Patrick

“What the fuck are—”

I shook my head quickly, and Sean went quiet.

The bastard who called himself our father, even after all he had done, laughed.

“You gonna let him talk for you like that, boy?” he said, looking at Sean.

When Sean didn’t respond, he laughed again, the sound bitter, evil, a sound I hated more than anything else in this world. “Pussies, the lot of you. I can’t believe my blood runs through your veins. But knowing your whore of a mother, it might not,” he said.

That was Aengus, insulting someone who’d never been able to fight back, testing us at the same time. Aengus held our mother in the lowest esteem, but he’d still expect us to respond, to fight for her name. I wanted to, knew my brothers did too. I just wouldn’t give that fucker the satisfaction.

“None of us is that lucky. What do you want?”

I kept all inflection out of my voice, didn’t even risk moving. The urge to wrap my hands around his throat and snap his fucking neck was so strong, I didn’t trust myself not to.

When he was around, everything fell away, and today was only slightly different.

That rage was still there, the anger at how powerless I was to make him pay for all the suffering he had caused me and my brothers. But I was also aware of Nya, knew that she didn’t understand what was happening, something I was grateful for. I also knew that yet again I was pulling her into something she had no business being a part of.

Aengus laughed, that grating sound instantly taking me back to a time I tried so hard to forget. “Still the bigmouth, huh? Still won’t let these little assholes speak for themselves, take their own punishment, huh?”

“What do you want?” I repeated.

This time, just a hint of anger seeped out, and I could see the instant Aengus seized on it.

“Maybe I just wanted to come and visit my boys? Nothing is more important than family, you know? Didn’t I at least teach you that?” he said, his voice taunting like always.

I said nothing, was grateful that none of the others did either. Aengus was toying with us. The only question was to what end. He was here for a reason. Everything he did was for some reason, some ulterior motive. Torturing us was just a side benefit.

When no one spoke, he stepped even closer, and Declan stood. He didn’t move, but I thought I saw a flicker of concern in Aengus’s eyes. He was mean and stubborn, but he hadn’t forgotten the beating Declan had given him all those years ago.

Aengus recovered quickly, looked at me without acknowledging Declan again. “Heard you were in some trouble. Wanted to see if I could help,” he said.

Help. He didn’t know the meaning of the word. What he wanted was a front-row seat to my suffering. I wouldn’t give it to him.

“Thanks for the offer,” I said, keeping all hints of sarcasm and anger out of my voice. “You can’t.”

“You never know. Your old man isn’t as useless as you might think,” he said.

“Fuck off, Aengus,” I responded, dropping the pretense.

He thinned his lips, and eyes I hated because they reminded me of mine went cold.

“Watch your mouth, boy,” he said through clenched teeth.

I didn’t bother to respond, which I knew only made him angrier, but he should have been used to it by now. It had been decades since a word from Aengus had caused anything but disgust. Not that he noticed. He seemed stuck in those days when we’d all cowered at the first sign of him.

Those days were long past, but he hadn’t gotten the message. It was one I longed to deliver, one that only my word kept me from delivering.

“Did you hear me? You’re going to open your mouth to me like that? Did you forget who the fuck I am? I will—”

“I have your drink, Aengus.”

The voice was so soft, so timid, I almost didn’t hear it, especially not over the rage that sent blood rushing through my ears.

But I did hear and looked to Aengus’s left where Grace, the pub’s bartender/baker/manager stood.

Aengus frowned, looked down at her, scowling. He blinked for a moment and then seemed to process the words. “Well then bring it to me,” he snapped, his tone making it clear how stupid he thought she was for not having done so already.

“It’s at the bar,” she said. “Please come with me.”

Aengus looked at her, seeming to weigh her words as she kept her eyes firmly on the floor. Aengus probably thought she was scared of him, and maybe she was, but her not looking at him meant nothing. Grace didn’t look at anyone except Sean, and sometimes not even him.

After a moment, Aengus nodded. “Lead the way, sweetheart. I’m bored by these bitches.”

A second later he walked away, and she followed behind. Grace looked back long enough to stare at Sean, who gave her a curt nod, and then disappeared through the crowd.

Without speaking, my brothers and I stood as one, and I reached for Nya, squeezed her hand in mine as we wove our way through the crowd and to the back.

“Wait here,” I said.

The pub was completely secure, and the men here were loyal to me and my brothers. I had no doubt she would be safe here, so I left her in a small office and then continued on with the others.

It was rude, and she would probably be angry, but leaving her now was the best thing I could do. I was too emotional, and I didn’t want her to see that, just as I didn’t want to acknowledge that Aengus still had the power to get to me.

Michael, Sean, and Declan waited for me, and when I closed the door, locked it for good measure, it seemed as though we all took a breath.

“Fuck,” Sean said.

Michael and Declan simply frowned, Declan having that murderous look that would scare any man with sense, something that Aengus didn’t have.

I started pacing, the area too small for me to really stretch, but the desire to harm him making standing still impossible.

“We made a promise,” Michael said, seeming to sense the direction of my thoughts.

“You reminding me or yourself?” I asked.

“I’m reminding us all,” he replied.

But even in his voice I heard a waver, an acknowledgment that I was not the only one who hated Aengus and wanted to see him dead. Pity that couldn’t happen, at least not at my hand because I had given my word.

“Yeah, what the fuck were we thinking when we made that promise?” Sean asked.

“We were thinking we were doing the right thing,” Declan said.

“Since when do Murphys know anything about that?” Sean responded.

None of us said anything, because there was nothing to say. Murphys didn’t. But as brothers, together, we’d decided we would try to change that. And keeping that promise, no matter how often the temptation to break it arose, was the first step in doing so.

“What the fuck does he want?” Michael said.

“Nothing good,” came Declan’s reply.

Aengus hated us all, but I held a special place in his heart. I’d usurped him, bested him, and he’d never forgive me for it. I didn’t care, and in fact took immense pleasure in knowing that my success wounded him. That strand of contention was why I’d immediately suspected him after that shit at the hotel. I looked at my brothers, searching their faces. “He knows someone took a shot at me. Twice,” I said.

“Yeah, but I’m sure that’s common knowledge by now. We put the word out, so it would’ve gotten to him,” Sean said.

“Yeah, but he came here on purpose,” I said.

“You know that asshole loves to gloat, fuck with people. It’s probably the only thing that gets his dick hard. Well, that, and beating people who can’t fight back,” Sean said.

It was true. Aengus thrived on the pain of others, liked nothing more than to see people suffer, especially people he knew wouldn’t have the power to pay them back.

My brothers and I weren’t those people, not anymore. Though we’ve never told Aengus of our vow, at this point he’d probably figured it out. Each of us had killed men for transgressions far less severe than his, so that he was still standing even after all he had done probably gave him a sense of invincibility, something I hated.

“But why tonight?” I asked.

I looked to Michael, who shrugged. “Whether we like it or not, he still has connections, people still owe him things. Besides, who the hell knows why Aengus does anything? Don’t drive yourself insane trying to figure it out,” Michael said.

But that was exactly what I was doing. “How many scrapes have we gotten into over the years? How many times has someone tried to take a shot at one of us?” I asked.

No one said anything, but we all knew the answer. Many.

“And he’s never done this before, never come to throw it in our faces,” I said.

“So?” Declan said.

“So something about this is different. Are we sure he’s not behind it?” I asked.

I had expected instant disagreement, but this time they were silent. They could see that this was something different just as I did.

“I take that to mean you agree it’s not completely out of the realm of possibility,” I said.

“With Aengus, nothing is out of the realm of possibility,” Sean said, showing off that intelligence that he tried so hard to hide.

I couldn’t disagree.

And if Aengus was behind this, it opened another world of problems. Because Aengus was scum, but he was also dedicated.

If he was behind it, he wouldn’t stop until I was dead.

And I couldn’t retaliate, had promised my mother that I never would.