Chapter 35
Thirty-Five
Afew hours later, Ciaran was awoken by the sound of his phone rattling its way across the nightstand.
Beside him, Jal stirred. “What is it?” she murmured sleepily.
He pressed a kiss to her temple and threw back the covers, grabbing his phone as he stood. “Go back to sleep, lass.”
Jal burrowed deeper on her side, chasing what was left of their warm cocoon.
Ciaran stepped out into the living room and pulled the door closed behind him with a quiet click as he looked at the caller ID. It said only Luna.
“Thanks for getting back to me so quickly.” Ciaran said by way of greeting. “Though you could have waited until the sun was up.”
There was a snort of amusement through the phone. “Considering the last time you reached out to me, you needed a couple grand worth of jewelry fenced in twenty-four hours, I figured better sooner than later.”
“Aye, fair point,” Ciaran conceded, running a hand through his hair, disheveled first from Jal’s hands, then from sleep. “This ask is different.”
“Out with it, Gray.”
“Right, best not to waste time on the pleasantries.”
“Fuck you,” Luna quipped, but there was amusement in his deep growl.
Ciaran huffed a laugh through his nose. “I have a job that needs doing, one that I can’t refuse, and I need your help.”
There was a creak of leather as if Luna was getting comfortable. “I love a good story time,” he responded in that smooth and deep way of his.
They hadn’t ever met face-to-face, but the voice conjured an image in Ciaran’s head of a tall man who wouldn’t look out of place on an American Football field, with a chest big enough to produce that voice.
“Go on.”
Ciaran mentally flipped him off, but leaned against the kitchen counter and gave him the abbreviated version.
Luna cut him off when Ciaran got to the part where they ran into Andy in Washington Square Park. “Wait, is this the same girl whose apartment you robbed?”
Ciaran winced. “Robbed isn’t exactly the word I would use, but yes.” he replied. “And to be honest, it ended up being for the good in the end.”
“Oh?”
“After the cops took the bastard away, he must have tipped them off, because they showed up and searched her apartment. Her hidey holes turned up empty—"
"Thanks to you." Luna interjected cheerfully.
Ciaran chuckled. "Aye, and she was able to convince them that the wad of cash hidden in an air vent was an inheritance from her parents stashed away, because of a rural upbringing and an aversion to bank accounts.”
Even Luna’s impressed whistle was an octave lower than a normal person. “Girl’s quick on her feet. I’ll give her that.”
Ciaran made a noise of assent and finished the story. “I thought the collection Andy described might be yours since you’d bought that house on the hill in Fieldston. Parading your flash cars about sounds just like you.”
He chuckled. “Sounds like, doesn’t it?” Luna replied. “What do you plan to do?”
Ciaran blew out a breath. “I’ve been trying to work that out since I agreed to the job. So, whatever we do, has to look legitimate. If Andy smells a rat, it’s all for naught.”
“So let me make sure I have this straight. You want to get onto my property, break into my garage, give a felon the pick of my cars... and you want to make sure he gets caught somewhere in the process and not get caught yourself.”
It all sounded ridiculous when someone else said it. “Aye, that’s the gist of it.”
“Fuck that.”
Ciaran glanced over at the closed door. “What will it take to convince you?”
Luna was silent for long enough that Ciaran thought the call might have dropped. He took the phone away from his ear, but sure enough, the call timer was still ticking up. He hastily put the phone back to his ear when the other man spoke.
“Hey, Gray, question for you?”
Ciaran put a hand to his forehead and made an inquiring grunt.
Luna snorted in response. “What gives? I mean, you made it very clear when you came to New York that you were done. And now, for the second time, you’re getting pulled back in.” There was no mistaking the incredulity in his voice. “And there seems to be a certain common denominator.”
“I’ll do whatever I can to protect her.”
“She must be some woman.”
Ciaran nodded, though Luna couldn’t see it. “She is.”
Luna was silent for another long moment, then came a long, loud exhale.
“All right,” Luna said, and there was another creak of leather, then the clink of glass on glass and the glug of liquid.
“This is what I’ll do, let me reach out to my contacts at PD and see what they have on your friend and on this body shop.
If it’s as… what was the word you used?”
“I think it was ‘dodgy.’”
“Yes, right. If the body shop is as dodgy as you say, then I’ll reach out and we can time it all up.
Give our boys in blue a chance to practice their SWAT raid techniques, and then, have them waiting for this Andy when he returns with my vehicle.
Two birds and all that. But, please, for the love of God, keep him away from the Aston. ”
“I’ll do my best. And thank you, Luna. Truly,” Ciaran replied. “I owe you.”
Luna made a dismissive noise, “More than you already do? Someday, something will come along that will balance the ledger.”
Ciaran didn’t want to think too hard about what that might be. It didn’t matter, as long as Jal was safe. “Understood.”
“Good,” Luna replied. “Then I’ll let you go back to bed. Oh, and Gray?”
“Aye?”
“Scratch the paint on any of my cars and I’ll let the cops take you too.”
Ciaran closed the door to the bedroom as quietly as he could and padded across the thick carpet to the bed, his way lit only by a dim glow seeping between the slats of the blinds despite being tightly shut.
There was enough light for him to see that Jal had sprawled out in her sleep and was now laying on her stomach. Her breathing was slow and even, punctuated by the softest of snores. The inky black of her hair drifted around her like a dark corona.
He lifted the covers and slid into the narrow space she’d left him with, drawing the duvet up to cover them both. Unable to help himself, he reached over and moved the curls away from her face.
She let out a soft hum and nuzzled into his hand until he was cupping her cheek. Her eyes, nearly black in the dim light, slowly opened. “Everything okay?”
He smiled, though with the light behind him, she likely couldn’t see it. “Aye, lass.” He leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her forehead. “I’ll tell you about it in the morning.”
She made a sleepy sound that was somewhere between agreement and a yawn and rolled onto her side. Ciaran slid closer and put an arm around her. She snuggled in against his chest, her hand over his heart and fell back asleep.
He stayed awake a little longer, watching her, feeling her soft breath against his skin, and thought again that it didn’t matter what favor he may owe Luna later. It was a small price to pay to have the woman he loved safe in his arms, and he never wanted to let her go.