“It’s an invite to one of Sloan’s celebration parties. He has one every time he thinks he got one over on someone. That’s not what they’re for officially, but if you read between the lines....” He kissed my ear, and I shivered.
Cillian chuckled. “Aye, there will be whores and drugs and everything else good little mobsters could want. Not that I care much about whores these days,” he said, before I could open my mouth to ask any fun questions. He pointed at me and my knee bounced. Aspen laid a hand on my thigh, and I slapped mine on top of his.
“Have you ever fucked a—”
“Aye, but I won’t anymore. Ye deserve better from me.”
Smiling, I nodded at him. Fallon snorted like he didn’t quite believe Cillian, and I wasn’t happy when I saw Cillian’s face flushing red because that meant an explosion was imminent.
“I believe you,” I said firmly, leaning forward to glare at Fallon, but it didn’t do any good because he apparently thought the situation was too funny and was chuckling already. He shook his head and his blond hair caught the sunshine streaming through the windows and gleamed, distracting me.
“I’m not sure I’ll like it. The party,” I said with a sigh and leaned back against the couch. “I get overwhelmed sometimes when there are too many people all talking at once and loud music is stuck in my ears. It kills my brain.”
“If it’s too much, one of us will find a quiet spot for you,” Aspen said, then pressed a kiss to my cheek.
“I’m quite certain this isn’t the type of invite it would be healthy to turn down,” Cillian grumbled, taking the invitation from me to study the location. He flipped the paper around so I could see it and tapped the address in the UN Plaza with one finger. “That’s Sloan’s apartment downtown and it’s glitz. Ye’ll want to go just to see it.”
Rowen crossed his ankles and nodded along with Cillian. “It might be good to let people see us out together with the boss’s blessing. Clearly if he invited us all as a group it’ll be less of an issue when we’re on jobs and have to work with others. I don’t think there’s many who would cross the boss.”
There was a round of agreement. I couldn’t be an introvert and back out if there was anything on the line that might keep my men safe. I had no choice except to go.
“I want to do it, even if the rest of you don’t.” Fallon smiled and leaned his head back against the couch. “The booze is high-end. There are always poker games. Someone always does something stupid. There’s usually one good fight at a party like this, shit people talk about for the rest of the year.”
“When did ye ever go?” Rowen asked, with only a touch of incredulity. Cillian would have just called him a liar, so it was probably best Rowen had beaten him to it.
“Tagged along with my brothers once.” Pink spread across Fallon’s cheeks. “You know, because why wouldn’t I?”
“If you all think this will be a good party, fine. I’d like to go. It’s been a long time since I was out like this.”
When I was done talking, Aspen tugged me closer and kissed me. “The sky’s the limit with us, baby.” I got a kick out of him smiling at me because this more-relaxed Aspen was so new. He’d always been handsome, but he stole my breath when he was happy.
“Trust us to keep ye safe.” Cillian’s tone let me know he wasn’t asking, he was demanding. “If ye hate it, we’ll leave.”
“Okay,” I murmured.
Fallon pumped his bad hand in the air, cast and all, then groaned. “Yay, party.” He whimpered. Everyone laughed at him, including me, but I crawled over to give him a kiss on the lips to make up for it.
* * *
“Ye’re hurting my hand,firebug. Are ye all right?”
I gasped and unclenched my grip on Cillian. I couldn’t imagine how hard I must have been holding on for him to admit such a thing, but my fingers ached when I relaxed them.
“Sorry,” I whispered back. I wasn’t certain it was necessary, but we’d all worn suits to the party, and I was feeling too hot. I tugged at my gray bow tie. There were two men in the elevator wearing large weapons on slings that reminded me of something out of a movie with frontline military action. I had no idea what the guns were, other than gray with long, curved, wicked-looking clips I was sure were stuffed full of bullets. I’d tried to memorize all the types of guns the different mobs preferred once, but they wouldn’t stick in my brain, and now I was lamenting it. I always had to check my lists when I wrote about them.
Cillian caught where my gaze was glued and chuckled. “They’re our protection, bug. Just in case anyone gets some bad ideas.”
“We’ve been going up for a long time,” I said, glancing at the door, but there were no numbers. This elevator only went one place—Mr. Killough’s penthouse that he kept in Midtown Manhattan. I couldn’t even imagine how much money he must have shelled out to be in this building so close to Times Square. Probably more than I’d ever seen in my whole life. Hell, probably more than he’d spent on that mansion in the Hamptons.
The shiny silver doors parted and the security men stepped back to allow us to get out. They were okay-looking boys in cheap black suits—at least, they were cheap compared to what I’d become used to seeing. I probably hadn’t ever owned anything nicer until I started hanging out with my guys. They’d changed every part of my world.
My jaw dropped when I left the elevator. The penthouse stretched out in all directions and was full of people dressed to impress on a night out. Overhead was a cut-crystal chandelier draped with glass hangy doodads that reminded me of icicles. I stared upward for a bit before Fallon snorted and dragged me forward. Only a few steps out of the elevator we were accosted by a server in a white suit jacket carrying drinks on a tray. I took a flute without investigating what it was too closely, and as I sipped champagne, bubbles tickled my tongue and burst with a happy exuberance that put a spring in my step.Delicious.
Conall cut through the crowd with ease as he headed our way, almost like the people were trying to get away from him, and I nearly swallowed my tongue. I had trouble looking anywhere else because his shirt was missing and there were sucker bites along his throat, underneath the collar on both sides, almost like Mr. Killough had wanted to mark him so everyone would know to keep their hands off him. I’d never seen anything that so clearly screamed a person was taken. The clingy red pants he had on matched the collar, and the jewelry in his left nipple had me staring. It wasn’t that I wanted to touch the metal, necessarily, the silver bar was just very eye-catching.
Conall stopped a few feet away from me, then rocked back on his heels, as if he’d thought about maybe giving me a hug but changed his mind. The end of his long, slightly upturned nose wrinkled as he stepped closer with a secretive smirk. “Sloan said we can. Watch, I mean.”
Heat prickled along my skin and gave me a shiver. Nervous excitement twisted in my gut and I slid my hand to Fallon’s wrist, holding on tight. “Really?”
