Chapter Twelve
I had warned Seamus not to go overboard with my stag party. It was only two days before the wedding and though we all had a high tolerance for alcohol, I didn’t want to knock myself out completely.
I sat at my chaotic desk in the small office in our warehouse at the docks when Seamus and Timothy came in with smiles that meant trouble.
Leaning back, I narrowed my eyes. “I warned you. If you have any plans to dress me up in a fucking Borat costume or chaps with my bare ass hanging out, I’ll throw you to the bottom of a gravel container. ”
Seamus exchanged a look with Timothy. “I told you that’s what he’d say.”
“I mean it.”
“We know,” Timothy said in a gruff voice. “But today’s plans aren’t our responsibility.”
“They’re not?” I asked doubtfully. My eyes slid to a tall, dark blond head appearing behind my two friends.
“What’s taking you so long?”
Surprise washed over me. “Aran.”
Aran was two years younger than me, the brother closest to me in age.
He wasn’t as bulky, more the decathlete than the heavy-weight boxer, and his eyes were blue like our father’s.
We didn’t share many physical traits, but our tempers were similar, and we had the same talent to rile up our father.
Aran mostly with the number of tattoos adorning almost every part of his body.
“Lorcan,” Aran said with a broad smile. I rose from my chair, came around the desk, and pulled my brother into a hug, clapping his shoulder.
I hadn’t seen him in close to a year. I pulled back.
“What happened to your baby face?” I asked, inspecting the five -o’clock shadow on his chin and cheeks. I’d never seen him not shaven.
Aran rubbed his hand over his face. “I’m going for the scruffy look, like you.”
“Are you the only one?” I asked, glancing through the glass window in my door, but the hall was vacant.
“Everyone’s outside waiting for you.”
I narrowed my eyes. “Don’t overdo it. I don’t care if it’s tradition or not.”
“Shut up and get going,” Aran muttered.
I sent Timothy and Seamus another warning look. It was impossible to threaten my brother but those two should know better than to have any embarrassing plans for me. Aran wouldn’t be the problem, but I was worried about the twins’ involvement. If they were here, things would escalate.
I followed Timothy, Seamus and Aran through the warehouse then outside to a waiting Hummer stretch limousine. “Going all-in with the American lifestyle?”
Aran shrugged. “Not my idea.”
“Of course not.”
The door to the limousine swung open and our youngest brother, twin number two and the main reason why Caden and Callahan were known as TNT among our men—they were an equally explosive combination—poked out his blond head.
He flashed a grin at me that would have made his dentist proud, all those perfect pearly white teeth.
“The star of the show.”
“No show, no embarrassing shit, Caden, or I swear I’m going to whip your ass like you’re still five.”
“In his mind he still is,” Callahan commented as he appeared beside his twin brother in the door of the car. His hair had a touch of red, pretty much the only thing that distinguished the two from each other, at first glance.
“You’re not much better.”
“I thought you’d be less grumpy considering our rare family reunion!” Caden jumped down and strode over to me. He jerked me into a hug and smelled of alcohol.
“I see you got the party started without me.”
“One shot to test the quality,” Callahan said before he, too, hugged me.
“Speaking of a family reunion, it’s not one as long as Balor’s not here.”
Caden raised his eyebrows and tilted his head.
I froze and glanced at Aran. “Balor’s not here, right?”
“He is,” Balor drawled from somewhere inside the car then louder, “We’re paying per hour, so how about you stop wasting time?”
With a grin, I climbed inside the limo. It was huge with a full-stacked bar to the right and comfy leather seats all around. The floor was covered in dark green carpet and the bar glowed an eerie green too. Green dots of light danced all around the car.
Balor, in a dark suit, coat and Budapest shoes, sat in a corner with his usual stoic expression.
“You’re here,” I said, still in shock. My brother rarely left Ireland, or his manor, except when business required it.
“Consider it my wedding gift. Flights cost an arm and a leg.”
“For fuck’s sake, Balor, you swim in fucking money, stop bitching,” Aran said.
“You’re not hiding Father somewhere in a surprise cake, right?”
Balor shook his head when he finally stopped scowling at Aran. “You know Father’s aversion to America. He’ll congratulate you when you marry again in our manor as is tradition.”
“Of course.”
The brief flicker of disappointment annoyed the hell out of me, so I shoved it down.
My brothers, as well as Seamus and Timothy all took their seats and we toasted with a bottle of Kilkenny.
A quick scan of the fridge showed it stocked to the brim with Irish beer, and the bar also had Irish whiskey.
Callahan fumbled with a sound panel and soon a loud beat shook the limo.
“Get out of your coat, Balor. You drive me nuts looking like a fucking Burberry ad.”
Balor gave Aran a mildly exasperated look, like the silverback who tolerated his offspring’s annoying antics. He got out of his coat and folded it beside him on the seat.
The limousine started moving and after a few more beers and whiskeys, even Balor relaxed slightly.
Caden had opened the sunroof and was screaming obscenities at whoever we passed by.
“I see our first stop!” he shouted, and soon after we parked.
I wondered if I had been like this at twenty-two. I couldn’t remember.
“Open the door,” Caden said as he poked his head back into the vehicle.
Callahan opened the door and made a welcoming gesture to a woman with long brown hair and tanned skin.
“Come in!” The woman wearing a nurse costume climbed inside.
She slid over to me and began to dance, with her tits half pressed into my face.
Fifteen minutes later, she was naked, except for her nurse cap, and was bouncing her naked ass up and down Caden’s lap as he impaled her with his dick.
“She could still be yours,” he said with a grin.
I waved him off. “Enjoy.” I never liked the idea of sex for money, which was ironic considering the way Aislinn had found her way into my claws.
“This is as tasteless as I expected a stag party in New York to be,” Balor said, trying not to look at the porn show.
Callahan turned the music up to drown out the stripper’s moans.
The way she fluttered her lashes at Caden, I wasn’t even sure if her moans were fake. His charm always drew the girls in.
I shrugged and took another gulp from my beer. “We’ve had a good few tasteless parties in the old days, Balor, even if you’re acting like an old man now.”
The limousine came to another stop and when Callahan opened the door, two more girls squeezed inside with bottles of gin and tonic. Lime slices hung from thin strings around their waist and chest.
I don’t know when we returned to the warehouse, but when I came to my senses, we were all sprawled out on the seats in the limousine.
Snores filled the car, and it stank of spilled alcohol.
I was shirtless but still had my pants on, unlike Caden, who was stark naked.
The stripper had written down her private number on his forearm.
I shook my head. Caden opened his eyes at that moment and followed my gaze to his forearm.
“That could have been you if you had been a bit more approachable.”
“I’m about to get married. I don’t need her number.”
“If you change your mind, let me know. I won’t call her back anyway. ”
Of course, he wouldn’t. But I had no interest in other women. I wanted Aislinn and soon I’d have her.
Balor was sitting at my desk, sipping from a mug, when I came into the warehouse. “Your coffee is shit.”
I poured myself a cup before I sank down on the uncomfortable chair in front of the desk since my older brother made no move to vacate my desk chair. “It’s meant to drive guests away.”
“It’s succeeding,” Balor said in his usual no-nonsense tone. He’d always been like that. Even as a boy he’d been the voice of reason amongst us. He glanced at his watch. “I should return to my hotel room. I have a Zoom meeting with one of our morphine connections.”
I shook my head. “You’re bringing work to my wedding.”
“You’re not marrying today.”
I put my boot-clad feet up on the desk. Balor’s face pinched with disapproval, but he didn’t comment.
In the beginning, he’d always played boss when he came to the States until I’d told him to fuck off because this was my goddamn territory.
I knew he’d been acting on Dad’s behalf.
I had to prove my worth before they trusted me to represent our clan on this side of the pond.
“I have been thinking about this marriage,” Balor said.
I took a sip of my coffee, waiting for him to say what it was he had to say.
“I don’t see why you’d marry the Killeen girl, except to aggravate our father.”
“Why would my decision to finally marry aggravate him? She’s Irish, so his worst nightmare of me marrying an American isn’t coming true.
” Dad liked the money that could be made in the States, but he wanted only Irish blood in our family.
It was why Balor had given up his first and only love over a decade ago.
It was why my oldest brother still wasn’t married and why my father had been bugging me to seal the deal so at least one of us could carry on the Devaney line.
“You didn’t just pick anyone. You picked a Killeen. We have history. It would look exceedingly bad if we let another Killeen run away and make us lose face.”
“I can control Aislinn.”
Balor nodded. “I still don’t understand why. ”
Seamus had said the same. I didn’t really know why either. All I could come up with was, “She reminds me of Ireland.”