Page 68 of Sweet Vengeance
I squeeze my cousin’s shoulder again, and we make eye contact in the mirror. There’s worry in his green gaze too, and when he gives a small nod, I know he realizes I get what’s at stake for him as well.
We drive to one of our safe houses, where a black SUV is already parked in front. When Tiernan turns off the engine, the front door opens, and Conan stands there, arms crossed, leaning against the jamb.
“You’re late,” he says when we get out.
“Cillian took too long saying goodbye to his boyfriend,” Rory teases.
Conan takes a drag of his cigarette and cocks a brow at me. I just shrug because what the fuck is the purpose of denying it? Anyone who sees us knows what we are to each other.
Rory grabs the bag of guns and other weapons from the back of the car, and we head into the house. We’re taking the SUV Conan brought with him. Finan, another guy in ourcrew, is already there, watching the building to make sure no surprises pop up.
We’ll get in, do what we have to do, then drive back here, where Conan will get rid of the vehicle and do whatever else needs to be done.
“Finan says there are about fifteen of them there. It’s hard to know their exact numbers, but we’ve never seen more than twenty of them, so there shouldn’t be many missing.” Conan walks over to the table, where there is a blueprint of the warehouse with entries and exits marked.
“Are they there?” I ask him.
He pulls out his phone and shows me photos of three men entering the warehouse. The temperature in the room jumps up, a muscle in my jaw ticcing, as the rest of my body goes rigid. “That’s it? Those tweaker-looking motherfuckers are them?” One of them has long brown hair pulled back in a messy ponytail, another has tattoos and piercings in his face, and the third is a blond, clean-cut-looking guy I would never expect to be involved in something like this—the fucking boy next door—but then, to some people, we look like that too.
“That’s them,” Conan confirms.
“They’re mine.”
“I want one of them,” Dean says.
“We can’t promise that,” Tiernan cuts in. “If it happens, that’s great, but I can’t be like,I’m not gonna shoot you, so can you wait around for Cillian or Dean?We’ll do our best, but the main goal is to get in there, take them all out, and get out without any of us getting hurt.” His gaze goes straight to Dean.
“Fine,” I tell him, but that doesn’t mean I can’t do my best to take out as many of them as possible.
“Rory and Cillian, the two of you will take the back,” Conan says. “Tiernan and Dean, you’ll take this side entry,and Finan and I will go in the front. We’re going in there blind. We don’t know what they have for weapons or if there’s more people than we expect inside.”
We could be even more outnumbered, but even if that’s the case, we’re going in, taking them all out, and then all of us are going home.
Conan’s phone rings, and I see my father’s name on the screen. Rory immediately throws his arm around me in support.
“Are you excited?” Rory asks as Conan slips away to talk to my father. “Because I am, in case you were wondering. Nothing like a little murder with your best bud by your side.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Dean and Tiernan walk away too.
I laugh, knowing exactly what Rory’s doing—trying not to let me think about my father and whether my father gives a shit about what is going down tonight. “Been a while since we’ve done something so intense and planned out.”
“I know. I always get so boned up afterward.”
“Jesus, Ror.”
“Like you never have. How many people have we fucked together after we commit a little chaos.”
“You’re chaos,” I tell him, but he’s right. We have. A lot. But it’s different now.
“I know,” he says, as if reading my mind. “And I’m happy for you. Our bunny is perfect for you.”
My heart thuds. I want that, want him to be. “You think? He’s not like us.”
“Yep. It would never work with someone like Dean for you, just like Tiernan could never be with someone like Ollie. You’re the most loyal man in this whole fucking organization, the most dependable, deadly and fierce, but having a soft place to fall is good for you. It fits, and I’m glad you have it. Even ifwe don’t ever get that again, the thing between us, I want Ollie for you, and…sometimes I feel like he’s kinda mine too. Does that make sense?”
To anyone else? Probably not. But it does to me. To us. “Yes. He cares about you. If he didn’t, he never would have felt comfortable letting you watch us.”
“It’s weird how this could happen…I don’t think I could handle you with anyone else that way, but I don’t want to be with you either. You’re mine, but not in the way you’re his.”
