A shiver runs over me at his words. As I’m fitting my key into the lock, that same feeling of being watched comes over me. I open my door and turn to scan around the area, but there’s nothingexcept Andy next door. I turn my head, and my gaze meets his and holds for a beat. A knowing feeling fills me as he looks right at me, and he tilts his head slightly as if in question.
Shaking my head I smile, wave, and walk into my house, closing my front door with a slight snick.
Silence enfolds me and I lean my head against my front door, looking up at the ceiling as if it’s going to give me answers. I know deep down in my soul that I’ve just moved in next door to my benevolent stalker.
I should probably be worried, but I’m not. Maybe my self-preservation side is broken, because I feel nothing but safe in his presence.
Mikayla makes her displeasure known, so I hurry to get her supper and ready for bed. I’ll have time to think about what living next door to Andy O’Shea means for me later.
CHAPTER 7
BUTCHER
“Fecking idiot,” I mutter, banging my head back against the front door I've just shut, berating myself. “Not only did I act like a teenager, I also frightened the life out of them.”
From my office, a phone beeps. I know what it is. I’ve only just got back home, and already I’ve got another piece of shit that I’ll need to watch and then dispatch. My contact is never wrong. Makes me wonder why I’ve never seen his father’s name on my list. Maybe I will someday.
It only reiterates that I’m not good enough for the angel and her cherub next door. I don’t know what I was thinking. My hands are stained red with the blood of my enemies; I shouldn’t contemplate touching her with them.
I should leave them alone, content to live next to them, knowing that they’re safe.
Unlocking the drawer with the second phone, I open the message.
Aiden Kelly: Check the locker.
Okay.
That’s it. We keep our contact minimal. Aiden with his connections in government, and me with my connections to the underworld seem like an unlikely partnership, but we work.
We have done so for many years, and I’m sure we will for many more to come.
PART 2
2015/2016
CHAPTER 8
MOIRA
It had been over a year since I’d moved here and started working for the O’Sheas in their bakery. Mikayla had just had her third birthday, and I’d never been happier. Butcher was hardly ever home, and I sometimes wondered if that was because of us. But then he’d always make sure that one of his crew stayed in the houses opposite us, and he always let me know when he’d be away.
As for Mikayla, she adored the man, and the feeling was mutual. He always made time for her when he saw her and brought her gifts from his travels.
Her first word had been Butch. Not mama. Butch. I wasn’t sure how I felt about that.
I did know that I was grateful to him for making me feel safe. And while he may be threatening to some and I know that members of his crew eyed him warily I’d never, not once, felt afraid of him. Something told me that he’d burn the world to the ground for Mikayla and me, and I was alright with that.
I’m finishing up washing tonight’s dishes when there's a knock on the door. Glancing at the clock on the wall, my eyebrows rise in surprise. It’s nearly ten at night. The only person that it could be is Butcher.
Drying my hands on the dishcloth, I toss it on the side as I walk out of the kitchen to the front door. Standing on tiptoe, I peer through the security hole. Only when I confirm it’s Butcher do I take the chain off, unlock and open the door, stepping back to allow him to enter.
As always when I see the man, desire spikes through me and I have to stop myself from reaching out and touching him.
“Hi Butcher, everything okay?”
His dark eyed gaze meets mine, and as always when he looks at me the air feels charged and heavy, as if he steals every bit of oxygen from the room just by being in it.
My nipples peak and throb. Tonight is going to be one of those nights—just like all the other nights I’ve spent after being in his presence. A night filled with both frustration and completion. Frustration because it’s not him making me come, and completion because it’s his name on my lips when I do.
