Lorcan

Chapter Three

“Why are we doing this again?” Killian asked as we stood just far enough so that they wouldn’t see us amongst the trees. Conor and Killian hadn’t been pleased when I’d told them the plan for tonight, but they were here, just as they always were when I needed them to be. They may do my head in, but they were loyal.

“I told you, he knows Uncle Nolan,” I said. “He’s not an enemy, but he has information and we need to hear him out.”

“He’s got about twenty men who will lay down their lives for him,” Conor said. “And you want us to go in there unarmed.”

“If you’re too scared,” I started, knowing it would infuriate him. “You can wait in the car.”

Conor’s scowl was all I needed.

“Buck up, boys, it’s going to be a long night.”

I led them through the clearing and up the clubhouse. It wasn’t as noisy as it usually was, and no one was hanging around outside. When I opened the door, I saw a couple of men sitting at tables drinking beer, a couple were playing pool in the back and one man was behind the bar. He looked up at us, offering a slight nod of his head to acknowledge us before he walked behind a door, probably to rouse Ace. Conor and Killian were tense, I could feel it behind me. We’d killed one of their men today, surely they would want to kill us in return. Perhaps weapons would have been a good idea, maybe even just a small piece on my ankle.

A man with a blond beard got up from the table at the back wall, and made his way over to us.

“Come in, ignore them,” he said. “They call me Hawk.”

I noticed his Sergeant at Arms patch on his cut and realised this was the guy that would probably become the next VP.

I shook his hand and the tension in the room disintegrated. “Lorcan, and these are my brothers, Conor and Killian.”

Hawk nodded at them and motioned for us to come in. “Sit anywhere, I’ll get you some beers.”

Everyone was doing everything to avoid looking at us, but there were questions being muttered under their breaths. Maybe Ace hadn’t told them why they’d come to Galway in the first place.

Ace appeared not long after we’d sat down, and Hawk brought the beers over. They both sat with us in the booth.

“Right, you want the introductions or you want to talk?” Ace asked.

“Talk,” Conor answered for me. He wasn’t wrong but I couldn’t have him fucking up our chat with his impulsivity.

“Nolan and I go way back,” he began. “When he asks for a favor, I don’t question it, even if this one was extreme. See, we’re nomads. We don’t stick around too long, because most places don’t like it too well. We tend to go where people need us.”

“And?” Conor tried to urge him on.

“Conor, sit back and shut up,” I ordered.

“Perhaps your brother is right,” Ace said. “I’ll tell you what’s happening outside of Ireland first, then we’ll lead back to the Moriarty’s.”

I settled in for whatever he had in store. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. Maybe we had been a little lax, more focused on our own town and the O’Brien’s, but if they were the ones heavily involved with whatever criminal operation was happening across continents, we needed to know why and how to stop them.

“A power was rising in the Reyes Cartel with Tomas Reyes trying to seek the ultimate power. He wanted a global significance and not just in Colombia. His brothers tried to pull him back, but he just became unstoppable. He created a bond with some other unlikely associates and this underworld operation expanded.”

“So it includes the Barone’s?”

I knew the Barone family in Sicily, they wouldn’t have anything to do with anyone outside of Italy which is why I was surprised when he mentioned them.

“It affects them, but I don’t believe Saverio knows much about it,” Ace told me.

“Sav has a similar setup to what we have here. Three brothers controlling Sicily.”

“Agreed,” Hawk piped up. “But they have a very unhappy Uncle wanting to destroy their happy lifestyle.”

Sav hadn’t been in touch in a while which could only mean he didn’t value our relationship anymore. I had to fix that.

“The Bratva?”

“Honestly, I think they’re just being pulled into it because of their father trying to exert some future bullshit now that his sons have taken over.”

“How are the Moriarty’s involved?”

“They’ve been rising in power since you basically gave them Cork to run.”

“Cork was low on our list of priorities.”

“Exactly. All you needed to do was give them a little leeway which is what you did and now look. They are the port they all use to get in and out of Ireland. I’ve sent some of my men down there to do some recon today. They’ll report back and we can take it from there.”

I nodded.

“Stay,” Hawk said. “Get to know us, we can fucking help you guys. It’s why we’re here.”

I looked at my brothers and they both seemed keen and I turned back to Ace and I nodded.

“Sounds good.”

Ace pushed out of the booth and headed to the bar to grab a bottle. I settled in for a night of debauchery. It had been far too long since I’d been able to relax, but since both of my troublemaker brothers were here with me, I didn’t have to be so alert.

I was actually quite looking forward to letting loose for the first time in far too long.

I took the steps slowly, one at a time so I didn’t make a sound as I snuck down to the lower level. My bag was slung over my shoulder as I made sure no one could see me.

Even though I was desperate for a go round with Lorcan, and I knew he was too, I couldn’t risk staying any longer. I couldn’t risk them finding me.

I got to the bottom floor and continued to creep toward the large double doors.

“Going somewhere?” I heard a woman’s voice say from behind me. I stopped in my tracks and turned around to see Teeghan leaning against a doorframe, Sloane on the other side. They both held smirks on their faces, as if they knew I would try to sneak out.

I sighed, knowing I would have to explain.

“How did you know?” I asked them.

“It didn’t take a rocket scientist to see the effect Lorcan is having on you, or the fact no one really knows who you are even though you’ve been here for months.”

“You had a search done on me?” I asked, a little surprised. Not once has Keeva done that to me and I was her employee.

“Of course,” Teeghan responded.

“Imagine our surprise when Ava Greenstar doesn’t exist,” Sloane added.

“But you never told Lorcan…”

“There’s always a reason why a woman hides,” Teeghan said. “If you hid this well for so long, there has to be a pretty damn good reason, and that”s not for us to judge.”

“You’re safe here,” Sloane said. “No one will get to you here, trust us.”

“You don’t understand the danger I could bring here,” I admitted to them. It was something I hadn’t admitted to anyone who had cared enough to try and keep me safe. I was safer if no one knew my name, or where I had come from.

“It can’t be any worse than what we’ve both been through,” Sloane said. “Trust me, knowing the O’Farrell’s comes with its own dangers, but it’s also the best family to be a part of.”

“I’m not looking to be a part of anyone’s family,” I told them. “I don’t even know Lorcan.”

“No, but we’ve not seen him react to a woman like this in a long time, probably ever,” Sloane told me. “So, we kind of wanna keep you around to see if you two can find some kind of joy, even if it’s just for a night.”

“Stay,” Teeghan said. “You can leave in the morning. If that’s what you still want.”

I rolled my eyes. The beds here were incredibly comfy, a lot more comfy than I had been used to lately.

I let them walk me back up the stairs, and to the guest room. Teeghan chuckled as I shut the door in her face and I groaned.

I hated awkward goodbyes. I didn’t want to have to explain to the hunk of a man that was Lorcan why I had to flee.

I didn’t want anyone to know who I really was. Period.

I threw my bag down on the end of the bed and laid down behind it.

This is what happened when you got comfortable.

The sound of a knock startled me. I got up from the bed, moved over to the door and opened it. My breath caught when I saw Lorcan leaning against the doorframe, filling it with his presence. How had I not seen how devastatingly big he was?

His eyes were glazed, as if he were drunk.

This wasn’t a good idea.

But there was no way I would be able to say no. Not to this man which is why I was trying to leave without a word.

He didn’t speak. He made a small grunt, as if he were pure monster, before he lifted his hand to my face. His hand cupped the side of my face, his thumb moving over my bottom lip, dragging it down. I could taste the sweat and the whiskey on his thumb.

Everything about him was purely intoxicating.

His mouth crashed down on mine, his hand drifting down to my neck, applying pressure.

I moaned into his mouth as he walked me backward, closing the door with his foot without breaking the kiss. He lifted me up, his hands under my ass, my legs moving around his hips as he threw me up against the wall. I felt the air rush from my lungs as I was pressed against the hard surface behind me, while Lorcan devoured my mouth.

He held me up by his thighs while his hands worked at ripping my shirt off me. I helped him by lifting it up and over, throwing it behind him. He snapped my bra open from the middle and freed my breasts, his mouth moving down to my nipple. His teeth grazed over my areola, causing a shiver to shoot down my spine. I moaned as he gave both nipples ample attention.

If he was this good with his mouth, I could only imagine what he could do with his dick. He lifted me again, his mouth on mine briefly before he threw me on the bed. I bounced slightly from the movement as he pulled his own shirt off, his eyes were dark and dangerous.

It was the only way I could describe them.

Jesus, he was strong as I realised he’d literally hauled a grown woman through the air and onto the bed.

I bit my lip as he pulled his shirt off his muscular body. Underneath, I saw a large family crest on his chest with Celtic knots surrounding it, leading up over his shoulders. He had another tattoo underneath the crest, with the Roman numeral of one in the centre of it.

He undid his jeans, stepping out of them, his cock bouncing forth once it had been freed. I felt a sudden giddiness at the prospect of that thick cock being inside me soon. It was thick, and it was long, neither of those attributes had I ever seen before in one cock, and damn was I excited to have it slide into me. He grabbed my legs and yanked my panties down. I felt them rip as he freed me from them, throwing them behind him.

He stalked toward me on the bed, holding my legs open as he knelt between them. I could barely contain my excitement as I saw him disappear between my legs, and then I felt his tongue diving between my folds. My head was thrown back involuntarily as I let his tongue languish me. I’d never had a man’s tongue on me and not needed to direct him. I whimpered at his mouth going to town on me, my brain going bye bye as I let him love on me. His tongue was slow at first, and the licking quickened, causing my hips to begin gyrating. He groaned as he sucked on my clit, causing my back to arch off the bed, my eyes rolling into the back of my head as the waves of ecstasy caused my body to move of its own volition. He held onto my legs, his fingers biting into my skin as he lapped at me like a man starved and I was his nourishment. I could barely move. The way he had his hands, he was holding my hips down so that he could push his tongue all over my clit. I thought it may explode from the pressure.

I screamed as I clutched at the sheets, pulling them up from the corners.

The waves of pleasure were building to the crescendo that would push me over the edge. I could feel the intensity of it coming, and I knew it would be an explosive orgasm. I was almost scared of what it would do to me, but I didn’t have a chance to overthink it as his fingers drove into me to match his tongue and I arched further off the bed as a scream ripped from my throat as my orgasm tumbled over me. With every wave, he continued to lap at me until every last bit of my orgasm ebbed.

“Don’t even think about falling asleep,” he growled, his voice dark and gravelly. “Even if you do, I’ll fuck you anyway.”

I felt a spark shoot through me at the promise. I probably should have been turned off by it, but the possessiveness of it, the way he was going to take what he wanted, something about it made me shoot to life.

He yanked my legs, pulling me to the edge of the bed before flipping me over so I was lying on my belly. His hand came down on my ass cheek so hard, I was sure everyone in the house heard it. The burn where his hand landed was causing my pussy to pulsate.

I moaned when he repeated it on the other side. I could only imagine how red my ass looked right now.

“You like it rough,” he uttered, more of a statement than a question. I didn’t want to tell him how much I loved it. It was usually a turn off when you told someone you just met how much you wanted to be dominated in bed. “That’s good.”

The last two words did things to me that I could never explain. I felt my pussy beginning to grow slick with my arousal all over again.

He yanked my ass up, kicking my ankles out. I held my hands out to keep myself upright on the bed as he slid his cock into me with ease.

I heard him grunt from behind me, as he slowly pulled himself out. I could have cried at the loss of him filling me but within seconds he was sliding back in, so deep that I was sure he’d leave an imprint of himself behind, and possibly ruin me for all other men.

He shoved me further into the bed, my shoulders in line with my face as he pulled my ass up higher. The depth he was getting to was breaking me. I moaned, my eyes involuntarily rolling back into my skull as he grabbed my hips and began to jack rabbit into me from behind. I could barely breathe, my hair falling into my face as he assaulted my clit with his balls.

He slowed as his hand moved to my hair and yanked it back, the delicious pain rocketing down my spine and to my pussy which was now squeezing his cock, my release imminent as I screamed, pushing up on my hands so I could stretch my back out. He kicked at my ankles more and I collapsed again on the bed, my neck being pushed out as he yanked my hair back.

“Shit,” he groaned as I felt my spasms overwhelm my body, my hips bucking of their own will and then it hit me, hard and fast, as my pussy clamped around his cock as I came, unable to breathe as my body took what it needed from him.

He tumbled over into his own release right after me, and slumped onto my back. The only sound was both of us panting for air.

When he pulled his cock from me I whimpered, missing how he felt inside of me. Slowly, I was able to move so I could breathe on my own, his hand still wrapped around my hair. He didn’t let it go. I laid beside him, feeling completely satiated, like never before.

Lorcan O’Farrell was a beast of a man.

How I wish he could be my beast, but I’d settle for mind blowing sex any day of the week.

Killian was never one to knock and wait to enter. It meant he’d walked in on me naked, slamming into a woman. He never cared. He’d smirk, tell me what he needed and leave, making me realise I needed to invest in locks for the doors in the house, even though I hated them.

I sat up, wiping the sleep from my eyes at the intrusion and groaned when I saw him, standing there with a smirk on his face.

I couldn’t wait until the day he really pissed me off and I knocked that smirk off his miserable face.

“What is it?”

“Feeling a little bit ashy?” he asked, crossing his arms over his chest as if he were trying to rub in the fact I couldn’t bounce back from a heavy night of drinking anymore. Then again, I never wanted to be that way. Our father had been one to drink all night and be fine a few hours later.

He was also a raging alcoholic and beat people for looking at his women the wrong way.

“What the fuck is it?”

“You have a visitor.”

Instantly my mind went to Bridget, and all the things I had done with her the other night. She’d been kept busy with Tee and Sloane since then but damn I wanted a taste of her again.

“Who?”

“Sav Barone.”

My head shot up. “Sav?”

“Yes, you remember the head of the Barone crime family, and old pal of yours.”

I stuck my finger up. It was childish but I was caffeine deprived and hungover. “I’ll be down in five.”

Killian chuckled as he headed out of my room, leaving the door wide open. Fucking prick.

I pulled my quilt away and headed into the bathroom. My eyes were red and glassy, and I felt like I could easily get back in bed and shut the world out.

But I couldn’t.

Not while Ronan and Amity were still out there.

I washed my face and grabbed a fresh shirt and jeans and headed down the stairs to see an old friend. I hadn’t seen Sav for a long time, but we had once been good friends, so I could only imagine he was here because he’d heard of the trouble we were having.

Opening the doors to the library, I saw him, his back to me as he took in the titles on the shelves.

“Sav.”

He turned, a broad smile spreading over his face. “It’s been a long time.”

“It has,” I replied. “You should have said you were coming, I would have given you the red carpet treatment.”

Sav came closer, and instantly I was taken by how much older he looked. I suppose I was the same, but it was startling.

“I’ve no need of that,” he replied, his Italian accent thicker than I remember. “If I were my little brother, he’d take you up on that.”

“How are Mateo and Bastian?” I asked, taking a seat. Sav took the other seat and sighed heavily. He sounded just like I did when I needed to talk about my younger brothers.

“They are…distracting.”

A rumble left my chest and made its way to the surface. Saverio rolled his eyes in my direction and relaxed into the old leather of the chair.

“A whiskey would have been nice for an old friend,” he grumbled, his accent thick.

I pushed up out of my chair and headed for the bar, pouring us both one of my best whiskeys and returning to him. He took the glass and sipped at it.

His eyebrows rose and I felt a little pride in knowing an Irish whiskey can surprise even Saverio Barone. A man known for his expressionless rage.

“What brings you here, Sav?”

“I’ve heard things, Lor,” he said. “Your family name has become synonymous with a rebellion, a rising force that may soon take over Ireland.”

“And who did you hear this off?”

“It wasn’t one person, or else this would have been a phone call,” Saverio told me. “Your uncle paid my uncle a visit and it was brought to my attention just how serious this threat is.”

Goddamn that man. He was certainly doing the rounds rather than simply coming to me to let me know.

“What do you know of it?” I asked.

“I know it involves the Reyes cartel,” he said. “The name struck a chord with me. I knew all about the Reyes’ and their reign of torture in Spain.”

“How could this possibly be linked to us? We have no dealings with them. We cut ties when my father died.”

“Perhaps that is the cause of it.”

“It’s been over a decade since that day, Sav.”

“An operation such as this…is not a mere startup. It’s been years, years of rage, years of pettiness. You cannot do this alone, Lorcan.”

I didn’t want to involve the Barone’s. They’d been good to me when my father had punished me for the way I thought. Sav had always looked out for me, like a big brother, but he was no O’Farrell and Ireland was not his country.

“Lorcan, I know you, you take all of this on your shoulders, just as I do for Italy. We take care of our own, but this is bigger than you can imagine. This…needs everyone.”

The society of crime families globally wasn’t well known and for good reason. We all knew each other’s territories, and we stuck to a golden rule never to trade in those areas, but there were always the greedy SOB’s who wanted to take more. The Reyes’ were one of those families and I had made sure to steer clear of them, and had instructed my brothers to do the same. I looked down at the tattoo on my wrist, a membership that only those of us who were admitted knew about. The cross in the middle of the old school O to signify the Onyx society. My brothers didn’t know about it, because it was usually only represented by one family member at a time. I’d been inducted when my father had died.

A membership for life.

Sav looked down at his matching tattoo and I knew exactly why he was here. It wasn’t just because of us, our friendship, he was here because the Onyx members knew about this threat.

Shit.

“How long do I have?”

Sav sighed. “Not long.”

One of the rules of the Onyx society was that if you couldn’t handle your shit, they’d come and take care of it. They’d not ask for permission, they could even take care of your empire for you. Which means, they would lay claim to Ireland.

We’d be out on our asses, our empire open for anyone.

Like hell I could let that happen.

“Who’s coming?”

There were a couple of members I wouldn’t be able to fight off on my own. The rest wouldn’t come near me out of respect for my father’s memory, but if it were who I think it was…we were in real trouble.

Sav downed the rest of my drink, confirming my worst fears.

“All of them.”

Fuck.

I downed the last of my drink and put the glass down on the side table. Fear slicing through me like I’d never experienced, other than the day my father had died and I’d been kidnapped, and forced to join the society or risk losing my brothers’ lives.

That’s how you became a ruler.

You ruled in terror, and dealt with death on the daily.

Everything about this world I had been born into had irked me. I’d wanted to run, I’d wanted to live happily ever after…but it wasn’t within reach.

I was cursed.

That was exactly why I needed to send that beauty away before it was too late and she got sucked into this bullshit. It was too late for Tee and Sloane, but she could get away, she could save herself.

Saverio stood, and I followed suit.

“I am with you,” Saverio held out his hand, signing his own death warrant. No one goes against the Onyx society for fear of death. I took his hand and we shook firmly. Both of us understood what this meant.

This was war.

This was fucking global war.

We may not survive but fuck we’ll give them the fight of their life.