In the swiftest of movements, Tiernan pulls a knife from his sheath, grabs Alex’s hair, and slices the knife across histhroat—thick, red blood staining Alex’s clothes and the ground instantly. Tiernan smoothly rises to his feet, wipes the blood from his blade, and slides it back into place. “Make sure this gets cleaned up. We’re going home.” He walks straight over to Dean, clasping their hands together.
While he’s likely killed more people than either Cillian or I have, it affects Tiernan in a deeper way than it does us. It will never stop him from doing what needs to be done, but it does something to him that I’ll likely never understand. And Dean…Dean soothes that.
The two of them walk out of the building together.
Cillian gives his father a look, nods, and follows, with me behind them.
“I need to clean up first,” Cil says. He can’t go home to Ollie this way.
“We’ll go to my mom’s,” T answers.
Fia was clearly asleep, but after checking our wounds, she insists on making us food while we all shower. We have clothes here to change into, and I make it downstairs at the same time as Cil, but Dean and Tiernan are nowhere to be seen.
“Eat before you go,” Fia instructs. It’s just sandwiches and soup, but it smells incredible.
“You don’t have to tell me twice,” I say, Cillian and I joining her at the table. I immediately begin shoveling food into my mouth.
“No one was hurt?” she asks.
“No, Aunt Fia. We’re all good,” Cillian replies. She hates this lifestyle, but she knows there’s no changing it.
Fia nods. “So, tell me about this girl Ash likes,” she asks, and we fill her in on Ash and Zuri. She asks about school and about Ollie, all the things a mom is supposed to ask.
Would my own mom have been this way? I’ll never know.
Just as we’re finished eating, Cillian pulls his phone from his pocket. “T and Dean are staying here tonight.”
“I’ll drive them to Ashford tomorrow,” Fia assures us.
She packs some food to go, again one of those mom things I’ve never experienced outside of her and Moira, then hugs and kisses us both goodbye.
It’s an hour drive back to Ashford, and when we get there, I tell Cil, “Drop me off at Shai’s.”
He groans. “What the fuck is it with you and this guy? I don’t like him.”
“You don’t fucking know him, and you don’t like anyone new.”
He grumbles in response. “If you want to fuck, you can fuck someone else.”
“But I want to fuck him. He has a big dick. I like it.”
He shoots me a glance.
“It’s pierced.”
“No shit?”
I laugh. “No shit.”
“Well, I’m glad he’s at least a good fuck. I’m still watching him.”
I give Cillian the address, and he drives me to Shai’s trailer.
“Did you tell him you’re coming?” Cil asks.
“Nope.”
“What if he’s not home?”
