Her Irish Twins: Advance Review Copy

by Madison Faye

  Ben suddenly pops up from behind the bed and blasts off a bunch of rounds from his gun before ducking back down. I hear two men scream and then the heavy sound of bodies hitting the floor, and my heart leaps into my throat.

  “How bad,” Gavin hisses at his brother.

  “I got two,” Ben grunts back. His jaw tightens. “Just about fourteen to go.”

  My heart sinks, and Gavin’s eyes harden.

  “Oh, is that all?” he spits back in cold sarcasm.

  “Counting to three!” The Russian guy yells. “You come out now, and we’ll just kill you. You make us wait, and I’ll keep you alive just long enough to watch every single one of my guys have a turn with your pretty little—”

  He doesn’t even finish before both of them are up and roaring, firing away with savageness on their face before they’re out of ammo and drop back down. The Russians open back up, bullets hissing over our heads, and sending explosions of down and cotton from the bed up into the air before the firing stops again.

  “That’s it, you fucks! One!” The Russian yells out.

  The two of them look at me, their eyes hard.

  “Whatever happens, baby,” Ben whispers.

  “Please don’t say it,” I say softly, tears welling in the corners of my eyes. “Please don’t—”

  “Two!”

  “Whatever happens,” he growls thickly. “I want you to know that we’re both completely in—”

  Suddenly, the sound of gunfire erupts on the other side of the loft. And yet, I suddenly realize that not a single bullet is coming our way.

  Wait, what?

  The sound of men screaming and roaring in Russian fills the loft along with the sound of gunfire. And then suddenly, it goes quiet. Ben and Gavin glance at each other, frowning.

  Ben’s hand tightens on his gun. “What the fuck—”

  “Oy! You boyos still alive?”

  The rough, deep Irish voice booms out, and suddenly, both of my guys are grinning. Gavin reaches up and yanks down the ruined, bullet-ridden down comforter from the bend and wraps me in it, and then they’re standing and helping me up. I blink in shock: the floor is littered with the bodies of the Russian mobsters, and behind them, standing grim and rough looking are a handful of men in black jackets holding smoking guns. And it doesn’t take a genius to spot the shamrock tattoos and know who it is.

  Two huge, incredibly good-looking guys step forward, followed closely by a gorgeous girl with fiery red hair. Gavin and Ben chuckle.

  “Now what the fuck are you boys doing over here?” Ben grins.

  One of the two men grins back. “Saving your arse, I think.”

  Gavin chuckles, pulling the comforter around me even more, seemingly not caring that he and his brother are still buck-naked.

  “Charlotte, this is Clay and Eamon, also with the Syndicate. And this is Phoebe, their, uh…”

  The red-haired woman smirks, her eyes meeting mine. “I think she might have a handle on how to define or not define it,” she says with a grin. Clay and Eamon grin along with her as they move closer, both of them putting arms around her. My brows shoot up as I realize the implication.

  “You two dropped off the face of the fucking planet,” Clay growls, frowning for a second before he smirks in amusement. “But it seems you were…”

  “Distracted,” Eamon finishes.

  I blush fiercely as a few of the men behind them glance past them towards the three of us. Ben and Gavin begin to bristle as eyes begin to sweep over me standing there in just a comforter., but it’s Clay that suddenly whirls, snarling on his own guys.

  “Oy! Enough of that!” he roars. “Eyes off, you fucks.”

  The men nod, shrugging sheepishly before they file back out of the loft, until it’s just me and my guys, Eamon, Clay, and Phoebe. Clay turns back to us, and he sighs as he arches a brow, his eyes sweeping over us.

  “And you two,” he sighs. “For fuck’s sake, put some goddamn pants on.”

  Ben and Gavin grin, looking as close to embarrassed as I’ve seen them.

  “Apologies,” Ben murmurs at Phoebe as he and his brother turn, scoop up their sweats, and start pulling them on.

  Phoebe just laughs, shaking her head. “It’s fine, Ben.” She turns to smirk at me, winking. “Just glad to see that Charlotte hasn’t been short-changed in the company department,” she giggles, making me blush wildly as I stifle a giggle myself.

  Eamon and Clay frown, but she laughs as she turns to kiss one and then the other.

  “Oh relax,” she giggles. “As if I don’t have more than enough to keep me quite happy and distracted with you two,” she murmurs, a spark of heated desire in her eyes and they both growl and pull close to her.

  “We were going to check in today,” Gavin growls. “The Russians came for her, and—”

  “No need to explain, brother,” Clay nods. “Believe me when I say we get it.”

  He and Eamon grin as they pull close to Phoebe, who blushes as her eyes meet mine.

  “We knew you were here anyways,” Eamon growls. “The safe house has a silent alarm when someone unlocks it. We figured it was you. Also…” his eyes harden. “There’s something else.”

  Ben frowns. “What is it?”

  “It’s Ash,” Clay grunts.

  Ben and Gavin swear, their jaws tensing.

  “Tell us,” Gavin growls deeply.

  “We don’t know for sure what we’re about to walk into,” Eamon grunts. “But his cell just pinged on, and we traced the signal to a place in East Boston.” His eyes narrow. “We were going to head their next after saving your asses. We could use the help if you want to—”

  “Fuck yes,” Ben snarls, cocking his gun.

  “Listen, Charlotte,” Phoebe says quietly. “We dug into you a little more over the last twenty-four hours, and I know you’re looking for your sister.”

  I nod, my heart jumping into my throat.

  “Do you know anything?”

  She shakes her head sadly, giving me a sympathetic look.

  “No, but I don’t think these assholes,” she kicks at one of the dead Russian mobsters. “Or their bosses have her. But she went missing around the same time as our guy Ash, so…” she shrugs. “Look I can’t promise you anything, but maybe if we find Ash, we might get a clue to finding—”

  “Let’s go,” I snap bitterly, my heart racing and my lips tight.

  Ben and Gavin reach down to take my hands, squeezing them as they nod.

  “We’re going to find her, baby,” Ben growls before he turns to nod curtly at Eamon, Clay, and Phoebe.

  “Let’s do this.”

  Chapter Ten

  Charlotte

  “Hey,” Ben growls quietly into my ear. He squeezes my hand as I look up into his eyes, biting my lip.

  “Whatever we find in there, baby girl,” he says gently. “We are going to find Keily, okay?”

  “No matter what it fucking takes,” Gavin adds, squeezing my other hand. I smile weakly, nodding.

  My entire head is a whirlwind of emotion right now. On the one side, there’s the pure bliss of these two men—the two men I most certainly wasn’t looking for but know deep in my heart I don’t want to ever lose. But swirling with that is the fear and the doubt and the panic of my missing sister. We’re standing with Eamon, Clay, and Phoebe, along with the handful of Irish Syndicate guys outside the locked door to a dingy apartment in East Boston—the last place that pinged for one second with the missing Ash’s cell phone.

  I have no idea what’s awaiting us, and my pulse is racing. Will they find their friend inside? Will he be alive? I swallow, closing my eyes and trying to push down the panic.

  Does him going missing have anything to do with Keily going missing too?

  Eamon coughs quietly, turning to the rest of us, his gun out along with all the others—Phoebe included.

  “We do this by the book,” he growls at the other men. “No fucking cowboy shit. This is the last place his phone was on. We d
on’t know if that means it’s still here, or if Ash was ever here at all. But we—”

  And that’s when we hear it—the sound of a woman screaming. They all go quiet, but my blood turns to fucking ice. The scream comes again, and I almost shatter. Because I know that voice.

  …The screams are from Keily.

  “Kiely!” I scream, lunging for the door. But Ben and Gavin catch me, pulling me back as they pull their guns and snarl.

  “Let’s go!” Gavin roars at Clay and Eamon, who nod grimly and turn to the man in front at the door holding the SWAT-style metal battering ram.

  “Do it,” Clay hisses.

  The man swings back, and with a grunt, sends the huge metal hammer slamming into the doorknob. The door shatters inside just as another anguished cry hits our ears, like Keily is being fucking stabbed.

  We tumble inside the small apartment, and there across the small living room is a closed door. The cry comes again, this guttural, wailing sound, and this time it’s followed by the rough, deep sound of a man grunting.

  “Keily!” I scream, and suddenly, everything goes silent.

  There’s a scuffling sound behind the closed door, and Ben and Gavin snarl as they raise their guns along with everyone else. The doorknob half twists when Ben steps forward.

  “Oy!” He roars, his eyes blazing. “Out! Right fucking now with those fucking hands up!”

  There’s another pause, and then suddenly, a voice grunts out.

  “Okay!”

  The doorknob twists, the door swings slowly open, and I gasp as a naked, muscled, inked man holding his hands over his dick steps into the doorframe and grins.

  “Don’t shoot my cock off, okay?”

  Around me, every guy in the room suddenly groans and lowers their guns, and I blink in confusion.

  “Hang on, what?” I hiss before Gavin chuckles and turns to me.

  “This is Ash,” he growls.

  I whirl back to the roguishly handsome guy with the cocky grin, dark hair, piercing blue eyes, and a body carved out of tattooed marble.

  “What the fuck, brother?!” Eamon grunts. “You’ve been missing for fucking weeks, and we find you here doing…” he glares at Ash. “Are you fucking murdering someone or getting lai—”

  “Charlotte?”

  A face suddenly appears behind Ash, peering over his shoulder, and both my eyes and hers go wide.

  “Keily!”

  My sister shoves past the naked Ash, a bedsheet wrapped around herself as we both rush across the room into each other. I sob as I fling my arms around her, and she does the same, hugging me tight and fiercely.

  “What the fucking hell, Keils?!” I suddenly spit almost angrily, pulling back to frown into her eyes. “You just disappeared!

  “I—fuck, Charlotte, I’m so sorry!” She says softly, biting her lip. “I—I mean, we—”

  “And you!” I snarl, whirling on Ash and jabbing a finger at him as I march over, teeth bared. “You think it’s fucking okay to just kidnap people’s sisters and drag them off to—”

  “Charlotte.”

  Keily’s hand on my arm stops me, though I’m still fuming and simmering as I glance back at her. Past her, the rest of the people in the room are frowning same as me, trying to figure this out too.

  “What the fuck is going on, Ash?” Ben growls lowly.

  Keily shakes her head. “Charlotte, he didn’t kidnap me, we…” she bites her lip.

  “We had to disappear,” Ash growls lowly.

  Keily nods. “These guys, they were bothering me at work, a lot, and one night when I was closing up, they…”

  She pales, and Ash steps forward, putting and arm around her.

  “Russians,” he mutters at everyone. “Look, I had to step in, and when I put down four of theirs, I knew the shit was going to hit the fan. We managed to get away, but they were hot on our heels. I took Keily underground with me for protection.”

  He frowns, turning to me.

  “Charlotte, right?”

  I nod.

  “I’m sorry, Charlotte. She wanted to call you, but it was too dangerous. Those Russian fucks knew who she was, which means they’d know to watch you and even monitor you.”

  I smile wryly as I glance at a grinning Gavin and Ben.

  “Seems to be a theme these days,” I mutter dryly as they both wink at me.

  “Charlotte,” Keily murmurs, hugging me close. “I wanted to reach out so badly, we just couldn’t chance it.”

  “The hell was your plan, Ash?” Clay mutters. “Stay here and screw until you ran out of food?”

  Ash’s eyes narrow for a second at Clay, who I gather is technically his boss.

  “Easy, Clay,” he growls. “All due respect but watch your mouth.”

  Clay bristles for a second, and the tension palpably ratchets up in the room, before suddenly he grins.

  “My mistake, brother,” he grunts, nodding at Ash. “That was out of line of me. But the question is the same.”

  Ash nods. “The plan was to stay out of sight until the heat cooled a little. Honestly, it was going to be another day, tops. Then I had some boys I know down at the docks ready to fake Keily and I on a manifest for a ship headed to the U.K.” He grins. “Let those vodka-swilling shitheads chase a couple of ghosts all around Europe while I brought Keily in to base here with you and get this sorted.”

  Gavin snorts. “Not a bad plan.”

  “I’ve had worse,” Ash shrugs, grinning as he slips an arm around my sister.

  “So, yeah,” Keily shrugs at me, blushing. “We had to hide out, so we… uh…”

  I arch a brow. “Hid out, huh?”

  Her blush deepens fiercely, and I grin at her. “I think I can figure out the details from that.”

  I step back, and gasp quietly as I feel Ben and Gavin slide up behind me, both of them sliding an arm around me. This time, it’s my turn to blush as I see the recognition bloom on my sister’s face.

  “Okay, um, yeah,” she hisses at me. “Details? Like, right fucking now?”

  I groan, my face burning as I bury my face in my hands. Keily laughs as she moves into me, hugging me tightly.

  “I’m so glad you found me.”

  “I’m so glad you’re okay,” I whisper back.

  “So, now what?” Gavin frowns. “I mean the Bratva is still out there, and it’s not like they’re a small crew. This could seriously mean—”

  He turns to see Clay holding a finger up and nodding towards Eamon, who’s outside the apartment door on the phone, nodding.

  “Right, right,” he growls. “Absolutely. No, we’ll clean it up here and reconvene. And yeah, I’ll tell them. Thanks, Connor.”

  He pockets the phone and turns back.

  “That was the council,” he growls lowly. “They’re aware of the situation, and they’ve even been in touch with the Russians. It’s a fracture group, not the whole Bratva. A couple of lieutenants went rogue with some men, and they’re apparently stirring up some real shit for the Russian higher-ups. There’s a sit down tomorrow with our high council and theirs to settle this shite and bury any ill-will.”

  He nods at Gavin and Ben.

  “In the meantime,” he smirks at them. “You lads did good. Really good. In fact, I put in a word about you two in particular, and the Kings want you back in Dublin to talk about next steps, maybe a promotion.”

  Ben and Gavin glance at each other, brows raised.

  “Wow, shit, Eamon,” Gavin says quietly. “Thank you.”

  He nods.

  “When,” Ben growls. He swallows, and his hand tightens on me. “When do they want us in Dublin.”

  Eamon’s face darkens, and when his eyes dart to me and turn a little sympathetic, suddenly, I know.

  “Tonight,” he says quietly.

  Ben swears under his breath. Gavin’s hand tightens possessively on my hip.

  Clay clears his throat, sliding an arm around Phoebe’s waist. Eamon does the same to her other side, and the two of them
glance at her and smile before they turn back to us.

  “That said,” Clay mutters. “I think a third seat could be made available.”

  My brow shoots up, and Ben and Gavin stiffen.

  “Hang on, Clay,” Gavin growls. “What?”

  The older man grins. “I said there’s room for all three of you to go.” He glances at Phoebe and his friend again and smiles quietly before he turns back.

  “Needless to say,” he growls quietly. “I get it.”

  My head is spinning, and I’m glancing at Keily, and then Ben, and then Gavin, and then back to Ben, and then back to Gavin. But then, Ben is turning into me and taking my hands in is.

  “Come with us,” he growls quietly.

  I blink, my heart skipping as I look up into his eyes.

  “What?”

  “Charlotte, we could say ’no you’ve got a job here,’ or say you should ‘live your own life here,’ or whatever. We could say we’ll figure it out with the distance shit…”

  “But fuck that,” Gavin growls. “So come with us, baby. Neither of us can say what comes next, or what it all means, but I do know one damn thing more than I’ve ever known anything in my fucking life,” he hisses passionately as he wraps his arms around me.

  “I love you, Charlotte.”

  I blink, my heart swelling up as the heat melts through me.

  “And I love you too,” Ben growls. “And I don’t know what that means, or how we process that or move forward with it. And I know that might throw you, with us being, well, brothers. But fuck, baby. I know what I feel. And Gavin does too. So, no idea what happens next, all I know is, we fucking love you.”

  I blink, panting, my pulse racing and my whole body shivering in heat. I blink again, turning to look up into Ben’s eyes, and then Gavin’s, back and forth until I feel dizzy.

  “Come with us,” Gavin says again in a gravely whisper.

  The room is silent, my heart racing.

  “Dude, if you don’t go, I will legit slap you,” Keily mutters under her breath at me. I grin, her words breaking the spell, and suddenly, my lips pull back in a wide, wide grin.