Deadly Seduction (22 page)

“Don’t be stupid, babe. I love you—I never had the kind of feelings for her that we have for one another.”

“How very…fucking sad.” She shook her head. “Our ‘young love’ was so toxic and dangerous, we couldn’t even bring ourselves to like our bed partners. I remember feeling a distinct loathing for every man other than you who touched me sexually and it seems like you had a similar situation. We did it to ourselves, and now we have to pay the price. I’m not going to hate Brianna because what happened between you and I caused our demise and no one and nothing else. Like it or not, she will always be the mother of those children and I can’t replace her. The sooner you realize that sometimes you need to stop being so fucking pig-headed and just let life run its course, the happier you’ll be.”

Cillian felt like throwing the bottle of Bud Ice to the floor just to watch the glass explode but he got a handle on his temper and walked toward his boys. He needed to let loose and if that meant being away from Gisela while she kissed his ex-old lady’s ass then so be it.

No one ever said love was easy but as much as he adored and worshipped her, she could still be a right pain in his arse.

Cillian and Kink sat together in the Clubhouse, along with Ronan, Cricket, Bookie and Quinn.
They were all quite drunk even though they’d eaten on top of the alcohol they’d consumed.

“I’m worried, bro.” Kink belched loudly and swallowed another shot of Jack Daniels before he chased it with a freshly opened bottle of Heineken.

“About what?” Ronan looked down at his iPhone and quickly replied to a text message.

“This. Us. You. Look at ya, cocksucker,” Kink sneered. “The bitch is outside textin’ you and we’re supposed to be bondin’ before we make our last run for meth. The party was a great way to cover up what’s really goin’ on tonight.”

“Oh, I’m
sorry
. I didn’t realize I was bein’ a pussy for caring about my old lady. My bad.”

“Will you both shut the fuck up?” Quinn sighed and sipped from his Beck’s quietly. “We all agreed that this should go down one more time and then we’d have to end it. Dad’s medical bills weren’t cheap and even though we’ve got him some health insurance, we’re still responsible for forty percent of the cost. Sean and Brendan agreed with the run and said it
had
to happen.”

“Yeah, I know what happened, dickhead. Sean’s my father, remember?” Kink glared at Quinn with cold blue eyes.

“Sorry…I forget sometimes…you look like that Slavic Slapper who pushed you out her hole.”

“Shut the fuck up, Ronan.” Cillian breathed deeply and prayed for the rest of the night to go down okay.

“Fuck you,” Kink replied quietly. “My mother is half-Polish and half-Irish. She’s not a Slavic Slapper. And it wasn’t her fault my dad fell in love with a stripper and she decided to high-tail it before I was five. All I have is a faded snapshot of them together.”

“Your dad loved her.”

Everyone slowly turned their heads toward Bookie. He had acquired his name because of his love of books but he didn’t say much, not unless he had something constructive to add to a conversation.

“I guess—”

“Sean fucks Slappers—hell, I guess we all do with the exception of the Cox bros, and now you with Miranda bein’ back in your life and all—but he was in love with your mom. Mila
Zawadzka Boyle was your father’s only love and if she walked through that door now, he’d take her back in a heartbeat.”

Cillian felt the tears gather in his eyes but he refused to cry in front of his boys. He stood, and said, “Bookie’s right. It’s the same between Gisela and I. In all my life, I’ve never been able to see past her.”

“Sometimes that’s how it is,” Cricket spoke up and stood too.

“Let’s get ready to head out.”

All the guys grabbed their gear while both Bookie and Quinn headed to the black van. Cillian, Kink, Cricket and Ronan would be on their bikes. It was supposed to be an in and out deal and then they would come back to the party and pretend like nothing happened.

However, as much as Cillian had drank, he had a bad feeling about this whole setup. They’d pressed their luck with those White Knight psychos more than enough times. Sooner or later, something was gonna kick off they weren’t going to be able to walk away from it when it did happen. He hated how he knew it might be tonight that would be the last deal, and the one they would fucking regret.

Kink slapped him on his shoulders before he got on his Harley. “What’s the matter, bro?”

“Something’s not right. I don’t know why I feel it but my gut is never wrong. I don’t like this setup.” He swallowed past the lump in his throat and tried to get a hold of himself and his thundering heart.

“You’re not high, are you?”

“Fuck no! My kids are here and can you imagine what Gisela would say?”

“Then let’s go so we can get this shit and get the hell back to the party.” Ronan turned on his Harley. “I have a bad feeling too and I don’t wanna be around those inbred hicks any longer than I have to be.”

“Agreed.” Cricket slipped on his helmet.

Cillian finally cranked up, put his helmet on and gave them the hand signal. They all took off in a trail of noise and exhaust fumes.

“So, you hear from that fuckin’ Bastard who shot my brother?”

Cillian glared at Jake with cold blue eyes. “Who? Lennon? He’s not even in the fuckin’ country.”

“Yeah, we know.” Jake smiled and displayed off-white teeth in an otherwise brutally handsome face. “He’s in Belfast and we know where he and his bitch are…but then my dad heard something very interesting.”

“Where’s all this going?” Ronan grabbed the duffel bag of money from Quinn and held it in one hand while he held his Desert Eagle in his other hand casually like it was a natural extension of his arm. “What are we? Demon’s Bastards’ keepers or some such shit? Why are you askin’ about Lennon anyway?”

Jake’s blue eyes held a twisted mirth in them. “Well…with Lennon not being a Bastard anymore…we heard he was a Saint. Now say it ain’t so.”

Cillian glared at Ronan, and cocked his head to the side before he arched one of his eyebrows.

Deny it.

Ronan was a lot more intelligent than many people gave him credit for. Hell, he would have his own charter one day with Cillian’s help. The guy was that sharp.

“Don’t know where you heard that bullshit rumor from. Why the fuck would we want that douchebag? Not to mention it’s unprecedented for members of MC to switch affiliations. It doesn’t happen. Stop usin’ so much of your own shit, Jake, you’re slippin’.”

“Not to ease up on the fuckin’ chit chat but we got other places to be. Somethin’ goin’ down here or not?” Kink questioned in his best “I could give a flyin’ fuck” voice.

“I heard you got rid of that nice piece of pussy you had, Killer,” Jake responded, ignoring Kink. “Ya know, she’s working at Essential Assets Gentlemen’s Club in Carson City, serving all those rich fucks. You can even buy her for the night if you want. I’m thinkin’ it wouldn’t be a bad idea to just ‘borrow’ her for the night but I gotta let Brooklyn and all the rest of the guys in on the fun too.”

Cillian’s temper was so close to exploding, his temples throbbed. “Oh yeah? You touch my ex-old lady and I will hunt you down and murder you myself. And I’ll finish off what Trey started in terms of Brooklyn…only I won’t miss and that asshole won’t be breathin’ when I get done with him.”

Jake looked back at Brooklyn who merely smiled. “We got Lennon covered and when we’re through with him and that skank bitch sister of ours who he’s fuckin’, believe me, if we find out he was takin’ a trip to the other side…thinkin’ ‘bout becomin’ a Saint like his old man, you don’t wanna see me because I will be staring at you down the barrel of a motherfuckin’ gun, you half-breed lovin’ shit for brains.”

Ronan laughed then. “Is that supposed to be some sort of
racist
joke? You’re a fuckin’ idiot, Jake—”

“—and you run your mouth too goddamn much, Ronan.” Brooklyn glared him down but he never flinched.

Jake threw a duffel bag at Kink. “Here are the motherfuckin’ drugs. Just what you asked for.”

Kink, their resident drug expert, opened it and grabbed a small vial of a chemical to test its potency level. The White Knights were a lot of things but there was a reason why they controlled the meth trade. Theirs was the best around, still made with the same ingredients as original Methamphetamine and not all the shit they used to dilute it nowadays with cold and flu medicine being harder to get a hold of in huge quantities.

Kink nodded. “It’s all good in the hood. Ronan, you can hand over the cash.”

Bookie quickly took the duffel bag from Kink and loaded it into the van before he and Quinn took off in a hurry.

Cillian had to stand there, his heart thundering in his chest as Jake counted the money, would make a joke with one of his cousins or Brooklyn, lose count, and then would have to start all over again.

Ronan cocked his Desert Eagle and all jokes stopped. “Listen, you can count that shit when you get home. You know where to find us if you want shit to go down, we’re out.”

Jake and Brooklyn looked at one another before both the brothers shrugged their shoulders.