“Oh, forfu—duck’s sake.” Landon groaned. “I’ve spent months trying to quit my bad language so Ferg didn’t pick up swear words. You come along and ruin it in one minute!”
“Kids are like sponges,” Milo told us. I hadn’t spotted the creepy little nerd, but there he was, hovering under a tree like a goddamn wraith. “They absorb language from exposure to it, which is why Ferg knows Italian, and also why Clemmie is fluent in Russian and Italian as well as English.”
Dario turned to the boy and barked something in Italian. The kid looked sad for a moment before he whispered in the wolf-dog’s ear. She fixed her eyes on Dario and bared her teeth.
“Petal eat Papa Dar,” the kid announced like a psycho in training, which he probably was.
“Then Petal won’t get to go for a trail run later,” Dario replied with an eye roll, clearly not at all concerned about the prospect of being eaten by a wolf-dog.
The animal grumbled and laid down, resting her head on giant paws, gold eyes half-closed.
“Drink?” Dario raised an eyebrow at me.
“Whiskey.”
“Beer,” Conal and Ronan replied in unison. They smiled and made small talk with Dario and Landon while the kid talked nonsense to the wolf-dog. But the tension in me grew thicker the longer our girl failed to appear.
By the time I’d finished my drink, my well of patience had officially run dry.
“Where is she?” I snapped, looking at Thea.
“Mind your manners,mudak,” Kyril growled. “My wife does not answer to you!”
“I don’t need you to protect me, dickhead,” Thea scoffed before she turned to me.
“Ver’s gone out. To some bar, I think.”
“She’s what?” Ronan choked before launching off the chair he’d been lounging in while pretending not to give a shit. “She better not be on a fucking date with a soon-to-be dead asshole!”
“Asshole!” The kid parroted, gleefully crowing in delight while Landon groaned.
"Ferg! Time out! Go to your room!" The little boy scowled and stomped off, the dog on his heels.
“No idea.” Thea smirked in response to Ronan while waving a dismissive hand in the air. “Eden said something about afternoon cocktails with hot guys. I didn’t pay any attention to the details.”
My fucking cousin better have life insurance. She knew damn well we were arriving today.
“Relax, bro,” Conal said, always the voice of reason. “She’s probably catching up on family gossip.” Of which there was plenty following the revelation about Saoirse’s new boyfriend. I still hadn’t processed that, but when I did, he was a dead man walking.
“Is it true?” Thea leaned forward, eyes sparkling.
“Is what true?” This wasn’t a line of questioning I wanted to pursue. The only reason we’d come was to bring our girl home. She’d had more than enough time to figure out what she wanted. Choosing anything other than me and my two idiot brothers was unacceptable.
“That Saoirse has been sleeping with the enemy.”
I shuffled awkwardly. I loved my little sister, but right now, I wanted to murder her.
“She didn’t know who he was,” I replied with a shrug. “And now she does it’s over.” She’d been told in no uncertain terms to end her relationship with Cian O’Rourke. That order had notgone down well, but Saoirse wasn’t stupid. She understood the security headache she’d inadvertently created.
We finally talked three nights ago. Naturally, she’d thrown a massive fit when I told her to end the relationship, but I had faith in her ability to put the family first. Blood was thicker than water, after all.
Thea snorted. “Yeah. And I bet she always does as she’s told.”
“Of course she does,” I huffed irritably. My sisters respected me and trusted my judgment in all things.
Landon coughed out a laugh as he stared at his phone. He glanced at me and then grinned.
“Err, you may wish to check her Instagram.”
