Sloan raised his eyebrows, the scar that ran across his face moving with them. “Ilya is also the cousin of Arseny Sidorov, and while I am personally not a fan of the Russians, they hate the Nevsky Bratva as much as we do. I could use that to our advantage. The last thing I need is to piss Sidorov off.” He tilted his head toward me. “Are you going to sit down, Aspen?”
I’d rather not, but I didn’t have much choice except to follow orders, especially when I felt the presence of soldiers at my back. I didn’t know where they’d come from, but I didn’t care. I could take them all down if I wanted to, but in the end I was loyal to the Killoughs. Sloan had never led us astray.
I took a seat beside Fallon, who tensed slightly and gave me a short glance. The couch was big enough to seat five of us comfortably, and now I was making it a squeeze. Our legs bumped.
“However, Sidorov and I have talked.” Sloan grabbed Conall’s shoulder and dragged him in closer until Conall was tucked under his arm. “And while he doesn’t want me to kill Ilya, we have come to an arrangement where we can... hurt him. Maybe leave some permanent scars. Sidorov was adamant, though, that he must not be killed. Theirbabushkawouldn’t forgive him if that was to happen.”
“So, what now?” Rowen asked calmly. “We have permission to torture him?”
“No.” Sloan’s bright blue gaze turned to Fallon. “He does.”
Fallon’s eyes widened. “Me?”
“Yes, you.” The boss smirked again. “If anyone deserves to make him hurt, it’s you, don’t you agree?”
“I....” Fallon glanced at me, and I slid my hand down to his, clasping our fingers together. He nodded and turned back to Sloan. “Yes, sir. It’d be my pleasure to hurt him for the Company.”
“No, not the Company. For you.” Sloan let go of Conall and leaned forward, closer to Fallon. Hard lines creased his forehead and his jaw tightened until he looked dangerous—ready to kill. “I take care of my loyal men, Fallon. You did your job, and he and his men hurt you, so you get the privilege of making him scream.”
Fallon caught the corner of his lip with his teeth and nodded again, but he didn’t say a word. Apparently that was enough for Sloan because he stood and held out his hand to Conall. His pet rose with Sloan’s help, and they kissed passionately, Sloan going so far as to grab Conall’s ass and squeeze. When they were done, he turned back to Fallon.
“You can visit him tomorrow at Vinegar Hill. You have two days to torture him all you want, then Sidorov will collect him from an arranged meeting spot.” He reached out to ruffle Fallon’s hair. “Do us proud, little Maher. Make sure Ilya doesn’t think about betraying us or our allies again.”
Fallon’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and he gave Sloan an uneasy smile. If the boss noticed Fallon’s hesitation, he didn’t say anything about it before he and Conall started heading for the door. They stopped near the threshold of the living room and Sloan turned to us again.
“By the way, your parents and brothers were adamant about visiting you. I kept them away. I know how they can get, and I’m not in the mood to deal with petty fights between your men”—he stopped to glance around at all of us—“and your family. I told them to stay away. I’ve given you two days without them, but I assume you’ll have them visit after Ilya is sent back to his cousin. Not even I can make them stay away forever.”
“Poor you.” Conall snickered and waggled his eyebrows. “Two days of torturing and fucking without interruptions, how will you survive?” He cupped his mouth as though telling a secret. “I would start with a ride on that one, he’s sexy.” He pointed at me, then laughed when Sloan slapped him on the ass—hard.
“I hope you like your cock ring,” Sloan growled out. “And you can stay chained to the bed all day tomorrow while I fuck you whenever I feel like it.”
Conall rolled his eyes toward Vail. “Ohno, please don’t do that, Boss. Not that punishment.”
Vail slapped his hand over his mouth and chuckled into it. “Also, Mr. Killough, watch your manners. I heard theF-word in there.”
“Oh. Oh.” Conall cackled.
Sloan stared at him. “Laugh all you want, pet. You’re getting punished for whatever he says, too.” He smirked at Vail. “Pleasure as always, Dr. Mifflin. Gentlemen, spank your boy for me, will you? That’s an order.”
Cillian snorted. “With pleasure, Boss.”
They said their goodbyes and left, but not without Conall getting another hard slap on the ass. I stood and watched their show, which went as far as Sloan throwing Conall on the top of the sports car’s hood and nearly fucking him right there. The only thing that stopped them was the suits they were wearing. By the time he let Conall up they both had obvious hard-ons and were probably going home to do something about them.
When I was sure they were gone, I went back to the living room where Cillian and Rowen were in one of their arguments already.
“I don’t like this, do I?” Rowen crossed his arms. “Fallon’s never tortured a man by himself.”
“Like he’s never shot anyone. He did that fine.” Cillian huffed and stood. “Enough of this shite. What the boss wants, he gets.”
“The poor boy—”
“I’m right here,” Fallon snapped, earning their surprised attention. It wasn’t often he got mad at either of them, mostly because he was too busy trying to impress them. “I don’t need either of you to tell me what I can and can’t do. I’m not a baby, even if you want to treat me like one. For fuck’s sake.” He raised his hands and dropped them. “I’m going to fucking lie down. None of you fuckers follow me—except Vail, because he’s a sweetheart.” He stormed out of the room.
Cillian and Rowen turned their attention on each other, clearly shocked by the stream of bullshit that had come out of him, and I would have laughed if I wasn’t so concerned.
Vail stood and shifted closer to me, his mouth turned downward. “Can you go see if he’s okay? I know he’s mad at you, but he... he needs you, Aspen. I don’t understand the mob life like you do. It’s best if you go.” His gaze jumped to something behind me, but I ignored it. He did that a lot, distracted by something as little as a bug flying past.
I sighed. “Fine, you deal with these idiots.”
