CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Griffin
“K eller ready to be transported?” I ask Connor.
“What’s left of him.”
“Lovely.” I roll my eyes.
“Why are we keeping him?” Shane asks.
“To show Ares what she did.” I point to Ava’s limp body.
It’s hard to believe she’s so deadly when she’s sleeping and looking like an angel. Christ, she’s going to slit my throat when I’m asleep.
“We have to announce Brandon is dead. After we show up at Trace’s wedding, we’ll have a sit-down and figure out a plan.”
“And where will Ava be during that time?” Shane, Mr. Practical, asks me.
“Don’t worry about it.” I smile down at Ava, who I dressed in only a large T-shirt that says, Kiss me I’m Irish. “Is the bird here?”
“Two minutes.” Shane checks his watch. “The cloaking is still engaged.”
We’ve cleaned up and changed into suits for the wedding, but wearing the same helmets to shield us. Carrying Ava, who’s still out cold and feels like she weighs nothing, I climb back up those four flights of stairs and amble onto the roof. The helicopter lands and we get inside.
“Where’s the wedding?” Connor asks Shane.
“The Cloisters. But we can’t land the bird there. We need an SUV. A guy is bringing one to the helipad.”
“What do we do with her?” Connor reaches over to lift Ava’s chin.
A possessive growl swirls in my chest.
“I’ll put her in the trunk,” I say, swatting his hand. “I don’t trust her not to figure a way out of a locked car, even if I keep her tied up.”
“That’s...harsh,” Shane says, shaking his head.
“You didn’t see her in BUD/S training. Plus, someone can walk by and break the window like she’s a toddler or puppy trapped in a hot car.”
The helicopter lands and Shane’s guy backs up our decoy car right to the cabin door so no one can see us put an unconscious woman in the trunk. Dead and mutilated Brandon Keller is wrapped in plastic and lowered into the trunk as well only because we didn’t request a separate car.
I didn’t expect to transport a dead fucking body.
On the drive to The Cloisters, I get my shit together.
“We missed the ceremony,” Shane says, staring at the time on the console. “Balor said there’s a reception in the garden.”
“We’re showing our faces, giving Trace and Rhys a heads-up, and then driving Ava to her brother’s apartment.”
“Tied up?” Connor asks, smirking at me from the driver’s seat.
“Just drive,” I snap at him.
We reach The Cloisters and get out of the car after parking it under a tree. I stop in my tracks when I hear pounding on the trunk cap from the inside and muffled screaming.
“Someone’s awake,” Shane says, putting on his jacket.
“She can breathe, right?” I ask, feeling guilty.
“Of course.” Connor puts on his suit jacket as well.
Through a maze of flora-covered corridors with stone arches to an open courtyard, we reach the chapel and see people milling around outside.
Not just people. The O’Rourkes. The deadly mob family we used to work for. And a few Quinlans, Aunt Freye and Uncle Patrick are here.
Christ, not only are we late, I’m showing up with a busted lip and a swollen eye about to close. Freye will call my mother about this for sure.
I put on my suit jacket, but the minute someone passes by with a tray of drinks, I grab one and down it in one gulp.
I fish out a one-hundred-dollar bill and hand it to the server. “I need a Jameson, right now.”
Connor and Shane snag flutes of champagne, Connor gagging. “I’ll take a whiskey, too.”
“Right away, gentlemen.” The guy hustles off with my Benjamin.
“You should marry Ava here,” Connor says, looking around. “It’s nice. Seems safe. Five Quinlans and seven O’Rourke men are no match for her.”
Any other woman could be overpowered by one man. I’m marrying one who might be strong enough to take on twelve tall, brutish, and deadly Irishmen.
I wipe my forehead. “That’s if there is a wedding.”
“Do you think her brother will call it off?” Connor asks. “Seeing you tied her up and put her in your trunk.”
“That and she explicitly told me she’s not marrying anyone.”
Shane’s flute stops before his mouth. “That’s her brother’s call.”
I salivate when the glass of whiskey is brought to me. “Thanks, mate.”
I let it burn down my throat then wave to Trace and his new bride Shea O’Rourke coming toward us.
God, this is so embarrassing.
“I know we’re late. And, I’m sorry we can’t stay.” I kiss Shea on the cheek. “Congratulations, lass. And welcome to the family.”
Hopefully, there won’t be a bounty on all our heads by nightfall.
“You can’t stay at my wedding?” Trace stares at us. “Why not?”
“There’s a body in my trunk,” I blurt, not coming up with a better reason.
“What, my trunk’s not good enough for you?” Rhys slinks over.
“What?” Shea yelps.
“Parked where?” Trace crosses his arms, sounding amused.
“That’s your question?” Shea shoves her new husband.
Get used to it, lass.
“The car is parked under a tree,” I say and finish my whiskey, wondering if I should just ask the guy to bring me the whole bottle.
“Whose body is in your trunk?” Trace asks, finally looking worried.
“Two bodies, really,” I say into my empty glass and clear my throat. “One alive, very much alive. The other...not so much.”
Trace gives a side-eye to Shea, who probably should walk away before she hears something she shouldn’t.
Trace tugs her next to him and says, “ Who exactly is in your trunk? My wife can handle it.”
I consider what my wife will handle when I marry her considering she should have been a SEAL. She’ll be kicking my ass on a nightly basis. And fuck, why is my cock thickening again?
“Brandon Keller,” I answer Trace, waiting for his response.
He sucks in a breath. “You found a way past all those guards outside that building?”
“You can say that,” Connor says, pulling on his tie.
“Wait. Brandon is tied up in your trunk?” Trace cocks his head to the side. “Who else—”
“Brandon isn’t tied up,” I whisper in his ear. “ He’s dead.”
The color drains from Trace’s face because that wasn’t part of the plan. “You killed him?”
“No,” I scoff, still in shock over what I fucking witnessed. “Ava killed him.”
“She was there?” Trace questions with a high-pitched lilt.
“Oh yeah.” I stroke my aching jaw.
“She gave him those bruises, that hellcat.” Connor splits his face with a grin.
“Where is Ava?” Trace asks and then glances at his wife. “That’s who he’s supposed to marry.”
Shea gags on her champagne.
“She’s also in the trunk,” I say, tapping my swollen lip. “Tied up and screaming her pretty head off.”
“What? Why?” Shea asks, sounding mad because these fucking hellcats stick together.
“I’ll be right back.” Trace steers her away.
What a way to start a truce with the Greeks.
“Are we staying to eat?” Shane asks me.
“No. We have to get Ava some proper clothes and calm her the fuck down.” I draw in a breath.
I get she’s been through something horrible, but I showed up to rescue her. Instead, I got attacked and nearly knifed to death along with Brandon.
“We have to settle this with Ares, tonight,” I add.
“Can I make a suggestion?” Connor rocks on his heels. “There’s a priest a few feet away. And a chapel. Why not just...” He makes a swinging motion with his hands. “Bring her back already married.”
“Something tells me a legit priest won’t marry a tied-up woman screaming she doesn’t want to get married,” Shane grumbles his voice of reason.
“Do we know an illegitimate one?” Connor asks, shrugging.
If only that would solve all our problems.