Chapter Twenty-One
Calvin
My heart is beating my chest after that confession, but it’s the truth, and I think it has been since that very first night I saw her in my club. I knew then that she was the only one for me, and I would do whatever I could to have her.
After looking at her shocked face in what feels like forever, a slow shy smile spreads on her face and her cheeks start to blush.
“I-erm,” she stutters. I pull her into me and her arms automatically wrap around my waist. I instantly feel her breathing relax.
“Don’t feel pressured into saying it back. I’m not expecting you to say it until you feel comfortable, darlin’,” I reassure her.
“I just wanted you to know how deep my feelings are for you, okay?” I ask her.
She nods at me in response and we stay locked in each other’s arms until there’s a knock on the window behind me.
“Er, sorry to disturb you, but we need to go over some things before we go to the club.” Tanner’s voice comes from outside the car. I quickly get dressed and exit the car, whilst Nixie gets her clothes back on. A few minutes later, she knocks on the window and I open the door for her. When she steps out, I can’t help but notice her bare legs under her skirt. Then I remember that I ripped her tights. A smug smile sits on my face at the thought.
“It will be your fault if I get cold legs now.” She smirks at me and walks in front of me, swaying her hips a little extra just to taunt me, the little minx.
We walk into Tanner’s house and are met with everything tech. Of course. I roll my eyes at the little robotic vacuum rolling around the floor.
“Really, Tanner? Are you that lazy?” I ask, pointing to it.
“One less job for me to be doing,” he shrugs his shoulders.
“Reid and Maddox are at the club,” he says.
I just nod as we sit down at the dining room table. Tanner hands Nixie a cup of tea and I wonder if it’s just how she likes it. She thanks him and takes a sip, smiling at him.
“I did a little digging on Finn,” he says, drawing my focus away from Nixie.
“And? What did you find?”
“His dad died when he was ten. Apparently he was drunk and driving back from a meeting with his brother, Cormac,” he says with a hint of confusion in his voice.
“Okay? What else?”
“Well, according to what I could find, Rory Sullivan hadn’t drank for five years. He went to rehab for an incident back when Finn was five, and he hadn’t touched a drop since.”
“So what you’re thinking is someone made it look like he had been drinking and driving?” I ask him.
“It’s a theory. From what I’ve found, Rory and Cormac never had the best relationship. Rory was the oldest and had the first child, which then became the heir to the family business, which of course didn’t sit well with Cormac. And he then went on to marry some random, younger woman, got her pregnant, and was pissed when he found out it was a girl. The woman, according to my searches, died two years after Cara was born from postnatal depression,” he tells us.
This just keeps getting better and better. Nixie is quiet next to me, and I just know she is trying to soak in all that information that Tanner has just unleashed on us. I can see her trying to put it all together.
“Let’s get to the club and find out what Finn wants,” I tell him.
Tanner gets in his car and me and Nixie climb into mine.
“So, what do you think this Finn wants?” Nixie asks as she buckles herself in.
“I have no idea, but I intend to get to the very bottom of it all.”
“I wonder if—oh, sorry, one sec.” Nixie’s phone interrupts mid-sentence. I can see on the screen that it’s Darcy calling. I roll my eyes at the name, but try to not show my reaction to her .
“Hello?” she answers.
I continue to drive back into town to the club whilst Nixie has her conversation. I don’t not like Darcy, it’s just that I don’t like how she has treated Nixie lately.
“Yeah, I’m with Calvin. Why, what’s up?” she says with a hint of worry in her voice, which instantly makes my back stand to attention.
“I’m on the way to the club now. Calvin’s got a meeting. Can you meet me there? Okay, good. We won’t be long.” She ends the phone call and sighs.
“Everything okay?” I ask her.
“Yeah. No. I don”t know. I couldn’t fully understand what she was saying, but she was upset about something.”
“When we get there, take her into my office. You won’t be disturbed,” I tell her as I take her hand in mine and give her a reassuring squeeze.
“Thank you.” She gives me a small smile and squeezes my hand back. We are in the car for around another fifteen minutes before I pull up outside the club. There are already people trying to haggle their way in, but we are a members-only type and by the looks of the guys trying to get in, they are trying to impress their lady friends. I chuckle as I pull up right outside the front door. I walk to Nixie’s door and help her out of the door. She slides out with elegance, carefully trying not to let her skirt ride up too much.
With her hand in mine, we walk to the front of the queue, with everyone groaning and cursing at us as we do. Nixie tucks herself closer to me, which I don’t mind.
“Come on, man. I can pay whatever the door fee is,” the sleazy guy at the front says.
My guy on the door just continues to shake his head at him with a smirk on his face.
I pass him my car keys. He nods at me and pockets them.
“Oh, come on. Why does that guy get in?” he whines as we pass him.
“At least my girl is more attractive. Come on, help a guy get laid,” he continues to whine at my guy on the door. But his comments about Nixie have me stopping in my tracks and turning back around to him.
“Cal. Please don”t,” she begs.
“I”m just going to have a chat with him,” I say as I crack my neck and clench my fist together.
“What was that?” I ask him as I get back to him.
“Oh. Erm. Nothing, man, nothing.” He scrambles his words.
“No. I think you do. What did you say?” I ask him again.
“My girl is more attract—” He doesn’t even get to finish the sentence before my fist is on his face. He crumbles to the floor, blood pouring from what I can only hope is a broken nose.
“What the fuck, man?” he says whilst spitting out blood on the floor.
“That is for being an ass to my woman!” I shout in his face “Now get your shitty fucking attitude of my property. And don’t ever try to get into a club in this city again, because I can assure you, I will have you banned from all of them.”
He lifts himself up off the floor and makes his way to where his lady friend was standing. Not anymore…looks she did a runner from the guy. The thought has me smiling.
“Turn everyone away. Even if they’re members,” I instruct my guy. He nods and shuts the door behind me.
Nixie stands with her hands on her hips, looking at me when I walk down the steps.
“Really, Calvin?” she asks.
“Yes. I will always defend you. No matter who it is,” I tell her.
“Let me in, you big brute,” a raised voice comes from outside.
“Sorry, ma’am, but we’re closed.”
Nixie’s eyes raise at the voice, and I instantly know it’s Darcy standing out there, having an argument, I roll my eyes and walk back to the door to open it.
“I swear to god, if you don’t let me in, I will.”
“Okay. Let’s get you inside before that angry little head explodes,” I tell her and give a sorry nod to my guy.
Darcy darts over to Nixie and gives her a hug. I get a little thank you smile from my girl, and then we walk over to where my brother is sitting with Tanner, Maddox and Finn.
“Guys, this is Nixie’s friend, Darcy,” I introduce to everyone.
“Well, aren’t you just beautiful,” Finn says with a smirk.
She giggles and tucks her hair behind her ear. Shaking my head, I roll my eyes at Darcy causing her to shrug her shoulders at me.
“Are we still good with the office?” Nixie asks.
“Of course. I’ll have some drinks sent up to you.”
“Thank you.” She smiles and that smile will make any man weak at the knees. I can’t resist her, so I pull her in and crash my lips onto hers, not giving one single fuck about the guys around us. She lets out a quiet moan that thankfully only I can hear.
“Go,” I order her. “Before I do something right here, right now. I love you,” I whisper in her ear before she moves away and takes hold of Darcy to guide her up to the office.
Once I see she’s in there, I sit down at the table with everyone and nod to the bartender. He brings over a bottle of my favorite whiskey and four glasses for us.
“So. Explain,” I say to Finn as I pass him a glass I’ve just poured for him.
He shifts in his seat, looking slightly nervous. He looks at me.
“I want you to kill Cormac, so I can take over,” he says without batting an eyelid.
Me, Reid, Tanner and Maddox all look at each other and then back to Finn, who just sits there sipping his drink.
“What?” I want to know if what I heard was correct. He says it again, confirming what he said was true.
“Why?”
“Because, like he said, he only wants you to marry Cara so he still has full control over the business.” He shrugs his shoulders.
“Okay. But why do you want to take over?”
He looks around and sighs. “Cormac may look okay, but he is slowly losing his mind. I’m pretty sure he has dementia coming on. He’s made some risky moves lately, and he’s going to damage the business.”
“So, why don’t you just ask to take over?” Tanner asks him.
“Really?” Finn rolls his eyes. “Do you really think a man like Cormac would just hand it all over if I asked nicely?” He scoffs. “And besides, he hates me.”
“Hates you?” Reid asks, intrigued.
“Yeah. He hates that my dad had the first son and he got stuck with a daughter. The family has always passed down to the firstborn son, but because Cormac had a daughter, that means it would have gone straight to me, instead of staying on his side.”
“I get your frustration, but why would we get involved with the Irish mafia? You do realize that if I killed him, then we would be dead as well.”
“No. Because if he’s dead and I take over, I would make the contract between your dad and Cormac void. And I would make sure that it’s shredded to a million pieces and you can go about your life with Nixie,” he tells us.
“ I would do anything to not have this fucking contract over my head, so I can live a life with her.”
“So, you’ll do it?” he asks, sounding hopeful.
“Yes, but only if you promise that no one will find out that it was me. I don’t need to live in fear that the Irish mafia will put Nixie’s life at risk,” I tell him.
“I can assure you, they won’t.”
“Hold up,” Reid interrupts. “You can’t be serious right now, Cal?”
“I am,” I assure him. “I meant what I said. I will do anything to have my life with Nixie.”
“You can’t just go about killing the head of the Irish fucking mafia and think you can go about the rest of you life without a care in the world!” he raises his voice.
The table is quiet for a few seconds until Tanner speaks up. “What’s the catch?” He eyeballs Finn.
“Why has there got to be a catch?” he argues back.
Tanner laughs. “Nothing comes for free these days.”
“He’s right,” Maddox agrees .
“You can’t expect us to believe that once he’s dead, you will forget about the whole thing. You will have this over our heads as blackmail,” Maddox continues.
I look back to Finn and I can tell we’ve got him out.
“Listen, all I’m gonna ask is maybe a few jobs here and there. No big deal.” He shrugs his shoulders as he takes another drink.
“No big deal? Are you fucking serious right now?” Maddox knocks the glass from his hand, sending it crashing to the floor.
“What the fuck?” Finn shouts at him.
“You not only want us to kill the head of the mafia, you want us to do your dirty work for you!” Maddox gets in his face. “I don’t mind killing people. But what I do mind is people thinking they can keep us under their slimy fucking thumbs.” Maddox spits in his face.
Reid drags him back and whispers in his ear to try and get him to calm down.
This is not how I was expecting the night to go, but part of me knows that this could be the only way I can get out of the stupid contract.
“I’ll do it.” Tanner”s voice comes out before I can get my own words out.
“What?” Reid asks, sounding shocked.
I look to Tanner with a questioning look.
“I’ll do it,” he says again. “I can kill him without batting an eyelid. I haven’t got any family to worry about. I know I have you guys, but I also know you will have my back as well,” he says, trying to reassure us. “But we all know I’m the better option. I can help with whatever jobs, whether it’s the tech side or the killing side.”
I know he’s right, but I can’t let him do this for me.
“Tanner, I appreciate it, but I can’t let you do this for me.”
“Yes, you can. You have done enough for me in the past, and now I can finally repay you for it all,” he stubbornly says.
“So it’s settled then? Cormac’s life will come to an end?” Finns asks again.
“Yes. But it will happen when and where I choose, not you. You have no say in any of it,” Tanner states firmly.
Finn just nods and smirks.
“But just so you know, I’ve had all this conversation recorded, so if you do decide to stab us in the back, this will get sent to your family, so they know what you did.” Tanner’s words cause the smirk to slightly drop off Finn’s face.
“Well, I must go now. I can’t be seen fraternizing with the enemy, now, can I?” Finn says as he stands from the table.
“You will get notice of when it’s happening. I just haven’t decided if it will be a day, an hour, or I might just tell you seconds before I pull the trigger,” Tanner tells him. Finn just nods and walks back to the front door and disappears from sight.
We all look at Tanner, and he just has a murderous smile on his face. He knows what he’s doing, so I’m not worried at all.