Around the World in 80 Men Series: Books 11-20 (20 page)

“Ye
don't have to finish if ye don't want to, Morgan,” Sean reached
over to take her hand and Finlay shot him a warning look. Not because
of the affectionate move, but because he needed to hear the story.
Morgan shook her head and told him it was alright, she needed to tell
the story.

“Well,
fast forward to that night, he stopped by for a
uhm....
little...
visit,” she held her fingers up to show
them how he reminded her of her own pinky toe and both men sniggered.
“But then he was gone after his twenty-three seconds of glory.
At that point, I thought I could deal with it. I still didn't have
any red flags pop up. God, I'm so stupid!”

Finlay
and Sean both told her that she was nowhere near stupid and just as
Nadia told her, they both explained that she wasn't to blame.
Although both men wanted her to get to the point faster, they were
glad that she was giving them the whole story.

“Okay,
I'm dragging this on, aren't I?” The men exchanged glances, but
did not say a word. “Anyway, the next day I went out in town,”
she looked over to Sean and told him that's where she got the sheep,
then continued. “When I got back, I met a girl there. Her dad
ran the shithole hotel and used his daughter to pay for it,”
she looked to the men and when she was sure they understood her
meaning, she went on. “She warned me. About him, about the
others. But no, I still didn't listen.” The tears began to fall
down her cheeks. She couldn't fight them any longer, but she held
strong to finish her story.

She
carefully wiped the tears from her face, avoiding her bruises, then
spoke, “Nadia went into the back, I tried to call Julianne,
just to...I don't know, get an opinion...” The regret hit
Morgan again. Julianne still didn't know and Morgan still didn't know
if Julianne was going to be upset with her.

“Did
ye get a hold of her?” Sean was the one to speak up. Morgan
shook her head and told them that Julianne was sick. “Well,
see, ye tried to tell her,” he tried to make her feel better
and to take the blame off of her.

“Well,
I probably wouldn't have told her anyway,” Morgan looked down
at her hands. She knew that if she had actually talked to Julianne,
she probably would have deflected the topic to Felix or Christmas or
puppies.

“When
I got off the phone, my client walked into the hotel with his
friends...” She looked at the men and knew that what she was
about to say would send Finlay back into a fury, but she told them
anyway. She told them about Carlos hitting her, then getting tossed
around by his friends and thrown over the bar and onto the table. She
told them about kicking one of the guys in the face and that's what
earned her the hit to her nose. “I told Nadia to get my bags
and she did. She went upstairs, got my bags and got them into a
cab...when she returned, she had a gun. That's the only way I got out
of there...she saved me.”

When
Morgan spoke about Carlos' last words, that's when she noticed a
change in Finlay. His jaws clenched together and she could see the
color changing to white on his hands that he was squeezing together
on his lap. She could tell that he was trying to appear calm on the
outside, but she knew his inside was enraged. Sean on the other hand,
had a completely different expression. He looked simply heartbroken,
and he was. Why would anyone do that to her? Why her?

“Morgan,
I'm so sorry they did that to you...” Sean was the first to
speak. Finlay knew that anything that would come out of his own mouth
wouldn't be pretty, nor articulated in the way he wanted.

“Don't
worry,” Morgan said to Sean. She wanted it all behind her, but
she did feel a bit better that the weight had been lifted from her
shoulders. “Look, I didn't tell you guys this,” she
looked back and forth between the men, “to have a pity party
for me all day. I'm fine, really.” She directed her attention
to Finlay, “nor do you need to go out and take care of it.”
She gave him a raised eyebrow, knowing exactly what he was thinking.

“Morgan,
if I ever see that man, I'll fookin' kill him. Then, I'll do it
again.” That wasn't exactly the answer she was hoping for, but
she couldn't expect anything different from the man.

She
shook her head, then smiled again. “Well, do what ya gotta do.
I'm hungry, so which one of you handsome men want to go pick up some
food?” Morgan couldn't think about her ordeal any longer, nor
talk about it. As she told her story, the realization that she had
been completely helpless, and had nowhere to go in her time of need,
had hit her with a force that she wasn't ready to deal with. In her
mind's eye, she saw herself at the airport, digging through her bag
to find a way out of Portugal, instead of just
knowing
where
to go. The viscous cycle of not having a home mixed with not needing
one played out in her mind, but in the end, it was a problem that
would need addressed sooner rather than later. For right then,
however, she just wanted life to get back to normal and get beyond
the last few days.

Sean
laughed at the sudden change in conversation, but Finlay remained an
emotionless statue on the couch as hot anger coursed through his
veins. The men agreed to go together after Morgan mentioned she
wanted to get a bath so she could soak in peace. Sean made a quick
trip to the bedroom to change his bloody shirt, then got his coat and
boots on. Before they walked out the door, Finlay noticed Morgan's
phone on top of the mantle. He'd know that pink phone anywhere. He
picked it up and slid it into his pocket, then the men left.

Morgan
did just as she said and drew herself a hot bath. Finlay on the other
hand, planned on doing anything but relaxing. By the time they were
on their way back from picking up a few things from the store, his
adrenaline was at a record high and he couldn't hold it in any
longer.

“Ah've
got te call Julianne and find the bloody bastard,” he told Sean
as he pulled the phone out of his pocket. He had grabbed Morgan's
phone for a reason, Julianne had no option but to answer. He scrolled
through her contacts until he found the number he was looking for,
then pressed the button. On the second ring, the phone was answered.

“Hey
Sugar Tits, what's up?” Cade's happy voice answered the phone.

“Who
the fook ye think ye are? Don't you ever, and I mean EVER call her
that! No' you, no' anybody, EVER! Ye fookin' hear me ye bastard?”
Finlay's anger caught up to him and he couldn't stop the freight
train that had picked up speed since first hearing about the
situation from Angel.

“Whoa
dude, easy. What the fuck do you want man?” On the other end,
Cade put his hands in the air and made a mocking face at the phone.

“I'm
Finlay Campbell, put Julianne on the phone.”

“She's
sick, what do you want?”

“Then
ye'll give me the address of the fookin' cunt, Carlos, in Portugal.”
Finlay was gripping the bar above the window with all of his strength
and Sean was going deaf in his right ear.

“You
know I can't do that, man,” Cade told him. He didn't know why
he needed the address, but he did know he wasn't allowed to give out
that information.

“Fine.”
Finlay hung up the phone just as they pulled back into Sean's house.
He jumped out of the truck, leaving the door wide open, and ran into
the house, leaving that door open as well. He stormed into the
bathroom and Morgan wasn't there. Then he went into the bedroom and
saw her brushing her hair. “Look at me, love.” When she
did, he took a picture of her face.

“What's
this about?” Morgan drew her eyebrows together and stood to see
the picture he had just taken of her, but he had already stormed out
of the room. Finlay sent the picture to Julianne's phone, waited a
minute, then called Cade right back.

“I
have the fucker's address, I'll send it right now” That's all
Cade said and they hung up.

Morgan
went back to getting herself ready, and figured that she would ask
Mister Frantic why he was snapping horrible pics of her after she was
dressed. Sean wanted to know what was going on right then, however,
because he caught the tail end of what had happened as he was
carrying their food through the living room.

“Come
in the kitchen.” He motioned with his head for Finlay to
follow, and the big man did. The men emptied the bags as they
quietly discussed Finlay's next move.

“I'm
sending a few
mates
to pay a visit to that bastard.”
His deep voice shook as he spoke quietly of his plans. Sean nodded,
then added his feelings to the situation.

“Count
me in, I have a few
mates
that would be happy for the job.”
Finlay stopped moving and looked at his friend. He couldn't believe
that his easy going buddy would want revenge like that, not even for
Morgan. “I care about her too. Obviously, not in the way that
ye do.” He rubbed his nose and shook his head as he laughed.
“But she's my friend, and I want all of those bastards to pay
for what they did.” Finlay nodded, and was happy to hear that
their total of men going to Portugal would exceed a dozen, and they
weren't the type of men that would ever lose a fight.

“I'm
taking her home with me, tonight.” The statement sounded
almost like a question, but it was Finlay's way of showing courtesy
to the man that had taken care of Morgan for the last few days. Sean
took the last of the food from the final bag and just smiled as he
arranged it on the table.

“I
know. But Finlay....,” he looked up slightly, just to meet
the Scot's gaze, “she'll feel worse if she knows you're angry,
just be gentle and take care of her, aye?” Finlay had a retort
ready, just simmering between his tightened lips, but he knew that
his friend had a point.

“Aye.”

“Don't
I get a say so in all of this?” Morgan's sweet voice floated
between them and they both turned to see her walk through the
doorway. She really didn't have anything else to add to the
conversation, because even though she cared more for Sean than she
wanted to admit, it was Finlay that her heart longed to be with right
then. The men also let out a silent sigh of relief at figuring out
that she hadn't heard about their other plan.

They
both relaxed when they saw that she was just joking, and their
morning together had finally taken a turn for the better. It was
especially good for Morgan to watch the two handsome men work
together to prepare a breakfast of scrambled eggs, bacon, sausage and
toast, all of which turned out perfectly. She also liked the stories
that they told her about when they were younger, and would party
until the wee hours of the morning, then make a breakfast such as
that to cure their hangovers. She was relieved to know that their
friendship was unchanged by what had happened, and she couldn't be
happier to have both of them in her life.

That
afternoon had left Morgan with a renewed opened bottom lip from
laughing at the pair. Finlay had been trying to talk Sean into
taking 'his best shot' in return for what he had done to his friend
that morning. Of course, Sean wouldn't take him up on it, but Finlay
still kept trying for most of the afternoon. “One hit, mate.
Go ahead, right here.” The smiling Scot pointed to his chin as
he tried one last time to get what was coming to him. Sean shook his
head and laughed, saying that he had something even better than a
quick jab to the face.

“Last
night, I washed Morgan from head to toe, and I fookin' loved it.”
He stood straighter as Finlay's laughter ceased.
“Every...inch...of....her.” His taunting was handed out
with an evil smile, one that clearly told the Scot that he had just
taken his earned
jab.

“We're
even.” Finlay walked out of the room and Morgan and Sean's
outburst of laughter brought a loud moan from the bedroom as the
large man gathered her bags. “That'll do!” His words
had Morgan nearly on the floor, doubled over as she tried to hold her
ribs while snorting in laughter.

An
hour later, Morgan was searching the bedroom for anything that she
may have left behind, and Sean joined her. The door was loudly shut
behind him, letting Finlay know that he needed some private time with
the beauty. He asked her to join him on the bed, and she eagerly sat
down. “Lass, if ye ever need me, I'm here. If that big
bastard drives ye crazy, I'm here. If anyone ever hurts ye again,
I'm here. And if ye ever just want....me...I'm here.” His
finger reached up and traced an outline of the bruise on her cheek,
then he leaned in gently and pressed his lips against hers. Sean's
sweet kiss pulled at her heart, as it always had, and she kissed him
back, as she always did.