Page 107 of Dirty Eoin

We both laugh before a comfortable silence resumes once more.

“Tell me about them, Jaine. Your past relationships.”

“What do you want to know?”

I shrug. “Whatever you feel comfortable telling me.”

There’s a pause.

After all this time, is she finally going to let me in?

“Well, Ace was my first. I was eighteen. He was the son of the prez of the Angels, so all the girls my age were after him. We were best friends. We had been since I was seven years old. I was so fucking in love with him.”

There’s a pause. I’m fully aware that it’s grief related.

“I thought he slept with me then immediately slept with someone else. That shit stung so badly I ran from my hometown and never looked back.”

“And did he sleep with someone else?”

“No.”

“He never tried to explain?”

“He did, but I wasn’t prepared to listen. We lost ten years as a result.”

I refuse to let her get more melancholy, so I move straight on. “Then you went to Yale and met our Paddy.”

“I did. Mr. Gift of the Irish Gab himself.” She chuckles, but it quickly evaporates. “We dated for three months, then he cheated on me.”

Another potential melancholy moment. I move on again. “And then?”

“And then I finished law school, started JAL, and met Delaney. We were together for four years. My pop was killed by the Bratva. I returned to Rising, reconnected with Ace and Irish. Got pregnant. Then I returned to New York where you proceeded to chase me out of town.”

“In a nutshell.”

“In a nutshell. You know the rest.”

“So, the first time you slept with my brother was when you reconnected.”

“Yes.”

“And you fell pregnant.”

“Yes. Anything else?”

“Your song with Padraig. It was played at the church at Cillian and Sarah’s wedding. Remind me. What is it?”

“Kiss Meby Ed Sheeran.”

“And why did you choose it?”

“I didn’t. Irish did. Around the time I got pregnant with Fin.”

“And your song with Ace?”

“Creepby Radiohead.”

“Why that choice?”

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