My jaw hardened, and my eyes flashed at him. “Are you for real?”
“Serious as a heart attack,” he shot back.
My chest jolted painfully. “What did you tell him?”
Atlas’s mouth curved up, cocky as fuck that he’d gotten under my skin. “Told him he was too late. That, for some fucked-up reason, my sister decided to hitch her star to the biggest ho-bag in town, which was a shock considerin’ she’s usually very careful about who she lets into her and the kids’ lives. Ya see, Donovan, Rosie’s everyone’s friend, but she’s also canny. She can sniff bullshit from a mile away, but then she had a lotta practice with her fuckwit ex-husband. Anyway, I digress. Just wanted to come over and say that Rosie seems to trust you, and I can see you’re tryin’ hard to turn things around. You’ve stepped up for littleImogen, and from what DJ told me, you stepped up for Rosie and my niece and nephew with Evan, too.” A massive beefy hand landed on my shoulder, his fingers curling into my skin as he leaned down and dropped his voice almost to a growl. “But rest assured, you fuck my sister over and they’ll find you in a ditch with a bloody, useless stump where your schlong used to hang. Know a man in Virginia who loves decapitatin’ the body parts of asshole men who hurt women. Keeps ‘em in jars of embalming fluid all lit up pretty like it’s fuckin’ Christmas. I’m sure he’d be happy to add your overused dick to his collection.”
A full body shiver ran from head to toe because I could tell from Atlas’s tone that he meant every damned word.
“I’m big on trust, brother,” Atlas went on. “If you break mine, you’ll never get it back. I don’t forgive and forget, I don’t move on, and I certainly don’t live and let live. Hurt my sister and I’ll ruin ya, and I don’t give a fuck about your suit-cladded Irish Mob relatives. Not one of ‘em will stop me from chainin’ your hands to my bike, draggin’ your beat-up ass all the way to NYC, and dumpin’ what’s left of your carcass outside Paddy Doyle’s big-assed mansion.”
My mouth went dry, and a weight hit my gut.
If I fucked this up, the consequences would spread far and wide.
For the first time since we’d reconnected, I wondered if starting something with Rosie was a good idea. It wasn’t like I could predict the future. I liked Rosie more than I’d liked any other woman, but I didn’t know if I could be what she needed, and the fact there were kids involved added even more pressure.
Suddenly, I wanted to be sick.
“Now for the nicer part, brother. It’s common knowledge that I love my family more than life. I’d do anythin’ and everythin’ to look after ‘em. Bein’ with Rosie and bein’ good to her would make you a part of the inner circle and place youdirectly underneath Atlas’s big ol’ umbrella of family love and protection, along with Maureen, Callum, and Toots, and Tadhg and Ash.” A slow grin spread across his face, and he patted my cheek. “It ain’t a bad place to be, and it can also come in very handy sometimes, as I think you’re gonna discover soon enough.”
My eyes narrowed, and an uneasy feeling hit my gut. “What’s goin’ on?”
“Nothin’... yet,” he muttered. “But I was doin’ a bit of people watchin’ at the wedding. Pagan Sinclair fucked your sister over a few months back, and she’s rightfully done with him. The problem is, he’s by no means done with her. Somethin’ I’ve learned over the years, bro, is that some men are arrogant; they know the beauty they hold in their hands but take it for granted anyway. The smart ones learn their lesson, change their ways, and treat the next piece of beauty with better regard. Others—the arrogant, ego-driven ones—fixate on what they did and what they lost and use any means at their disposal to try and get it back on their terms. Those are the ones we’ve gotta watch out for when it comes to our sisters. You get me?”
“What did he do to Ash?” I snarled.
“Maybe you should ask Saskia,” he muttered.
Atlas’s words sank in, and my stomach twisted.
“He gets me,” he said under his breath.
I knew there was only one thing it could mean if Callum’s ex fuck buddy, Saskia, was involved. She’d already gone out of her way to stir up shit for our family, so it stood to reason that she’d set Aislynn in her sights too.
I nodded toward the women who, at some point, had formed a cancan line and were trying to do drunken high kicks in time to the music, but instead were failing miserably.
Rosie’s gaze caught on us, and she gave me an enthusiastic wave and blew me a kiss.
My heart swelled.
Fuck Atlas and fuck his threats. Rosie was mine.
I shot her The Smirk. “See that?”
He glanced back at the girls. “Yip.”
My eyes sliced to him. “We got together three years ago.”
His mouth set in a thin line.
I leaned toward him that time and murmured, “Been pining after her ever since.”
His face softened, and I noticed the glimmer of a smile.
“Got another shot, Atlas,” I added. “Not wasting it. You see, I’m one of the smart ones who learned his lesson and made a decision to treat the next piece of beauty with better regard. Except, I’m lucky ‘cause I got a second chance withmypiece of beauty, and she comes with two more pieces of beauty, who I get to cherish too. You see, I know I’ve played the field, and there’s a reason for that. My da told me when I was young that some men aren’t meant for dating and playing the game. Some men are meant to love just one woman, and I think he told me that for a reason, ‘cause I never came close to loving any woman until my night with Rosie. I know it took me some time to get here, but I needed to extract myself from the life I had so I could create one she deserved.”
He grinned.
