Page 15 of Steel Rain

“Two weeks,” Eoghan shot back.

“One.”

Eoghan turned his head to me, looking for my input. He didn’t need words, though. So I just gave a nod.

“Done,” he said with that single, slight tilt of the head. Eoghan marched forward and grabbed her hand in his, shaking it forcefully. “But you better impress me this week, or the deal’s off, Shiny. I’ll see you at the old house tomorrow evening.”

He was about to march out of the locker room, but then he halted, turned his head and with a menacing smile asked, “You remember the way to the old house, don’t you, Shiny?”

Chapter 9

Sin

I’velostmyfuckingmind. There’s no other explanation than I had gone completely ape shit insane. I was in the lion’s den. I was standing in the middle of a minefield, full of poisonous snakes. And the floor was made of lava.

Everywhere I turned, something was rigged to blow up in my face.

I could feel it ticking and itching under my skin. It was the feel of hypervigilance. The discomfort of knowing that someone was watching me at all times. I looked at the security cameras that hung on poles and from every wall, nook and cranny, and watched as the drapes rustled as people inside probably peered down at me. What were they thinking? What were they saying about me coming back to this hell hole? And how many of them would hate me for being a traitor and leaving without the blessing of the late Mr. Green, Eoghan’s father and the old boss?

I slung my duffel bag over my shoulder, looking at the grand, red brick mansion that made up the pretentious Green Manor.

Once upon a time, a long time ago, when I was a much stupider girl, I had thought this house was grand and beautiful. It was sophisticated and perfect. Now, I could see it for what it was. A big ass house, owned by a crime family that was trying very hard to reform and rewrite its past.

I didn’t have a car. I had sold my beloved midnight black Camaro because I was getting my ducks in a row to get a place to live and find an attorney to start the process of getting my sister back. I had to beg Harrison to drive me here, and he would only do so if I let him hang around.

He let out a low whistle. “Nice digs.”

“Yeah,” I said, looking at my friend from over the roof of his Audi A5. “You should get out of here.”

Did the house look this wicked before? It was so … haunted. The walls that I thought were grand now looked sad and decrepit, like an old dame wearing too much makeup and all of her jewelry, clinging to her former glory.

“I don’t feel good about this, Flanagan.” Guile shook his head. “Nothing about this is sitting right with me.”

You and me both, brother.But I couldn’t let him see that. I couldn’t show weakness.

“We’re old-world Irish,” I tried to give him an easy laugh, but probably failed. “It's a bit like a cult, but it’s harmless.”

So harmless, that my father had been publicly executed in the middle of one of New York City’s biggest weddings.

“Like the Amish?” He asked with a sarcastic glint in his eye.

Of course, Harrison would go straight to the Amish, country boy that he was.

“Yes, exactly like the Amish,” I said with a laugh. “Get in your car and get out of here!”

He wrapped me in his arms. Like many of his hugs, it was sudden and tight. As if his body had a burst of energy that needed to be released in a fast embrace. I hugged him back. I clung tight to his jacket, my fingers spidering along the fabric to pull him even tighter.

Please don’t leave me here.

No sooner did that thought enter my mind before I dismissed it. He needed to go. He’d never survive here. Not with his soul intact. Ihadn’tsurvived. My soul was left somewhere on the side of this old house, on the path that led to my childhood home. It was buried somewhere behind the thorny brush of the trees, probably half-chewed by wild animals and other vermin.

“I don’t like this,” he whispered in my ear.

Of all the comrades and all the friends I had since my time outside of this life, he was the only one that knew. He was the only person I had told.

He knew why I showed up to the recruiting office with nothing but my most essential documents. He was the only one who understood why I ran away from everyone and everything, and why I never wanted to come back.

Now, he was the only one who truly understood why I returned. I needed to do it for the one person who was still innocent in all this. The one person who did not deserve to see me go, but did, because I couldn’t take her with me. I wasn’t strong enough.

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