Flynn’s part of the criminal underworld in Dublin, so there are no secrets I need to keep from him, though he does much more low-level work than I do. He’s never met the Council, and he’d like to keep it that way. He’s also the only person in this world I trust.
"You could say that," I mutter.
He waits until he has his pint—giving the waitress a wink as he takes it from her—takes a long drink, then turns to look at me. "Want to talk about it?"
I glance around the pub. It's crowded, noisy, full of tourists and locals. Not the place for sensitive conversations. But I need to talk to someone, and Flynn's the only person I've got. Normally, I’d have found a dive to meet him in, but I wanted the noise to drown out my own thoughts.
"They're sending me to Boston," I bite out, shooting back the remainder of my whiskey and reaching for the Guinness.
Flynn frowns. "Work?"
"You could call it that." I take another drink, the cold beer sliding smoothly down. "They've arranged a marriage. With me as the lucky groom.”
Flynn chokes on his beer. "They're what?"
"You heard me."
He sets his glass down, staring at me like I've grown a second head. "Sean, what the fuck are you talking about? The Council can't make you marry someone. This isn't the Middle Ages."
“You know that’s not true.” I run a hand through my hair. “I fucked up, Flynn. Botched my last assignment because I couldn’t blow up a car with a child inside. Now they’re damn well making me marry one.”
Flynn narrows his eyes at me. “I’m going to need more details.”
“She’s eighteen bloody years old.” I shake my head, taking another long draught of my beer. “Eighteen. Twenty fuckin’ years younger than me. Heiress to a Boston crime family, the rest of them all dead. Father, brother, sister. They want me to marry her, control her assets, keep her in line."
“Well, she’s legal at least.” Flynn smirks at me, and I glare at him.
“Now’s not the time to be a bloody hound, O’Neil.”
“Sorry. Sorry.” He raises his hand slightly off the table. “Well, is she pretty to look at, at least?”
“Yes. But that’s not the problem.”
“The problem is that you… don’t want to be married?” Flynn frowns at me, and I give him a vicious look.
“I’m just saying… let’s be honest. You've had worse assignments. At least this one comes with a pretty face and a fortune attached."
“This isn’t fuckin’ funny.”
"I'm not laughing." Flynn sighs, shaking his head as he reaches for his beer. "But I'm also trying to understand why you're so upset about this. Yeah, it's not ideal. Yeah, it's fucked up that they're using her as a pawn. But you've done worse things for the Council, Sean. We both know that."
"Those were kills. Clean, simple. This is—" I stop, struggling to articulate what I'm feeling. "This is different."
“Because it’s a woman? One that you’ll have to bed? Or is it that you’ll have to live with her? Will they not let you have separate living arrangements if you want?” Flynn frowns, and I can see that this is going over his head. Being ordered to fuck a beautiful woman wouldn’t be a hardship for him in any respect, I think bitterly. Hell, he’d probably agree to marriage so long as he wasn’t expected to remain faithful, which the Council hasn’t asked of me, either.
But I’m not the type to cheat. Hell, I’m not the type to fuck around at all. I end up with a woman in my bed every several months or so, when my body demands a more satisfactory release than what I can get with my own fist. I don’t remember a single damn one of them.
"Because she's going to be stuck with me," I say, the words coming out harsher than I intend. "For the rest of her life, unless one of us dies first. That's not a fucking assignment, Flynn. That's a life sentence."
Flynn is quiet for a moment, studying me. "For her or for you?"
"Both."
He takes another drink, then shakes his head slowly. "I don't get it, man. You've been alone for your whole bloody life. You live in that depressing flat, you don't date, you barely talk to anyone except me. This could be good for you. A chance to have something real.”
I finish my beer and motion to the waitress for another. "She didn't choose this. She doesn't want me."
"Maybe not now," Flynn admits. "But people adjust. And who knows? Maybe you'll actually like each other. Maybe this will be the best thing that ever happened to both of you." He gives me a cheerful smile, knocking the lip of his half-full pint against my empty one. “So what? Bachelor party tonight, then?”
