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.
Making me way to the bag Connie left fer me, I pull on a pair of jeans and a shirt before I make me way out of the room and downstairs. The place is quiet, and when I go in search fer Connie, I find him sitting at the bar in the kitchen.
“Aye, yer finally out of bed.” He gives me a knowing grin, and I shrug. I would much rather be still tangled up in Stana, but we got shit to do.
“Not by choice,” I mutter. He grins at me, and I walk over to the coffee and pour me a cup before taking a seat next to him.
“Yer Da called, followed by yer brother Liam.” He looks up at me as he shoves a piece of toast in his mouth. I wait fer him to continue, wondering why the feck they would contact him. After he swallows and takes a drink of his coffee, he continues. “They called Rory too. Something about ye not answering, and trying to find out if yer alive.”
I roll me eyes at that. “Like they give a damn,” I grumble, taking another sip of me drink. As I set it on the counter, me phone starts ringing. I groan as I check the screen and see me Da’s name flashing. I put the phone to me ear and answer. “Aye.”
His grunt fills me ear, and I know that he’s gonna be pissed at me. “Where the feck have ye been boyo?” I shake me head before running me hand through me hair.
“I’ve been dealing with some shit,” I answer, giving Connie a look. He reaches to grab something and hands it over to me. Its surveillance photos and I can’t put a name on the person in them.
“Ye know ye have responsibilities to the family. Ye can’t just turn yer back on us now that ye found some slag.” I grit me teeth and try like hell not to say something out loud. The men that were trying to get in last night were from the family.
“Aye,” I respond, not giving a shit what he’s even going on about. The family isn’t a family right now. They are trying to go after me lass, and it will be the biggest mistake they’ve ever made. Working fer the Divil will be nothing compared to the hell I’ll rain down on them.
“The lass needs to go boyo. I won’t let her ruin the work we’ve put in this organization over the years. She won’t mean shit in a year. Get yer head out of yer arse and get back to work.” He grunts out the last few words. He is probably getting his dick sucked at the moment while trying to tell me how to live me life.
“I’ll deal with me personal life and ye can stay the feck out of it,” I respond, me voice ice cold. I’m done playing the son who stands by his side while I get nothing in return. He wants Liam to be part of the fold, then he can have it all. I don’t mind getting away from it fer a while. It will give me time to focus on the shit I need to do. “Tell Liam that I’m looking fer him when ye see him.” I hang up before I can even get his response.
He’ll be pissed off, but right now I couldn’t care less.
I roll me shoulders as I set the phone down on the counter. The tension is becoming too much fer me to deal with right now. Getting to shag me lass again can probably take some of it away, but judging by the look on Connie’s face I’m not going to be able to go back to bed like I’m hoping.
“Tell me what ye got.” I run me hand down the back of me neck and try to work out a few knots on me own, but it’s no use. I need to head to the masseuse when I get some time.
“The three guys from last night are yer families men.” He hands me files on each of the men and I scan over the information on each of them before I set them down and look fer Rory’s number. He answers on the third ring, and I can hear the frustration before I even say a word.
“If yer calling to get that shit ye wanted, yer gonna have to wait.” I ignore that and instead ask him what’s wrong. “As if we didn’t need any more shit to deal with.” I look over at Connie, and he has an eyebrow raised, waiting fer me to tell him what’s wrong.
“What is it?” I ask, losing me patience fer the conversation already.
“Cara’s pregnant.” I suck in a breath, and my eyes meet Conaill’s. I mouth the word pregnant, and his eyebrows shoot up into his hairline. “We both aren’t ready yet. Not with the shit going down with the family and the stuff with ye.” I close my eyes fer a second and rub them with my free hand.
“Ye guys are going to be great parents. The stuff we are doing isn’t going to change that fact,” I respond.
He barks out a laugh and I know he doesn’t believe me; hell part of me doesn’t either. “I’m a God damn killer Jerick.” He mutters something under his breath, and I can’t hear it. If he wants me to tell him that he’s wrong, I can’t. When ye live the life we do, some things are way out of our control. We were raised as killers. We learned at a young age that to get ahead, we had to take out the competition.
He doesn’t have to raise his child the way we were raised. We can change the cycle. Give our children better lives than we had.
“We all are Rory,” I state. I’m a killer too. “Cara knew the type of man ye were when she married ye.” I already know he’s rolling his eyes at me fer that one. “She loved ye even though she knew the type of man ye are. We can’t change the way we were raised. It’s in our blood. Yer da, me da, it was passed down through the generations to teach us how to protect the ones we love and to fight fer the family.” He blows out a breath, and I have to do the same.
“Ye will get through this lad. I know ye two can get through anything.”
Rory is quiet fer a few minutes, and I scan over the file in front of me again. The names are familiar, but I can’t place them.
“Why’d ye call?” he finally asks, calming himself down some.
“I have a few names I want to run by ye,” I respond. When he asks me the names, I name them off quickly. “Ye every heard of Adamnan Murphy, Brady O’Sullivan, and Ennis Walsh?”
“Aye fucking hell. Are those the feckers that got fried last night?” he groans over the line.
“I need ye to get to Conaill’s. We have some shit we need to go over. Ye can bring Cara, Stana is here too.” Just as I say her name, I can feel her in the room. Turning me head, I see her standing by the entryway. She looks unsure of what to do so I motion fer her to come to me. Just as she gets to me, me phone starts to beep in me ear with another call.
Pulling the phone from me ear, I look at the screen and see Liam’s name. “I need to get this. Get here when ye can.” I switch over the line, and I bite out Liam’s name.
“Aye, dear brother. Good to hear ye are getting me threats.”
“Ye so much as come near her again and I won’t hesitate to put a bullet in yer head.” His chuckle fills me ear, and I feel her tense in me arm. He won’t come near her, I won’t let that happen.
“I see that yer eejit lad has protected his gaff better than I expected. Now fer yer slag, I hope I get a chance to meet her real soon.”
“Ye call her a slag one more time, and I’ll show you how it feels to lose everything ye’ve worked so fecking hard fer,” I ground out. I’m pissed that he even thinks that he can get close to her.
“Yer such a muppet.” He sneers into the line.
“At least I’m not a fecking traitor.” It comes out on a laugh and Stana puts her hand on me chest, bringing me back from the anger that is currently running rampant in me body.
“Instead yer a fecking cunt.”
I bite back a laugh at that. Feck him. I don’t bother responding to him. Instead, I just hit the end button and pocket me phone.
“Everything okay?” Stana asks quietly. She presses her body into me side, and I tighten me grip on her.
“Everything will be fine, love.” I kiss her temple, and she runs her fingers up and down me chest in the most soothing way. “Ye think he’s stupid enough to send some other feckers after us?” I ask.
“He’s made a mess of things again and won’t stop now. Yer da may be the only one able to get him off his high horse.”
I roll me eyes at that. If anything, me Da is just going to tell me that this shit is me fault because of Stana. “He won’t give a feck.” I sigh and rub me hand up her back. “All he cares about is the family and making sure that I don’t feck any of his shit up. He told me that Stana was just a distraction and that I needed to get rid of her when he found out.”
Conaill chuckles at that and runs his hand over his beard. “Yer da has always been a little tougher on ye than he needed to be.” I nod and grab me cup, taking a drink of me coffee. It’s gone cold, but I don’t bother getting up now that I have her standing between me legs. Her eyes scan over the folders in front of me, and I see her skimming parts as if she thinks I’ll take them away from her.
“Last night while we were taking care of the guy who set up yer attack, three more men came to the house to try and hurt ye.” No emotion in me voice. I want her to know how fecking dangerous things are at the moment and that she can’t try and leave until we deal with the threat. I’m sure she wants to go back to work still, but I won’t be letting that happen either.