For leverage. “I’ll try.”
“They’re your friends, not mine. I’m glad you’ll be catching up with them soon,” Brennan groused. And not me.
I smirked because Brennan didn’t like talking more than ten words to anyone unless they were one of his brothers. “I quite like Nigel. He’s like a shark.” ‘Nigel’ was code for Nyx.
Aidan snorted. “Like Da.”
“Nah, more rational. Plus, who doesn’t like a man who does what he does for fun?”
Aid and Bren grunted their agreement, knowing Nyx’s idea of ‘fun’ was killing kid fuckers before breakfast.
“You won’t be hearing much from Nigel anymore. Remember? He’s busy now he got that promotion.”
“Shit. I forgot. Who is it again?”
“Padraig.”
I arched a brow. “Christ. My memory. You tell him we’re linked?”
“We had an interesting conversation about family. He seemed to think his mother was some kind of…” He shrugged. “I don’t even know. I mean, we all know his ma was a slut, but he was pretty sure his stepfather was gonna throw her out and replace her with a new model.”
“He wishes he could,” Aidan muttered dryly.
I grimaced, because if I was married to Leanne, I’d want to divorce her as well. Shame we were Catholics…
“Anyway, that’s great news about the new house. What’s the end goal?”
“Brilliant location to set up shop. Not going to get much out of it at first, not with—”
Brennan slammed on the brakes. But it was too little too late even if his responsiveness probably saved our asses.
We collided with the vehicle in front, their back end buckling like it was made out of glass.
I jerked forward, the seatbelt pulling tight against my belly and chest where the wounds were still sore. But Brennan didn’t fare much better. His head bounced off the steering wheel with an audible crack, and he was out like a light.
I hissed out a breath as Aidan snapped, “What the hell was that?”
“Car in front,” I rasped, “stepped on the brakes.”
“You okay?” he demanded.
I let out another hiss as the vehicle ahead didn’t limp along to the side of the road to exchange goddamn insurance providers.
No.
The driver and passenger leaped out with bandannas covering half their fucking faces, Kevlar vests on their torsos, and semi-automatics in their hands.
At that moment, my life flashed before my eyes.
It hadn’t done that when I’d been on the Famiglia compound, hadn’t even when I’d been bleeding out and felt sure that I was looking at a blue-haired angel back in the ‘hospital’ when I’d seen Aela before I passed out for real.
Now it did.
Now, I was loaded with regrets for what I was going to miss out on.
They wouldn’t miss at point-blank range.
It took two seconds for those thoughts to cross my mind, and another second for me to pull out my gun.
I had to act.
Fast.
And three seconds weren’t fast enough.
Eighteen
Declan
I wasn’t great with a gun. My aim wasn’t perfect, even though I visited the shooting range more often than any of my brothers, which they gave me shit for.
I dealt in weapons, but I couldn’t shoot half the fuckers.
Now, shit was different.
I had to get this right or Seamus wouldn’t have a dad, and Aela?
Christ.
What would happen to her?
Da would pull something. I just knew it. He’d take Seamus away from her, and she’d—
No.
I couldn’t fail.
Quickly shooting out the windshield, I managed to get another round off. The shooter on the passenger side went down with a speed that left me wide-eyed, but the other guy, the driver, managed to hit the fender and, worse luck, fucking Brennan. Only in the shoulder, thank God, but that was too much.
The kickback from my gun shouldn’t have me shaking like a goddamn kitten, but I was fucking exhausted all of a sudden. Adrenaline was still riding high in my veins, but instead of making me feel like I’d ingested ten million Red Bulls, it just left me feeling woozy.
I got off another shot, watched as it went too low, and cursed because that gave him the opportunity to shoot us. Only, his leg buckled from my bullet and he went down, screaming like a bitch as he collided with the asphalt. Before I could feel even a whisper of relief, flashing lights appeared in the rearview mirror, and two guys in FBI jackets jumped out with weapons in their hands as they scanned the scene.
Aidan hissed, “Dec, what the fuck’s going on?”
“They’re down,” I rasped, my gaze on the agents who were casing the area.
“Thank fuck!”
One of the Feds flashed their weapon at me, but I scowled at him even as I made sure I dropped my gun on my lap and raised my hands high. They moved out to the shooters, one going to check the pulse of the guy I’d taken out, and another going to the fucker rolling around, screaming like I’d shot off his cock.
Goddammit.
Today was not going to end as planned—with me getting my dick wet in the pussy I’d been craving for over fourteen fucking years.
AELA
“A ghrá.”
His voice shouldn’t make me melt, but it totally did. Combine it with the endearment he’d only ever used with me? Say goodbye to my panties.
“Hey,” I greeted, as I stared at New York’s answer to my wet dream.
The art supplies store was twice as large as the one I’d used back in Providence, and before he called, I’d been drooling over the array of Winsor & Newton oils. But Declan beat oil paints, acrylics, and even charcoal.
Yeah, that was how hot he was.
“I need to ask a favor.”
As I picked up a tube of Winsor Orange, peering at the label before ducking down to see if there was a bigger version since I’d need a lot of it for the painting I had in mind, I asked, “What’s that?”
“I could ask anyone to come get me, but I want to see you.”
Unease filled me, and I replaced the tube on the shelf, twisting around to look at my paradise to give me a semblance of calm.
It didn’t work.
Even surrounded by narrow aisles with tall shelving units loaded down with any and all mediums that my heart desired, concern had me stuttering, “W-Where are you?”
“I’m at Belvedere Central.”
My eyes flared wide, but that he was in an actual hospital, as crazy as it seemed, filled me with relief.
I knew the Points only used setups like the one he’d been operated in when the injuries were from illegal activities.
Gulping, I asked, “Why are you there?”
“Because Brennan got shot.”
My heart stuttered a little. “Is he okay?”
“Flesh wound, in and out. I promise, he’s fine. Wouldn’t be asking for you to come collect me if he were badly hit.”
The logic had me releasing a shaky breath. “What the hell happened?” I questioned as, with no guilt, I dumped my loaded basket on the ground and hurried out of the store.
When George saw me—he’d stayed outside, guarding the door—his blank expression morphed when our gazes clashed.
His shoulders straightened, and tension filled him as he scanned the area, looking for a threat.
I grabbed his sleeve. “I need to get to Belvedere Central,” I told him.
A second later, he had his cell in his hand. “Bring the car around, Jerry. Now. Emergency.”
“I’ll explain when you get here,” Declan murmured in my ear.
“Won’t be long. I’m only on 7th Avenue. Just around the corner from Carnegie Hall.”
“Ask for the West Magdalena Suite.”
“Will do.”
Because I kind of wanted to cry, I cut the call instead. The panic inside me was ridiculous, consi
dering he was fine and that Brennan, while injured, had been hit with a clean shot.
Even though George had said the magic word, ‘Emergency,’ it still surprised me when, barely two minutes later, the SUV was swinging around the corner and the brakes were squealing as Jerry roared toward us.
I didn’t need hustling in, but George hustled me anyway, and the second our asses were on our seats, the engine groaned as Jerry made the ten-minute drive in five.
George was out before me, a miracle considering I nearly face-planted in my haste to get out of the vehicle, but he had his hand on the bulge at his shoulder as his head whipped from left to right, making sure there was no active threat against me.
The trouble was, if someone was stupid enough to have tried to take out an O’Donnelly then the trivial turbulence between factions had just morphed into an all-out war.
Aidan Sr. was going to lose his shit over this.
I just knew it.
Terror for Seamus was a solid weight in my stomach, for what this might mean, for what it represented, and I was inordinately glad that he had a guard on him at school. It was a wonder I could get air in and out of my lungs as I ran to the reception and asked for the suite Declan had named.
The instant I uttered ‘West Magdalena Suite,’ the receptionist’s air of boredom disappeared. Her eyes flashed wide and she jolted to a standing position. Immediately keyed into the fact that was the VIP ward, I wasn’t surprised when she muttered something to her coworker and beamed a sympathetic smile at me.
“If you’d like to follow me, ma’am?”
I dipped my chin, and with George at my back, strode down the busy corridors to the elevator.
A few minutes later, spat out onto the right floor, I burst into tears when I saw Declan standing there.
I had no idea how he’d known we were coming, unless Jerry had texted him because George was still on edge—had even patted his gun and stepped in front of me when the elevator doors opened so he hadn’t been the one who’d messaged Dec. How was unclear, but I didn’t give a damn. I was just glad he was waiting for me because I could hurl myself at him and hug him tight.
As scared as I was for my kid, it was way too easy for my ‘programming’ to kick into high gear. This was what I’d been raised with. This was all I knew.
Men got taken down, men got jailed.
Women sat at their bedside, women watched as their men were locked away.
I didn’t like the programming, but it kept me in good stead and would continue to do so, because as much as I hated this, hated what my world was becoming, the second Declan’s arms moved around me, I knew where I was supposed to be.
It was the only thing that made sense, even if he was the source of all my confusion and concern. It didn’t matter.
My body, heart, soul, and mind were all in agreement.
There was no backing out of this.
No moving away.
No hiding behind walls or ignoring my feelings.
I loved this man.
Enough to endure whatever shitstorm was coming our way. Enough to deal with it and take it on the chin, because life was so fucking short.
Brennan was the one being sewn up today, but Dec had only just gotten out of an IC-goddamn-U. There were no guarantees. No promises.
You had to take what you wanted.
What you needed.
And Aela O’Neill?
She wanted Declan O’Donnelly.
Until death did them part.
Nineteen
Declan
Rubbing the back of my neck with a towel, I headed out into my bedroom and saw Aela lying on the bed. Her feet were crossed at the ankle, her arms were behind her head, and the distinctly masculine pose had me coming to a halt and smirking at her.
“I feel like I’m being sexualized,” I teased.
Her nose crinkled. “Objectification is no laughing matter.”
“I think I can deal with it, this once at least.” I arched a brow. “You okay?”
“I’m worried about the Feds.”
“Don’t be. They always sniff around us, and if anyone has to worry, it’s not us but the Famiglia. They were the ones who had Feds as witnesses to their shootout.” I had to laugh. “If there could have been a better time for us to be tailed, it was then.”
“Is there ever a good time to be tailed?”
“No. Never a good time to be shot at either.” I jerked my chin up. “Know what I was thinking when it went down?”
“No. What?” she asked softly, quietly. Her gaze was wary. Uncertain. Totally unlike my Aela.
“You. Seamus. I was thinking about how, when it happened before, my life didn’t flash before my eyes, and this time it wasn’t my past but a potential future I was missing out on.” I sighed. “Messed with me. Made me a better shot, though, so I can’t complain.”
“A better shot?”
I nodded. “I’m a shit shot,” I told her drolly.
“Should get Seamus to help you. He’s damn good. Can hit bullseyes from forty yards.”
Rolling my eyes, I grumbled, “Of course, he can.”
“Hey,” she murmured, “I’m not teasing. It would be a good way for you two to get to know each other. To have a thing. You know? If he’s teaching you, then he has a position of power over you. Kids like that shit. Makes them feel important.”
“He is important.”
“I know. He’s everything.”
I swallowed, because before, I’d have scoffed. Now? She was right.
He was everything.
What was the point to anything without thinking of a future with him in it? Without wondering how to make the future brighter for him?
It was like my investment before had been solely in the present. Now that I had to think of him, it changed my perspective for the better.
“Okay, I’ll take him this week. I’d have him carrying if I could.”
She laughed a little. “I’m not sure that fancy pants school would like him armed.”
“Probably not.”
My grousing had her laughter deepening, then it softened, and she inquired, “You pulled strings to get him in there so late in the term, didn’t you?”
I shrugged. “He wanted to go there so go there he will.” I tossed my towel back into the bathroom, twisting around to do so. The move pulled muscles I really wished I hadn’t pulled and, making sure my grimace was hidden when I faced her, I sighed when I realized she’d seen everything anyway.
She was an artist, for God’s sake. A student of the human form and expression. Pulling the wool over her eyes was never going to happen.
“Thank you for doing that,” she rasped. “It will make it easier for him to settle down.”
I nodded. “I want him to be happy. I know that if he’s happy, you will be too, and I want that just as much.”
She stared at me for an inordinately long time, like she was trying to judge how truthful I was being. I wasn’t sure if her X-Ray vision picked up on anything, but after a little while, she murmured, “I really don’t want you to get shot.”
I had to laugh. “Well, that’s not on my to-do list either.”
“Good to know,” she sniped, but her eyes narrowed. “In fact, I want it so little that I didn’t know—”
When she broke off, I tipped my head to the side. “You didn’t know what?”
“It made me realize that nothing has changed for me. Nothing, Declan. It makes me feel like I’m seventeen again, and I’m most definitely not that.
“I always knew the day would come where you’d find me and discover the truth about Seamus. Every day you didn’t, every month that passed and year that dwindled away to nothing, I breathed a sigh of relief. Each year with me, away from you and the family, was important. It imprinted my values on him. I didn’t want to be like Mom, and I would have been if I’d stayed with you.
“I’m not saying you wouldn’t have treated me better than Dad, because I think you would have, even if I’d bee
n a lot less independent back then, but I didn’t want to be that. And I wanted him to be raised outside of the life.
“Everything I did as a kid was about not showing Dad up, about making sure I hung around only with Points’ families. I didn’t want that for him.”
“You want him to be normal,” I murmured softly, and for the life of me, even as she pissed me off, I got it.
How couldn’t I?
When I was a kid, growing up, I’d felt like a changeling. Plopped into a macho household where things like the arts were disdained. Da had thought I was gay for half of my childhood, for Christ’s sake. That was before I’d even discovered things like the opera and ballet!
My friends all had to be from Points’ families too, and within those friends, I was well aware that a lot of the guys wanted to hang around me for who I was. It was well known that the kids you grew up with, who you were close to, would be a part of your crew. They’d grow with you, get promoted to run with you, and that meant knowing if someone liked me for me was impossible.
I’d been held back a year in school simply because I’d been so behind with all the shit Da had shoved on my plate when I was a fucking teenager in an attempt to toughen me up.
Eventually, I’d learned to keep my trap shut. Never to talk about things that mattered to me, because if I did, then he’d think I needed another dose of goddamn tough love.
“You’re not mad at me for wanting that, are you?” she whispered softly.
“How can I be when I was raised the way I was?” I scratched my chin. “I’m not saying I like it, and I’m not saying I appreciate you lying to me the way you did, but for his benefit, I understand, and in some ways, I’m grateful. He’s a well-rounded kid, Aela. I don’t know if he’d have been like that if he’d been raised like us.”
“Thank you.”
I ducked my head, and muttered, “What were you going to say? Before I interrupted you, I mean.”
She blew out a breath. “For as long as I knew you’d find us eventually, I had plans in motion. I knew that if you’d turned into a prick, or, I don’t know, if you were going to abuse me for what I did—”
Filthy Dark: A SECOND CHANCE/SECRET BABY, MAFIA ROMANCE (THE FIVE POINTS' MOB COLLECTION Book 3) Page 26
