Chapter 3 #2
I had only seen that other side of her a few times, and it terrified me.
Someone tried to hurt us a few weeks ago while we were shopping, and Cian had stepped out of the store to take a phone call.
The masked man tried to grab her, and I thought she would be scared.
She wasn’t. She was calm as she reached into her handbag and pulled out her pistol and pointed it at the man's chest. His eyes went wide, and she told him that he had made the biggest mistake of his life and that she was going to enjoy watching him bleed slowly for coming near her while she was with her daughter.
I knew in that moment that I wanted to be just like her, and after Cian walked back in moments later, he was so angry.
She sat me down on one of the benches in the store to check on me and told me that I never had to worry as long as I was with my family.
We took care of each other with fierceness.
I snuck down to the basement that night and watched her hit that man over and over again.
She cut his skin, cutting the spider tattoo he had on his forearm off in the process.
The man begged for her to stop, but she told him that he had lost any chance of that when he decided to try anything with her daughter present.
I watched her look over my face, noticing a long scratch on my cheek from the bushes when I’d crawled into our spot earlier. She stared at me for a few heartbeats more before she leaned forward to place another kiss on the top of my head.
“I have to go get everything ready for tonight, but I will come see you before we leave tonight, okay?” Her eyes were soft with a sharp edge to them. I nodded my head with one more kiss to my forehead as she stood, “I love you, mo bhláth.”
“I love you, Momma,” I told her with a smile on my face, looking into her green eyes that mirrored mine in more ways than one.
Cian met her in the doorway. He was standing dutifully, with his hands behind his back and his shoulders pulled back, tall.
He followed her out of the room. I saw them right before they left for the gala.
Momma’s hug was warm and tighter than usual, but I squeezed her back just as hard.
Callum, Ronan, Orin, and Thadg came over nearly half an hour before our parents left for the gala.
We used almost every throw pillow and blanket in the house to build our fort that night.
Biddy and a couple of other ladies watched over us that night.
We watched movies and ate so much candy that our stomachs ached.
The next morning, I woke up inside the fort, the boys on either side of me snoring and sleeping soundly.
I heard sniffling and faint whispers outside the fort.
I shifted the sheets that acted as our door to see Biddy, puffy-eyed and red-faced.
She was whispering to one of the men who worked for my father.
I learned shortly after that there had been a car accident and my parents were taken to the hospital.
I never saw my mother again.
By this point, all of the guests are standing in the foyer, but I hadn’t looked at anyone yet. I quickly turn my head so that no one will see the tears filling my eyes.
“Excuse me for a moment,” I manage to say, then I quickly make my way to the nearest bathroom and lock myself inside.
I brace my hands on the sink, drop my head, and let the tears fall freely now.
My hand goes to my chest. The ache in my heart is familiar, but one I haven’t felt in a long time.
No one had said her name out loud since the falling out.
Before that, it was usually Aisling who spoke of her.
They’d been best friends, and Aisling would often tell me stories about my mother.
My father never mentioned her. I used to wonder whether he just wanted to forget her.
But no, that could never be true. She was the love of his life, and these days, I had a little more insight into my father’s stoic front.
Her loss was too painful for him, and the only way he could deal with it was to just… not.
I hurriedly wipe away tears and crack the door open to check the hall.
Everyone has moved into the sitting room.
As quickly and quietly as I can, I run upstairs to my room to fix the makeup I’d cried off.
I let the door close with only a soft click filling the silence.
I hurry into my bathroom and grab my mascara and eyeliner, making everything look fresh, sharp, erasing the tracks of my tears.
With both hands on the edge of the vanity, I take a deep, shuddering breath.
I walk out of my bathroom to head back downstairs, but my hand pauses momentarily on the door handle.
You can do this, I tell myself.
I walk back into the sitting room to find my father, Niall, and Aisling engrossed in a conversation next to the wet bar in the corner.
Cian, my father’s enforcer, and Eoin, the Egans' enforcer, are engrossed in conversation, catching up.
I step further into the room and see Orin speaking with Ronan as if no time had passed.
Ronan. I feel rage welling up inside me. I wonder whether I’d look insane if I just walked up and kicked him right in the… yeah, I probably would. I know what he did, and he knows what he did. But I don't feel like involving everyone else in that ancient drama. I need to keep it together tonight.
Breathe, Maeve. Focus. My nails bite into the palms of my hands as I turn to scan the rest of the room.
Then, I see him.
Callum.
He’s standing in front of the bookcase, but he isn’t looking at the books themselves.
He’s looking at the framed photos on the shelves with them.
He studies the pictures of us as preteens before the fallout.
His dark hair brushes the top of his collar, just a little unruly, like he’d been running his hands through it.
He’s so tall, and his broad back is muscular, the fabric of his shirt stretching across his shoulders.
So different from the gangly teenager he’d once been. I feel my heart begin to pound.
Damn, he looks good.
Orin clears his throat in a boisterous, exaggerated way, chuckling as he does it.
He’s staring at me, eyebrows raised. I glare back and fantasize about punching him in the throat.
He subtly nods his head in the direction of the other dinner guests, and I realize that everyone is staring at me.
Callum, as well. But I avoid his eyes, feeling heat rush to my cheeks.
Aisling sets her drink on the bar and walks up to me as the conversations around the room resume.
“I’m sorry if I upset you, Maeve,” she says quietly, resting a gentle hand on my shoulder. “That wasn’t my intention.”
“Not at all, Aisling,” I say, smiling at her. “You didn’t upset me. I just… needed a moment. I… I really miss her, you know?”
“Of course you do,” she says, nodding in my father’s direction. “And I’m sure Cormac hasn’t exactly been easy to talk to all these years.”
“He never mentions her,” I say, trying to keep my voice steady.
Aisling nods. “Cormac always has been quite stoic. That was one of the things she loved about him, you know,” she says with a smile. “Imogen, I mean. Your mother always said he was her rock, the foundation that kept her steady.”
I smile and study my father across the room as he laughs and talks animatedly with Niall.
“I haven’t seen him this happy in a long time,” I say quietly.
“I think we’re all in for much happier times ahead,” Aisling says, squeezing my shoulder before heading back over to the bar.
I watch her for a moment, feeling much lighter than I had only minutes before. I smile and let my gaze roam around the room, and immediately lock eyes with Callum.
I feel a jolt of adrenaline. God, why did he have to look so damn good?
His eyes were startlingly blue, locked onto mine with icy intensity from beneath lowered brows.
My eyes slide down to his lips, his neck.
The two top buttons of his black dress shirt are undone, revealing a tattoo sprawling across his muscular chest. His sleeves are rolled up to his elbows, and I see more ink on his forearms, hands, and knuckles.
I let my gaze slide back up to his, and I notice that the corner of his mouth is turned up in a half-smile. The effect is… intoxicating.
Suddenly, I’m jolted by a rushed whisper in my ear. “You’ll have plenty of time to eye-fuck him later. There are others in the room, ya know?”
I snap my head around to find Ronan standing beside me, his face alight with amusement.
“You know, I actually restrained myself earlier from kicking you in the balls, and yet here you are, poking the bear.”
He just chuckles deeply, holding a hand over his heart. “Aw, Evie, I thought we were friends.”
“It's Maeve. Not Evie,” I say with a smirk. “No one calls me Evie anymore, and we are most definitely not friends.”
I don’t even look back at him as I walk toward the dining room, avoiding Callum’s eyes. I need to get a grip. I’m usually better at keeping myself restrained, but tonight I’m on edge and hyperaware. My skin is tingling, and I rub my arms as I enter the dining room, savoring the moment alone.
But it doesn’t last long. I hear our chef, Rory, politely urging everyone to head to the dining room for the first course.
Well fuck.
“Callum, we have you sitting right here next to Eve,” my father says as they enter the room.
Well, double fuck.