"Ash, can we go back to the bar yet? I'm all out of tequila." Saoirse lifted her empty glass in his direction.
Ash muttered something into his comms, waited a few seconds, and then shook his head. "No."
Saoirse groaned. "Fuck my life. Why couldn't these eejits wait until I was proper drunk? I bet James won't want to know me now." She looked sad about that, but Aoife just snorted.
"That wee little gobshite has a girlfriend. Didn't he mention it?"
Oh fuck. Saoirse gasped. "He didn't tell me that! I was ready to…" Her bottom lip wobbled. "That fucking liar!"
"Want me to gut the little shit?" Ash piped up with a feral grin. "Nobody would miss him."
"Aww, that's so sweet. You're my favorite guard." My best friend beamed and he winked.
"Anytime, cupcake. Just say the word."
"Pretty sure Ronan will end him if you ask, sis."
"Yeah, but then he'd lecture me on my taste in men, so nope. I've already had that lecture this week from Dec. He acts like my fucking father sometimes."
"Maybe because ouractualfather is too busy banging influencers?" Aoife pulled up a photo on Instagram to illustrate her point. I felt like reminding them at least their father wasn't a psychopath, but decided it was better not to speak his name, in case he appeared, like in the horror movies Saoirse had made me watch as an impressionable teen.
Saoirse made vomiting sounds. "Ugh. Don't remind me."
They carried on talking over the intense scenes taking place on the TV screen, but I tuned them out. Outside, guards milled around on the lush green lawn, and in the distance, I spotted a few prone bodies. Hopefully not any of the men that worked here.
"You OK, Ver?" Saoirse's question jolted me out of my introspection.
"Yeah." She hadn't commented on my disappearance, probably because James had distracted her.
"Where did you get that scratch?" When I looked up, she was staring at the jagged tear on my arm, which had thankfully stopped bleeding. I really needed to clean it up before it got infected.
"I was outside when the shooting began and hid behind a rosebush."
She leaped up in alarm and shot over. "Oh my god, are you alright? Why didn't you say so?"
"It's fine. I was with Ronan." The minute the words slipped out I realized my mistake.Dammit.
"Wait… what? You were with my brother?" Her eyes widened in surprise while Aoife fixed me with a beady look. "Spill, sister!"
"There's nothing to spill." I shrugged and looked back out of the window. "I went for a walk, and we bumped into each other.Then we heard gunfire, at which point he escorted me inside and told me to come to your room."
That about covered it. No way was I admitting how close I'd come to crossing a line with him. Honestly, I ought to be thanking whoever attacked the estate. If armed men hadn't opened fire, I might have irrevocably embarrassed myself.
My friend relaxed, apparently satisfied with my half-assed explanation. I caught Aoife looking at me, though, and suspected she knew I'd glossed over the details. "No doubt he'll be off to the Mucky Dog on the docks later to burn off some adrenaline once the dust settles here. Those sluts love him."
The thought of him driving away to hook up with some other women made me want to vomit. Would Conal join him?
"None of us are leaving the estate until we know who's behind this," Ash stated with a grim expression. "Not even Ronan."
"I can't leave?" Aoife's boyfriend spoke for the first time since I'd walked into the room. What was his name again? Caspar? Crispin?
"You can go, Chris. Declan will want the guests gone once the guards have cleared all the dead bodies away." Chris slapped a hand over his mouth and shot into the bathroom, where we all heard him retching. Ash rolled his eyes while Saoirse smirked, but Aoife seemed resigned. I guess she'd worked out Chris wasn't the man for her.
We heard a knock on the door. Ash disengaged the lock and peered out, gun first. I heard a murmur and then Conal walked in, blood spattered all over his shirt, his normally pristine hair in disarray. I scanned his muscular body for any signs of injury but found none. Ronan stepped into the room behind him, covered in gore. And something that looked a lot like gray brain matter.
Chris staggered out of the bathroom, took one look at the state of the twins, and bolted back in to empty his guts again. Hereally was pathetic. Anyone would think he'd never seen blood before. Good job he wasn't a medical student.
"Don't worry, Pixie, I'm fine," Ronan teased when he clocked me checking him out.
