Page 86 of Sweet Vengeance
“I won’t. Conan has cops on his side, and we got rid of the bodies. No one gives a fuck about those guys.”
“Swear to me…swear to me that you won’t ever break a promise to me again.”
“I wont,” he says seriously. “I swear it.”
I believe him. “You got vengeance for me…”
“Yes. I couldn’t protect you, so this was the best I could do. No one will ever hurt you again.”
Goose bumps travel up my skin, but not in the way they would have a few months ago. “That’s…sweet.”
He cocks a brow. “Sweet vengeance?”
“Yes,” I answer, meaning it. I push up higher so I can look at him. “You’re a good man.”
“I kill people and sell drugs.”
“That doesn’t change who you are to me. I don’t care. Not about any of it. Not if I get to keep you. I don’t even care anymore what that says about me.” Because again, we’re all more than one thing—I am, and Cillian is too. He puts both good and bad into the world, and I will too. Both of us. Together. Always.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Cillian
The house isfull of people.
We haven’t had as many parties this year as we did last year, but they’re good for money and status—reminding people we’re here and that nothing goes down without our permission.
Music pumps through the speakers, alcohol and weed are shared around freely, the house smelling like a mixture of both.
“Dude, we go to school with a bunch of cokeheads,” Rory says when he finds me sitting on the piano bench. I’ve suddenly started keeping guard of the thing, as if I didn’t ignore it for years. Now I don’t want anyone near it, don’t want anyone to touch it or even look at it wrong.
I’ve played a few more times since the night with Ollie—not in front of anyone but him yet. I’m still finding my way with it, but it’s a path I want to be on. “You’re a cokehead,” I tease Rory.
“What? No. I only do it sometimes and hardly ever lately. Your boyfriend doesn’t like it.”
I laugh. No, he doesn’t, and surprisingly, Rory listens to him.
“He’ll pry weed out of my cold, dead hands, though.” Helights up a joint.
“No shit.”
Rory takes a hit, then passes it to me. I do the same, letting the smoke sit in my lungs for a moment before setting it free.
“Ash is here with that girl she’s trying to get with,” Rory says. “What’s her name?”
“Zuri.” I pass the joint back to him as he sits beside me and we watch everyone around us.
“She’s hot. Think Ash will share her with me?” He pumps his brows, and I roll my eyes.
“Fuck no. And she won’t let you watch either.”
“Yeah, it’s not the same without you anyway. I miss it… I get it, but I miss it.” He shrugs. “I like being with you that way.”
My heart feels weirdly twisted up because I miss it too. Not the part about having someone else between us because I don’t want anyone other than Ollie, but I miss that…thingwith me and Rory. Sharing those moments with him. Connecting with him that way. I get it a little when he watches me and Ollie, but it’s not the same. I wrap an arm around his shoulders, pull him close, and kiss his temple. “I like being with you that way too.”
“No shit,” he teases, then passes the joint back.
“I fucking love him, Ror. I can’t believe it.”
