Sons of Justice 6: A Painter Walks into
an Irish Pub
Thylane is tough, distrusting, but determined to lose her fears and make a profession out of painting. Walking into an Irish pub for a potential painting job changes everything. The pub makes her feel like she's in a different world. The Irish music, deep brogues, and good looking Irishmen all vying for her attention, help her to finish what she started. She grabs the attention of one man who could do her harm as well as one who she falls for even in disguise. There are too many players in this game to know who they really hold loyalty to. Is she just a pawn? A woman some terrorist wants to bed? Can she trust the four men she's attracted to despite hearing the rumors about them being players and only after sex?
It's too late when she realizes that walking into the pub was a set-up, not a romantic adventure, and definitely not a joke.
People she trusted aren't who they said they were. Agents are lying, others are using her, but it takes everything she has and the connections her men, her new family, and their friends have to save her life, and make that one decision to walk into the Irish pub have a happy ending after all.
Genre: Contemporary, Ménage a Trois/Quatre, Romantic Suspense
Length: 56,894 words
SONS OF JUSTICE 6: A
PAINTER WALKS INTO AN
IRISH PUB
Dixie Lynn Dwyer

Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK
SONS OF JUSTICE 6: A PAINTER WALKS INTO AN IRISH PUB
Copyright © 2017 by Dixie Lynn Dwyer
ISBN: 978-1-64010-652-9
First Publication: September 2017
Cover design by Les Byerley
All art and logo copyright © 2017 by Siren Publishing, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.
All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.
WARNING: The unauthorized reproduction or distribution of this copyrighted work is illegal. Criminal copyright infringement, including infringement without monetary gain, is investigated by the FBI and is punishable by up to 5 years in federal prison and a fine of $250,000.
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PUBLISHER
Siren Publishing, Inc.
www.SirenPublishing.com
DEDICATION
Dear readers,
Thank you for purchasing this legal copy of A Painter Walks into an Irish Pub. They say life gives you what you can handle. Any obstacles you overcome can lead you to success and happiness, but only if you take what you have learned and improve your life, and achieve your dreams. Not so easy when you have the constant memories of those battles, those obstacles in your head. Thylane is no different, but despite the memories of what she was forced to do to survive and to save her cousin Lauren, she moved on. She sought out training both in shooting a gun in self-defense and in developing and strengthening her self confidence.
It all came at the right time, so when she met four men who she wasn’t certain could be trusted, she had that self confidence to remain in control and also to see that they were indeed on her side, ready to protect her with all they had. She knew from her past exactly who to trust and who not to.
So when additional players pull their cards and make their moves to deflate her happiness and safety, Thylane once again must fight for her life, but his time she has more then just self confidence, training, and determination, she has the love of her four men she will do whatever is necessary to get back to. They in turn will do whatever is needed to find her, save her and love her again.
May you enjoy her journey.
Happy reading.
Dixie
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
People seem to be more interested in my name than where I get my ideas for my stories from. So I might as well share the story behind my name with all my readers.
My momma was born and raised in New Orleans. At the age of twenty, she met and fell in love with an Irishman named Patrick Riley Dwyer. Needless to say, the family was a bit taken aback by this as they hoped she would marry a family friend. It was a modern day arranged marriage kind of thing and my momma downright refused.
Being that my momma’s families were descendants of the original English speaking Southerners, they wanted the family blood line to stay pure. They were wealthy and my father’s family was poor.
Despite attempts by my grandpapa to make Patrick leave and destroy the love between them, my parents married. They recently celebrated their sixtieth wedding anniversary.
I am one of six children born to Patrick and Lynn Dwyer. I am a combination of both Irish and a true Southern belle. With a name like Dixie Lynn Dwyer it’s no wonder why people are curious about my name.
Just as my parents had a love story of their own, I grew up intrigued by the lifestyles of others. My imagination as well as my need to stray from the straight and narrow made me into the woman I am today.
Enjoy A Painter Walks into An Irish Pub and allow your imagination to soar freely.
For all titles by Dixie Lynn Dwyer, please visit
www.bookstrand.com/dixie-lynn-dwyer
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
About the Author
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Epilogue
Landmarks
Cover
SONS OF JUSTICE 6: A
PAINTER WALKS INTO AN
IRISH PUB
DIXIE LYNN DWYER
Copyright © 2017
Prologue
“Late night?”
Thylane covered her mouth with her hand as the yawn escaped. Her father stood in the doorway of her office just staring at her.
“Very late night.” She gave him a small smile.
“Is your friend Kendra feeling better?”
“Definitely. She’s tough, though, and will be just fine.”
“You’re pretty damn tough yourself.” He stared at her with that expression, the one that held a small smile of love but also of guilt. He still blamed himself for what had happened to her and her cousin Lauren. He blamed himself for the situation with Lauren’s sister, Avana, and her boyfriend, and he felt responsible for Tiana’s recent bad luck, as he’d taken over responsibility for his nieces after their father died.
Her father, Brook, had a big heart, but a few years back, his focus on business and making money had caught him in the middle of some illegal activities with his brother, Mel, and Mel’s poor business decisions. The family was in danger, and things were a mess. Her uncle Mel, Lauren, Avana, and Tiana’s father, had died because of the poor business decisions, and for double crossing Merrit Hopper. He was a multimillionaire and entrepreneur involved in various businesses, including illegal ones. Coming so close to death herself had changed Thylane e
ntirely. Nothing in life came easy. Not money, not success, surely not love, and she had a wall around her heart when it came to men, especially after the trauma she and Lauren had experienced a few years back.
When she felt on the defensive, or backed into a corner, she reacted defensively. Which brought her back to the other night at the Filling Station when some drunk asshole tried to get handsy with her and cupped her breast. She’d reacted. A few years ago would have been a different story. Different in a negative way. She would have become a victim. Not now. Not after facing death head-on, surviving being followed by hit men, tricked by enforcers for Merritt Hopper, and having a gun put her head and choosing to live or die, kill or be killed.
Here she was, twenty-four years old, and she had killed two men, survived an abduction and being held hostage for over a week, and none of her friends, no one in Repose, knew any of it. She figured she had two things she could hold on to to put the past behind her. Her virginity, which well could have been stripped from her at any time during that fearful experience, and the fact that no one, none of her friends or other people in Repose, knew what had happened to her.
A clean slate. No past, no feeling sorry for her and the ordeal she’d gone through. No, she could be free of all of it. She was going to keep it that way, and the best thing to do was to not get involved with just any man but a man she truly had feelings for and who also made her want to share her secret and let down her guard. Now that was going to be tough.
That was another fear, especially as she’d witnessed Lauren fall deeply in love with Logan and Connor so quickly, two military men who wound up taking bribes from Merritt Hopper and abducting Thylane and Lauren then beating them into submission.
“I heard about your little incident at the Filling Station. I thought you were trying to keep your skills hidden,” her father said to her.
She took a deep breath and exhaled, leaning back in her chair at her desk. Her heart pounded inside of her chest, and that uneasy feeling simmered inside. Flashbacks happened often, out of the blue, when she least expected one to occur.
“My skills, huh?” She raised one eyebrow up at him.
“Well, you have been at this martial arts and boxing thing for nearly two years. You said you wanted to keep your abilities unknown.”
“Yeah, well, that kind of changed the instant that creep decided to grab me out of nowhere and feel me up.”
A scowl formed on his face. “He didn’t press charges.”
“I didn’t press charges,” she countered.
“You broke his nose, Thylane. I hope you don’t get served with papers in the next week or so.”
“He deserved it. If I do get served papers, then the owners at the Filling Station will show the surveillance video and how I acted in self-defense, never mind the several phone videos people took. Pretty crazy how many people have their phones cocked and ready to record something these days.”
“Great, you’ll wind up on YouTube again.”
“Hey, that first video was of a group of us dancing.”
“Sexy dancing, if I recall, and we did need to involve the authorities a few times when some ‘fans’ came sniffing around.”
She chuckled. “Logan and Connor took care of that,” she said without even thinking, and then she felt that lump in her throat. Her poor cousin Lauren. None of them knew the two soldiers were abusive to Lauren. Nor did they know that they worked for Merritt Hopper. Bitterness attacked her taste buds, and she swallowed hard.
“Yeah, well, one good deed and the rest evil.” Her father then looked away and exhaled.
She wanted to say something to him. They’d never really discussed that situation and how she and Lauren had been held at gun point, hostages for a week by the men who were wanted by federal agents. It had been one bad situation after the next. They had all been tricked. Her cousin’s heart broken, her uncle’s life lost, her father beaten and hospitalized, and she and Lauren nearly raped and killed. Thylane had suffered broken bones, her arm in multiple places, but it was by her hands that Logan and Connor had died. She’d pulled the trigger. She ended it all before the feds raided the home and she and Lauren became collateral damage.
The federal agents, they were another aspect of that situation she would never expect, especially their lack of compassion and care for her and Lauren’s lives as they said and did whatever was necessary to get to Logan and Connor. They didn’t care who lived. They wanted a case solved, but in the end, they didn’t even get that. Merritt Hopper’s hands were clean. He hired others to do the dirty work, but the feds couldn’t prove shit. Maybe if the federal agents hadn’t been so focused on celebrating victory prematurely, they might have actually done their job, gathered evidence and witnesses, and proved they had control. Even in the end they didn’t have control. She did, by protecting Lauren and herself and killing the evil men who held them hostage and abused them. Then she did one of the smartest things ever. She let the federal agents take responsibility for their deaths. It was to ensure that the danger to her and Lauren ended then and there.
She took a deep breath and released it as her father looked over a file and some papers. He was a lot more gray than even a year ago. The stresses of the past three years, moving on after his brother’s death and the danger, and absorbing himself in work and the small promotion and advertising business was his life, his every breath, and she was right here with him yet wanting to pull back and focus on her real dreams. Getting her artwork into a gallery.
So much had changed all because of Merritt Hopper and her stupid uncle.
It had been a damn mess. One that Merritt Hopper had gotten away with because nothing concrete was connected to him. He was smart, slick, evil, and she hoped one day he crossed paths with someone who could take him out and end his life.
“I need you on the top of your game this morning, honey. Are you sure that you’re up to this?” Her father interrupted her thoughts and did his thing, changing the subject.
“Dad, I’m fine.”
He raised one eyebrow up at her. “I know how you feel about Charlie Soyer. I can have Benny handle it.”
“No. I’m fine. I can handle seeing him, conducting this business transaction. It doesn’t matter that I think he’s a total asshole.”
Her father chuckled.
“He is an asshole but a rich one and our best client. I just don’t want him to wind up with a broken nose and hospitalized.” He winked.
She shook her head. “Nice, Dad.”
He chuckled.
“Seriously, he also has a friend who is interested in setting up an appointment with you for some special job. I think Charlie praised your creative designs and artwork. It is exceptional.”
“I don’t know if I want to take on any new clients, Dad. I’m trying to get free time to work on my paintings. I need several more before I can even consider doing the gallery event. I don’t know if I’ll have enough time and—”
“Whoa, honey, it’s okay. Don’t worry about it. You need to pursue your artwork. It’s exceptional and has truly helped you to heal after everything. I can tell Charlie that you aren’t taking on new clients.”
“Okay, we’ll see who it is and what it’s about when we meet with him.” She glanced at her watch.
“Fifteen minutes. I think I can force a smile and deal with his antics for a little while.”
Her father winked. “My little trooper.”
She shook her head and chuckled.
Her father walked from the room, and she leaned back and exhaled. She felt that bit of anxiousness. Charlie Soyer was a good-looking man. He was wealthy, stuck up, and demanding, but he made them a lot of money. She needed to be nice. He hit on her constantly and made her feel like some object until she’d had to put him in his place and make him see that this was only business and that she wasn’t some easy lay. He even wanted to be her agent for her artwork. She wasn’t stupid. He would control her life, her art, and eventually her by seducing her into bed. Her dist
rust in people, and especially men, helped her to avoid every potential wrong relationship. Well, any relationship really. She’d never had a boyfriend, never had sex, and she was perfectly fine holding out. Well, despite her friends recently getting into ménage relationships with some of the hottest, most capable, resourceful soldiers she had ever encountered. They were badass then some. She didn’t know how they’d done that and how they’d gotten so lucky to find such great men. She didn’t have luck like that. She always attracted the players. The men out for a good time. Men after sex.
That was how most men thought. They had very little respect for women, and she wasn’t fooled by their flirtatious attitudes. In fact, she found most humorous, and now that she had a bit more self-confidence and was well trained in martial arts and self-defense, she wasn’t so intimidated anymore. Well, except for any men who were part of Sons of Justice. Oh boy, were there some unique ones.
She stood up and gathered her papers then organized what she needed to get done after this meeting. Her mind drifted to Stack. He was serious, extra large in every sense of the word, from his wide shoulders and huge muscles to his hard-core attitude. The man was intimidating, seriously sexy, and she had to kick herself to be realistic and know he flirted to see if he could get any. She wasn’t falling for his charms. Couldn’t entertain an attraction even if she wanted to. If she was going to give up her virginity on some fling, it sure as hell wouldn’t be around her friends and in a group that were so close-knit they were like family.
She looked at her watch and knew she needed to get a move on it. Her cell phone rang. She glanced down and saw that it was Lauren. She smiled and answered it as she gathered her things.
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