Keira considered her for a long moment. “It’s entirely possible that my snap judgment of you was a shitty call. You have a past, don’t you?”
“We all do.”
“Isn’t that the fucking truth?” She followed Charlie out into the hallway. “Not that way. Come on.”
They took the back set of stairs down to the kitchen and ducked out a door leading to a walkway to the street. A few minutes later, Charlie caught sight of a man shadowing them half a block back. He was a big dude with shoulders that would do a linebacker proud, and he moved like a fighter—light on his feet despite his size.Dangerous.“That man is following us.”
Keira craned her neck to look, and sighed. “It’s okay. That’s Mark.”
She seemed to remember Aiden mentioning a Mark at one point. “Does Mark often trail you when you leave the house?”
“Him or another one of Liam’s people. Mark is Liam’s cousin, so he gets the fun task of being my babysitter more often than most.” Keira shrugged. “I’m an O’Malley. There are people who’d snatch me up to use against my family.” Something passed over her face, gone too quickly to identify. “Goes with the territory.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.” She had, but it was one thing to know that Aiden routinely sent one of his men to watch Keira and totally another to have the spooky experience of being shadowed by a stranger. Of course, Mark wasn’t a stranger to Keira, but the fact remained.
No wonder the woman does whatever it takes to escape sometimes. I would, too.
Her phone rang, and she knew who it was even before she looked at the caller ID. “Good morning, Aiden.”
“Where the hell are you going?”
She shot another look at their tail. “That was fast.”
“Mark reports to me, so imagine my surprise when I find out that my fiancée and my sister just staged a jailbreak and are walking down the goddamn street without a protection detail.”
So much for any lasting feel-good sensation from their night before. Charlie rolled her eyes. “One, we already discussed how much I despise having to check in with you before doing anything. Two, you know as well as I do that I’m more than capable of taking care of myself and Keira.”
“There are other factors in play.”
So we’re just going to ignore logic when it doesn’t suit our argument? Nice, Aiden.His icy bullying tactics might work with his family, but she wasn’t about to play that game. “It’s got to be something of a shock waking up to realize your parents are back in town.”
He cursed and then changed tactics. “Just get your ass back here, Charlie. There’s trouble.”
It was like she could actually see his thought process:Commanding didn’t work. Let’s try warning about danger.Sooner or later, he’d realize that she preferred him to just be fucking honest with her instead of trying that high-and-mighty O’Malley lord crap. “You mean politics.”
“They’re the same thing.”
That answered that. She shook her head. “No, Aiden. Your man can follow us—at a discreet distance—if that will make you feel better, but we both needed out of the house, so we’re getting out of the house.”
“Charlie—”
“See you tonight.” She hung up, frowning when she caught Keira looking at her strangely. “What?”
“No one talks to my brother like that.” She shook her head. “Hold that thought. I mean no one talks to him likethat and gets away with it, without him putting them under house arrest or some other macho bullshit.”
One didn’t become the head of a mob family without a certain level of don’t-cross-me. If anyone in the family could talk back to Aiden and get away with it, he’d have anarchy on his hands before long, and anarchy was dangerous for everyone.
But, for better or worse, Charlie was outside the hierarchy—and he’d put her there. If he’d wanted a meek little fake fiancée, then he should have called someone else. She wouldn’t know meek if it bit her in the ass, and having him try to order her around only made her dig in her heels.
Charlie shrugged. “I’m sleeping with him, and I have his ring on my finger. It gives me the ability to talk to him however I damn well please when we aren’t in front of an audience. And, no, before you ask, you don’t count as an audience. You’re family.”
“You know, Charlie, I think I like you, magic pussy and all.”
She snorted. “Give it a rest.”
“I will. Promise.” Keira looked around, her furious attitude melting away in favor of curiosity. “So, where are we going?”
“Keira, my dear, we’re going to teach you how to fight.”
