11. Molly
Molly
H e was going to kill me.
It was the only thought circling my mind.
He was going to kill me, because I’d been stupid enough— na?ve enough—to believe he was a man of his word. And now my sister would pay the ultimate price.
His fingers tightened as they squeezed the breath from me.
Gasping, I tried to gulp more air as I fought to remove his hands. My short nails were no match for his strength, unable to dig in enough to make any sort of difference.
Keir leaned in closer, as anger swirled in his dark eyes.
His mouth was so close to mine, and even though it was ridiculous to think, I wondered what they would feel like on my body.
There had been no kissing our first time in the Rover.
He’d been distracted, using my body to rut against. I knew that mindless sort of fucking.
He was trying to forget, and by the way he looked at Fallon, I knew exactly who he was trying to erase from his mind.
My lungs burned as he pressed his thumbs into my trachea, pinching and deliberately stopping the flow of air. My hands flapped uselessly against his chest, my vision now blurring around the edges. He grunted as he shifted, pressing down harder.
It was then I noticed the bulge in his sweats, and the throb between my thighs.
Jesus Christ, this was turning me on. I had no idea why.
I abhorred violence, having been on the receiving end of my fair share.
But there was something erotic about this, or maybe I had finally snapped, equating violence to attraction.
Lord knew Grady fucked me roughly after nearly choking me unconscious. Had I become conditioned to enjoy this?
Just then, there was a loud banging on the door.
My gaze flew to the possible escape, and to the person beyond who could be my salvation.
“Keir! Finnan knows the girl is here. He wants you to take her to him. Now.”
Keir didn’t loosen his grip, though. His eyes flashed with anger, with an intangible rage, before every emotion drained from him and he dropped his hands.
I slumped forward, dragging in desperate breaths and fighting the urge to vomit while he moved swiftly off the bed, pulling open the door.
“Be there in a minute,” he told whoever was out there, shutting the door before they replied.
When he turned back to me, he now wore a stony mask of indifference.
He looked so different from the friendly man I’d first met.
Sure, he’d been distracted—maybe a little careless—but never so mean.
I had a feeling that for the first time I was seeing his true nature.
Walking to the closet, he stepped inside and returned a moment later with another pair of sweats and a hoodie, both of which he threw at me. “Get dressed.”
My lungs still burned, and a cough rattled from my throat, but I moved. Slowly, mechanically, I got dressed, pulling on the sweats and cinching the waistband so they didn’t fall off my narrow hips. I only felt somewhat safe once I’d tugged on the hoodie and covered my naked torso from his view.
Keir’s eyes were molten when I finished settling the fabric in place, but with heat instead of cold murderous rage. He flipped through emotions nauseatingly fast. He pointed to the door and, in an icy tone, snapped out, “Come on.”
Padding barefoot from the room, I stepped into the hallway.
Dark wood paneling inched up the walls, while paintings of people and landscapes in ancient-looking gilt frames covered the rest of the space.
My footfalls were cold on the oak stairs as we descended, and I finally caught sight of the rest of the compound.
We passed down another hallway before we reached a door, and Keir knocked once before pushing inside.
A dark-haired man loomed behind the large desk; his head bent over the phone in his hands.
He didn’t acknowledge us, but Keir pressed his hand to the small of my back, urging me toward the chair opposite.
Lowering myself silently into the chair, I peered around the office.
There was a small shelf filled with books and a bar.
The rug beneath my chair looked new, and the scent of chemicals hung in the air.
I looked up when I felt the heavy weight of his stare on me, but was still startled to find Finnan’s cold green gaze on my face.
He had a stripe of gray in his otherwise dark hair; a match to his short inky beard.
“So, this is the cunt who thought she could deliver a bullet with my name on it, then disappear.”
I wanted the ground to swallow me. Instead, I lifted my chin to meet his icy stare.
Finnan’s eyes shifted to Keir, who stood behind me. “Does she speak?” he asked sardonically.
“Can’t get her to shut up half the time,” Keir replied flatly.
The hard gaze of the Clan Boss settled on me again. “Which clan are you working for?”
“I don’t,” I told him, my tone and words direct.
Finnan leaned back in his chair, studying me with his hawk-like eyes. “Where’d you get the bullet from then?”
Chewing on my bottom lip, I considered how much to say, quickly realizing I didn’t have a choice in how much information to share. I had to give him all of it.
“From a man named Grady Nolan.”
“And this Nolan.” Finnan picked up a dagger that was sitting on his desk. “He gave you a bullet and said what exactly?”
“He told me to deliver it to the Mac Tíre Clan Boss.”
His brows rose. “Me … He told you to deliver it to me.”
“Yes.”
“You didn’t think to ask why you needed to deliver it?”
I frowned. “No, I knew what it meant. It’s a declaration of war.”
“Then why you? Why did you have to play messenger?”
I glanced toward Keir, but before our eyes could meet, Finnan barked loudly, “Don’t fucking look to him for the answer! Why you? Why did Nolan pick you? What’s the fucking connection?”
Even though I wanted to shift in my seat, I stayed still. I was not backing down. I’d faced down too many men like Finnan in my life and him being a Clan Boss didn’t change a damn thing.
“We have a past.”
“What kind of past?”
“One I have no intention of sharing with you.”
Finnan’s mouth curled into a mockery of a grin. “Be careful, bitch. Unlike Keir, I’m not patient. Tell me what I want to know, and you might walk out of here without being fucked to within an inch of your life.”
I let out a deep breath. “We had a relationship in the past.”
He glanced at Keir. “Does she have a magic pussy or something?”
Outraged, I spun to find Keir shrugging his shoulder, a cruel smile tilting his lips. His dark gaze flickered to me in challenge.
“No, I don’t have a ‘magic pussy’,” I put my words in air quotes. “We had an intense relationship.”
Finnan picked up the dagger again and picked at the dirt under his fingernails. “Why did it end?”
Raising my chin, I returned his stare as I announced, “Because the next time he beat me, he would have killed me.”
“So, he smacked you around a little, so what? Doesn’t explain why he thought of you when he wanted to deliver a message to a Clan Boss?” Finnan’s tone was flippant, but his eyes were sharp and calculating.
“I don’t know what to tell you,” I replied. “Maybe he believed because I lived in Galway, I had access to the clan.”
“You don’t, though,” Finnan countered, slamming the knife down onto the desk. “You don’t have any association with the clan except for bouncing on—” Picking the dagger back up, he jabbed it in Keir’s direction. “—his dick.”
“She’s also friends with Fallon,” Keir added, not disputing the crude description of how we knew each other.
“Orin’s woman? Fuck, Keir, there better not be anyone else out there that you’ve stuck your dick into who is going to haunt us.”
I couldn’t see Keir’s reaction, but whatever it was, it made Finnan’s frown deepen.
“Let me get this straight, you and Grady were a couple. He slapped you around and you left. And now he finds you and tells you to deliver the bullet?”
“Pretty much.”
“And you didn’t say no, because?”
Inhaling deeply, I met his piercing stare, “Because he’s threatening my sister.”
“Threatening to do what?”
“Make her his clan’s whore, or worse. She’s only seventeen and has her whole life ahead of her.”
“Grady’s dead though.”
“Whoever is following her sister doesn’t know that,” Keir interjected. “She received a message from them just before you called us here.”
“What did it say?” Finnan asked, leaning back in his chair and drumming his fingers on his thigh.
“It didn’t say anything,” I replied. “It was only a photo of my sister taken from behind.” Something in the back of my mind twinged, and I turned to Keir. “Give me my phone?”
He arched a brow but reached into his pocket, pulling it out without another word.
Unlocking the device, I tapped open the messages from the unknown number, then scrolled up.
Unknown number: You have twenty-four hours.
“Shit.”
“What?” Keir asked.
I showed him the phone. He read the message, then glanced at me.
“Twenty-four hours to do what?”
“I don’t kn—” But I knew, didn’t I?
Grady didn’t know I’d delivered the bullet.
He hadn’t given me a timeframe to get it done, and if he hadn’t relayed the message to his clan, then they didn’t know my task had been completed.
They didn’t know I’d held up my end of the bargain.
That they didn’t need to threaten my sister and mam anymore.
“Jynx?”
“They don’t know I’ve done what they asked,” I muttered. They didn’t know, and now my sister was going to get hurt. “You killed Grady before he could tell the clan I’d held up my end of the bargain.”
The accusation in my voice hit Keir, and his brow furrowed. “You’re blaming me for killing that bastard?”
“Yes!” I shouted as panic clawed at my chest. I felt its sharp talons hook into my skin, flaying me as it attempted to climb into my body and consume my mind. “Yes, I am.” I gasped. “You—You killed him before he could tell his clan and now my sister’s life is in danger. It’s because of you.”
I had to get out of here. I couldn’t sit around and wait for my sister to get hurt. Rising from my chair, I barreled toward the office door. I’d barely gripped the handle when I felt strong arms band around my upper body.
“No!” I screamed, thrashing against the solid wall of muscle.
“Settle down, Jynx,” Keir’s voice rumbled in my ear, the words meant only for me.
“No! My sister. My sister’s in danger.” The panic that had tugged at me since Grady had reappeared in my life tightened like a rope around my neck.
Cinching shut until I was sure it would never undo.
“Orla needs me. Orla…” My voice keened. I’d already been forced to walk away from my family, but the knowledge they were safe and alive had been enough.
Yet now? This? This was worse. If Orla was hurt because of my impulsive decisions, I would never forgive myself.
“Get her the fuck out of here, Keir,” Finnan snarled.
My feet were suddenly pulled off the ground, and Keir manhandled me out of the office. Once we were in the hall, he set me on my feet for a second, only to scoop me up into his arms again, now carrying me bridal style.
My panic attack was well and truly underway now, so much so I couldn’t even think of fighting against him. Instead, I sank into his warmth, savoring the strength of his arms. He was a bastard, but right now, I needed him.
“Orla,” I whimpered.
“She’ll be fine,” Keir said softly. “I promise.”
I blinked my tear-soaked eyes at him, wondering how he could make those kinds of statements with such certainty. He was hard and unyielding, but then he showed me this side of himself—a softer side—and though I wanted to hate him, I couldn’t bring myself to do it.
“Breathe, Jynx,” he urged.
I inhaled sharply, acutely aware I hadn’t taken in a full breath since I’d pieced things together in Finnan’s office.
“Good. And another.”
Keir’s calm instructions made my panic ease. I took in another breath, deeper this time, and let the oxygen fill my lungs before I exhaled. My racing heart slowed as the hysteria which had almost engulfed my body receded.
“Keep those beautiful eyes on me, Jynx,” he coached. “That’s right. Focus on me. One more breath for me. That’s good.”
The last of my fear sloughed off me, and I blinked up at him. We now stood just inside his bedroom, and the scent of him filled my nostrils. I wanted to kick my own ass for once again finding comfort in his arms.
“How are you feeling?”
“Fine,” I snapped, trying to wriggle free of his grip.
As he let me down, the feeling of being wrung out hit me like a sledgehammer—emotionally drained and exhausted. Crossing my arms over my chest, I stared at him, letting my wariness of being alone with a man fill me once more. “I need to leave.”
He heaved out a sigh and leaned against the closed door. “I know.”
“Are you going to let me go?” Hope flickered to life in my chest. Maybe Keir wasn’t so bad after all.
“I can’t let you walk out of here, Jynx,” he replied, resignation clear in his tone.
“Why not?”
“Because you’re the enemy.”
My anger flared—hot and sudden. “The fuck I am. I was only doing what I needed to keep my family safe.”
His expression hardened. “And in doing so, you made an enemy of the Mac Tíre Clan.”
“So, what? You’re going to keep me chained to you for the rest of our lives.”
A small smile curled in the corner of his mouth. “If that’s what has to happen,” he replied, slipping out the door.
The click of the lock sounded like the next nail in my metaphorical coffin.