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Diarmuid

 

 

 

“Diarmuid,” a familiar male voice called from behind me as I strode through the hallways of the station.

Niall fucking Lynch.

“The answer’s no,” I called back over my shoulder without even stopping to look at him.

“You don’t even know what I’m about to say.”

“It’s still no.”

“For fuck’s sake, Diarmuid. Stop for a sec.”

“Can’t. Places to be.” I pushed out the front door of the station, tumbling out into a rare fine, bright evening. I wasn’t lying. I had a cold beer in the fridge and a hurling match on TV waiting for me.

Another evening alone.

Another evening trying to stop myself from thinking about a certain blonde-haired woman who I should not be thinking about.

Another evening tossing between remembering how her lips felt against mine and beating myself up for wanting more of her. So much more of her.

I heard the door catch behind me. Fucking Niall followed me. I sped up, aiming straight for my truck. Dammit, why did I have to park so friggin’ far away today?

Niall caught up and jogged beside me. “When was the last time you met up with Saoirse?”

“I’ve dreamed about how your sweet pussy would taste. Wondered how hard your back would bow the first time I dipped inside you. What noises you’d make when I sucked that pretty little clit in between my lips.”

I halted. And turned on him, bristling. “None of your business.”

Niall narrowed his eyes. “It is actually my business. What do you guys talk about?”

“More,” she whispered.

“Not yet. Even as wet as you are right now it’d still hurt when I pushed inside you. When I slowly stretched you around me. Add another finger.”

I winced at the memory assaulting my mind. I forced these thoughts from my head, focusing on Niall’s ugly face, feeling the stirrings of my erection relax.

“She’s not involved with her father.”

“You don’t know—”

I grabbed his shirt collar and yanked him towards me. “I do fucking know. I know her.”

“Settle down, Brennan.” Niall pushed at my hands.

I regretfully let him go. Technically I was assaulting another officer right outside the fucking Garda station. It was a stupid move to even put my hands on him. He could have my badge for this. But fuck, did he make me want to hurt him, bad.

Niall brushed down his shirt front. “Even if she’s not involved in his operations, she knows something.”

“Even if she did, which she doesn’t, I am not making her turn against her father.” I turned on my heel and kept walking.

Niall, of course, followed. “Do you know how long we’ve been trying to pin down Liam’s full operations? We only managed to find one small field five years ago. Only one. The fucker didn’t spill at all.”

I let out a snort. “And you thought he would? Eejit. Even threatened with jail time, these guys don’t rat out.”

Niall’s face reddened. “It was a good strategy.”

“It was an impatient strategy. You got tired of having to wait him out. Nabbed him before he could lead you to the golden goose.”

“See,” said Niall, “that’s why I need you on my team.”

I rolled my eyes. “Never happening.”

“I still don’t understand why. Your career could go places if you just moved into the drug squad.”

I wanted to work with my kids. I needed to. With them, I made a difference. Niall would never understand. That’s why I’d stopped trying to explain it to him.

I unlocked my truck, swung the door open and slid into the driver’s seat. I tried to slam my door shut, but Niall moved his body in the way.

“Move,” I growled.

“I tried the carrot, but I think you’d respond much better with the stick.” Suddenly the look on Niall’s face made me uneasy, like he’d been holding his best hand until now.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“You know the captain and I are good mates. We play golf together every Sunday.”

“Why do I give a shit about whose asshole you lick?”

Niall smiled and it reminded me of a snake. “I have you figured out, Brennan. I used to think that the promise of promotion would get you on board. But now I know you only give a shit about one thing…”

He slung his arm along the top of my truck door and leaned in, the gleam in his eye worrying me. “You get me something on Saoirse Quinn, something I can use against her father. Or I will get you kicked out of the JLO program.”

My blood froze. My whole purpose for living disintegrating before my eyes.

“You wouldn’t,” I said.

Niall shrugged. “You’re a difficult man to work with, everybody knows that. You never hand in your reports, never attend team meetings or work functions.”

My hands turned to fists in my lap.

“Maybe if you’d played nice it’d be more difficult to convince the captain to get rid of you.”

It took everything in my willpower not to crack my fist into his face. I had never hated a man as much as I hated Niall fucking Lynch right now.

I hated myself more because he was right.

I was a difficult person to work with. A difficult man. An asshole.

I knew that. But thus far, it’d done its job, keeping people away from me. It’d not harmed me too much.

Until now.

Niall buttoned up the breast of his suit jacket. “This is your last chance to prove that you’re a team player. I don’t give a shit about the girl. Get me something to pin down Liam or you’re gone.”

He shut my door for me, shot me a wink, then strolled back into the station as if he didn’t just curse Saoirse and me both.

I sank back into my seat and rubbed my eyes, reeling from what had just happened.

This wasn’t just a job to me, it was my life, my calling. What would I even do if I wasn’t a JLO?

But could I betray Saoirse? Could I use her to keep my job? My stomach twisted at the thought, making me feel sick.

Whatever I did, I would lose.

Fuck. I was screwed.