Page 75 of Redeem Me

‘Lovely girl.’ Rian bites back a smirk and slides into the booth beside Dermot. ‘Caelon finds her very obliging.’

Thankfully, Dermot doesn’t get the dig. ‘Did you hear Caelon has a woman on the go?’

‘He mentioned he’s been buried balls deep in someone half his age. He reckons she’s a real go-er.’ Rian winks at me.

I will actually kill him. I squeeze my eyes closed and pinch the bridge of my nose, feeling my blood pressure rocket .

‘Spill, motherfucker.’ Dermot’s attention whips to me as a gleeful expression inches over his face. Technically, sister-fucker would be more appropriate. He won’t be nearly as chirpy if Rian doesn’t shut his huge trap. ‘And I thought I was your best friend, yet Baby Beckett knows everything, and I know nothing. So, who is she? And more importantly, has she got any friends?’

I imagine wrapping my hands around Rian’s neck and choking him slowly. Maybe not to death, because that would be difficult to explain to our parents, but hard enough to ensure his throat is so bruised he won’t be able to swallow, let alone talk, for a week.

‘Have a bit of respect, you fucking moron.’ I glare at Rian. ‘Don’t talk about my woman that way.’

‘Oh, “my woman”,’ Dermot repeats. ‘It’s serious, then? When do we get to meet her?’

I inhale a breath, then blow it out slowly.

‘Believe me, if it were up to me, we’d have all had dinner together by now, but it’s not that simple.’

‘Oh, is she married? Or the second secret daughter of your rival? No wait, don’t tell me, she’s a mafia princess!’ Dermot slaps his thigh and laughs.

I could wipe the smile from his face with one three-letter word, but I promised Ivy I wouldn’t tell him. I promised when the time was right, we’d tell him together – a promise I know I’m going to regret making.

‘She’s not married.’ Not yet anyway. But the way things are escalating, it’s a possibility I wouldn’t rule out – one day.

Thankfully, my other brothers choose this second to stride into the club. James is in the centre, flanked by Killian and Sean. Killian surveys the premises in the same way he surveys every room he enters, sweeping each nook and cranny like he’s searching for a hidden masked man who’s planning to jump out at him with a machete. He definitely has a touch of post-traumatic stress from his time in the forces, but it’s not something he’s ever discussed. Not with me, anyway. He comes across as cold and aloof, but I don’t doubt he’d take a bullet for any one of us.

‘Ah, look, the whole family reunited.’ Rian rises, motioning one of the topless waitresses over to bring more drinks.

‘Not quite,’ I mutter. Thankfully, Zara is away travelling, and my parents are still in Europe.

‘Congratulations, Rian.’ James sweeps a hand around the club. ‘I like what you’ve done with the place.’

‘You know, if Scarlett wants her old job back,’ Rian teases. Man, my little brother really does have a death wish.

James’s jaw tenses in a deadly grimace and his black eyes narrow to slits.

Rian raises his hands in surrender. ‘Just joking, brother. Relax.’

Killian, Sean and James slide into the booth as the waitress brings another bottle of our family’s most expensive whiskey and four more crystal tumblers.

Sean fills up everyone’s glass, raises a toast to Rian’s new business venture, and James’s jaw eventually slackens.

‘Remember that dancer, Candice? Hot as fuck and takes cock like a champ?’ Rian inhales slowly, like he’s reliving a memory. ‘I tried to get her back, but she’s shacked up with some sugar daddy in France.’

‘Never mind Candice. What about Avery? She’s killing it in the UK,’ James says, knocking back a double shot and holding his glass out for a refill.

Scarlett’s best friend, Avery, started as a dancer at the Luxor Lounge five years ago to fund her way through university. Now she’s one of the most sought-after glamour models in Europe.

Killian huffs out a breath and rolls his eyes skywards.

‘Something wrong?’ James’s gaze weighs on our usually stoic brother.

Killian shakes his head but the way his fingers whiten around his glass tell a different story.

‘Will Avery make the wedding?’ Rian asks, oblivious to the tension rolling from our thunderous looking brother. Our baby brother’s probably already trying to work out how he can get into Avery’s panties.

‘She’s going to be a bridesmaid. She wouldn’t miss it for the world.’ James’s gaze is focussed solely on Killian when he answers. At least he hasn’t missed the weird animosity Killian clearly holds towards Avery.

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