Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 90919 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90919 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
I kept my mouth shut, because while I hated that she would’ve just kept it a secret, I understood why she’d done it. It made absolute sense in the most fucked-up way.
“You were there when he was shot?” I asked slowly.
“Oh, yeah.” She let out a little huff of breath. “I was there. He showed up at this house J—Julian brought me to. Hopped out of his truck as we were coming out the front door. He didn’t make it onto the sidewalk before Julian shot him.” She shook her head. “He was holding one of those big wrenches, you know, the one he kept in his toolbox? Like that was going to do any good. Jesus.” Her voice broke on the last word, and a single sob burst out of her mouth before she stiffened and turned away.
“Sister,” I murmured. I was afraid I’d hurt her—I didn’t know where the bruises were under her clothes—but I wrapped my arms around her anyway.
“He was scared shitless, Cian,” she rasped, leaning against me. “But he came for me anyway.”
“Yeah.”
“That should count for something, right?”
“Counts for a lot,” I murmured, kissing the crown of her head.
“He was saying my name when he was laying there,” she said. “He was still trying to get to me. Don’t tell Aoife, okay? I don’t want her to imagine it.”
“I won’t.”
A few minutes later, Will, Mack, and Leo came outside with Aoife. Saoirse followed them, a mutinous look on her face.
An hour after that, we had a plan in place.
Three hours later, Aoife got a phone call from the “hospital” that Richie was gone.
“But I wasn’t ready,” Aoife said, staring at me in horror. “I wasn’t ready yet.”
Saoirse looked shell-shocked. Aunt Ashley stared blankly at the floor. Ronan stormed out of the room. Aisling cursed under her breath and followed him.
We’d thought we’d have time to say goodbye to Richie. The suits had insinuated that they’d take him without warning but that it might take a few days to work everything out.
They’d lied. I shouldn’t have been surprised.
“Dammit,” Frankie muttered, rushing into the bathroom.
Myla came out of the kitchen and wrapped her arms around me, laying her head on my chest.
“It’ll be okay,” she murmured, tipping her head back to look at me.
“Yeah.”
“You should follow Ronan.”
“Yeah.”
“You want me to let you go?”
“Not yet,” I muttered hoarsely.
“All right.”
Chapter 11
Myla
“I realize that everyone is leaving,” I told my mom, rolling my eyes as I unloaded the dishwasher. “But I’m staying until everyone is packed up.”
“Would you talk some sense into your daughter?” she bitched, looking over at my dad.
“You’re comin’ home with us.”
“I’m staying with Cian.”
“He know that?” Dad asked with a chuckle.
“You’re leavin’ with your parents,” Cian said, walking into the room with a box in his arms. “End of.”
I paused to glare at him. “How well has bossing me around succeeded in the past?”
“Don’t start.”
“Cian,” I yelled as he walked out of the room.
“He’s got his hands full with the girls.”
“If Ronan would just help,” I muttered under my breath.
“Ronan’s dealin’ with his own shit,” my dad scolded. “Leave him be.”
“You’ve seen them,” I whispered, turning to face my parents. “They’re walking around like the world stopped spinning and they don’t know whether to lay down and die or start screaming.”
“Bas is stayin’ and so is Gray,” Dad reminded me. “They’ll help herd all the little ducklings to Oregon.”
“Mom,” I murmured, meeting her eyes. She knew why I didn’t want to leave Cian.
Since the moment he’d walked out of Richie’s room, Cian was like a barrel of gunpowder. One stray spark and he was going to either explode or implode. Either way, it was going to end badly. He’d forced me to sleep at the hotel for the last two nights, telling me that he thought his sisters needed a little space…but I knew that wasn’t the reason. He was pulling away—something he’d never done, even in the middle of our most epic arguments.
So, I was clinging. I knew I was clinging. I couldn’t seem to stop myself from clinging.
I wanted to cringe every time he walked away or brushed me off, but instead I just acted like everything was fine. We were best friends. Best friends got into bad moods. I didn’t keep my distance when Lou or Frankie were being pissy, I wasn’t going to do it with Cian.
Everyone saw through it.
“We’re leaving in less than an hour,” my mom informed me. “You’re going with us.”
I quietly closed the dishwasher and took off in the direction I’d seen Cian disappear. If he didn’t want me to stay, I wouldn’t stay.
I found him in Sean’s room, folding up the bedding and stuffing it into another box.
“My parents are leaving soon,” I informed him. “I’d like to stay with you.”
“You can’t stay with me,” he replied stonily. “I’m gonna be gettin’ the girls’ shit packed up and we’ll be on the road tomorrow or the day after.”