Timmy stared at her.“I wish I’d seen this.Finally, she’s gonna go down.”
Shay joined the group as well as some of the others.“Two questions: is spoodoolicks money?And did you actually see this happen?”Shay asked.
Gretchen nodded.“Yeah, she went to get her money or so she claimed.I was there and I saw it.Although she never saw me I sure as hell saw her.It was glorious.She just lost her shit right there and then.She was tossing things all over and saying she was done with this place.”Gretchen studied him then she looked around and saw the faces of several men she didn’t know.She stepped back and stumbled on her feet.
Aiden stepped up behind her and he was there if she fell.
She used her cane and got her balance back.“Who the hell are all of you?I thought I was meeting Timmy and his crew here.Sinead didn’t tell me about all of you guys.”
Seamus raised his hands up at her.“Hey now, we’re Sinead’s family and we aren’t gonna hurt you.”
Gretchen turned her head and stared at them suspiciously.“Yeah, she said her uncles were here but you can’t all be uncles.”
“Oh yes, we can,” Liam said.“The O’Malley clan is huge.”
Shay stood and said, “I’m not family at all, but my name is Shay Montross.I’m what these guys...”He motioned his thumb over the whole group.“They call me the government guy.”
Gretchen snorted.“Oh, that’s great, now we’re working with theman?What are you doing here, exactly?”
Shay grinned.“For one, I’m the one who took Shanon’s money.”
Gretchen’s brows shot up and then she grinned too.“Ok, so you’re the one that mucked up her life so far.That’s nice to know.”She turned around suddenly and glared at Aiden, “And who the hell are you sneaking up on me like that?Don’t you know sneaking up on a person might just get you hurt?”
Aiden grinned at her then he also raised his hands in surrender.“I’m not gonna hurt you.I’m only standing here in case you fall.”
Gretchen growled at him.“I ain’t gonna fall.I walk all over this town and I will walk all over you too.I got my feet under me just fine.”
Finn laughed as he sang, “Those boots are made for walking and that's just what she’ll do.”He turned to Teague and teased,“Now she’ll just walk all over you.”
Gretchen stared at him then she leaned her head back and laughed.
Everyone joined her.
Liam scoffed.“Of all the silly...”
Gretchen seemed to calm herself and nodded at Finn.“That was hilarious.I can see that you are my kind of crazy.”
Breaking in, Timmy asked her, “How many men walked away this morning, Gret?Did you see how many she’s got left?”
Gretchen turned around to stare at Timmy.“Yeah, about seven left this morning and she’s only got about that many left.”Shaking her head she admitted, “But Timmy, that wicked woman is losing her tiny evil mind.”
“Well, that’s good for us then, isn’t it?”Finn grinned.
Gretchen turned her head to stare at him as she still smirked about his song.Then she shook her head at his statement.“That’s not good news.”
Finn stared at her.“Why not?Why isn’t that good for us?”
Gretchen rolled her eyes.“Because for a woman like her, losing her mind is never a good thing for other people.She already had a screw loose.Then now she’s getting desperate and that’s when she’ll start making the wrong plans.”
“What do you mean?”Seamus frowned.
Gretchen snorted.“All her life she’s learned what she can get away with and what she can’t.She grew up learning her trade and figuring how to make money that isn’t really legit if you know what I mean.Then she married a man like Stuart MacGruder and that’s when she got used to a certain lifestyle.Spoiled her rotten.She turned her back on anyone who couldn’t give her or make her money.She got used to just taking and taking and not worrying about how to pay for what she took.I've been watching here for more years than I care to admit, but now I’ve been noticing something else about that woman.”Shaking her head she admitted, “She’s always been a little high strung but recently she’s been over the top type of high strung.Something happened that either just pissed her off or made her think she needed major security.”
Seamus snorted.“Yes, that would be losing one brother to a gunshot wound and the other to arrest, then she found her lover shot to death in an alley and finally her father is stuck in prison.She’s alone for the first time in her wasteful life and my bet is she doesn’t know how to be alone.”
Gretchen paled as she understood what he just said.But one thing stood out more than the rest.“She had a lover other than her husband?Is she nuts?Stuart isn’t going to like hearing that.And he’s one man you don’t want to cross, not in this life anyway.”
Seamus shook his head.“No, it isn’t good.No man ever wants to know that the woman he loves has taken another man to her bed.”
