Chapter 14

Wrapping my mouth around Darragh's cock was something I had joked about once, and he'd shut me down—hard. I had drunk a shit load of alcohol to gain the courage to even be able to bring it up because I knew it would rattle him, but fuck if we hadn't toed the line of friendship so many times. I've always known I'm bisexual. Cock or pussy—you put either in front of me and I will be down and ready to go.

But now it's happened, so how do I act? I feel like a fucking teenager after I blew my load for the first time, and I'm left wondering if she liked it. No, I'm Cian fucking O'Brien! I don't sit around and worry if someone liked how I sucked their cock. I... fuck... yes, I am now that person, but this is different because he is my best friend and now shit is awkward, or it could be if I wasn't hiding in my room.

The sound of glass shattering has me jumping out of bed, and the pressure of weight on my leg sends a shock wave of pain through my body. I ignore it—there is no way I'm having a cast put on again, so I will tough it out.

I open my door and run out into the hall, reaching the staircase which leads down to the main foyer. Harper stands there with glass scattered at her feet, yet as I move my naked ass down the stairs two at a time, she doesn't turn to face me, instead looking out the front door.

"Fuck you!" I hear Sullivan yell as Ronan steps into the foyer.

"You have shoes on, help Harper," I say while running outside.

At the bottom of the stairs, Darragh is on the ground. From his disheveled appearance, I wonder if he was thrown down. Then Van follows him with a bellow, jumping down the stairs like some fucking villain from a Marvel movie.

Darragh pops to his feet in one swift move as Van's feet touch the ground, and he swings his fist in retaliation but misses him completely.

"You put your fucking hands on her again!" Van shouts.

"And she loved every second," Darragh taunts.

Van swings this time, his fist connecting with Darragh's nose, and blood sprays everywhere. I hadn't even noticed the car pull into our driveway, but Nora jumps out and launches herself onto Van's back, wrapping her arm tightly around his neck.

"Fucking stop, Van. You're two seconds away from saying goodnight," she yells.

Van halts—he knows she is telling the truth. The bitch can send you to sleep with her pressure point bullshit; I have seen it with my own eyes.

"And why the fuck are you naked? It's gross, no one wants to see that thing."

I scoff. "I would have you know, this is a very nice cock."

"He isn't lying," Darragh says, pinching his nose, which I don't think will help if it's broken.

Nora looks between Darragh and me and shakes her head. "It's about time, but I need you to get your asses inside now. We have business to take care of. And for the love of sushi, would you find some pants? You're my cousin and I'm not impressed."

I snort. "Second cousin, we could legally get married."

Nora slides off Van's back and makes a gagging sound before strutting into the house, and we all follow behind her. Ronan is inside the foyer sweeping up the glass, while Harper sits on the stairs.

She looks up as we walk in, and her eyes go wide when I thrust my hips and my cock swings. "I'll get you some sweats," she says, and I nod.

"Thanks. Nora keeps telling me my cock is not impressive, and I'm getting a complex."

Harper chuckles and shakes her head as she walks up the stairs, then comes back two minutes later and throws down a pair of gray sweats from the second level with a wink.

"You wearing those is very impressive," Harper says, walking all the way down the stairs and looking at my crotch as I pull the sweats up.

I laugh and throw my arm around her shoulders, leading her into the kitchen where the others vanished.

Nora is helping Darragh with his nose. The distinct sound of her setting his nose has Harper shuddering in my arms. Ronan has his back to the scene, the blood most likely making him queasy.

"All fixed. Next time duck, for fuck's sake. You're too pretty to have your face flattened," Nora jokes.

"It could fix his personality flaws," Harper jokes.

Nora's laser-sharp gaze flicks to her as if she hadn't realized Harper was even in the room. But I know my cousin well enough to understand she's already aware of exactly how many people are in the building, including any staff.

"Do you want to get your little pet to keep herself busy while the adults talk?"

Harper doesn't react with anger to Nora, instead replying, "Guess I will go count all the ridiculous clothes in my closet."

I laugh at her spunk, but I'm ready to jump in if Nora goes postal; she is unpredictable at best. Thankfully, Nora laughs.

"I like this one."

"Your approval is not needed," Ronan snaps. "Why are you here unannounced?"

Nora looks at Harper again with narrowed eyes. "Are we talking in front of the cum bucket? No offense or anything."

"That's a good one," Darragh says with a laugh.

Van makes a weird noise and takes a step toward Darragh, but Ronan puts his arm out.

Nora sighs. "Fine, Liam is missing, and the Feds are looking into your businesses."

"Where the fuck is Liam?" I snap.

Nora laughs. "How would I know? You're aware he's shady as fuck. Your father hated him, my father wanted to rip his balls off, and your mother left town because of the shit fight they had."

It's true, Ronan's father hated his brother. But he would never have shown it to any of the extended family, and my mother and Liam had their fights too. However, her leaving town had nothing to do with Liam and everything to do with finally being free, as after we took over, she wanted to see the world and leave family business behind, and I don't blame her.

"How do you know what the Feds are doing?" Van asks her.

Nora throws her head back and laughs. "Because they are idiots. Every Friday, a few of them meet at a bar and after a few drinks and a healthy dose of my pussy, they get loose lipped."

"I'll call Connor and see if we can retrace Liam's steps. Van, you can go to The Range with Harper today." Van gives a sharp nod. "Darragh and Cian, you're with me. Start calling family and asking around to see if anyone has heard from him." Ronan turns to Nora. "Do we know how long he has been missing?"

"The chick he was banging said he stopped mid fuck when he got a call, and he said he would be back in a few hours. That was last night, and she was still there when I stopped by an hour ago."

"And where is she now?" Ronan asks. Nora probably killed her, which means we will need to send the clean-up crew to Liam's before the cops show up.

"In the trunk of my car," Nora says with a sly smile on her face. "Don't worry, she won't wake up for a little while yet."

Now I laugh. "You roofied her, didn't you?"

Nora looks at me with a shit-eating grin and nods.

"I'm going to work before I know too much," Harper says. "You ready?"

"Let's get out of here before I kill Darragh. I can't keep looking at his smug face," Van grumbles, following Harper out of the room.

Nora throws her keys at me, and I catch them one-handed. "Go get the hooker from my car, pretty please."

I don't argue, and I also don't care where Liam is, if I'm honest. The guy is sketchy, and we all know it. I bet the hooker is barely legal, and he probably left her to go deal with one of his bitches.

I go down to Nora's Jeep—yep, we all drive them. If you have O'Brien DNA or you are part of our inner circle, you drive a Jeep. When I open the back, low and behold, there is a young woman curled up with drool rolling from her mouth. Grabbing onto her leg, I pull her so I can maneuver her body out, then throw her over my shoulder in a firefighter carry, and she murmurs something indistinguishable as I walk us back to the house.

"Where do you want her?" I ask, and all three of them turn to look at me.

"Take her up to the guest room for now. Darragh, get a set of cuffs on her so she doesn't run until we talk to her."

Darragh nods and opens a kitchen drawer, pulling out two sets of handcuffs. He jiggles them at me and winks.

Darragh follows behind me. This side of the house now has the girls' rooms and thankfully they are at school—both have activities until five, and then Reid will pick them up and bring them home. It gives us a little under three hours to move this woman somewhere else.

Once we get to the room furthest from the girls, Darragh opens the door so I can walk in and flop the woman down onto the bed, then he cuffs her to the headboard.

"Do you think Harper would be okay with handcuffs?" Darragh asks.

"If we are handcuffing you, maybe. I'm not sure she trusts you or any of us enough for that yet—well, maybe Van."

"One day," he says with a shrug.

"Are we going to talk about the elephant in the room?" I ask him.

"You're the one who's been avoiding me, so I thought you regretted what happened. I won't fuck up our friendship."

"Me choking on your cock won't ruin our friendship, but you sticking your cock in Harper's ass might ruin yours and Van's. He seemed pissed."

Darragh laughs. "He'll get over it. Harper is a grown-ass woman and can do what she likes. She doesn't need his permission and neither do I."

"I wouldn't be surprised if he kills you and Ronan in your sleep. He is struggling after the Sam shit, especially after they went to bury her body last night."

After Van took Harper home, Ronan had Sam moved to a place we call The Basement. It's where he takes people and has them tortured if they need a little longer to interrogate than Grinder will allow. He likes to kill, so one day in his shop is as long as people last before they become fertilizer.

"That explains his mood this morning. I didn't realize he would want to bury her. If I were him, I would have killed her and let Grinder turn her into plant food. Did they get her to talk?"

I shrug. "Honestly, I don't know. I expect Ronan will call a meeting tonight while Harper is at work."

Like he was summoned, Ronan walks through the door and looks down at the bed. "Fuck, he likes them young. I hope she is legal—this is the last thing we need right now. Darragh, call Iris and see if the girls can stay with her for the night since we have a houseguest. Nora is going to wait here for Connor and our tech guy. They'll see if it's possible to pull up his home security and track his car through traffic cameras. We will head to his house to make sure nothing is out of the ordinary. I was going to tell you tonight about the information we got from Sam, and Liam was the name we got from her."

"Fuck, if Liam is involved, that means?—"

Darragh cuts me off. "Connor is probably involved. Nora can handle him, if need be, and he doesn't know we suspect anything."

Ronan makes us all drive in one car to Liam's, including Kayne. It makes absolutely no fucking sense; the guy was hired to protect Ronan, so Darragh and I would be as good as dead in an ambush.

Liam lives ten minutes from our house, so fuck knows what Nora did for it to take her an hour this morning. She probably had way too much fun interrogating the poor prostitute.

His front door is unlocked—of course my cousin didn't bother securing the place before she left. Darragh, Kayne, Ronan, and I have our guns ready, and we each take a section of the house.

I get upstairs to the main bedroom, which reeks of cigarettes and cheap pussy. Why the fuck is he sleeping with low-class hookers? It makes no sense when he can afford the top shelf. The level is clear, and nothing looks out of place, plus we know he left here willingly. So I pull my phone out and dial Aunt Quinn. If anyone knows the gossip, it's her.

"Cian, how much bail money do you need?" she says as she answers.

Aunt Quinn is my mother's half-sister. There are a few illegitimate children in the family, and it's the downside to money; occasionally the staff would pop out a mini-O'Brien, hoping it would give them a step up in the world. Oh, how wrong they were.

"No bail money needed, but have you heard from Liam in the last few days? He isn't answering my calls."

Did I mention Quinn hates Liam as well?

"That man is a snake, and I have been telling your mother for years to watch her back with him. I hope he got himself killed—it would serve him right. Last I heard, he was selling your shit to some guy down at that pawn shop off Porters Road. You know the one with the stupid yellow cow out the front? Kiki, the lady who does my hair, saw him in there two days ago, and he was having an animated conversation with the slimeball who owns the place. I'm pretty sure it's in the Aces Crew territory. I wouldn't be surprised if it was a deal gone wrong or the Aces Crew got sick of him selling on their turf and made him vanish."

"Thanks, Quinn. We need to catch up soon."

She says she will stop by one day soon, and we end the call. She won't, and neither will I. Quinn is a few crayons short of a box with all her conspiracy theories.

I walk back down the stairs to the others waiting in the foyer.

"Find anything?" Ronan asks, and I shake my head.

"But I called Aunt Quinn—you know how the woman loves to gossip. Were you aware that Liam has been dealing with Shifty down at the pawnshop?"

"Maybe Sam was telling the truth when she said Liam stole my product," Ronan muses as he pulls his phone out of his pocket and pushes some buttons before lifting it to his ear. "Lyric, I'm giving you a heads-up that I'm going to pay Shifty a visit... Yeah, he was involved in something with my uncle, and I want to know what exactly... No backup needed, just give your guys a heads-up we are coming through, would you? We don't want any casualties. Thanks." Ronan ends the call. "Let's go pay a slimeball a visit and see what Liam has been up to."

Rubbing my hands together, excitement flares in my gut. Today we get to play, and I can't wait.