Page 44 of Steel Rain

I tried to ignore him, even as the heat went to my cheeks. I touched it with my hand, feeling the warmth of a blush.

“Are you okay?” Kieran was still nagging me.

I looked away from Ajax for just a second to turn to my oppo. When I looked back at where Ajax had been, he was gone. Disappeared like he was a hallucination. Maybe Iwashallucinating. Maybe Keith was messing with my head far more than I wanted to admit.

“I’m fine.”

“You’re as pale as a ghost.”

“Just tired.”

He didn’t question me further. He tried to be subtle about it, but I still noticed how he walked beside me, and how he opened the door. The way he looked around as we entered the barracks, and how he walked in first, making sure to look up and down the hall.

“Listen,” he said, as I put my key into my door’s lock. “I don’t like whatever vibe is going on here.”

“Vibe?” I chuckled, turning to him.

“Yeah, look …” he ran a hand through his hair. “I sleep with my door open. Let’s the air through, and all that shit, you know?”

He was running his hand uncomfortably through his face before sticking it in his pockets.

“I just thought you should know that.”

My God, was he trying to reassure me? Was he trying to make me feel better? To tell me that he’d sleep with one eye open for me? In the olden days, this would be the equivalent of sleeping outside my door.

“You don’t have to do that for my sake.” I was touched. Truly, I felt an uncomfortable warmth blossoming in my chest just looking at Kieran and his earnest green eyes.

“I’m not.” He shrugged. “I’m doing it for my sake.”

Did he mean that he was doing it for the superior air flow? Or that looking out for me was something he felt compelled to do?

I decided that prying wasn’t important, so I just gave him a nod. He returned the gesture and smiled, opening his door and going into his room.

Just as he promised, he left his door half open. He’d hear anything that happened in the hallway, and I could see the corner of his bed from my door. If I kept mine open too, just in case.

Chapter 21

Ajax

Againwiththedrinks.How had these two Irishmen not completely keeled over and died, I wasn’t sure. Keith, Eoghan, Dairo sat around the able, their drinks of choice in front of them, and a Johnny Walker in front of me.

Eoghan was smoking his fancy little cigarettes while Dairo and Keith held Cohiba cigars. Smoke filled the room. Some of the windows were open, letting a steady stream of cold air to pass through the space.

Poisoning my lungs was not a pleasant way for me to spend dinner.

“So why hasn’t she taken the oath?” Keith said, holding the phallic cigar between his thumb and index finger, a sly smile on that handsome face. A punchable face. But still handsome all the same. I hated him for it. A small fire broiled in my chest, but I had to stay put. I had to slow down and make sure that I didn’t go too crazy.

I didn’t have all the information. Not that it mattered at this point. I had made my claim, and it sure as fuck superseded any ownership he had. He just didn’t know it … yet.

“The oath?” I asked, taking a sip of my drink, and feeling the burn on my tongue. A burn I almost resented because it diluted the memory of her taste.

“Oh, well you know us New York Irish,” Eoghan said with a lazy exhale. “We’re into our blood oaths and other …medievalthings.” He gave me a smirk, throwing my words back at me. “But it is our way. Each of our soldiers takes a blood oath to the Green Fields family, before we let them into the fold.”

My hackles rose. They wanted her tobleedfor them.

“Wasn’t she born into the life? Her father was one of your guards, or something?” I tried to sound casual, but with the feel of her still fresh on my cock, I wasn’t sure that I could.

“Sure, sure,” Eoghan said with a grin.

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