Page 66 of Sweet Vengeance
I jump when I hear the front door open, but then relax when Aislin walks around the corner with two bags in her hands. “Do I smell hibachi?”
“And cupcakes.” She nods toward the kitchen. “Come on.”
I leave my schoolbooks and laptop on the couch and go with her. Aislin is already unpacking food and moving around the kitchen as if she lives here.
“Did he call you? Cillian?”
“Would it be bad if he did?” she asks, her back to me as she grabs plates from the cabinet.
It wouldn’t be bad at all. It would be…kind and a really Cillian thing to do. It’s hard to put together the two sides of him—like puzzle pieces that at first don’t look like they will fit together, but then somehow do. “No.”
She turns around and leans against the counter. “Then yes, he did. He didn’t want you to be alone tonight—and not because he doesn’t think you can take care of yourself, but because he knows this is new for you.”
“How do you get used to it?” I ask, not that we’ll be together long enough for that. It’s different for her, of course. Tiernan is her brother, Cillian her cousin, Dean her best friend, and Rory’s like a brother to her too.
“It’s all I’ve ever known.” She makes two plates filled with fried rice, chicken, and veggies and sets them on the table.
I take a seat, and Aislin settles in the one beside me.
“I’m sorry,” I find myself telling her.
“Because it’s all I’ve ever known?” she asks, and I nod. “I mean, yes, it’s hard in a lot of ways, but you’ll never find a truer family than the people in this house. You’ll never find love like you get from the people in this house either. Bad always comes with good, and what you have to ask yourself isif the good outweighs the bad. They may not be perfect, they’re flawed and…well, not what most people would consider good men, but they’re good men to me. They’re honorable, even if it’s in their own way. Now that he’s claimed you, there’s nothing Cillian wouldn’t do for you, which means there’s nothing the rest of them wouldn’t do for you. It was the same with Dean, once everyone knew he was Tiernan’s.”
“I’m not Cillian’s forever.” Not for good, at least.
“Maybe not in your book, but you are in his, and that’s what matters to them.”
“I don’t want him to have to do stuff like that for me.”
She reaches over and places her hand on top of mine. “If you stay with him, this will always be part of it. There will always be risks, there will always be danger. Something will always test your conscience, but just remember, you know who he is in the ways that matter.”
I do know who he is. I wouldn’t be here if I didn’t. The good and the bad. I’m not sure what that says about me, and honestly, I don’t think I have it in me to continue to wrestle with it. “Thank you.”
“Of course.” Aislin smiles. “We’ll have fun tonight. I promise.”
I nod, stuck in this place between belief and disbelief.
Aislin and I grab our forks and dig into our food. I’m surprised I have an appetite. We’re just finishing rinsing our plates and putting them in the dishwasher when I hear footsteps coming down the hallway.
Dean is first, carrying a duffel bag I’d rather not know the contents of. “We’ll be back,” he says simply, in his very Dean way.
“You big jerk.” Aislin walks over and gives him a hug.
I don’t move from my spot beside the sink.
Tiernan is next. He looks at me. “Be good.”
It doesn’t take a genius to know what that means. Don’t leave. Don’t tell anyone. I know what will happen if I do.
I give him a nod, trying to keep myself from shaking, but it doesn’t work.
“Bunny!” Rory practically beams, bouncing on his toes, clearly unable to keep still. “We get to go have fun tonight! Sorry you can’t go.”
I…don’t even know how to respond to that. “I don’t want to go.”
“Why not?” he asks.
Is he serious? I like Rory…a lot, but he’s for sure the wild card in the group, the opposite of Cillian in a lot of ways, and yet they fit. “Because I don’t…?”
