Page 27 of Betrayal and Ruin

I try and shake off the experience, but it’s still hanging around me when I make it to The Irish Rose. I set my face in a mask, my bright smile in place, even though it’s a little brittle around the edges. I give Sean a nod as I tie my apron around my waist like it’ll be enough to protect me from whatever life is going to throw at me next.

“You’ve got a table waiting for you,” Sean leans slightly over the counter, but not enough to touch me.

Considering the way that the hair on the back of my neck stands up, I’m sure Sean doesn’t get closer because he knows we’re being watched. Or stalked. Whichever.

When I look around the room, he’s the first thing I see. Declan is at his table. And he waited, even though I was a little late, for me to serve him.

I grab the glasses of Hammond Whiskey on the rocks when Sean places them on the bar. It doesn’t matter how long anyone else has been waiting on me, the boss is going to get his drink first.

I have no time to talk myself off the ledge or get my head back into the space it was in after I swallowed Declan’s cock in his too expensive office. I’m not sure it would work anyway. The men outside my apartment, which tells me they can get to me no matter who is keeping an eye on me, has rattled me down to the core of my being.

I still plaster a smile on my face while adding a little more swing to my hips as I make my way toward Declan’s table. My gaze finds his before I watch him study me. When they get darker with lust, I know I’m not at all ready to serve him.

I should run the other way.

No, throw yourself in his arms and tell him everything. He’ll protect you.

I’m not going to be holding my breath for that to happen any time soon. Declan is the kind of man to value loyalty. How are my actions anything other than a deceitful betrayal?

I swallow hard as I put Declan’s glass down in front of him and then Conor’s. Conor is studying me as well, but there’s wariness in his eyes. I can’t blame him for it. It makes me wonder if his boss has been blinded by a pretty face and a nice body before.

The thought has my stomach pitching.

I go to pull away, but Declan’s hand shoots out and grips my wrist. It’s possessive and right on the edge of pain. I want him to touch me like that everywhere. Maybe then it would chase away the truths I wish could stay hidden for a little while longer.

“What’s wrong?” Declan’s voice is steel wool against my sensitive skin. I open my mouth to lie, but I don’t have one ready.

I was never a good liar in the first place.

“Don’t,” he snaps before taking a deep breath and letting it out slowly. “Don’t lie to me. I know who you are. I know who your father is and some of the ties he has. I know Finn is your brother and that he was at the fight the other night.” My shoulders slump and I can’t grip the grains of sand fast enough as they slide through my fingers. Declan’s grip tightens just a little bit more, but it doesn’t scare me, it doesn’t make me want to run. “You’re going to tell me everything, Roisin. Then you’re going to let me fix it.”

My entire body slumps as I give up the fight. There’s no use anyway.

Declan is there to catch me. He cradles me against his chest as he scoops me up. His strides are long and sure as he takes me down the same hallway where the supply room is. He doesn’t go very far down the hall, though.

He stops at a door I’ve never seen open before; one I’ve never looked at twice.

When he shoulders his way inside, I know we’re in Declan’s office with only a glance around the room. I look up at him and the set of his jaw tells me one more thing.

It’s time for me to come clean.

I just hope this doesn’t end with my blood covering Declan’s hands. Wouldn’t that just be the cherry on top of my day? The man I love killing me?

I deserve it, but the flicker of hope in my chest tries to get me to believe it won’t end that way. Only one way to find out.

CHAPTER 11

DECLAN

I sit down on the couch in my office, the one I rarely use since Sean does his job well. It’s come in handy more than once and now is one of those times. I’m glad I can close us in a safe space, where she can finally shed everything that she’s been holding back.

The shuddering breath my woman takes has my grip tightening on her. I hope she can feel in my touch how much I need her to let me in. I crave it.

“I’m sorry,” she breathes out and her words sing with truth. Her truth.

They coat my skin and make everything shimmer around us. She doesn’t owe me her apology, but she gives it to me anyway. Readily. Eagerly.

The way her green eyes glisten with tears as she meets my gaze has my heart trying to punch through my chest to get to her. To prove to her that she owns us completely.

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