shoulder as he muffles his own groan of pleasure.
I let my body weight fall onto him, but he doesn’t mind, he just holds me tighter to him. His hands run up and down my back as we catch our breath and slow the erratic beating of our hearts. “Ye are the most halalinn lass I’ve ever met.” He kisses the side on my neck, and I melt into him further. It doesn’t matter that the water is now cooling or that it’s dirty. All that matters is that he is holding me like I mean something to him. I’ve always wanted to mean something to someone.
I rest my forehead against his collarbone, and I close my eyes. “I’m falling hard,” I whisper. His lips press against the side of my head, and I can feel his lips turn into a grin.
“Aye, so am I love, so am I.”
We don’t say anything else as he pulls the plug on the tub. He stands up, taking me with him and I don’t mind. I just wrap my legs around his waist and tighten my grip around his neck. As he steps out of the tub, I hear his phone go off again, but he still doesn’t go for it.
Part of me is worried that he might miss something important, but the other part of me is excited that he would ignore it for me. He wasn’t lying when he said that it would be just the two of us when he was done with… I try not to think about what he did before he came in here. My mind goes back to thoughts of the dirt and blood that covered him when he came in the room, and I feel my throat dry up.
There is nothing I can do to
make myself not think the worse. I know he killed someone. He said it was to protect me, but I don’t know if I can handle that or not.
He turns the water on in the shower and waits for it to warm up before he walks inside, putting me right under the shower head. The water coats my body and some of the tension washes away. He lets my legs go, and I slowly slide down his body. I feel every hard muscle as I do and I can’t help but moan that the sensations that rip through my body.
We shower off the dirt and blood that was in the bathtub and slowly wash each other’s bodies. There is nothing sexual about it, but I enjoy being able to explore his body more, feeling his hard muscles twitch and strain as I run my hands up and down them.
After we are done and rinsed off, he wraps a towel around me before leading me back into the bedroom, pulling me onto the bed and curling his body against mine. It doesn’t take us long to fall asleep wrapped up in each other’s arms.
Twenty-Six
Jerick
After the night I’ve had, spending the rest of it with Stana in me arms was the best medicine. Her soft body curled into mine made me realize all the shit that was taking over me life. She had a hold on me that I didn’t want, but now I couldn’t ignore. I want nothing more than to wake to her every morning.
Although she has every right to be pissed that I’m not a good man, she doesn’t question it. She didn’t freak when I showed up covered in dirt and blood either. I hear me phone ring again in the bathroom, and I finally pull meself out of her grip.
Padding over to me jeans that are still on the floor, I grab me phone and see all the missed calls that I let go to voicemail last night and early this morning. I scroll through the list and only respond to the messages that are important.
I have shit I need to do fer the family tonight and if I don’t get it done, me Da will show up and try to force me hand. I’ve been away long enough. I need to get some shit done, and I have to finish working on me plan to take Liam out. There is no way that I will let him ruin what I have with Stana. He won’t get his hands on her.