Page 111 of Wicked Ruin

“Another drink, lass?” he asks. “Heard you were quite the hero with Da.”

“Everybody keeps saying hero,” I say with an eye roll.

“That's because you were.” He taps his Coke bottle to mine.

I watch Keenan stretch his arm across Caitlin's shoulders and allow myself one moment to wish that was Declan and me. I pick up my phone to text Bronwyn when Colm drops into the seat on the right beside me. I look up in surprise.

“Hey.” Declan’s younger brother looks a lot like him. He could’ve been a younger version of Declan, with the same sharp, roguishly hot features, but he’s slightly shorter and bulkier. Caitlin says he’s a mini version of their father, Cormac.

“You’re looking well, lass,” he says with a smile.

“Thanks, Colm.” I smile, then look back at my phone.

“I mean it.” He leans in slightly. “Genuinely. There’s something different about you.”

Oh shut up, Colm.

I’ve always liked him and still do, but is it that obvious I’m pregnant? They say pregnant women glow.

“New moisturizer,” I say with a smile. “Amazing what they can bottle, isn’t it?”

He smiles before he leans in closer. “You seeing someone?” he asks quietly. I blink in surprise and look at him more closely. Is he… hitting on me?

I feel the shift in the air before I confirm it. Declan’s looking at us. I don’t turn my head. I don’t need to. Colm’s quick glance and frown do the work for me.

“No,” I say, which is technically true in all the ways that matter to Colm. I’m not seeing anyone. Hell, I skipped right over that part, didn’t I?

He considers that like a man who’s filing information away for later. “Right,” he says finally, with a small smile that doesn’t give anything away. I need to learn that skill myself.

The chair to my left scrapes back beside me, and Declan sits down.

Uh-oh.

He sets his drink on the table and doesn’t speak at first, his silence and presence bringing their own kind of weight.

“Colm.”

Colm glances between us and sits up straighter. “Dec.”

Declan’s his older brother, and I’ve never been more aware of that than I am right now. He leans over, his gaze assessing and stern. “Go find someone your own age to charm,” he says in the tone of a man who’s been in charge of his younger brother for most of his life.

“Right,” Colm says, frowning.

“There’s nothing right about it,” Declan says, his voice level and stern. “Go enjoy the party.”

Colm opens his mouth, then thinks better of it and stands. “Bridget,” he says with a nod, like none of it happened.

I stare at my Coke, my voice just above a whisper. “You didn’t have to do that.”

I glance at his hand on the table, six inches from mine. He doesn’t move. Doesn’t touch me. Then he stands and stretches, as if he didn’t just half threaten his brother away from talking to me, and goes back to Valentina like he’s supposed to. Colm watches both of us curiously, and so does Valentina.

My heart beats faster. Are we more obvious than I thought?

I pick up my phone and text Bronwyn quickly, my fingers flying over the keys.

Something isn’t right, girl

Down the table, I see her pick up her phone and text me back. My phone vibrates with a text just as I feel someone behind me. I blink, looking up. I didn’t even notice Valentina until she’s beside me. I glance quickly to see Declan talking to Seamus. He hasn’t noticed she’s here yet.