Chapter 10
Cillian
FOUR YEARS AGO
‘What the fuck is going on?’ I demand as I open the cloakroom door. My blood pressure lowers slightly as I see Finlay standing on the opposite side of the room, his mobile in his hand, while Niamh is facing me, looking ready to leave.
‘N … nothing,’ Finlay stammers. ‘It was a game. I … I wasn’t going to… Tell him I didn’t…’
Niamh turns around to look at him, then looks back at me and frowns.
‘He didn’t do anything. We weren’t doing anything,’ she says, quietly, but more confidently than I expected. Behind me, there are footsteps on the stairs and Sean rushes to stand beside me.
‘What’s happening?’ he asks, his gaze flitting between me, Finlay and Niamh.
‘This little fucker took one of our guests into the cloakroom to—’
‘What? No! It was a game!’ Finlay says. ‘She was in the circle. She was playing the game. Sean, tell him. I was just supposed to kiss her but she said no and… Tell them!’ Finlay’s voice has risen a couple of octaves. At least someone here tonight respects me.
I look at Niamh and she looks almost as terrified. Not to mention embarrassed. ‘He didn’t do anything wrong,’ she states clearly. ‘I got selected for the game, we came in here and when I said I didn’t want to kiss him … well, that’s about when you opened the door.’
I stare at her, but other than the redness in her cheeks, she’s not looking distressed.
‘You’re sure?’
‘Yes,’ she says nodding, glancing over at Finlay.
‘Fuck’s sake, Finlay. Why do you think the bottle never landed on her?’ Sean says.
Finlay frowns, confused. ‘But it did. It landed on me and then her.’
‘Sean?’ I lift an eyebrow.
‘I’ve been making sure she wasn’t picked since Rose … erm, since Rose went upstairs…’ He runs a hand through his hair and shakes his head. ‘I just went to check on her. I thought Niamh would be fine for a couple of minutes. I didn’t expect—’
‘I’m fine.’ Niamh cuts in, ‘There’s really no need for all this fuss. I’m just going to get a taxi—’
‘No. Upstairs,’ I demand, glaring at her. ‘I’m not risking anything happening to you on the way home. Party’s over.’
For a moment, I think she’s going to argue, but Sean nods at her and smiles and, with a frown, she does what I tell her and leaves the closet, rounding the corner to the stairs.
Everyone else in the hall hurries away into other rooms, and the music in both the lounge and the drawing room cuts off abruptly.
My fist catches the side of Finlay’s face sending him flying across the hallway. I stride towards him as he starts to pick himself up and kick him back down again.
‘I’ll take Finlay downstairs,’ I say to Sean. ‘And make sure he has somewhere to stay tonight.’
‘But—’ Finlay starts, but I turn quickly, my hand shooting out to grab him by the throat.
‘Right now,’ I say, ‘I’d be extremely careful what I say.’ Finlay stares at me for a moment, then nods. I push him in front of me and down the dark, narrow corridor that leads to the basement, his head bowed and shoulders slumped.
* * *
I wash my hands in the basement sink before heading upstairs sometime later. Taking out some of my frustrations on Finlay, who I don’t think will ever even consider looking at Niamh again as long as he’s breathing, has helped.
‘Do you think he planned to hurt her?’ I ask Sean who was waiting for me when I came out of the secure accommodation where Finlay is staying tonight.
‘No.’ Sean says instantly. ‘He’s far more likely to be the victim of shit like that. I can’t help feeling that maybe someone else put him up to it.’
‘Chris?’ I nod. ‘Yes, he did say something suspicious.’
I’m sure that Chris rigged the whole thing, but it didn’t hurt to put Finlay in his place.
‘Well, currently the kid’s crying too hard for me to get any sense out of him. But maybe his memory will be better in the morning,’ I say.
Both he and Niamh might have claimed that nothing happened in that cloakroom, but I know that was only because I opened the door. Finlay’s face was a mask of pure guilt and there is definitely something he’s not telling me.
‘Call the doctor to come and check him over,’ I ask Sean.
‘Sure,’ he says.
I do a quick recce of the ground floor to make sure there are no other unexpected issues occurring. Thankfully, everyone seems to have found a place to sleep. Blowing out a breath, I head for my own room, trying to block out my returning thoughts of Niamh.
I don’t expect to find her curled up on the chaise longue on the upstairs landing.
Her eyes are squeezed shut, but her body is far too tense for her to be asleep.
I crouch down beside her and put a hand on the side of her face, and she jumps.
Her tongue traces her bottom lip and I don’t miss that its trembling.
‘What are you doing here?’ My voice sounds gruff, and I see her recoil, frowning. ‘Rose has a spare bed in her room.’
‘Oh, um…’ she glances over at Rose’s bedroom door. ‘I think she—’
‘Fuck’s sake.’ I start to stride towards the door, startled when Niamh jumps up and grabs my arm.
‘Don’t!’ Her cheeks are a bright shade of pink and I falter.
My first instinct was to castrate whoever is in my sister’s bed, but I know who it is, and Matt’s an acceptable choice for her to have made, for now.
Even if it is difficult for me to accept that Rose is an adult now and able to decide for herself.
Matt may work for the Rialis – understandable as he’s water Kin and they represent the sea god, Llyr, at Court – but for the first time in years, Rose is happy. Despite being friends with Chris, he’s always seemed sound.
‘Sorry,’ Niamh says. ‘But it’s all she’s talked about all week. Seeing Matt tonight, I mean. Not specifically…’ She waves her other hand vaguely in the direction of the door. ‘I didn’t know where to go.’
I look down at where she’s touching me, the sensation of her bare skin on mine sending shockwaves through my body. My breath catches and for a moment all I can think of is how much better it would be if she were touching more of me.
She pulls her hand away, as if she’s aware of my thoughts, stepping cautiously back out of reach.
‘I think they just fell asleep,’ she says, gesturing towards the door.
I lean closer, use my heightened senses to listen, then wish I hadn’t.
‘No,’ I tell her. ‘They are definitely not sleeping. Come with me. There are guest rooms.’
‘Actually, I think…’
I roll my eyes, crossing the hall to first one door, then the other. Fuck’s sake, is everyone in the house getting some tonight except me? And Niamh. And, of course, Finlay.
‘You can sleep in here,’ I say, placing my hand on a door and pushing a tiny amount of magic through my fingers to unlock the charm keeping it secure. I turn the handle with one hand and push the door open, standing aside to let her go in first.
‘Where are we?’ she asks, looking around wide-eyed.
‘My room.’
My body responds when the confusion in her eyes morphs into fear as I undo my tie and slip my jacket off.
‘But… I can’t… Thanks, but I think I should just go home.’
‘What would your parents think if you arrived home at this hour? There’s no one here willing to drive you and surely your parents wouldn’t want you getting a taxi this late, alone and upset.’
‘They would rather I got home in a state than not at all,’ she blurts out.
‘I’m sure they’d rather you came home in the morning, safe and well-rested. You don’t want to worry them now, do you? Next time they might not be so happy about you going out in the first place.’
I shouldn’t be playing into all her insecurities like this, but if I’m sure about one thing this evening, given the way things have panned out, it’s that I’m damned if Niamh isn’t going to spend tonight right here in my bed.
I don’t trust anyone else here to keep her as safe as I will, and as I don’t plan to do anything to harm her, why shouldn’t I take the opportunity to indulge myself with her company?
‘Did you bring a bag?’
She nods. ‘It’s downstairs. In the cloakroom.’ She bites her bottom lip and stares down at the floor embarrassed by the reminder of what happened earlier. ‘I’ll go and get it.’
She’s out the room before I can stop her, and the temptation to chase her is suddenly very real, and no matter whether I justify that to myself as ensuring that she’s okay, I know that most of my reasoning will be the thrill of the chase.
I’ll stalk her, tire her out, build the anticipation of the moment when I catch her, watch as she surrenders to me…
I shake my head and sigh. Put away my shoes and hang up my jacket, unfastening my cufflinks, then undo the buttons on my shirt.
Sometimes I yearn for the days when I was able to dress more casually, but as I’m now solely responsible for running our family businesses, including both Elliots and The Three Graces, I have to be projecting the right image in public.
Rose will contribute more to the family businesses once she graduates but I want her to focus on her studies for now.
We need a reliable lawyer on the team as our current lawyer is talking about retiring.
I strip off my remaining clothes, either hanging them neatly over my chair or dropping them in the laundry basket.
I usually sleep naked but that’s not an option tonight, so reluctantly I pull on a pair of grey joggers.
A sharp intake of breath alerts me to Niamh’s presence.
If I thought she was blushing before, then this is next level.
She stares at me from the bedroom door, open-mouthed at my bare chest, and hastily takes a step back, swiftly closing the door.