Declan + Coraline (18 page)

“Cora?” I grabbed her attention as I stepped in front of her.

She lifted the umbrella higher for the both of us to stand under.

“Hi.” She smiled.

“I don’t understand?” I was afraid to get too happy.

She pulled out a passport and handed it to me.

“You told me to have fun, but I don’t know how to do that without you, so you’re going to have to keep teaching me. I want stamps too.”

I took the passport from her. But she needed to be sure.

“Coraline, I can’t change who am or what I do—”

“I know. I’ll do what everyone else does and look away. Is that good enough?”

All I could do was nod as I grabbed the sides of her face and kissed her the way I had dreamt of for the last two weeks. She kissed me back, but only shortly before breaking away. I noticed that one of her eyes seemed a little swollen. As I gently brushed my thumb against it, she winced.

“You’re going to ruin my make up,” she said softly.

“What happened to you?” I asked trying to stay calm in front of her.

“I’m fine—”

“Coraline, you being here means that you are mine. You are part of my family now. We don’t hide our pain from each other.”

She sighed. “Otis and I got into a fight when he left with Imani.”

“Is everything alright out here?”

Turning back, Sedric stood at the door with his hands in pockets as his hard gaze shifted between us. I took both the umbrella and her hand before I led her up the stairs.

“Dad, this is my girlfriend, Coraline Wilson.”

His eyebrow raised as he moved aside. “Welcome to Callahan Manor, Ms. Wilson.”

“Thank you, sir.” She stepped inside.

Evelyn, Neal, Olivia, and Liam all stood in front of the grand staircase and waited for Sedric to speak again.

“Ms. Wilson, this is my wife, Evelyn, I’m sure you remember her from the church,” he stated as Evelyn walked forward.

“Of course she remembers me!” she said to him as she hugged Coraline. “Welcome, dear. You look beautiful.”

“Thank you, ma’am—”

“Just Evelyn, we were in the middle of dinner. Have you eaten?”

“Not yet.”

Evelyn frowned. “In this house, Coraline, we always eat dinner together. If I didn’t force them to, they’d stuff their faces with fries and burgers until they died of heart attacks. Come now.”

Coraline looked back at me and I nodded to her as she headed into the dining room. Olivia kissed Neal on the cheek before she turned and followed as well, leaving only the men in the front of the house.

Sedric stepped in front me. “She’s yours now. Do you know what that means?”

I smiled as I nodded. “Protect, live, and die for her.”

“I better not hear you say that you rushed into this later,” he muttered as he squeezed my shoulder and headed back into the dining room.

“Dad,” I called out and he froze before he turned to face me. “Otis of the Seven Bloods, he hit her. What
can
I do?” I knew he already had a plan for the Seven Bloods.

“After dinner you, your brothers, along with the rest of the clan, will pay a visit to Southbend. You know what happens to Mr. Emerson,” he stated.

“Finally, something I’m good at,” Liam said as he placed his arm around my shoulder. “I really can’t deal with all this lovey-dovey shit. It’s like watching Romeo and Juliet on repeat.”

“Don’t they die in the end?” Neal questioned.

Liam rolled his eyes. “Don’t we all die in the end?”

“Well, while you two bitch, I’m going to go eat.” I stepped into the dining room as a maid placed a plate in front of Coraline who had been seated right next to me.

Sitting down, she looked to me.

I took her hand and kissed the back of it. “I’m happy you’re here.”

“Me too.”

“So, Coraline, where did you go to school?” Evelyn asked. I was sure she already knew the answer, Sedric had most likely done an extensive background check on her, but I was glad that she was trying to make Coraline relax.

She wasn’t completely comfortable, but I knew that that would soon pass. It felt like just the beginning.

***

She lay in the middle of my bed, and I wanted to just stare at her until the sun came up. Moving to her side, I kissed her cheek as I sat on the edge of bed.

“PS—I love you,” she whispered, her eyes barely open.

“PPS—I love you more.”

“Where are you going?” She sat up.

“An errand for my uncle.” I didn’t want to lie to her anymore.

Her mouth opened like she was going to say something, but before she could, she closed it and lay back down.

“What’s going to happen with Mr. Pierre?”

“The report will say that the brakes on your car weren’t working, and that Mr. Pierre suffered a heart attack as he tried to help you get out. No one will question it.”

“Okay. Please be safe out there,” she whispered.

“Always,” I promised as I kissed her cheek again. “I’ll be back before the sun is up.”

“I’ll be here.” She yawned.

She had no idea how wonderful it felt to know that.

Stepping out of my room, my uncle stood there already waiting.

“We’re good Catholics. We can’t have her living here and not married to you,” he said as he handed me a small box.

Opening it, I saw a raindrop shaped diamond set in a white gold ring.

“It was your mother’s.”

“Thank you.”

Just like that, he took it back and snapped it shut.

“Don’t you have something to attend to first? You don’t want to lose it in the chaos. You are taking Liam after all.”

“See you when I get back,” I said, already walking towards the back of the house.

When I got there, there were already four large black Jeeps waiting. Liam threw me a pair of gloves and a mask as I hopped up into the back of one of the Jeeps.

Placing the mask around my mouth, no one spoke as they pulled out. Slipping on the gloves, an AK-47 was handed to me. I checked the mag before I strapped it back in.

Taking out my second phone, I sent a mass text containing a photo of Otis. I wanted him alive so that I could kill the motherfucker myself. The men beside me were dressed in all-black and they nodded to me.

Southbend was the shithole of Chicago, stripped cars on blocks littered the streets, and the only people that came outside were junkies, pimps, hookers, and the people who were looking for any of the above. The police had basically given up on it. Which meant that a house could finish burning to the ground before anyone showed up.

The Seven Bloods had taken it over, and made themselves kings here. Maybe that was why they’d forgotten who fucking owned this city.

Patrick, who was in the lead car, parked and cut all the lights. The three other Jeeps copied him. I came out and stared up at the old, run-down house with the boarded up windows, and rusted front door. Walking up the worn-out wood stairs, I rang the doorbell and was somewhat surprised when it worked.

“Who in the fuck?” someone yelled before opening the door. He stood in an old pair of jeans that hung off his waist and a wife beater vest.

“Is Otis at home?” I asked kindly as I lifted the gun in my hand.

His eyes widened as he tried to make run for it towards the back, but I shot him twice before he could turn to run.

Two naked women ran out of the kitchen screaming.

“Otis!” I shouted as they hugged each other.

“Upstairs!”

The men behind me shot them as I made my way upstairs. One of his men came at me with a knife. Moving out the way, I grabbed his arm and flipped him onto his back as I shot him right in the stomach.

“Gun beats knife,” I told him as I kicked in the first door. The man there reached for his gun, but I shot his arm and then his head.

When I turned around, Otis was standing behind me with a gun to my head. I pulled down the mask so that he could see my face and I dropped my gun. He grinned.

“You have no idea—”

Before he could finish, I twisted his hand and grabbed the gun. Using the back of it, I smashed it across his face, just as hard as I imagined he’d done to her. He staggered and crashed into the wall.

I fired at his knees and he went down, crying out like the bitch-ass motherfucker he was. “First lesson, if you’re going to shoot. Shoot. Don’t talk about it.”

Grabbing his collar, I pulled him to the edge of the staircase before I kicked him down. He tumbled twice before he landed on top of the dead fuck at the front door. Picking up my gun, I walked down as Eric and another one of our men dragged him outside. I could see the smoke and hear the gunfire coming from the other houses around us, and as I looked up I could see that the night skies were tinted with the orange glow of the fires.

“This is the son of bitch that hurt my brother’s girl,” Liam said to the men who had circled in around us. Liam looked back to Otis who was being forced to stand on his two feet despite the bullets lodged in his kneecaps. “And what do we do to people who hurt our women?”

Handing the guns to Patrick, they forced his pants down as I walked to him.

“We turn them into women as well,” I answered as he handed me a blade.

“No!” He struggled as I reached him and glared into his eyes.

“Did you feel like a big man when you hit her?” I asked him right before I made the cut.

He screamed so loud I was sure that his voice cracked twice, as the blood flowed.

“Second lesson, touch what is mine, you bleed.”

Dropping his penis and testicles to the ground, they let him go and he passed out right next to them.

“OTIS!” Imani ran out of house towards him, but I grabbed her and held her back as they poured gasoline on him. “Stop! Please Stop!”

They wouldn’t.

Liam dropped the match and she screamed as she struggled against me.

“This. This is what happens when you turn a blind eye to your family,” I hissed at her as I forced her to watch him burn.

She fell forward crying.

“What do we do with her?” Liam asked me. “Dad wanted this whole place
cleaned
.”

“She’s going to willingly check herself in at North Mount Psychiatric Hospital,” I told him.

“No one
willingly
checks into North Mount,” he replied.

“It’s either that or West Ridge.” At least she would be comfortable in North Mount.

He nodded and she struggled as the men grabbed her.

“Head home. You should at least spend the first night at the manor together.”

“Thank you.”

“Whatever,” he muttered, already walking away.

He was a romantic at heart; I don’t know why he tried to deny it.

EPILOGUE

“And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride.”

―Edgar Allan Poe

DECLAN

When I came out of the shower, she was sitting up in the middle of my bed staring at the ring I had slipped on to her finger while she slept.

“Too much?” I asked her as I leaned against the doorframe. “We can keep dating for a while if you’d like.”

“It’s just…wow. So much has happened in such a short space of time,” she whispered as she twisted the ring around her finger. It was a little big, but I would fix that later. I liked seeing it on her.

Sitting on the bed, I took her hand and held it tightly.

“No more running?”

“I took your mother’s money out of WIB. So yes, in the next ten years, it’s going to be me and you.” She smiled.

I leaned in and kissed her.

She fell back onto the bed as I hovered over her. “You and me until we are old and gray, Coraline
Callahan
.”

SEDRIC

Sitting on the edge of my bed, I pulled on the laces of my shoes when she hugged me from behind.

“She came back just as you said she would,” I whispered. It was because of her that I’d allowed Coraline to have those two weeks. Evelyn had called it perfectly. “How did you know?”

“She reminded me of myself, and I came back.” She kissed my cheek.

“I’m still trying to thank you for that,” I replied as I held her hands in front of me.

“Do you think she’ll make it with us? I don’t want him to be hurt. They still have to visit Ireland, and you know how the clan feels about outsiders.”

“Declan will protect her like you protected me. Like you’ve always protected me.” She leaned down and kissed my head.

If that was the case, then just like she’d done for me, Coraline would keep him sane and grounded.

The wives…they were always the ones who gave us the strength we needed to keep going.

“Protect, live, and die for her.” It was the Callahan way.

ALSO BY J.J. MCAVOY

Ruthless People Series

RUTHLESS PEOPLE

THE UNTOUCHABLES

AMERICAN SAVAGES

DECLAN + CORALINE (a novella)

Single Title New Adult Romance

BLACK RAINBOW (out May, 2015)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

J.J. McAvoy was born in Montreal, Canada, and currently studies humanities at Carleton University. As a child, she wrote poetry, where some of her works were published in local newsletters. J.J.’s life passion with literature has always been the role of tragi
c and anti-hero characters. In her series,
Ruthless People
, she aims to push the boundaries not only with her characters, but with also readers. She is currently working on a new adult contemporary romance entitled
Black
Rainbow
, coming out in May, 2015.