Sons of Justice 6: A Painter Walks into an Irish Pub (Siren Publishing LoveXtreme Forever)

by Dixie Lynn Dwyer

  “Fuck. You just put her in further danger.”

  “I can get people to her house. I can call Cesar. I’m sure Yorkshire is just after a piece of ass,” Agent Ferrow said, and Finlin was pissed off. The son of a bitch didn’t even give a shit. He had to make sure that Yorkshire really didn’t want more from Thylane. She needed protection as a precaution.

  “Don’t bother. I’ll handle it.” Finlin ended the call and quickly dialed Pisces. On the third ring, he picked up.

  “Get Stack and Rusty, grab your guns, and get to Thylane’s right away. Have her pack some clothes and bring her to our place. Don’t let her resist. I’ll explain when I get there. Be on the lookout for anyone watching the house. Cesar will be there soon.”

  “What do you need from me?” Mitchim asked.

  “Nothing right now. Pisces will be in touch.”

  “You protect her with all ya got. Let me know if ya need anything,” Mitchim said, and Finlin nodded and then headed out to his car and called Cesar.

  He explained quickly what was going on.

  “I’ll get there myself and have cars stationed on each end of the street. Fuck, this isn’t good, Finlin. What the hell went wrong?”

  “Your friend the agent had another agent go to the pub. He was identified, and now he’s dead. We’ll touch base later.”

  * * * *

  Thylane heard the banging on the door and her cell phone ringing. She had just fallen asleep after a shower and was having trouble waking up. When she heard a door break open, she jumped up and reached for her gun.

  “Thylane!”

  She heard the familiar voice and turned, gun in hand, as the lights came on in the hallway, and then Stack appeared, along with Pisces and Rusty. Both men raised their hands up, seemingly surprised that she’d drawn a gun on them. Well, they’d just broken into her house.

  “What are you doing here?”

  “There’s a situation. You need to get up, pack some things, and come with us,” Pisces said and came into the bedroom.

  “What the hell is going on? What is this all about?” she asked, and as the three large men stared at her it registered that she wasn’t quite dressed for company and she wasn’t wearing a bra. The tight tank top hugged her large breasts, but the boy short panties were skimpy.

  She put down the gun and then pulled the pillow in front of her. Stack stepped forward and reached under her hair and pulled her closer, placing his other hand on her shoulder as he bent down next to the bed.

  “You need to listen to us and trust us. We don’t have all the details, but you could be in danger from some guy from Foley’s. Please, trust us.”

  “Is she packing?” Cesar called out, and she was shocked.

  “Cesar?”

  “He’s here to help. Please hurry up. We need to get you out of here and to safety as a precaution until we know what’s going on.”

  “I don’t understand.”

  He released her, and she stood up from the bed, still holding the gun and the pillow in front of her.

  “Pack up some clothes and things you will need for a few days. We’ll have a better understanding of what’s going on as soon as Finlin gets to his house. We’ll all meet there,” Cesar said.

  She was confused and now scared, but these men, Cesar, ran this town and protected its people, so she quickly started putting together some things. She threw on sweatpants, grabbed her gun, her phone, charger, and purse and headed out of her house, surrounded by multiple armed men.

  Rusty helped her up into the truck, and she slid along the seat next to Pisces, who got in on the other side. Stack got into the driver’s side, and Rusty drove. She placed the things she had in her hands down onto the seat next to her and then reached for her hooded sweatshirt.

  “Can you please explain to me what’s going on?” she asked as she adjusted the sweatshirt while Pisces watched her.

  “We don’t have many details. Finlin called us, told us to get you and take you back to our place. He’s been working an assignment, and apparently, someone you met is involved and he’s dangerous,” Pisces told her.

  She squinted at him and wondered who it could be. She started to really feel nervous. Pisces reached out and covered her hand with his.

  “Listen, we’ll figure this out, and we’ll protect you. Let’s head to our place and wait for Finlin.”

  She was shocked, nervous, scared, and confused, but she did like that he’d asked, and she waited not so patiently for Finlin to get there. Cesar, Tobias, and a few other men, deputies from town, as well as Spartan and John were there, too. They spoke in whispers in the other room while Stack, Pisces, and Rusty remained right by her. Stack cleared his throat.

  “About that night at the Filling Station.”

  “It’s okay, Stack. Forget about it.”

  “No, I don’t want to forget about it. Cindy is crazy. Nothing ever happened between her and us.”

  She rolled her eyes. “It isn’t my business.”

  “You should know that I enjoyed talking to you that night.”

  She stared at him. His black shirt, camouflage pants, the scruff along his cheeks and chin and his dark eyes. The man was as wide as a linebacker and filled with muscles. With him sitting next to her on the couch, she felt her much smaller frame and lighter body teetering toward him. He could crush her, hurt her in so many ways, and he was a player. She needed to remember that.

  She ran her fingers through her hair and felt like such an idiot. Somehow, when she looked at Stack, Pisces, and Rusty, she thought she could trust them as military men, as guards, as security, but not as anything more. That crazy woman Cindy was aggressive to say the least, and her words, her indication that she was one of their sexual partners bothered Thylane.

  She thought about Scott from the pub. He seemed familiar, nice, and compassionate. Was he a player too? He couldn’t be. If this had something to do with someone she’d met there at Foley’s, would that mean she couldn’t return? That she might not see Scott again. She couldn’t believe the disappointed feeling she had. It wasn’t fair. There was a connection with Scott. She was attracted to him and looked forward to their date. She shook the thoughts from her head as she heard the door open and then slam closed. The others greeted whoever had arrived, and she assumed it was Finlin, but when the man came into the room, she was shocked.

  “Scott?” She stood up, and then he shook his head and came closer.

  “It’s me, Finlin. I’m sorry, Thylane. I’ll explain everything.”

  Her heart felt like it dropped to her stomach. She felt angry, played, and she was glad she hadn’t gone on a date with him, or done more. She covered her mouth with her hand.

  “There’s a lot to explain,” he said, stepping closer. She pulled her hair back, keeping it in place as tears filled her eyes and then she was consumed by anger.

  “Explain then. Tell me what this is all about. Why I’m being whisked off out of my home this late at night and what it has to do with you and your team and Foley’s,” she demanded, suddenly feeling this anger and insult inside of her surface. Why did she feel like a fool, like a woman used by a man when all she and Scott did was talk and make plans for a date? Scott was Finlin, undercover?

  “I’ve been working undercover trying to locate this guy that is wanted by the government. A special mission where I needed to wear a disguise. Anyway, the last thing I expected to find at Foley’s was you, painting a mural and gaining the attention of every man in the place, never mind the one the government is after.”

  “What?” Pisces asked, his tone firm.

  “Whose attention did she gain?” Stack asked firmly, standing now, too.

  “Who is it?” she asked.

  “He’s been wearing a disguise, as well. Donnelly is the name he gave you, but he’s really Yorkshire O’Malley.”

  “You said Foley’s. My cousins’ place? Are they involved?” Pisces asked.

  “Your cousins?” she asked, turning to look at Pisces.


  “No, Pisces. Let me explain,” Finlin stated as Cesar, Spartan, John, and a few other men came deeper into the room, including four men she didn’t know at all. She looked at them and then at Finlin.

  “Yorkshire O’Malley is a terrorist from Ireland. He recently did business with some international banker and is responsible for multiple murders of federal agents and law enforcement. Most recently tonight, an agent who was placed at Foley’s, despite me identifying Yorkshire and waiting to make a move.”

  “An agent was killed?” she asked.

  “Yes, and he had taken pictures of you and me, of Yorkshire, and a few others. That phone was taken by Yorkshire, which means he’ll have access to information he shouldn’t have access, too.”

  Her head was spinning, but she spoke her mind. “I’m unclear as to why that agent was there in the first place if you were there, and why would he be taking pictures of me? Just because I was talking to you?”

  “I didn’t know the agent was there until I identified him as such while I was talking to you. I saw Yorkshire’s interest in you and needed to ensure that he didn’t make a move. He’s a dangerous man, Thylane.”

  “So you were in your disguise pretending to like me and talk to me in order to protect me, Finlin? Is that correct?”

  He looked around at the others then back at her.

  “Our conversation was real. The situation could be worse if this guy is interested in you.”

  She felt insulted, hell, hurt, and didn’t believe what he was saying about their conversation being real. How could it be? He was working undercover and supposedly protecting her. Insanity.

  “If you identified him, then why not arrest him?”

  He looked at Cesar. “The federal agents involved are after the businessman, as well. They need actual evidence of these two men working together. They want to catch them both,” Cesar said.

  “I see.” She started to walk around them and pace a little, her mind going back to just a few years ago when she had been held hostage with her cousin. When her father was beaten, her uncle beaten and killed by men working for Merritt Hopper, a businessman and entrepreneur that somehow kept his hands clean and didn’t get charged for any of it.

  Instead, Logan and Connor, whom she’d killed, had taken the fall. It was bullshit, and the feds knew it. They made it seem like they’d solved some case of money laundering and a hostile hostage situation. Her uncle had been collateral damage and she, her cousin, and father could have been, too, and the feds wouldn’t have cared.

  “Thylane,” Cesar said her name, but she spoke.

  “Not for nothing, but federal agents don’t always look out for those innocently involved. In fact, it’s pretty damn obvious that not only me, but you, too, Finlin would be looked at as collateral damage. So excuse me if I stand here and ask why the hell I’m being taken from my home and am now in danger.”

  Finlin stared at her. “Yorkshire has set his eyes on you, Thylane. He has men looking into your background, your life.”

  She swallowed hard.

  “He has plans to meet with this businessman, Hopper, this Saturday, and then we believe he’ll make his move to leave the country,” Finlin said.

  “You found that out tonight?” Cesar asked.

  “I got a call just now from a friend, the meeting time and location confirmed.”

  “Did you just say Hopper? As in Merritt Hopper?” Thylane asked, her voice cracking and tears filling her eyes.

  Finlin, Cesar, and the others squinted at her.

  “You know of him?” Cesar asked before Finlin could.

  “Oh God.” She turned away and began to pace.

  “Thylane? What the hell?” Stack said to her, and she looked at him and then at Finlin and Cesar, plus the other four men. She ran her fingers through her hair.

  “You didn’t investigate me, obviously.”

  “Fuck. What? Just tell us. What are you involved in?” Pisces asked in a snappy, pissed-off tone. These men were beyond intimidating. They were the ultimate soldiers.

  “I’m not part of something illegal or anything. Three years ago, my uncle and dad got involved in a business deal with Merritt Hopper. It was actually my uncle’s doing, but my father was pulled in and we all suffered. There was some sort of backstabbing situation. We never found out the details, but Hopper came after the family. My uncle was beaten, tortured, and killed. My father beaten and hospitalized and…” She swallowed hard.

  “And?” Finlin pushed through clenched teeth.

  “My cousin Lauren and I were abducted and taken hostage for a week.” A tear escaped her eye, and she wiped it away.

  “What?” Cesar asked, and Finlin stepped closer and grabbed her shoulders, caressed her arms as he held her gaze.

  It was so odd, the combination of the fake blue contacts, the beard, the disguise mixed with the familiarity of his presence and the feel of his hands on her comforting, protecting her.

  “Who held you hostage? What went down?”

  “It was a mess, Finlin. Lauren was in love with two men, Logan and Connor. They were military, but reserves. I had no idea that they had been abusive to her, and it was too late when we realized that the masked men who abducted us had been hired by Hopper, and they were Logan and Connor.”

  “Jesus,” Stack stated.

  “They beat us and broke bones as they tortured us.”

  She cried, and Finlin caressed her arms as she blurted out the story.

  “They were so evil, and even though my uncle gave Hopper the money, or whatever it was that he owed him, Hopper killed my uncle, Lauren’s dad, and they thought they killed my father, too, by beating him unconscious, but he survived. So when Logan and Connor got the order from someone over the phone, who I assumed was Hopper, to kill us, I didn’t want to die, and I fought back.”

  “What happened?” Finlin asked.

  “I shot and killed Logan and Connor before the feds raided the place, ready to let us both die just so they could kill Logan and Connor. We should have died there, too.” Tears continued to flow, and then Finlin pulled her into his arms and hugged her.

  She squeezed him tight then blinked her eyes and locked onto Stack as he approached and caressed her hair and rubbed her back.

  “I’m going to protect you,” Finlin said.

  “We’re going to protect you,” Pisces said as him, and Rusty gathered around her and Finlin.

  “The feds are here,” Cesar said.

  She gripped Finlin’s shirt and looked up at him.

  “I’m scared, Finlin No one knows that I killed those men. I let them think the feds did it.”

  He caressed her hair and gripped it gently.

  “I know you are. We’ll figure this out together. I don’t think your past with Hopper had anything to do with Yorkshire setting his eyes on you.”

  “But it will if Hopper finds out about me somehow. He’ll make the connection to my family. He doesn’t know it was me that killed Logan and Connor. The federal agents who worked the case took responsibility for the deaths. I let them, Finlin. I didn’t trust them at all.”

  He gulped.

  “Fuck,” Rusty whispered.

  “Don’t give the feds any of this information. Don’t let them know what you just said about killing the men. We’ll look deeper into things with our own connections,” Finlin whispered and looked around at his friends, at Cesar, in the room, and all the men nodded. They would keep silent.

  Finlin cupped her cheek then stroked her jaw. She swallowed hard, held his gaze, and then the federal agents entered the room and that feeling of distrust from the past came rushing forward. She gripped onto Finlin as Stack squeezed her shoulder in support.

  “Where is she?” A man entered the room with four others. He stared at Finlin and his team and then at her. He eyed her over, and she wiped her eyes, and he gave a soft fake smile. She knew enough to follow her gut, and this agent was not trustworthy.

  “Miss Mosely, thank God you’re okay. We were all
concerned,” he said. “I’m Agent Ferrow.”

  He reached his hand out for her to shake. She noticed the way he eyed her over, as did the other three men with him as they made introductions.

  “Why would you be concerned over me? What exactly is going on here? Finlin, Cesar, and the others haven’t been able to explain much to me.”

  The agent took her arm and led her to the couch. “I’m certain I can bring you up to speed here and what we believe is going on. They wouldn’t know as much as we do.”

  She got the feeling that this guy liked to be in control and manipulate people. She remembered the agents from the incident with her family and Hopper. She gave a soft nod.

  “So you’re in charge then? You’re going to make sure I’m not in any danger.”

  He licked his lower lip. “Definitely.”

  She didn’t dare look up at Finlin or the others. She hoped they realized that she was more than aware of this prick’s capabilities and was playing him as he thought he was playing her.

  “So, you’re safe. That’s what’s most important.”

  “I didn’t think I was in any danger until these men arrived at my home.” She glanced at Finlin and his team. Pisces had his arms crossed in front of his chest and looked pissed beyond anything she had ever seen before. She looked back at the agent.

  “Yes, well, we didn’t want to take a chance after you were seen speaking with Finlin as he was working undercover. Our target could associate you with him if Finlin was identified.”

  She squinted at him, knowing that Finlin hadn’t blown his cover at all.

  “I understand there was another agent there and he was killed, and that it was him who was immediately discovered and that he took pictures. Is that correct?”

  He cleared his throat.

  “McCormick was sent in as backup.”

  “Bullshit. He was sent in to make sure that I was loyal to this mission and not working with Pisces family, who, by the way, have nothing to do with Yorkshire or this deal he’s making with that businessman whose name shouldn’t be mentioned in front of anyone,” Finlin said to the agent.