Page 52 of Sweet Vengeance
His pupils flare slightly, but I can’t tell what he’s thinking or feeling. Anger? Confusion? Something else?
“I could tell you the same thing…well, other than the keeping-you-safe part. It’s just about sex for me too. We’re not compatible for anything more than that.”
His words feel sharp against my skin, making anger burst inside me. Not at him, no. At myself. Because it shouldn’t fucking matter that he’s saying the exact same thing I am. “Good. Just making sure. I’m gonna go clean up. I have shit to do.”
I turn and walk over to my duffel bag, and without looking at him again, I disappear behind the closed bathroom door, immediately reaching for my phone.
Me: Ollie is on his own today. Help me keep an eye on him?
Rory: I’m assuming he’s not supposed to know?
Me: Definitely not.
Rory: I’m down. Whatever you need. You go to your first class. You need to be there for that shit. We’ll swap later.
Me: Thanks, Ror.
And maybe I should feel bad about lying to Ollie about yet another thing, but I’m not going to feel guilty about protecting him.
I take a quick shower, hating the fact that I’m washing our sex off my skin, then get dressed and check in with Tiernan to let him know what’s going on. There’s nothing pressing I need to do, so I head to my class, only half paying attention to my finance professor while exchanging messages with Conan and Rory.
We need to figure out when and how would be best to deal with those car-thief motherfuckers, not just because of what they did to Ollie, but because they don’t fucking belong here. They can steal cars and run their petty operation somewhere else.
I’m not out of class two minutes when I get a call. I expect it to be Tiernan, Rory, or Conan, but my heart kicks up when I see my dad’s name on the screen. “What’s wrong?” I say instead of hello.
“Nothing’s wrong. I hear you have a side project going on over there.”
I groan, then head over to a picnic table to sit down. My dad knowing is different from what would have happened had Sloan found out about our murderous extracurriculars last year, but it’s still less than ideal. I don’t want to do this with his help. I don’t want to do anything with his help.
“It’s under control.”
“With my men. Conan has been helping.”
I grit my teeth, trying to get my temper under control. “He’s Tiernan’s man too, or did you forget?”
“I didn’t forget anything, and you should watch your tone with me. I know you have your…feelings about me, but I’m still the boss of this family.”
The boss of the family. He doesn’t say he’s still my father.
“If you tell me I can’t do it, I’m doing it anyway. I don’t care about the consequences.”
My father sighs. “I’m not saying you can’t, but you need to remember that I am the boss, and I expect you to tell me what’s going on.”
I could always tell him that I told Tiernan, but I’m not dragging my cousin under the bus with me. We all know Tiernan has a lot of pull, but he is the second. Tiernan will support me no matter what, but the last thing I want is to cause upheaval between him and my father.
“Why do you care?” I ask instead. “Shit like this goes down all the time. They don’t need to be running their operation close to us anyway. This is business.”
“I care because what happens to everyone in this family is my responsibility.”
Ah, so that’s what this is about.
“Don’t worry. I won’t make you look bad.”
“That’s not what I’m saying. Jesus, Cillian. I just…” He trails off.
“Just what?” I ask, with hope I thought I’d killed a long time ago.
“Who is this boy? What is he to you?”
