12. CHAPTER EIGHT
So now you know how I got here… And why I’m still here.
Devil, thy name is Jillian Diamond.
Jillian sighs heavily when I lift myself from her warm, naked body. God, I was crushing her. I’m massive compared to her. And she thinks she’s heavy. She’s round and perfect. Fits in my hands like a damn dream.
I pull off the rubber coated in streaks of blood, and a vein pulses hot in my neck. Jillian’s never been with anyone.
Just me.
Me.
A tempest of evil swims in my veins, my O’Rourke blood pumping like molten lava under my skin.
But what the fuck?
I took one look at her earlier today and my soul rearranged. One damn look. I had to have her. Consume her and leave.
But this…
I stare at the blood again. Her initiation into womanhood was with me. I’m the only man to breach that sweet cunt. I blink, worrying when I leave here, I won’t be the only one.
She’s fucking mine. Now she’s mine…
After getting dressed, I slip on my suit jacket and turn to look at my conquest.
Jillian is burrowed under the bedcovers, sleeping soundly, passed out from two orgasms and the booze she drank. Long strands of that sexy-as-fuck ice-blonde hair splays out on the pillow.
The room reeks of my cologne and sex.
Perfect…
If only I knew when I slammed my cock inside her, I’d imprint on her life forever. The twist? She imprinted on me right back.
Everyone remembers their first. I’ve just ensured Jillian will always remember me. I’ve not been any other woman’s first. Her blood on my dick is my initiation into the realm of the lifetime memory club.
I take my share of women to bed. Have a steady rotation who know not to expect anything other than a grand old time. I fuck them hard and leave them whimpering. I don’t kiss and I don’t cuddle.
Like I did with Jillian.
I never expected a one-night stand would stop me in my tracks, stop my heart.
No one has. Yet, here I am.
That smear of blood tortures me. I was already fighting how much I wanted her the moment I laid eyes on her in court this afternoon. And then to find out she was a virgin and chose me to be her first?
I debate waking her up, shaking her, telling her she belongs to me for the foreseeable future. I could tie her up, bring her back to New York, move her into my loft, and make her fall in love with me.
But I’m not in Astoria surrounded by my brothers and our army.
I’m in a strange city.
She’s a prosecutor. And I’m a fucking criminal.
Shaking the irrational emotions away, I chalk them up to weakness on my part, given the few intense days I’ve had. I flew to Seattle with my brothers because Darragh, Cormac’s twin, called to tell us his house was surrounded by hitmen. We settled that with a bloodbath. Then I flew here to Las Vegas yesterday to get Cormac off on all his criminal charges.
Yeah, that’s all this is…
Weakness. Off my game.
Something buzzes in the other room. I reach for my gun but remember I left it in my hotel room. I was in that damn courthouse most of the day. It hits me, I’ve been without any kind of weapon for close to twelve hours.
Off. My. Game.
Jillian’s phone sits on her kitchen counter charging. Passing it, I give it a glance before heading out of her condo.
It’s locked with a picture of a pink Las Vegas sunset on the home page.
A text message scrolls across the screen.
Trista: Did you download that dating app I told you about?
Dating app?
My body stills and fury races through my blood.
Oh no…
Peeking to see she’s still asleep, I take out my phone and call Balor.
“It’s three a.m.,” he answers, groggy.
“Aye.” I forgot the bleedin’ time difference. “Sorry. I need you.”
“I figured. What?”
“I need access to a phone.”
“Whose phone?”
The judgy tone alarms me, but my nerves are raw at this point.
“The prosecutor for Cormac and Ana’s cases.”
“It’s midnight there. And you have her phone?”
“Yeah?”
“Did you fuck her?”
I wonder if I should let my brothers think that’s how I got Cormac off, by getting his prosecutor off. Twice. “Aye.”
Balor just laughs and doesn’t ask any follow-ups. “Pop off the back and take a photo of the SIM card.”
I do what he says as the back flies from my fingers and clatters nosily on the tile floor.
Shite.
Fumbling with my phone, I take the photo and put Jillian’s phone back together.
After sending the pic to Balor, I say, “Now what?”
“I’ll send you a link to see everything in a few hours, stalker.”
“Spoken by the ultimate stalker.”
“Is Cormac on a plane?”
“Aye. He should be in Ireland soon. The Quinlans flew with him.” I’m disgusted with Cormac, but he accepted the family’s punishment with grace.
“So, we’re down three men?”
“Until they get back. They’re just making sure the hand-off at Dunbar goes smoothly. Riordan and Lachlan can live without their seconds for a few days.”
With the Russian princess being found and Astoria no longer teetering on the brink of war, all our security measures are taking a small breather.
“Are you coming home tomorrow?” Balor asks.
“Um… I ran into a snag here.”
Not a snag, a tear in the fabric of my soul.
Even if I thought I could just fuck Jillian once, she bled on my cock. I feel a shift, a mountain of obsessive need cracking open inside me, and to think of her actively looking for another man?
A man who will have a taste of what I just got?
Not. Happening.
“Have fun telling Kieran and Riordan. I’m going back to sleep.” Balor ends the call.
I can’t leave Vegas now. I didn’t care about that fucked-up deal I made with Vance. But given this turn of events with Jillian Diamond, looks like I’ll be in town for a while.
With her phone back on its charger, I leave.