“Cillian?”
“What?” he snapped, brow furrowed.
“Thank you. I—”
“Don’t say anything more,” he said, voice husky, and glanced away from me.
“Okay.”
Whump, whump, whump.Someone beat on the front door. All it took was my frayed nerves plus one obnoxious surprise and—voila!—I spilled the tea down my front.
“There goes the rest of it.” I pouted at the annoying wet sticky mess, about a thousand times worse than cum. Cillian pulled a gun out of a holster he’d had tucked between a cushion and the arm of the couch, which wasn’t very safe in my opinion, and moved toward the front door. “Get down,” he whispered. The beating on the door continued.
“What if it’s the cops?” I gestured frantically at the gun.
He shrugged and continued to sneak out to the door. After about the fourth time someone hammered at the door there was a sound like Cillian had jerked it open, then a grunt and curse. I couldn’t see him out in the hallway and dug my fingers into the edge of the couch.
“What the bloody feck!” Cillian yelled.
“Let me go! Where is he? I know you have him here you—” There was a grunt and a sob. “Dr. Mifflin!”
“What the feck? I can’t believe ye told yer wee assistant where we are!”
I almost tripped on my blanket as I rushed to the front door, and as I stumbled around the corner I felt terrible. Lor cowered against the wall and his lip was bloody.
“He didn’t. Don’t you hurt Dr. Mifflin!” Lor held his hands up and squeezed his eyes closed, and Cillian huffed out a long-suffering sigh.
“How did ye find us, then, ye muppet?”
“I—”
“Stay there.” Cillian pointed at me. I gaped as he slammed the front door, locked it, and then dragged a pitifully swinging Lor along the hallway to the door that led to the garage. Lor connected once with Cillian’s side, and he didn’t even so much as slow down.
“What are you doing?” I yelled, only thinking to go after them when they were too far away from me to do anything.
“Listen to me and stay put!” Cillian shouted, dragging Lor out into the garage. He slammed the door. I tried to follow them, but by the time I reached the door, the knob wouldn’t turn under my frantic, shaking grip.
“What did you do? Why can’t I open this door?” I knocked but still couldn’t get through. “What the hell are you doing! That’s Lorcan O’Guinn. He’s my assistant. Don’t hurt him!”
There was a string of cursing from the garage that sounded like Cillian, and a yell I didn’t like. “Cillian, stop!” I tugged on the door, but it didn’t open. “Oh my God, just leave him alone!” I yelled, and in reply, heard what sounded like a fist on flesh. The hit was loud and had my gut heaving.
Why had I thought things like this sounded so exciting when I read about them? I leaned my head against the door and squeezed my eyes shut, praying Cillian wouldn’t kill Lor... because if anyone would actually murder my assistant for being efficient, I got the feeling it would be Cillian.
19
CILLIAN
The stareoff between me andLorcanwas of biblical proportions. He didn’t back down, and this hadn’t been the first time he’d given me cheek, either. He’d bitten back at me when he’d found us in Vail’s apartment, and to say I was impressed was an understatement. This kid was brave and had more guts than a lot of men I’d taken down.
“Who are ye?” I asked, shoving him farther back into the garage.
Vail’s voice echoed through the door, and he smacked his hand on the wood, but it barely moved under his fist. This house was reinforced to withstand armies, let alone one university lecturer.
Lor stumbled against the Expedition and glared at me, straightening. “I’m Lor, Vail’s teaching assistant.”
I rolled my eyes and snorted as I smacked a white button on the wall. The sound of locks engaging was loud. Now even if Vail got it into his head to go outside and try to lift the door for the cars, he wouldn’t be able to get in that way. Crossing my arms, I spread my legs and stared down at Lor. He barely reached my shoulders but stood like a man who was double my height. “Ye’re more than that. Ye knew he was here. How?”
He shook his head and glared. “He needs to come home and handle this with the police. He has classes, and his mother’s worried about him. She called me. I thought I’d taken care of all this,” he mumbled.
