Twelve
Jerick
The fecker that put his hand on Stana’s shoulder isn’t going away. He’s been watching her for the last hour and the more she drinks the closer he gets. I have no idea who the bastard is, but if he goes near her again, I won’t hesitate in taking him out. He’s messing with the wrong lass.
I watch as Stana and Cara are dancing together, with their arms in the air and singing along to some shitty song. They both are knackered, and I can’t even imagine the shit that Rory will have to deal with getting Cara home. She’s a lush and a half, and I can’t wait to watch that shit.
“Aye, Jerick,” Rory says from beside me. “Ye see why I don’t let me wife near ye anymore. Ye get her all knackered, and I have to be the one to drag her ass home.” He laughs and continues. “But on the plus, it’s always the best shag.” I grin at him before turning back to look at Stana.
She’s swaying her hips to the beat of the music, and her eyes are closed. The smile on her face never disappears even when the song changes. Just as the fecker starts to move, I see Conaill walking into the club. “Rory, get Connie.” He nods and moves in the direction of Conaill, while I make me way towards the dance floor. Just as I get to the dance floor, the lad from earlier turns and walks the other way.
I close the distance between Stana and me, just as Conaill and Rory get to the guy. He freezes as soon as he sees them walk up to him. He looks up at me when they don’t move from their spots. Our eyes stay on each other, neither of us giving up. I see Conaill say something to him and his attention focuses on him.
Getting to Stana, I wrap me arms around her waist and pull her body back into mine. She turns in me arms and throws her arms around me neck, putting a wet kiss on me lips. “This isss the vest night ever!” She yells at me ear. I pull back and kiss her nose, looking over her shoulder at Cara who has both of her thumbs up and a huge grin plastered on her face.
“Ye knew that man that’s been following ye all night?” I ask in her ear. Her happy smile turns into fear, and she clutches onto me harder.
“No. I don’t know him. He looks familiar, but I can’t place him.”
The fear sobers her up slightly. I motion fer Cara to come to us, and she doesn’t think twice about it. She looks over at Rory, and he nods his head. I release Stana and wrap me arms around both of them, leading them towards one of the back rooms in the club. We use these rooms typically for business deals, but tonight, I’m going to find out who the feck this arsehole is.
Once I get the girls settled in one of the rooms, I send a bartender in to get them more of their fruity drinks. I see Conaill and Rory going into another of the rooms, and I follow suit. Once I walk into the room and shut the door behind me, I get rid of all the emotions. It’s how I survive out on these streets.
Not letting anything affect me thinking.
“Who the feck are ye?” I ask. He looks between me, Rory, and Conaill, not saying a word. Conaill grabs him by the back of the hair and forces him to look at me. “Why the feck are ye following me lass?”
When he doesn’t answer that, he takes a fist to the gut. “He asked ye a question,” Conaill bites out. He doesn’t have much patience for people who don’t talk. If it’s up to him, he would just torture the bastard until he sang like a canary.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” The bastard finally says.
I stand right in front of him and get right in his face. “Ye know exactly what I’m talking about. Ye put yer hands on me lass. Ye’ve been following her around all night. Now, I want to know why.”
“Don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. I haven’t been following anyone around,” he says entirely dismissing me.
Rory walks over to him and runs his knee into the lad’s gut next. He doubles over in pain and drops to his knees. “Give me the information I want and they leave ye alone.” He looks up at me with a pained expression but doesn’t tell me what I want to know.
“Fuck you.”
Conaill hits him again, this time in the mouth. He collapses to the ground and moans slightly. He goes to get back up, and Conaill hits him again. “Alright,” he whimpers out. “I’ll tell you what you want to know,” he mutters, wiping the blood from his lip.
“Speak,” Rory says kicking him in the ribs.
“I was supposed to get close to her. Get her alone and grab her.” He moves to his knees but doesn’t get up from there. He just protects his ribs from another blow.
“Who sent ye?” I growl.
“I don’t know. Some dude with the same accent as you fuckers.”
“Where are ye supposed to take her?” I demand. I need more fecking information than he’s giving me. I feel like part of this is a damn set up. “Rory, go check on the lasses, aye?” He moves through the room and out the door without a word.
“Out the back door. There was going to be a car waiting for me.” Conaill hits him again, and he keeps talking. “I was supposed to put her in the trunk. I swear that’s all I know.”
I don’t say anything else to him, I just blow out a breath and then sucker punch him in the side of the head. Whoever the feck is behind this is going out of their way to get me lass alone. He collapses to the ground, and I nudge him with me shoe. He doesn’t move, so I motion to Conaill. “Let’s drop him in the trunk of the car out back that’s waiting fer me, lass.” He nods and grabs the guy, heaving him over his shoulder and making his way through the back and towards the back door.
When I open the door, I see a black car with tinted windows parked. The trunk is slightly popped, and no one is around. Conaill shoves the fecker in the trunk and closes it before turning towards me.
“What ye want to do now?”
I run me hand down the side of me face and look around the dark alley.
“We find out who is targeting me lass.” He nods, and we make our way back inside. As we walk down the hall, we see Rory coming out of the other room.
“Ye find anything?” he asks.
“No, we put the fecker in the trunk that was meant for Stana. If anything they won’t check to see who’s in the trunk until they leave. They’ll be surprised when they find that bastard in there instead of me lass.”
The door to the room opens, and the girls both come stumbling out. “Jerick!” Stana says happily. She’s completely knackered again. She stumbles over to me and wraps her arms around me waist like nothing happened. Cara is giggling behind her and pulling Rory in fer a kiss.
“Stana, love,” I murmur. She looks up at me with her beautiful eyes, and I see the whole world in them. It would be so damn easy to fall in love with her. She’s everything that I wish I were minus the dark secrets that she continues to keep. She doesn’t like to share stuff still, but I will change that. I’ll help her see the world. Try new things that she would never have done without me.
“Ye ready to go home?” She nods her head and leans in to press her mouth against mine. I let her do as she wishes. She kisses me sloppily, but I don’t mind. Just having her in me arms makes everything better.
“Jerick, I’m going to get me drunk wife home now. I’ll catch ye later.” Rory says from behind Stana. I nod me head, and I look over to Conaill. He doesn’t move until I do.
“I need to get this one home too,” I state. “We can walk together just in case Ciaran is out there.” Both men nod, and we lead the drunken girls out of the club and towards the parking garage.
As we walk towards the parking garage, I see Conaill scanning the area. When we get to Rory’s car, we wait fer him to get Cara in the car. “Jerick!” she yells. I turn me head towards her and see the huge grin on her face. “I like this one! Don’t mess it up!” Rory looks over at us and just shakes his head.
“This is yer fault, arsehole,” he says before shutting the door on Cara. I laugh at him as he walks to the driver’s side and gets in. Stana has her head on me shoulder as I continue to hold up most of her weight. She waves at Cara and Rory as they take off into the night.
“Let’s get ye to the car, love,” I murmur against her temple. She nods her head but doesn’t move from the spot she’s standing. Wrapping me arm around her, I lead her towards the car with Conaill following us. When I get there, I see that me tires are slashed and me windows are busted out.
“Mother fecker,” I bite out.
“Shit,” Conaill says behind me. “Come on, I’ll drop ye off.”
I nod me head and walk with Stana towards Conaill’s car. Her eyes are wide, but she doesn’t say a word about the car. I don’t know if it’s because she’s knackered or because she’s scared. “I’ll have one of me men come and get the car. It can be fixed by the end of tomorrow.” He’s already pulling his phone from his jeans.
“Aye, I need ye to have a truck pick up Jerick’s car in the parking garage outside of Sinkhole.” He listens fer a second before he says anything else. “Broken windows and slashed tires.” Stana wraps her arm around my waist and hugs me closer to her as we walk.
“Who would do that to your pretty car?” Her speech still slightly slurred.
“Don’t know love, but I will find out.”
“Me guy will be here in the next hour to get yer car.” Conaill hits the button on his key fob to unlock his truck. I help Stana into the backseat and scoot her over getting in next to her. “Am I taking ye to yer place?” he asks when he starts the truck.
“No, South Main.” I give him directions when he needs them; otherwise, the ride to her place is quiet. When I look at her, she has her eyes closed and her cheek resting on me. “Thank ye, Conaill,” I state when he puts the truck in park outside of Stana’s apartment complex.
“Ye know I’d do it without ye even asking. Yer me brother.” I lean forward and shake his hand.
“I’ll give ye a call tomorrow about getting me car. I owe ye one.” He brushes me off, but I know if he needs something he won’t hesitate to call. He doesn’t do this shit for any reason but being like family. He doesn’t want the glory or attention on him. He just wants to live his life with no regrets or rules.
I get Stana out of the truck and wave to Conaill as he pulls away from the curb. Picking Stana up, I carry her to her apartment. When I get us inside, I scan the parking lot before shutting the door and taking her to bed.