“Really?” I sent Aspen a smirk. “Ye should’ve told me ye were interested in him, mate.”
He shook his head and leaned back against the couch, stretching his arm along the top. His close-cut beard glinted under the lights and looked shiny, but not as much as his skin. I didn’t know how he did it, but the top half of his face was always blemish-free and perfect, even with the slightly receding hairline. He always had his black hair cut short, but it was still wavy. Handsome fucker. Women and men loved him, especially those plush lips of his, but usually the only time he put them to use was for kissing. Like me, he wasn’t fond of giving blowjobs. I could probably count on one hand the times I’d seen him go down.
I grabbed Vail’s chin between my fingers and yanked his face toward me, slamming my mouth against his. He moaned, tongue darting out to taste mine. I enjoyed this new confidence in him.
“You’re Irish, too?” Vail asked when I released his mouth, and it took me a moment to realize he was talking to Aspen.
He grunted in answer, then sighed when Vail continued to stare at him, waiting for words. “Why can’t I be? Because I’m Black?”
“What?” His mouth dropped open and he shook his head quickly. “Oh my God, no. It just makes sense to me that you are. Cillian and Rowen are, and Fallon told me today that he is, too. So I assumed you must be. Am I wrong?”
I petted Aspen’s jaw and laughed. “Stop stressing our poor bug, mate.”
Aspen grinned and flashed Vail his straight white teeth. “Yeah, I’m Irish. My dad came from Cork in the seventies and moved to Boston. My mom is a Virgin Islander. St. Thomian to be exact.”
That was the most I’d heard him say to someone else in a long time, but I wasn’t exactly surprised Vail was the one who got him talking. He had a gift for that. I’d found I wanted to tell him more than I should, and that was fucking dangerous.
Vail sighed dreamily. “I’d like to visit Ireland one day. It’s on my bucket list. Along with Italy and Sicily. I bet St. Thomas would be nice, too.”
“Ye plan to go to those places because of the mob?” I asked, not sure I wanted to know the answer. That brought up the same issue as earlier.
He raised himself to a seated position on my lap and stilled, mouth pursed. “It’s my job.”
I grabbed his hips to keep him still. Rowen would avoid all harsh conversations with him, but I wasn’t going to, not when I both wanted him and to make Sloan proud. “No, yer job is to lecture on past mobs, not current ones. Ye’ll get yerself killed.”
“I agreed to keep out the Irish mob, didn’t I?” He pouted and it was damned adorable. I wanted to kiss him again but refrained. Exhaustion was like a heavy blanket over my body, and I didn’t think I could get it up again even if I wanted to.
“That’s not good enough, is it?” I snapped, meaner than I’d meant. “Rowen might be okay with letting ye risk yer life because he doesn’t want to hurt yer feelings, but I’m not him, so ye’re going to listen to me.” He struggled, but I held on tighter. “The Italian mafia are as dangerous as the Irish. Fecking listen to me, Vail.Please.”
He froze and so did I. Aspen cocked his head at me because I’d saidplease. Since when did I do that shite?
“I don’t want anything happening to ye,” I said, gritting my teeth to stop from shaking him. “Whoever got into yer apartment wasn’t messing about.”
“What are we going to do about that?” he asked, completely missing the point. “I’ll need to get that figured out. You can’t keep me away from my home forever.”
I growled and shoved him to his feet. He stumbled over the sweatpants and briefs still wrapped around his knees but straightened when I rose, too, my softening cock dropping against my thigh. His attention switched between my crotch and my face as he yanked up the underwear and pants, like he couldn’t decide which one he wanted to stare at the most.
My hands curled into fists at my side and I exhaled, shaking my head. “Go to bed, Vail.”
He blinked at me and ran a palm over his head, brushing his blond hair back. “Is this what you do? Send me away when you don’t want to have a conversation?”
“Aye.” I waved my hand at the stairs. “Go.”
“You’re not very good at communication,” he muttered, frowning. Storming past us, he huffed, and I went to the doorway to watch him climb the stairs and probably head back to Rowen’s bed. It was safer there than mine anyway. I couldn’t lose focus.
“We’ll have Fallon watching him,” Aspen said deeply, his voice gruff with concern.
“He’s oblivious.”
“He’s stuck in his own bullshit.”
I didn’t think that was any better.
* * *
By Saturdaywe hadn’t discussed the elephant in the room again. I spent most of the time with Reed, beating him. I was finally getting the reactions I wanted. The whimpers. The pleading.
“Tell me what I want to know,” I whispered, running my brass knuckles over his shattered kneecap teasingly. His bottom lip wobbled. “Tell me and I’ll end this.”
