Ciaran
Opening my mouth seemed to be getting me into nothing but trouble. I managed to lie to Elle God knew how many times, from my job to the reasons why I didn’t want to tell her about it. And I somehow pushed her to think for a second there that it was somehow because I didn’t like her company. All because I was nervous and I liked to snap at people when I got nervous.
Better get that in check, I thought as the truck driver who’d been nice enough to give us a ride waved at us as we got off. We were in Merrill, thank God. I was sort of wishing I had left her back at that cabin, but it wasn’t a good idea to be stuck out there alone. At least this way I could get her to a phone, maybe a bus, and on her way to her parents’. I doubted I’d get her there before Christmas—it was only a couple days away—but at least she would be out of immediate danger.
Which was what she was in while walking around Merrill with me.
It was still early in the day and the clear blue sky had faded away to overcast quickly, so the place looked just shy of deserted. Most of the area was Catholic and damn devout, so I wasn’t surprised to see that the streets were dead. A few of the shops would be open, of course, but they would have limited store hours. No one wanted to be working long hours over the holidays.
Which was good. It meant the shop where I worked would be closed—and I wouldn’t have to explain to her about the boys who worked there or to them about her. It was win-win.
The shop was a legitimate business, but it also served as the headquarters for the Lucky Skulls. It made me hesitate to bring Elle there, but like I said, it was supposed to be closed that day.
That was why I wasn’t worried when we walked the two blocks down the street to the shop and saw that the lights were out and there wasn’t a car in the lot. “That’s it,” I told Elle, pointing to the shop. It read only O’Paddy’s, which was a play on Pa Sullivan’s heritage and the cops both. It didn’t have a damn thing to do with anyone’s actual name.
“O’Paddy’s?” she questioned. Her eyes went to my hair, then back down to my eyes. “You’re plenty Irish, aren’t you?”
I shrugged. “Irish with a little Swedish thrown in for good measure.”
She laughed. “Does that mean you’re an angry, shy drunk?”
I rolled my eyes but smiled. “Way to roll together every stereotype you could come up with.”
“If the shoe fits…” She trailed off, then winked at me.
“It doesn’t,” I informed her, but let her see my grin. I didn’t want to see her upset with me again. I’d been thinking about it while we were getting that ride into town. Right now things were dicey here. I could have some serious issues on my hand and that meant I was dangerous for her to be around. But what about later? I’d send her on her merry way, get this stuff with Shane cleared up, and then I could pursue her and see where this intense physical attraction went. Maybe I’d decide that was all it was, just attraction, or maybe it would surprise me and morph into something more. Either way, I was game to find out.
And there was no reason I couldn’t.
Except that eventually she’s going to want to know what you really do, a little voice in my head reminded me. It was probably my conscience, which was why I had very little trouble shoving it aside. I’d do what was best for Elle now; that was enough. No reason to completely write her off.
“You can make a call from there,” I told her, gesturing towards the shop. I glanced both ways to check for traffic, but it was sort of pointless. There wasn’t anyone out for miles it seemed. Almost as if Merrill had become a sudden ghost town. Which wasn’t all that difficult to imagine, given the sudden departure of the industry and all. But even with the weather and Christmas so near I thought it was a little odd it was this deserted.
There should be a car parked around here somewhere, right?
Unease began to worm its way up through my system, leaving me with sweaty palms and the sense that something was wrong. I told myself it was my imagination, but I didn’t really believe it. My gut had been right a thousand times and wrong only a handful. Was this one of those times?
I glanced uneasily at Elle. She didn’t seem concerned about any of this. Not the deserted streets or all of the closed businesses. I tried to tell myself her reaction meant I was overreacting. Still, I didn’t settle completely.
“Thanks,” she told me, flashing me a bright smile that reached her pretty blue eyes. “I’m sure my parents are just flipping out now. I told them I’d be a little late getting there, but I’m sure they didn’t think I’d be this late.”
I nodded absently, my eyes scanning the area. Nothing out of place. Nothing seemed really wrong…but I still couldn’t shake the feeling that I was missing something. Something important.
“I wish my cell hadn’t died, or got a lick of service,” she continued, oblivious to my sudden change in mood. “That would have saved us a lot of grief, right? I mean, I could have called my parents and you could have called…well, whoever it is you needed to call.”
I barely even processed her words, but when I noticed she fell silent, I rewound it in my head. Whoever it is you needed to call. It clicked instantly. She was worried this was over some girl. A long-term lover or something along those lines. Maybe even a wife. I smirked a little to myself. She was interested. All indicators pointed in that direction, despite what she said—or maybe even including it—and now I was certain. She was wondering if I was really available or if I was just playing with her.
Although toying with her for a bit sounded sort of fun, I decided it was the best choice to just clear this up before it became a problem. I flashed her a smile. “The boys at work and my Ma. No one else needs calling.”
She flushed, clearly realizing why I was answering her. But she quickly regained her composure. “Oh. I see. I’m sure they are all really worried about you.”
I smirked. Ma was probably going to chew my ass over being away for so long without so much as a word as to where I was going, and the boys were no doubt restless if only because of Shane and the Irish Hounds. “I’m sure they are.”
I started to dig around for the keys to the shop in my pocket, but quickly realized they weren’t there. Damnit. It took me just a second longer before I realized they were probably tucked safely away in the pocket of my leather jacket. The one that was missing. The keys to the shop were on the same keyring as the one for my bike. If I had them out, then they could be sitting in the snow somewhere, lost forever.
I let out a sigh. This was turning into a pain in the ass.
“What is it?” she asked.
I shook my head and was about to answer her when I noticed the door was opened just a tiny crack. A frown slipped across my lips. I reached for the door to test it and sure enough it was open. I pushed it open and instantly knew something was wrong. This door was never left unlocked.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
I hesitated. Was I overreacting? Was this the one time someone had just been in too big of a damn hurry and forgot to lock the door? Or was this something more? Finally, I decided I had to get her on her way home. If this was something bad, then all the more reason to make that call and get her out.
“It’s fine,” I told her finally. “The phone’s over there. Go make your call.”
She smiled in thanks, then walked over towards the phone that was sitting on the only desk that wasn’t covered in grease stains. She got it up to her ear just as she began dialing before I realized I’d fucked up.
This was not a safe place to be.
“Elle!” I called to her, running towards her.
She looked up in confusion at me, her brow furrowing as she tilted her head to the side. I’d seen movement back behind the car lift and reacted as quickly as it could. If it were one of my guys, they wouldn’t be hiding. Which meant it was someone else here. Someone who wasn’t on good terms with me.
Elle opened her mouth to ask what was wrong when the first shot rang out. It shattered a window not two feet from her head. She let out an earsplitting scream, dropping the receiver. I raced across the shop floor and collided heavily with her, dragging her body to the ground beneath me just as a second shot rang out.
“Shit!”
Elle had stopped screaming, but was definitely panicking. Her blue eyes were huge and her breathing was coming in quick, short breaths that were making me wonder if she wasn’t starting to hyperventilate. I hoped not. We didn’t have time for that.
“C’mon!” I said to her. I motioned for her to follow me. “Stay low.”
For a long moment, she didn’t move. I worried she was in too bad of shock to be able to. That would be a problem, because under the circumstances I didn’t think I could get her out of here if she couldn’t get herself moving. And it was too late to play some hero shit and try to sacrifice myself to save her. Whoever was shooting at me had seen her. If I took off, he’d take her in my stead. Likely as ransom or bait.
“Move!” I yelled at her as another shot shattered more glass.
I didn’t know if it was my yell or the shot, but she seemed to come to. She blinked once, then nodded. Quickly, she began to crawl after me. I led her across the floor of the shop, moving behind the toolboxes as best I could to try to provide some kind of cover. When we ran out of that, we made a break for it. The back door was only a few feet. A short distance unless you were running from a psycho with a gun aiming your way.
The gunman fired several more times, the echo of the shots ringing in my ears. I shoved Elle out the back door and back into the snow.
“We need to get the hell out of here!”
“In what?” Elle demanded, the fear and panic clear in her voice. “We don’t have a car!”
I looked around. No cars in the lot. No vehicles of any kind. I should have listened to my instincts; I knew something was off. Hindsight is twenty-twenty, I thought grimly.
Grabbing Elle’s hand, I jerked her through the snow and began to run. She had trouble keeping up. It wasn’t as bad here as it had been at the cabin since the city maintained the roads, but there were plenty of banks filled with dirty mounds of snow and where the sidewalk had been half-assed cleared was icy instead. Not exactly helpful when you’re running for your life.
More shots were fired and I knew we didn’t have a lot of time. We needed to get out of here fast, but without a car. And we needed to be able to hide.
That was when I thought of it. I just had to get there.
I dragged Elle behind a dumpster, motioning for her to be still and quiet. Then I reached into my pocket. Right before the first shot, I’d spotted a cellphone. It looked like Mitch’s. I swiped it just before realizing what was going on. I was glad I had.
I dialed Devlin first, but there was no answer. It went straight to voicemail. Maybe he would have picked up if it had been my number, or maybe it was just dead. Either way, I wasn’t going to waste time with a message or calling again. I tried a couple of the others, but wasn’t having any luck. And I didn’t have time to try any more of them.
When I saw the gunman, all dressed in black, leaving the shop, I reached for Elle. In a soft, quiet whisper I said, “C’mon. Time to go.”
She didn’t protest, didn’t say a word, just let me pull her along. We ran through the snow, trying to be quiet but move as quickly as possible. Elle tripped twice, but I thankfully caught her both times and she managed to stay quiet at the very least. We couldn’t afford too much noise right now.
It was four blocks and I noticed the gunman wasn’t the only one out tonight. What had seemed deserted before was now a minefield. They were Shane’s men, I was sure of it, and they were everywhere. I worried the boys were hurt, killed even, but there was no time to focus on that. I had Elle with me and she hadn’t signed up for any of this. I couldn’t let her get caught up in it.
We finally made it to the old bar. Relief flooded me.
“Here?” Elle asked, sounding still scared and a little skeptical of my choice in hiding spots.
I couldn’t blame her. From the outside, Sullivan’s looked like crap. Once, it had been one of the biggest bars in town. It had flourished thanks to the industrial boom, but when the businesses started leaving, this old place dropped out. It was okay, though. It coincided with Pa’s retirement and Ma never much complained about the place being empty. She always said she liked the quiet.
Even when things got a little better around here, the bar remained closed except for those with personal connections to the owner. That being said, there was an apartment above the place where Ma still lived. It was a risk to come here, but it was the only place within walking distance.
I was going to have to take a chance.
I pounded on the front door and tried to remind myself to be patient. If she didn’t answer in the next thirty seconds, I promised myself I would go inside, which was hardly what I considered patient, but it was all the time I was willing to give the older lady.
Turned out, she didn’t need more than that.
She opened the door, smiling as soon as she met me. “Oh, thank heavens, Ciaran! The whole neighborhood is up in a tizzy over this mess! Have you heard what Shane—” She broke off when she spotted Elle beside me. The poor girl was looking pale and wide-eyed, still in shock.
“Sorry, Ma,” I told her contritely. “But we need a place to hole up for a moment. Just until I can get ahold of someone.”
She nodded quickly and I could see in her face that she knew what I was getting at. She ushered us inside. “Well, come in, come in. Don’t just stand there freezing your buns off in the cold.”
I pushed Elle in ahead of me, gave one quick look at our surroundings, then went inside myself. I didn’t see anyone and hoped that meant they hadn’t followed us here, but even if they didn’t, I knew this was only a temporary safe haven. After all, Shane would know this would be one of the first places I’d go for refuge.
Which meant Ma was in danger now, too. I cursed in my head, fully aware that cursing in front of her was more trouble than getting caught by the Irish Hounds.
Ma was fussing over Elle, getting her a mug of something warm and draping a blanket across her slender shoulders. Ma came maybe up to those same shoulders and had white hair pulled back into a long braid that made her look almost whimsical, which she was anything but. Ma was the force in the family and always had been. Pa may have worn the pants, but Ma was the one who gave them their iron. If she didn’t give the okay, it wasn’t a go.
Elle seemed to relax a little beneath Ma’s soothing motherly touches, and even smiled a bit when Ma patted her cheek like she was just a child. Ma always was the type to take in strays.
Like me, I thought.
When Elle was settled and taking a sip of what was probably hot chocolate, Ma came back over to me. “You know what’s going on with Shane?” she said in a calm but quiet tone. Ma was good about making sure people didn’t think she was talking about anything important. Being casual about stuff meant no one felt the urge to eavesdrop or butt into your business. I glanced over at Elle and was pretty sure that in this case Ma was right.
“I’ve got some ideas,” I said. “I’ve been out of the picture for a couple of days.”
Ma nodded. “I know. The boys have been trying to get ahold of you.”
“Yeah, well, I haven’t had much luck getting ahold of them,” I responded, glancing down at Mitch’s phone. “I’m going to try again while we’re here.” I paused. I needed to gently remind her that things were getting hairy and she could wind up in the thick of it. I opened my mouth to tell her as much, but she held up a hand, instantly silencing me.
“I don’t want to hear it,” she told me sternly in that motherly voice I remembered so well from my childhood. “You’re my boy and I’m not leaving you to the cold. Or whatever might be wandering it.”
I wanted to protest, but knew there was no point. When she’d made up her mind, there was no changing it. Ma was stubborn as a mule and sharp as a tack. I nodded my head once, though I was still worried for her. “Thanks, Ma.”
“Of course. Now, about Shane…”
She proceeded to explain what I’d managed to miss over the last two and a half days. As I thought, Shane was telling everyone I was dead. It confirmed that he’d been the one to attack me and that he thought he’d managed to kill me. The first place the Irish Hounds had hit was the shop. Ma said it with anger, fire and brimstone burning in her eyes. O’Paddy’s had been Pa’s first, and upon his death she’d insisted in me taking it over. It was one of a thousand things that built contention between Shane and me.
“You were always the favorite,” he had told me once, and it was pretty damn clear he’d never gotten past that.
Ma continued, telling me that O’Paddy’s had been closing up when it happened. They’d killed everyone there—only four—then dumped the bodies so in the odd event that the police decided to get involved the Hounds wouldn’t be implicated.
I cringed at the knowledge that four more of mine were gone. “Do you know who?”
“Morrison, Daniel, Carlisle, and Mitch,” she told me solemnly. These boys were as much her own as I was in the end. She’d taken care of them since the times when Pa still led the Lucky Skulls. I knew she mourned probably even more than I did.
“What about the others?” I asked hopefully.
She shook her head. “Holed up somewhere. The Hounds are running around everywhere. It isn’t safe to have any association with the Skulls. And with you dead, they’re trying to recoup. They need a leader and they need a plan. They have neither. But you can give them their leader back, at least.”
I nodded in agreement. “I will.” I glanced over at where Elle stared into her mug, watching the steam rise from it. “But I need to get her to safety first. She doesn’t have anything to do with this and it’s not fair to involve her.”
Ma agreed quickly. “Poor thing looks plum scared to death. You never should have started anything with a pretty little thing like that,” she scolded me lightly. It wasn’t that Ma didn’t like her. She wouldn’t have been so sweet or sympathetic if that had been the case. It wasn’t even that Ma didn’t want me to settle with some nice girl eventually. But Ma was a good judge of people and probably had picked up right off the bat that Elle wasn’t the type to be involved in this sort of excitement. I’d put her in danger and Ma was wagging her finger at me for it.
“It wasn’t intentional,” I assured her. “When Shane tried to crack open my skull, I blacked out. I lay in the snow unconscious and probably would have died. But she found me. She saved me, Ma, and I didn’t even know it until it was way past the point of no return.”
She fell silent for a moment, considering me. Then she glanced over at Elle. When she looked back at me, I saw unmistakable hope in her eyes. “She overly fond of you?” she questioned, attempting to sound casual.
“Ma,” I warned.
She held up her hands for peace. “Alright, alright. I was only asking. But you’d better figure out what to do with the little thing before things get really hairy.”
I nodded. “I know. I’m just worried it’s too late to get her out of this. They’ve seen us together. I can’t risk sending her in public transportation and her car’s buried under about six feet of snow.”
Ma considered this for a long moment. “Well, I’ve got Pa’s old truck out back. I don’t use it much anyhow, but I always make sure she runs. You tell her to take that and when things settle down, maybe she can deliver it back to me. Or you could go and get it from her.” She winked at me and I knew she was trying to play matchmaker games. Ma didn’t approve of dragging people into danger unwittingly, but I hadn’t meant to and Elle had done more than half the work herself. I wasn’t sure what Ma had spotted in Elle that she liked so much, but when she got an idea in her head it was almost impossible to get it out of there again.
“Hush, Ma,” I told her, dropping my voice lower so Elle wouldn’t hear anything. Not that she was even looking our way. She was likely lost in her own thoughts, trying to calm down after everything. “I’ll get your truck back to you, but that’s it. Leave her out of this.”
Her eyebrows rose. “You telling me you haven’t even thought about it?”
I didn’t answer her and she grinned. Truth was, I had been thinking about it. After all of this blew over…But seeing her scared and in shock after everything, well, it reminded me that I couldn’t do that to her. Even if I cleared things up with Shane, there would still be trouble. Another rival club, the cops, dissention from within. They were bound to happen. Did I have any right dragging her into it? Serious, not serious, either way it was dragging her into a dangerous world unnecessarily. That wasn’t fair to her.
“Don’t worry so much, m’boy. Things’ll work out. They always do.”
Before I could say more, she ushered the pair of us upstairs where we could shower and find some clean, dry clothing. I let Elle shower first, tried not to picture her naked, glistening body and the things I’d like to do to it. Then when she got out, wrapped in a fluffy bath towel, I slid in after her. Ma would find her some things to wear. I took a little longer in the shower than I usually did, because I had to work out a little frustration. It was a bad time for it, but Elle was driving me mad, and imagining her in the shower definitely hadn’t helped. When I finished jerking myself off, I washed again, then got out of the shower. I towel dried, then went in search of clothing.
Elle wasn’t in the room when I got out, but I heard soft conversation floating up from downstairs. She was talking with Ma, who was probably putting little ideas in her head. I let out a frustrated sound. Ma was not making this easier on me.
I dug into the closet and found some of my old things, kept for just in case situations. I pulled out some flannel lined jeans, a long-sleeved black t-shirt, a sweatshirt, and a coat to go on top of it. The coat had been Pa’s and still smelled like the laundry soap he’d always used and just a little bit of vanilla tobacco.
I was pulling on an old pair of work boots since my others were soaked when I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. A second later there was a knock. “Are you decent?” came Elle’s voice.
I smirked, thinking of how I should have waited for her naked or at least answered her cheekily about didn’t she wish, but ultimately I remembered that I was determined to leave her behind now. I had decided she wasn’t the kind of woman for this sort of life. That meant I needed to cut out this tongue in cheek crap. So I called out simply, “Yeah.”
The door opened and my mouth opened a little in surprise.
Ma had found Elle some clothes that fit, but they were old. They must have been from when Ma was just a girl herself, because the dress was tight in the waist, but modest. It was probably shorter on Elle than on Ma given the height difference, but even then it fell halfway past her knees. It was a deep navy blue color from just below her breasts down. The top was a snow-white color that traveled down the sleeves. There were silver buttons with star designs on them traveling down the entire front of the dress. The collar was a V-neck with little collar flaps on the side. The sleeves were long and buttoned at the wrists.
I could picture Ma as a young woman in that dress, dancing the night away with Pa until they were both laughing and exhausted, and probably a little intoxicated.
It was strange to see Elle in the dress now, but I admitted she looked beautiful in it. Her hair was still drying, putting see-through spots on the white fabric and hinting at the lack of a bra she wore beneath. I had the feeling that Ma didn’t have one in her size in her wardrobe.
“A dress?” I managed to get out, realizing I’d been staring for a long while and my gaze was lingering a little too long on her breasts. I could see her peaked nipple. From the cold? From desire?
She shrugged a little. “Your mother said there weren’t a lot of choices for someone as little as me.” She smoothed out the midnight blue skirt. “Is it really terrible?”
I stood, shaking my head. “No. It’s…” I broke off before I said something stupid like it’s beautiful. “You’re probably going to be cold.”
She looked a little disappointed, but nodded. “Your mom gave me wool tights to wear with it and some boots that are a little small on me. But they’ll do for now. She said she had a coat that I could use, too.”
I nodded, trying to remain calm, but all I could think about was wool tights and her in nothing else. Maybe they were the thigh high kind and she could skip the panties. I could tear off that dress and leave her in just the tights. It would be easy to spread her milky thighs and expose that perfect, pink core of hers.
Taking a deep breath, I ground out, “Good. I need to make some calls, then we’ll go.”
She nodded, but before either of us got anywhere, we heard the knocking on the door.