“It’s hard to avoid them,” I mumble, “they usually include a lot of blood and body parts.”
“Aye, he does tend to make an example of the arseholes,” she agrees, “but believe me. They deserve it. That’s why he brought ya here and not to that skobie of a stepdad.”
“What’s a skobie?” I ask.
“A scumbag,” Catriona says. “Ethan would never follow through with a kill order on an innocent. I know ya dinna feel like you can trust him, but I’ll tell ya, when I brought those clothes over when ya were sick, he looked mighty rough. I dinna think he slept a minute for four days. He was that worried.”
Thinking back, I remember Ethan looking rumpled and unshaven with bags under his eyes.
“He cares about ya. If the clan just wanted to protect ya, they’d put ya up in a safe house until this mess got cleared up. He married ya because he cares,” Catriona says. “And if he’s promised ya something, I am telling ya he will follow through. Ethanisa man of honor.”
“All the MacTavish men are,” adds Kenna. “That doesn’t mean they’re not complete assholes sometimes, but you can count on them.” She polishes off her drink.
They order another round of mimosas and the conversation turns to giving me an extremely detailed rundown of the aunts and uncles, cousins and second cousins and who can’t hold their drink and who’ll steal your boyfriend if they have a chance. After another hour, I’m laughing uncontrollably at a holiday mishap involving a blizzard, too much rum, and some random guy named Jamal.
“Please,” I groan, “this is starting to hurt.”
“Shite! I forgot about your ribs.” Catriona does look sincerely upset and signals for the check. “Dinna worry, there’s so much dirt to share, we have plenty of time to let ya heal.”
"You know what's funny?" I look down at my wedding ring, laughing. "My scumbag stepfather was always telling me that he was making an 'advantageous match' for me, like it's the sixteenth century or something." The girls look at each other but keep listening. "Now that I'm married... I'm just wondering if it's possible for him to keel over just from thwarted rage."
"Hear hear!" Catriona calls, "to imminent death for those whoreallydeserve it!" They all toast me, cheering happily.
The ever-present knot in my chest has loosened and I feel like I can finally take a deep breath. It’s not like I trust these girls yet, but they’ve taken me in without any hesitation, and their praiseof Ethan feels very sincere. In this moment, listening to them laugh and tease each other, it feels like slipping into a warm bath, or licking a big spoonful of cookie dough left in the mixing bowl, or the feel of the fire warming cold feet.
Comforting.
One of the bodyguards finally rises with an air of utter resignation. “Ladies, there are requests for your safe return from many different sources. Can we?”
He and Catriona lock eyes. He’s sturdy and handsome with short blonde hair, and I can smell the pheromones from here. Those two have things to discuss.
We ramble out of the restaurant, my to-go box filled with something called a Tunnocks Teacake. I’d taken one bite of the chocolate, biscuit, and marshmallow bliss and scooped them all off the table. I may not be able to eat real food when I’m hungover, but there’s never a bad time for sweets.
The exhausted-looking bodyguards pack us all back into the SUVs and we head back to Ethan’s. Catriona nudges me. “I have a feeling you’re gonna fit right in.”
When was the last time I felt like I belonged somewhere? My memory brings up the New Year's Eve crash with vicious, vivid recall and I push it away. Not today. Today, I get to be happy.
Chapter Thirty-Three
In which Ethan understands the single most important secret to making a woman happy: dessert before dinner.
Ethan…
“Ya sent your wife out with thecousins?Are yer aff yer heid, sir?”
Michael’s laughing at me, helping himself to the most expensive whiskey on my bar cart.
“Dinna give me shite on this,” I say, rubbing the back of my neck, it’s been tingling since the cousins carried off Sloan, this itchy sense that I’m missing something. “Sloan was panicking. She needed to talk with other females who could tell her I’m not a monster.”
“I wouldn’t count on the cousins to be talking ya up,” he says, “they’re terrible women, every one of them. Zero craic.”
The lift doors open and a pile of women nearly fall out onto my tiled entryway. They’re laughing uncontrollably as Elin says, “Then he says, ‘I have no illusions about my junk, but I’m promising ya reliably average sex on call’.”
Sloan is wheezing, trying to get her breath back. “That was his selling point? The sex is mediocre but he’ll be by to provide it at any time.”
“Looks like a grand time was had by all,” I say dryly. All my cousins look at me guiltily before going off into another round of laughter. “Are ya all scuppered?” I’m outraged. They were supposed to help my wife withherhangover.
“Not me,” Sloan says, stepping closer, her violet eyes dancing. “I’m pretty sure I drank my body’s weight in booze last night. But after all the intel I picked up today? These women deserved a cocktail.”
