17. Sean
SEVENTEEN
sean
I figured Tadhg was in on it after one glance from him this morning.
He never wanted the role as second-in-command. They’d sent him here to prepare Blair for it.
She wanted to be included and clearly my family did too. What the fuck else was I to do but give them all what they want?
I cut my eyes in her direction and bit back a smile. As long as she was happy.
“Can I know what I’m needed for?”
Tadhg turned, his eyes briefly meeting mine as he addressed her.
“Yasmine and Delilah want to meet. They requested your presence.”
Blair blinked slowly, trying to figure him out it seemed. The thing is Tadhg was hard to read these days, other than when he twisted that ring around his finger.
“You’ll know at the same time as the rest of us,” he went on, eyebrows hiked at her silence. “Is she glitching? How do I reset?”
I chuckled.
“She’s thinking. Give her a second.”
After a few beats of silence, she finally sat back and crossed her arms.
“You used to be an open book, why can’t I read you anymore?”
He had already faced forward by the time she got her question out.
“Is he okay, Oisin?” she asked, glancing my way with real concern in her eyes. “Seriously, why is he all closed off? Did something happen?”
I still hadn’t figured it out and shook my head.
“Not sure, baby.”
“I can hear this conversation,” he deadpanned. “Don’t worry about me. Use your gift on something more useful.”
She mocked him under her breath and slid close, lifting my arm to insert herself beneath it.
“I saw and talked to Blake when Liam drove me by the church on the way to the warehouse.”
I slipped my hand in her coat and let it settle at her waist.
“Can you do me a favor and listen to your head of security more?”
She sighed.
“How can he be my head of anything when I wasn’t the one who hired him?”
“Because, I hired him, he knows everything you need to learn and can keep you safe.”
She tipped her head back, I took in her pretty ass face.
“Purple blush on your nose,” I murmured, the corners of my lips lifting. “I like that shit, do it more often.”
“What you know about blush?”
“I know everything about what you like.”
Whether it was the brand of makeup or tampon she preferred, I knew Blair through and through.
She liked expensive shit, wearing pleated skirts, oversized sweat shirts, and putting colored blush on her nose. So far purple was my favorite.
“I will,” she agreed. “And okay, I’ll listen to Liam more often.”
I rewarded her with a forehead kiss, then pressed my lips to her ear and whispered, “That’s my good girl.”
She hummed but it felt more like a purr, straight from her core.
“Oh for fucks sake, you two are giving off that newlywed scent. Lorcan, stop along the way for car freshener…” he rolled his window down. “I can’t take too much of this.”
Something was definitely up with him.
“Something is definitely up with him,” Blair whispered, speaking what I was thinking.
In sync, I thought .
After Lorcan stopped for the strongest smelling car freshener the fucking gas station had, we arrived in the garment district.
Yasmine, Delilah and Niamh were here and immediately I sensed their hostility toward Blair.
“What’s with the attitudes?” I asked, nipping that shit in the bud right then. “You asked her to be here, so speak your fucking mind.”
“I mean you can do that and still be mad afterward,” Blair added with a shrug. “Or we can fight about it. Either way, I’ll be around.”
“Yeah, let’s not,” Tadhg chimed in as Niamh stood and rounded the table she’d been sitting at.
Her intentions were clear to me and apparently Blair, too.
“You wanna fight me, Ne-eve ,” Blair taunted, over enunciating her name. “If I square up, will you forgive me?”
It was clear to me what she was trying to do. And I loved her for that.
“Now if I actually pop you in the mouth, you’ll be upset,” Niamh said.
Blair chuckled and Tadhg glanced at me. I shook my head; he shrugged and removed himself from the line of fire.
“Nah, I’ll just be sure to get my lick back. We both know your sisters can’t hold their own. Come fight me on their behalf.”
Niamh moved with her thoughts and unfortunately for her that was Blair’s specialty. So, when her eyes gave away she was about to swing, Blair beat her to it by connecting her fist to Niamh’s jaw first.
And once they got started, there was no pulling them apart until they were good and ready.
This was the only way to placate Niamh and Blair knew it.
“Really, Sean?” Delilah yelled as they migrated closer to the back, knocking over fabric along the way. “You aren’t going to stop your wife?”
“And why the fuck would I do that?” I asked. “Niamh ain’t complaining.”
“Look at what they’re doing to the warehouse,” Yasmine screeched, when they got tangled in fabric hanging from the ceiling and brought it down with them.
“Blair will pay for it,” I said.
More like, I would. But that wasn’t the point.
“And when everybody is done venting their frustrations,” Tadhg added, clearly annoyed. “I don’t know, maybe we can fucking work. Just a thought.”
I walked to where they’d fallen and pulled Blair from the mess. She gave me a little grin and handed a ponytail holder to me from her wrist, then turned so I could fix the mess fighting had made of her hair.
None of this was new to her or me.
I used my fingers to gather and untangle at the same time, securing the elastic band wrapped in silk around her hair twice before tucking the rest with the last twist, giving her a bun. She turned and I fixed the pieces that wouldn’t fit, while checking her face for bruises.
There weren’t any and I wasn’t surprised. Blair never had a problem throwing hands.
“All good,” I said, earning a smile I’d never get tired of.
“Thank you, Oisin.”
She spun around and held her hand out for Niamh to take.
“I apologize for making your job harder, Ne-eve ,” she said, tugging my cousin up with one pull. “I understand you three want someone to blame and be mad at…” her gaze met Yasmine and Delilah’s. “…but the problem isn’t me and I think everyone in here can agree on that. The problem is your father, so let’s work on fixing that first.”
“She starts fights but she makes sense,” Tadhg mused, pushing off the wall now that the chaos had ended. “I’m certain we weren’t called here for this , so what’s up?”
“Right,” Niamh said, walking to where she’d been sitting before. “Our father is set on marrying Anessa off to this guy connected to the Albanians named Demetrius Cannon. I mentioned him in front of Siobhan and she told me his name came up at one of the gun shops?”
Tadhg and I nodded, both locked in.
“He’s been buying our guns under market rate but paying a larger fee under the table to the owners for their silence,” I said, pushing down that feeling my father sparked after mentioning my grandmother. “It’s why I issued a red alert. Are you telling me the Albanians are Landell’s backer?”
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you,” Niamh confirmed, wide-eyed. “I think it’s best we take this to your dad and maybe head up to Ithaca for a chat with the old man.”
I sighed and closed my eyes, slowly counting down from ten before opening them again. But the second I did, my gaze connected with Blair’s and somehow I knew she knew.
The Albanians were behind my grandmother’s murder and my grandda lost it, refused to bury the love of his life until he earned the right to by killing any and everyone involved.
“I’ll set up extra security for them here,” Tadhg said, phone in hand as he stepped outside.
“We don’t need—”
“It’s nonnegotiable,” I cut in, agitation embedding itself in my chest. “As for Anessa being married off, I wonder how that might go over if you mention to your mother word around the city is Meechie might be Landell’s son.”
The three of them looked as taken aback as I expected.
“Siobhan didn’t mention that,” Niamh mumbled. “I’d hope he wouldn’t purposely arrange the marriage of his offspring, but can we really put anything past him?”
“You can’t,” Blair chimed in. “But, use what we have until we got more, okay?”
They nodded, seemingly over the hostility from before.
“Finnegan’s wedding is coming up,” she went on, naturally taking on that second-in-command role. “Let’s try and keep a cool head until after. The last thing we need is Finnegan and his assassin on the loose because someone fucked up their big day.”
“And what about going to Ithaca?” Niamh asked.
I shook my head.
“Leave Darragh Senior to me.”