Total pages in book: 108
Estimated words: 104802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 104802 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 524(@200wpm)___ 419(@250wpm)___ 349(@300wpm)
“We’ve been pushing a lot of money through the club the past few months,” Conan adds. “We need to be careful, maybe work through another venue.”
“Hey. Do we have to talk about that shit right now?” Cillian asks, which only results in Conan and Finan looking at me. It’s clear they all know why he doesn’t want to speak about it. Maybe it should be scary that they’re talking so freely around me. The more I know, the more of a danger I am to them and the bigger chance they can try to hurt me.
Not that I plan to betray them. I would never do that, but it’s scary knowing they’d kill me if I did.
“It’s fine,” I say, and the truth is, it must be. I tell Cillian I don’t want to hear what he does, and in the grand scheme of things, I don’t, but if we’re going to be together, I can’t pretend none of this is happening. “And you should…find another legal avenue. Making it all go through the club will cause suspicion, especially if you’re pushing more money through than usual.”
Finan laughs. “We know what we’re doing, kid. The club isn’t the only place.”
“But apparently it’s the biggest. I’m only confirming what Conan already said.”
Cillian’s hand tightens on me, and I wonder if that’s his way of telling me I’m teetering too close to the edge.
“What would you suggest?” Conan asks. He’s probably just indulging me, but I want to answer anyway.
“Real estate maybe? I figure that would work well. Obviously, more clubs or any kind of business like that…restaurants?”
Conan grins, and again, I feel like I passed some kind of test.
“Okay, that’s enough, Mister Mob Business Advisor.” Cillian lets go of my hand and wraps his arm around my waist from behind.
“If the boy wants to speak, you should let him,” Conan says.
“He doesn’t control when I speak,” I defend…well, myself and Cillian both, but then I turn toward him. “You don’t control when I speak.” Because what the hell?
“I wouldn’t dream of it.” Cillian chuckles, and the rest of them follow suit.
My body instantly tenses.
“We’re not laughing at you,” Cillian says quietly, close to my ear. “It’s good that you stick up for yourself. You’ll earn their respect that way.”
I relax into him, feeling better.
“Speaking of sex,” Rory starts.
“We were talking about sex like ten minutes ago,” Cillian interrupts.
“We should always be talking about sex.” Rory pumps his brows at Cillian. “Anyone want to go to Paradise with me and get your dick sucked?”
“I would always like to have my dick sucked,” Finan replies. I expect Conan to say something similar, but he only shakes his head at the two of them.
“All right, then, we’re out. Don’t wait up.” Rory winks.
“Be safe,” I tell him. “Call us if you need anything.”
“I’m always safe, Bunny.”
“What world do you live in where that’s true?” Cillian asks.
“You say that as if most of the time you’re not right there with me in the shenanigans…not with the sex, though. You’ve got our boy on lockdown. He hasn’t touched anyone else since this whole thing started with you. And I mean, who can blame him because—”
“That’s enough!” Cillian warns.
“I was just going to say your boy is hot.” He looks at me. “See you later. I’ll be on my best behavior, I promise. If shit pops off, I’ll just be like…what would Ollie do?”
“Good.” I smile.
“Jesus, kid. Let’s fucking go,” Finan tells him, and the two of them head out.
Thanksgiving isn’t until tomorrow, and I wonder if all of them will be back then. Will it just be us or a huge thing with a group of them?
We bounce around, talking to different people all night. The bond between Cillian and his aunt is clear, and I’m glad he’s always had her. She makes a point to talk to me a lot too, trying to get to know me, I assume, because I’m important to her nephew.
It’s around eleven when Tiernan asks, “Do you want us to stay here tonight?”
“No. I’m good. Go stay with your mom. Have breakfast with her or some shit,” Cillian answers. “Rory will be back later anyway.”
“Okay,” Tiernan answers. “Call if you need us.”
Dean tells me goodbye, and then the two of them, Aislin, and Fia are the next to go.
“Let’s go to my room.” Cillian nods toward the stairs.
“What about our things?”
“They were brought up earlier.”
“Someone brought our things to our room?”
He waggles his brows playfully. “Stick with me, and you’ll be treated like a king.”
I wrap my arms around him, look at him. “I don’t care about any of that…anything. All I want is to be with you.”
He gives me an almost melancholy look that nearly stops my heart.
“What’s wrong?”
“Nothing. Come on, Kitten. I want to be alone with you.”
We hold hands while Cillian leads me upstairs. The room is even larger than the one at his house in Ashford. He has a four-poster bed I’m fairly certain is cherry wood, with decorative pillars in each corner.