Page 20 of Steel Rain

“Aye, you.” His smirk turned into a full smile, his slightly sharpened canine teeth giving him the appearance of fangs. “I think you have a thing for our Shiny Flanagan.”

He turned his head to Dairo whose lips tilted up in a very subtle smile, as he leaned his head forward.

Whatever might have happened since the woman disappeared from their strange Irish cult didn’t change the fact that they had once, and probably still were, fond of her. I could see it in their eyes.

“What’ll Keith think of that, I wonder?” Dairo sat back in his seat and gave me an assessing, up and down type of glance.

He laid it out like a challenge. Or, at least, I took it that way. I wanted to puff out my chest and tell them that a Navy SEAL didn’t have anything to fear from some Irish gangster. Whoever that Keith guy was, he hadn’t come into my gym.

If he did, I made a mental note to destroy the fucker. Or at least make him tap out.

“He’ll think nothing of it,” I said as flatly as I could, keeping the snarl from my voice. A snarl that shouldn’t be there for some Irish woman who didn’t seem to have an honest bone in her gorgeous body. “Because there’s nothing happening.”

Beautiful things have a way of being the most dangerous. They have a way of bringing a strong man to his knees and cracking a person’s resolve. I refused to be that kind of man.

Chapter 11

Sin

Withinafewminutesof dumping my bag, someone knocked on my door.

“I’m Kieran O’Malley,” the guy on the other side said. “I’m your platoon leader!”

He had auburn hair, and a sharp jaw. His cheeks were pulled up and rounded by his wide grin. His green eyes sparkled with good humor.

"I'm also youroppo!" the kid said, his soft cheeks curved in a smile, a fresh blue shiner on his left eye. He had a distinct American accent that seemed like it was local to the Adirondack area. That up-state sound with the influences of New Jersey and New York City, plus just a hint of rural farmland.

"I don't know what that means." I told him with a slight chuckle.

"I'm in the opposite room of the hall, man," he said flicking his thumb to the door behind him. "That makes us practically roommates."

I shook my head. This guy was bright and bushy tailed. He had that look of a young man who was going places.

"Anyway, it's kinda cool we get our own rooms, don't you think? I'm used to always having to bunk with someone."

He was rambling, his smile never wavered as he looked around my room, at the sparse bed with it's wool blanket, and my duffel bag on the floor.

"Who are you?" he said, his eyes coming back to me.

"I'm Sin Flanagan." I regarded him. He must be a few years younger than me, though there was something about him that told me there was more than just chronological years that separated our ages. This guy looked ... unspoiled. "Where are you from?" I asked, looking at his close-cropped hair. "Professionally, I mean."

I couldn't care less where he was born.

"Oh, I'm nothing special," he said with a shrug. "Airborne infantry, and all that. But uh ... when I got in, things were kinda winding down with the Global War on Terror. Didn't get to see that much."

I was surprised. That wasn't something that most people ever admitted. If they didn't see as much action as they wanted, most young men wouldlieand exaggerate it.

"That's kinda why I'm here," he laughed a little. "Hoping to get my shot, you know?"

"I get it. I was artillery. We took indirect fire a lot, but didn’t get to go out much," I reassured him with a smile. "You wanna sit down?

He tensed. He looked at the room as if there was a snake ready to bite him.

"I don't know if that's ... appropriate ..." he said, his palm coming to scratch the nape of his neck. "I don't think we're allowed to ..."

"No issues," I said, opening my palm to wave his concerns away.

Was the kid afraid to sit down in the room alone with me? Did that seem inappropriate to him? How fucking sweet. I didn't know they made men like that anymore.

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