Celtic Evil: A Fitzgerald Brother Novel: Roarke

by Sierra Rose

  “Huh?” Ian blinked then nearly choked. “That’s gross when I’m eating,” he muttered.

  “What you’re eating is gross, kiddo,” Ryan shot at him, entering the kitchen with damp hair from his recent shower. “Where’s Kerry?”

  Deirdre looked up from tasting her sauce. “He’s saying goodbye to your grandparents, who have decided it’s safe for them to leave for now.”

  Mac and Ryan both knew that was probably far from the truth, but knew it was up to them to face this matter.

  “What about Da’s Mum?” Ian asked curiously. “Will she come back after Roarke?”

  “I figure she will since it’s him she hates the most, but I’m guessing we’ll all be targets now that she won’t have what she wants,” Mac sighed, sitting down and drinking the tea Maggie gave him.

  Kerry stepped into the kitchen. “We’ll handle Kathleen and anything else that threatens us because we won’t be separated again,” he vowed firmly.

  “Deirdre will be kicking us out within a week because you know that the five of us cannot coexist without fighting,” Ryan replied with a sneer that turned to a smile as he looked at Maggie. “Though I could make an exception in…Shit!” he snapped as he jerked his fingers away from his cup as electricity shot through it.

  “Don’t play like that, Ryan,” Mac’s tone was mild but his eyes weren’t as he looked over his cup at his brother.

  Ryan moved his fingers carefully then glared at his brother. “I said the next time the brat made me bleed I’d do the same,” he growled, standing slowly. “I can change targets since I don’t feel like having Cam put a bullet in me.”

  “You can try, little brother,” Mac returned, meeting the glare and the silent challenge fully. “You were older than Roarke when we were kids and you cheated to win, but you never could take me in a fair fight.”

  China snapped as Ryan’s temper sizzled after all the recent things, and this time it snapped. “So take me now then.”

  “I suppose I should have been expecting this scene sooner or later,” Kerry sighed, seeing Maggie’s eyes were wide. “We fight. It’s rare for Mac to fight since he was usually the peacemaker but he can and will. He will, especially if Ryan pushes him too far.”

  The red-haired reporter stared as the eldest brother and Ian followed outside. “Men are so bloody stupid,” she huffed and picked up her tea.

  Upstairs, Jessica Hadley stirred slowly, stretching, and felt the gentle fingers rubbing her back. “Hello,” she opened her eyes to see Roarke’s smoky gray eyes were clear and alert, a sign he’d been awake awhile. “You should have woken me up.”

  “Liked watching you sleep in peace for once,” he replied, smiling as he brushed a kiss over her forehead. “Besides, I just wanted the peace being with you gives me.”

  Jessica was about to reply when a loud, shot-like noise came from outside and lights exploded along with shouts and curses.

  “What the bloody hell…?” she started to get out of bed to look but his arm eased her back.

  Roarke had sensed the growing tension in the kitchen. In fact, it had been that which had woken him up, yet he remained in bed until he saw which way it went.

  Now he slowly stood to dress, going to the window while pulling his t-shirt back on. “Yep, this looks real good,” he muttered, seeing Ryan and Mac facing off in front of the house, next to the huge fountain.

  “Stay here, Jess,” he lightly kissed her before heading for the door. “Ry’s picked a fight.”

  Blinking at that, she frowned. “I thought he only did that with you.” She quickly sought to dress to see what this was.

  “I don’t see your issue,” Ryan was complaining as he stepped outside, shooting his brother a look. “Half the bloody time you act like she doesn’t exist. Why should my flirting with her make you mad?”

  Mac Fitzgerald was simmering, knowing he was usually calmer but this just bothered him. “Maggie’s not like the tramps you play with in the casinos, Ryan,” he stated. “She doesn’t need you to play your games like you did with…”

  “Mac, stop!” Kerry snapped sharply but it was too late when his brother found himself hit with an invisible fist that shoved him into the fountain.

  “Don’t say her name,” Ryan gritted, eyes going to black instantly instead of the slow turn as he glared at his brother. “Don’t you even think about her, you son of a bitch!”

  Ian was staring at the sudden change as the fight went from a playful, brotherly argument to something far more volatile.

  “Ry, I’m…” Mac had started to say but the physical fist hit almost as hard as the other had as Ryan was beyond hearing now.

  Kerry had been choosing a method on breaking this up when a hand suddenly grabbed Ryan’s wrist. “Oh, bloody hell.”

  “Yep, this is bad,” Ian closed his eyes as he sat down in a chair to wait for blood.

  Roarke Fitzgerald tightened his grip, stepping between his brothers but making sure he stayed facing Ryan. “I’m not supposed to be the one who stops this kind of crap,” he spoke easily but his eyes stayed on Ryan’s and felt his anger, pain, and more of a surprise, his guilt.

  “Mac didn’t mean what he almost said, Ry,” he spoke carefully, feeling his older brother’s eyes shift to his and finally recognize him. “You come off all fast and loose with the ladies but not a one of us could ever doubt your devotion to Annie or how her death hurt you.”

  Breathing raggedly, Ryan slowly started to calm down as he felt his younger brother’s hand on his arm. “I know, I know,” he muttered, closing his eyes as he took a deep breath. “It just rubbed the wrong way.”

  “We each have issues that still need sorted out, but tearing out each other’s throats won’t help,” Roarke replied, then shifted agilely to push Ryan into the fountain with Mac. “It helps to cool off some too.”

  Ryan had almost been expecting that move and had grabbed his brother’s belt at the last second to bring him in too. “If I’m getting soaked then so are you, brat.”

  “Guys, these don’t dry well,” Mac complained as he looked at his soaking wet slacks even as Roarke was twisting away from Ryan’s grip with a laugh.

  “I should have thought of that before,” Ryan shot over his shoulder, deciding to have fun with dunking his younger brother now that he didn’t feel like fighting with Mac anymore. “Damn brat is like a fish,” he complained.

  Kerry sighed, stretching his legs out before deciding to go closer to the fountain. “One splash and I drown all three of you,” he warned, holding a hand out to Mac.

  “You’re still a fuddy-duddy,” Ryan snorted, noticing but not commenting that this was the first time that Roarke hadn’t tensed when one of them had touched him.

  “That’s the curse of being the oldest,” Kerry countered, turning at Ian’s sudden gasp to see that the boy was staring out toward the grassy, rose-covered path.

  Looking to see what their brother had seen, it was Roarke who first saw the couple walking hand and hand down the path as they had every day at this time while their sons played.

  “This fight’s over,” Mac murmured, seeing his parents walking and knowing they had gained some peace finally.

  “And we’ll make sure the fight stays over,” Ryan shrugged out of his shirt as he looked to see Roarke’s eyes were on their parent’s shimmering spirits. “Is this okay with you, brat?”

  Roarke’s eyes stayed locked on his parents but heard his mother’s voice in his mind.

  “Trust and love those closest to you, my beautiful little boy,” Brenna spoke to him alone as she waved slightly. “Your Da and I will always be there for you boys, but now is the time you accept others in.”

  Blinking, he finally nodded and looked at Ryan, then the others. “Yeah, I’m fine,” he whispered, seeing Jessica come out of the house and he smiled fully for the first time in a long time. “And I’ll be fine.”

  “Maybe, at least until Cam thinks too hard about you seriously dating little Jessica, that is,” Ryan sno
rted, grinning as his brother rolled his eyes.

  “Roarke? What the bloody hell is going on?” Jessica had come down the steps just as Roarke reached for her. “Is everything alright?”

  Looking at his brothers, Roarke nodded before drawing her fully against him and kissing her. “I love you, Jess,” he whispered, surprised to feel at peace even though he knew there would still be dangers for them as well as his brothers.

  Hearing Deirdre shouting for them to quit playing in the fountain, the brothers turned to go back to the house to face the next turn of the wheel, as fate decided who would form the next point of the Circle.

  Epilogue

  Sebastian still smarted over his defeat this time and the scars he had as he glared into his mirror and at his enemies.

  So perhaps they wouldn’t be as easy to defeat as he once thought, but as he had learned, they each had weaknesses, and it would be those that he and his allies would exploit when next he struck, focusing on his next target and smiling as he moved a hand over his looking glass. There was more than one way to skin a cat, kill a witch or break a circle.

  It would just require calling in old favors a little early, even though he still had plans for all of his hated foes’ sons and those allied with them.

  THE END…FOR NOW

  About the Author:

  Sierra Rose is a penname for the author who is a local resident of the Upper Ohio Valley in Eastern, Ohio

  Born in Martins Ferry, Ohio in 1974 she moved to Rayland, Ohio in 1980 with her family and still resides there today. She is a 1993 graduate of Buckeye Local High School.

  She began writing while being tutored due to illnesses and has continued writing. She enjoys writing in many genres that include paranormal, romantic suspense and also action/adventure stories. She also has a published book of poetry with poems written during an incredibly emotional time of loss.

  As of today, she lives in rural Rayland with her family, three spoiled cats and a semi-fierce Beagle that likes to think he’s a Pitbull.

  To contact the author or for more information on the author, this book or the others in the Celtic Evil series, please see her webpage at:

  http://sierra-rose-books.webs.com/