Two weeks before, our new tattooist had designed my new ink and etched it directly over my heart.
It was a sage green shamrock, with ornate vines wrapped around it, and it wore a crown shaped like a claddagh ring. Scrolled underneath was one word...
Dubheasa.
“Do you like it?” I asked, almost nervous at what her reaction might be.
She ran her tongue over her lips and nodded. “It’s beautiful, but it’s also very permanent, Aiden.”
I grinned because I loved the way she whispered my name.
“You’repermanent,” I rasped, my voice full of the pent-up need that had been building since the last time she drove away from me.
“Can I ask you a question?” she asked, her voice soft and full of curiosity as her fingertips lightly traced the outline of her ink on me.
I kissed her nose, inhaling her scent. “Yeah.”
“Why did you punch Boot?”
I sucked air in through my nose to tamp down the surge of anger that even hearing his name caused. “’Cause I told him the night he fucked me over that every time he spoke to me, I was gonna punch his mouth, and I wouldn’t stop until the day you came back to me.”
My eyes opened to see shock flash behind hers. “What did he do?”
I sucked more air into my lungs to ease the burn inside and declared, “He set us up, along with Saskia.”
Her fingers stilled.
“I went to my office, sat down to start my paperwork, and fell asleep. Remember how exhausted I was?”
She jerked her head in assent.
“I’d dozed off and woke up with a start, and she was down there, touching me, and I felt sick, Ash. Her hands on me made me wanna puke, and I knew right then it was always gonna beyou. I was about to shove her away and cuss the bitch out when you walked in.”
“Why would he do that?” she asked.
Her hurt expression made my heart jolt, and I smoothed her hair back from her face. “Remember how we were strugglin’ back then? I felt bad I couldn’t give you the attention you deserved, and everythin’ with the boys and the shit with their mom was comin’ on top.”
She nodded.
“I was telling Boot, and he suggested doin’ somethin’ to push you away for a while, just so I could get space to sort my shit. I had no intention of goin’ with it, but somehow it got lost in translation, and the stupid bastard hatched a plan.”
Her lips parted, and I could see her brain working behind her eyes. “But how did Boot know I’d lose my phone and come back?”
“You didn’t lose it,” I informed her. “Nox lifted it.”
Her eyebrows raised. “What?”
“He grew up on the streets, babe. He was pickpocketin’ by the time he was seven.”
“Nox pickpocketed me?” she exclaimed softly.
I nodded. “When we first walked into the bar that night, he hugged you, remember? Boot put him up to it, which he quickly regretted, seein’ as I had them both in the ring the next day. Nox is off the hook for now ’cause he didn’t know the entirety of what Boot was up to, but he’s still on notice. Bootneck, not so much.”
“Oh my God,” she whispered as the truth dawned on her. Her eyes lifted to meet mine again. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know what the fuck had happened myself until after you stormed out. I got to the bottom of it and tried to see you the next day, but you’d already left for Ireland. Then by the time you got back, you were done, and you wouldn’t listen. You were so angry with me that I wasn’t even sure you’d believe me anyway.I was embarrassed too. I mean, my best friend doggin’ me like that? And you warned me about that bitch, and I didn’t listen. I pride myself in not missin’ anythin’, but I missed that one.”
Her eyes filled with tears, and I lifted my fingers to gently wipe them away, my heart clenching at the sadness in her eyes. “Don’t, baby. If you cry, I’ll have to go downstairs and kick the fuck out of Bootneck again, and I don’t wanna leave you right now.”
