Chapter 11
ELEVEN
PUCK
“When are they supposed to be here?” Frost called out.
West snickered as I chugged back the last of my beer. Stone glared at the man as if he’d asked to see Hayley’s tits or something, but his glare was followed by lights flashing through the living room windows.
So, we all hopped to our feet and shook our heads.
“Sober up if you’re drunk and shut up if you’re not me or Texas. Got it?” Stone demanded.
“And me,” Asher said.
Stone shrugged. “You’re a given.”
“Anything else we should know?” I asked.
Stone sighed. “Don’t fuck this up. This might just be our last chance at battling the cartel fairly.”
A knock came at the door as I tossed my glass bottle into the trash can.
It crashed against another bottle, shattering into pieces as Stone opened the front door.
The hallway walls prevented me from seeing the group of individuals that came through the door, but judging by the amount of different sounding footfalls, there were at least five of them.
Maybe six.
“Clancy Fitzpatrick,” I heard an Irish man say.
Stone’s shoulders flexed before he backed into our view to lead the people into our temporary clubhouse. “The name’s Stone, and these are my men.”
A man with dark red hair and familiar green eyes came to the forefront, followed by three younger men that looked to be variations of the older one. A father and his sons, how quaint. Their accents did nothing to settle my gut the way Stone said it would.
But nothing could have prepared me for when the sea of men parted, revealing the reason why Mr. Fitzpatrick’s eyes looked so familiar.
Is that—
“These are my sons,” the man said. “Liam, Rowan, Shea, and Korin. And this is my daughter, Brigid.”
Rowan chuckled. “Don’t let her stature fool you, though. She’s the strongest out of all of us.”
Don’t I fucking know it.
The second my eyes fell upon hers, I froze in place. Holy fucking hell, I’d just fucked our new contact’s daughter. I almost swallowed my tongue, causing me to cough, which warranted a glare from Stone yet again.
And as I turned my back to compose myself, I let the reality of my situation wash over me.
Good God, I am so fucked.
I turned back around and found Brigid blushing, but not looking at me. Stone was in the middle of introductions as he went around the room, introducing the men and Brigid to the rest of the gang.
Then Clancy himself turned to me. “And who’s this lad with the green gills?”
Stone chuckled. “This is Puck. He’s a bit hot-headed, but he’s loyal and he throws a mean upper-cut.”
I shook Clancy’s hand. “Nice to meet you.”
He nodded. “Likewise. I like a man who can handle himself in a fight.”
I shrugged as I released his hand after shaking it. “I don’t like guns, so I don’t use them if I don’t have to.”
The room fell silent, and I swear Stone’s glare could’ve killed me had the thing wielded daggers. But all too soon, Clancy’s bombastic laughter pierced the silence. Everyone fell into step behind him, laughing and chuckling as if the man owned the ground we sat upon.
Then he placed his hand behind his daughter and brought her to the forefront.
“This is Brigid, my daughter. It seems you two share this opinion.”
She cleared her throat. “Not really a fan of them either.”
If anyone figured out what had happened between the two of us, I was fucked.
Stone would kick me out, Clancy would surely send one of his sons to off me, and then my body would be buried in cement underneath the foundation of some fucking office building somewhere on the other side of the goddamn country.
Still, I kept my composure and nodded before I turned to Stone.
“Well, now that introductions are done, why don’t we go somewhere and talk?” he said.
As I watched Clancy lead his offspring down the hallway, I kept my stare on Brigid.
She refused to look at me, and every time she attempted to steal a glance, she looked away when our eyes connected.
My stomach sank to my toes. I knew she had to be mad at me, but why the hell didn’t she tell me about her damn family?
Probably for the same reason you don’t tell anyone about the crew.
My mind raced with all sorts of things. Did she know who I was last night?
Was I some sort of target? I mean, Clancy didn’t introduce anyone else personally to his daughter except for me.
Holy shit, was I the weak link in some sort of chain they wanted to exploit?
The idea of being duped like that boiled my blood, but as I watched Brigid walk away, she peered over her shoulder at me.
Something was definitely off with her.
“Uh, Dad?”
Clancy stopped in his tracks. “Yes, Brigid?”
I didn’t like the tone of voice he took with her, but instead of shrinking in size, she rose to the occasion. She lifted her head high as everyone stopped in the middle of the hallway and I wondered if she was about to expose us.
I braced myself, waiting for my life to fall apart.
But then, she asked a question I hadn’t expected. “Why don’t you guys go on ahead? Negotiations aren’t really my thing. I’d rather stay out here with the women and make sure no one comes up on us hot.”
Clancy’s eyes darted around the room. “We’ll need your—”
Brigid cut him off with a glare so fiery and piercing that my own face grew pale. Her father cleared his throat, sliding his hands down his suit coat as if someone had just assaulted him. He looked around, smiling at everyone before his eyes dropped back to his daughter.
And with a curt nod, he spoke. “Rowan.”
“I don’t need a watchdog,” Brigid said.
The young man walked up to his father. “Yes, sir?”
Clancy stared at Brigid for a long time before sighing. “Nothing. Come with me. You, me, and your brothers will handle the negotiations. Brigid’s going to keep an eye and an ear out for any sort of funny business.”
Then that man did the one thing I never expected him to do.
He turned and looked me dead in my eyes. “You make sure nothing happens to my daughter, you hear me?”
I blinked. “Uh, yeah. Of course. I can do that.”
He walked toward me. “You make sure that wherever she goes, you go. Don’t leave her alone for a second.”
“Dad,” Brigid glowered.
He whipped around and pointed at her. “Someone who’s working always needs someone watching their back. Puck will watch yours, won’t he?”
Clancy peered over his shoulder at me, and I nodded. “Of course, sir. With my life.”
He nodded. “Good man. You’d do well to find yourself a man like that, Brigid. Boys? Come along.”
Then, another one of the brothers interrupted. “If you really want her to get in on the business, though, she’s going to want to be in these negotiations.”
Clancy threw his hands in the air. “All right, Kieran. What’s your solution then? You want to go up against your sister and her wishes?”
The way they talked about Brigid painted her as a badass, and that only made me long for her more. There was nothing sexier than a woman who wasn’t intimidated by the men whose company she kept. Especially one that could take care of herself with her own two hands.
I stared her down while the men talked around her, but all she did was grin at me.
As if everything was going according to plan.
“Wherever you guys want to have this meeting, I’m fine with. Just let me know where to lead you,” Stone said.
Clancy and his boys had a private, whispered meeting with all of us surrounding them before the patriarch cleared his throat.
“If the women don’t mind making leave, we can have it right here in the common area. With Brigid present, of course.”
Stone nodded. “You heard him. Ladies?”
Hayley sighed. “Yeah, yeah. We’re going. Come on, girls.”
And after they all made their way back into their rooms, the only ones left were the Celtic Riders, the Lost Boys, Clancy, his sons, and Brigid.
The only woman still in the room.
She looks fucking badass.
“So,” Clancy said once we were all ready, “what is this I hear about you and the Banderas Cartel?”
Stone looked shocked and Asher quickly jumped in. “I filled him in on the basics, but not the details.”
Stone nodded. “Yes, well, the Banderas Cartel has been giving us a hell of a time ever since they wanted to encroach on our territory.”
Clancy nodded. “Everything you can tell me, I need to know.”
We all waited silently as Stone filled him in on everything that had happened up until this point: Diego stumbling into our bar, my sister stitching him up, us being chased to this warehouse, the whole nine yards. And after laying it out there for him and his family to judge, Clancy chuckled.
“I’ve dealt with this cartel before, you know. They tried to use us as a weapons supplier, but I didn’t agree with Mr. Banderas’ practices. So, I turned his offer down.”
Diego spoke up. “Which I assumed didn’t make him too happy.”
Clancy faced him. “I’m sure you don’t have to assume anything at this point.”
Stone patted Diego on the back. “He’s one of us. He’s the reason why we have as much information on the cartel as we do. You can trust him.”
Clancy grinned. “I’ll be the judge of that.”
The room fell silent as he studied Diego from top to bottom before he cleared his throat.
“At any rate, anyone that is an enemy of Mr. Banderas and his little organization is a friend of mine.”
Then, Brigid finally spoke. “You know, I know someone that understands the inner workings of their drug operation.”
My eyes widened. “You do?”
She slowly looked over at me. “Does that shock you?”
I shook my head. “Not as much as it probably should.”
She smirked. “If you’d like me to tap into my resource, I can—”
Clancy quirked an eyebrow. “When were you going to tell us this?”
Rowan snickered. “She’s the best we’ve got, Dad. Don’t you understand that?”
Clancy shot his son a look before he turned to face his daughter. “Tell me about this contact of yours.”
And I’d never seen such a big, bright smile cross anyone’s face before.