Chapter Seven
Oran began making calls as soon as Arthur got off the phone with Shay.
Finn had the night workers head over to the brewery floor to do their jobs.
Then the brewery offices became command central for the men that gathered for the takedown.
Arthur told them he would be back in the morning. He gave Darleen a fatherly kiss on her cheek then he left.
Will took Darlene to a separate area, a small lobby with a couple of couches. Kneeling, he took her shoes off then checked her ankle which she hurt when she fell hours ago. It looked a little swollen, but she just sprang it.
He stood and looked around. Spottong a stack of blankets, he went over to get her one. When he came back, he covered her up.
She smiled at him. “You are a really nice guy.”
He chuckled. “Yeah, some say that. My brothers may not agree as I can beat them at billiards, basketball and soccer.”
She laughed “That doesn’t mean that you aren’t nice.”
He shrugged.
“Unless you rub their noses in it?”
He grinned at her. “That, I do. Competition is high when ya got brothers. We all gotta have something we do better than the others.”
Reaching out, she took his hand. “I got lucky that you caught me this morning.”
He shook his head. “Nah, I think I’m the lucky one. I like you, Darleen. I like you a lot.”
Hert cheeks went pink. “I feel the same way.”
He smirked. “Oh? You like yourself a lot, do ya?”
She laughed again.
He nodded. “That’s a great laugh you got there. I would love to hear it a lot.”
More blushing.
He snickered. “Anyways, I wanted to...” He sighed. “I wanted to offer you... well...I don’t want you to be homeless anymore.”
Staring at him, she studied his face. “What do you mean?”
“I want you to stay with us. I’m surprised that you haven’t been hurt or worse on those streets.”
“There’s been a few close calls, but my friends were there to help me. One time a man saw me and he kept following me. Then one night, he grabbed me, saying he wanted me to work for him.”
Will narrowed his eyes at her and asked, “Doing what?”
“Just what you’re thinking. He was a pimp. Man, I never fought so hard in my life.”
“How did you get away?”
“Arthur came along and he had other men with him. They scared him off.”
“Yeah, but was that the end of it?”
Shrugging, she replied, “It was. Somehow, that pimp had his whole operation busted up. He even went to jail.”
“Well, I think you found today out what that somehow is,” Will suggested. “Arthur has connections.”
She smiled and gave him a nod. “I can see that now. He never bragged about it or took any credit. He’s the closest thing I have to family.”
“I’m glad about that, but I want to offer you a life off the streets. In fact, you can have a job, get your own place.”
She looked confused. “What?”
“I want you to consider...” He hesitated. “Starting a new life...with me.”
Her eyes rounded at him. “But you’re from Boston, right?”
Nodding, he told her, “I am but ... maybe you can consider like being my girl?”
She kept staring at him. “But why?”
He chuckled and asked, “Why?”
Nodding, she didn’t laugh. “Why would you want a street... um, girl to be your girlfriend? I mean look at you!” She shook her head. “Girls were probably flocking around you.”
He laughed. “No, not really.”
“Not even when you won in billiards, or basketball?” she teased.
He kept laughing. “Ok, so there were girls I took out. But...I never...felt like I do when I’m around you.”
“Felt like what?” she asked.
He studied her face and said, “Like the sun just came up. Or like when it’s cold outside and someone lights the fireplace and hands you a cuppa cocoa.”
She stared at him and laughed. “Wow, I don’t think I ever... like heard of that kind of feeling. But I felt the same kind of thing while next to you all day. Like nothing could ever get to me again. Safe.”
He grabbed both her hands. “And that is why I am asking this. We both know this is special. I don’t want to leave you here. When this is done, I want you to come with me.”
“Wow,” she whispered in awe.
Leaning in, Will took her into his arms and kissed her. The kiss was warm and sweet, then they embraced each other closer. The kiss then went into wild as they both couldn’t seem to get close enough.
Finally, they both had to come up for air. Breathing heavily, they stared at each other. Then smiles traced their lips. Finally, they both broke into laughter.
“What’s so funny?”
The young couple started a bit and looked up.
Seamus stood there and looked at his son. Then he seemed to realize what was happening as they were holding hands. He spluttered something intelligible. Then he flipped around and left the room.
The couple blinked in surprise then looked at each other and again they fell into another fit of laughter.