Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

Sean

S he's lying to me again . Not a good start to the day, but I'm getting closer to the truth. She's afraid to go home and Mattie McGuire has something to do with her ending up beaten and fleeing his territory last night.

It's obvious, if I push too much, she'll bolt.

I catch her elbow at the top of the staircase. She's favoring her right leg and shuffling along like she's ninety. The stairs are going to be hell for her in this condition.

"All right. I'll stop asking questions for now if you let me make you something to eat. It'll give you a chance to wake up and I'll know you aren't going to keel over at any moment."

"You don't have to."

"I know that, but I also know that if you hustle out of here in this condition, you're asking for trouble. Let me take care of you for a bit and then you can come up with a plan after a cup of coffee. Do you drink coffee?"

"Got any vanilla hazelnut?"

I make a face. "Do I strike you as a vanilla hazelnut type of man?"

That, at least, gets a giggle out of her. "Whatever you have will be fine. Thank you."

When she attempts the first step and winces, I slide around her side. "I've got you. Between the leg and those ribs, you really need to take it easy for a few days."

She reaches behind my neck and lets me pick her up without argument and that's either a good sign that she's beginning to trust me or a bad sign and she's hurting worse than she's willing to admit.

Still, I'll take it as a win.

I try not to overthink how good it feels to hold her in my arms or how naturally her soft and tender bits melt against my hard, chiseled ones.

At the bottom of the stairs, I consider putting her down, but I don't. I'm not ready to let her go and use the excuse that she's injured to take her all the way to the kitchen. Once she's settled in one of the four little chairs, I turn my attention to feeding her.

"We've got nothing in the fridge. There are some frozen juice containers in the freezer. Several boxes of cereal, but no milk. Oh, and a couple of boxes of berry Pop-Tarts."

"Pop-Tarts and juice for the win," she says. "Assuming you have a toaster."

"Ah, good point." I open a few of the cupboard doors and pull one out. "We do. Pop-Tarts it is."

Honestly, it's lucky I don't have to cook because breakfast in the clubhouse consists of steak and beer, and breakfast at home is prepared by Cora.

I'm a lot of things—culinary isn't one of them.

The two of us talk about nothing important as I start a pot of dark roast, make the juice in a glass jug, and start popping down our breakfast.

"I heard your brother has a new, American girlfriend. That must be exciting. What's her name?"

"Madelaine, but she goes by Laine."

"And do you like her?"

"I don't know her that well, but yeah, she seems nice. The important thing is that Tag likes her—and he does. They seem good together."

I set the juice and her plate of frosted pastry down for her and go back to get my coffee. "I'll call Finn and have him run to the grocery store for the essentials. Is there anything you want him to grab specifically?"

She swallows a sip of juice and pegs me with a look. "I can't stay here, Sean. Da probably has Billy out there searching the streets for me. And when he realizes I crossed the bridge, all hell will break loose."

I scoff. "I can handle Billy Gravely. Your father's enforcer is all brute and no brains. He doesn't scare me."

"Well, he scares me ." It's obvious by her expression that even the mention of Gravely terrifies her.

Why? "Did Gravely have something to do with you ending up like this?"

She frowns. "You said you'd stop asking questions, but no, it wasn't Billy."

"Sorry, I really am just trying to help."

"That's why I need to go. I need to get south of the river before this blows up and is worse for everyone than it already is."

I take a sip of my coffee and let the bitter bliss take hold. "All right. Let's say you walk out that door. Where do you go from here? Home?"

There's no mistaking the tightening of her expression. "That's where I should go."

"But?"

"But nothing. My family is likely worried sick."

"You could call them."

"I can't. My phone got dunked. I'll need to let it dry out before I phone anyone." She eyes up the pantry cupboard. "Do you have a bag of rice?"

"No idea, but we can look." I set my coffee down and find a box of minute rice. Ripping the top open, I point to her ruined, red velvet clutch on the table. "Is your phone in there?"

She finishes her second Pop-Tart and rolls her eyes. "Like you don't already know that."

"How would I know that?"

"I'm sure the moment I was occupied with the doc last night, you went through my purse."

I consider lying, but she was raised in the same environment as I was and would smell the bullshit. "Fine. I did. So, do you want me to shove it in here?"

She chokes and her cheeks flame the cutest shade of pink. "I'm sorry, what? What are you offering to shove in where?"

My brain fritzes out for a beat.

Is she flirting with me, or does she think I'm flirting with her? Damn it, she's way too young and innocent for me to hang around.

Too cute too.

I cough to clear my throat and will my stiffening cock to stand the fuck down. "Your phone, Piper. We were talking about your phone. Should we put it into the box of rice to dry out?"

She blinks and there's a flash of disappointment in her gaze. "Oh, aye. Right. That would be grand."

What was that disappointment about?

I'm Sean-fucking-Quinn. I'm the enemy. A ruffian. An MC president and killer. Why the fuck is she biting her bottom lip and batting her lashes as if I'm playing the part in her bad-boy fantasy?

"Piper, you understand we live dangerous lives on opposite sides, don't you?"

She rolls her eyes at me, and it's way too fucking adorable. "That's why I keep saying I need to go."

"But go where? You were beaten up for a reason, Piper. I don't know what the reason is because you're not sharing, but I know that your father is involved and you can't just take an Uber back to the McGuire compound. You're in trouble and I'm trying to help."

She hands me her iPhone. "You've done what you could. You scooped me off the street and had me patched up, but that's where your involvement ends. I need to get home before Billy finds me here."

"Why are you so worried about Gravely? Does he threaten you?" I wait for an answer but don't get one.

A moment later, the door opens in the front room and then slams shut. "Sean? Where the fuck are you?"

"Kitchen," I shout back.

Seconds later, my older brother is standing in the kitchen doorway glaring at our guest. After a beat, his heated gaze shifts to me. "What the fuck were you thinking? Get her out of here."

I stand. "I was thinking that the daughter of our enemy was lying beaten and bleeding on our side of the river. If something happened to her in our streets, it needed to be addressed. The last thing we need is for her to be over here, playing on the other side of the tracks and for her to get assaulted by one of ours."

Tag's expression darkens. "Is that what happened?"

"No. This is somehow tied to Mattie and whatever happened in a hotel on the south side."

"Problem solved," Tag says, flinging his arm through the air with a fierce wave. "Call a cab and send her across the goddamned river. Let her family take care of her. She can't be here, Sean. After the Aiden clusterfuck, we don't need more bad blood with the McGuires."

"It's more complicated than that."

Tag doesn't seem affected by my words. "Then explain it to me quickly because we've got a busy day."

I take a couple of steps back and lean my ass against the countertop. "I can't explain it because she's not talking. I don't fucking know what happened."

"Then how is it our problem?"

"It's not," Piper says. "And as I told Sean, as soon as I finish breakfast, I'm out the door."

"No. You're not." I hold up a finger to keep her from arguing with me. "Your father either had you beaten or allowed you to be beaten to within an inch of your fucking life. You crossed the bridge last night to flee his territory, deciding that the Quinns were a safer bet."

"Well, she was wrong about that," Tag snaps. "Because if her Da is abusing her, she can go to a fucking woman's shelter. She can't be here."

"And I'm not shipping her off without knowing what kind of trouble she's in. Christ, Tag, she's an innocent in this. She's a young woman I found battered in our streets. Do our laws only apply if she has the right last name? Da wouldn't think so. That's not how he ruled."

Tag stiffens at the low blow of throwing Da in his face, but it doesn't make my comment any less true and he knows it.

He turns to face Piper, and I hate the way she shrinks away from his ire. "What did your father do, Piper? If you tell us the truth, maybe we can keep you safe. But you'd need to tell us the entire fucking story."

She shakes her head. "I can't tell you."

"No. You won't tell us," I correct.

"Semantics. Look, Sean, you helped me and I'm grateful for the kindness, but if I tell you my father's business, I'll be a traitor as well as a disappointment. I'll be cast out of my family."

Honestly, I don't see that as a big loss, but that's me.

Tag looks at me and shrugs. "Then there's nothing we can do. She won't tell us and it's not our problem. Every moment she stays here puts the truce, the people of Dublin, and our family in greater danger. Send her south and be done with it. And do it within the hour."

He dips his chin, holding me in his gaze, and I can't get over how much like Da he is. And like our father, Tag is in charge of the Emerald Isle Mafia.

He's the boss and if Piper won't help me help her, then what am I sticking my neck out for? I don't like it but she's not giving me much of a choice.

"Fine. I'll take care of it."

Tag leaves and the walls of the house rattle when the door slams.

"Why would you start a fight with your brother over this? I'm not worth it. Just call me a taxi and send me back. I'll figure something out. I have friends."

I laugh, pulling out my phone to text the twins. "Right. And I'm sure your father put every one of them under surveillance the moment he learned you were missing."

"Probably not. I'm pretty sure he'll know I crossed the river by now. And if he does, he'll never expect me to come back and stay with one of my friends."

Bryan texts me back, saying they're on the way. Good. I have a few things I need to take care of and don't trust Piper to be left alone.

"We can agree to disagree on that."

She feels she can't tell me what happened. I get that. But that doesn't mean I can't figure it out.

"The twins are coming over to watch you for a bit."

She sighs and gives me a pleading look. "Just let me go, Sean. Billy is probably milliseconds away from burning this house down with us in it. Don't put your brothers in danger."

I laugh at the thought. Brendan and Bryan live for danger. They're seekers of bloody chaos. "Let Billy Gravely set foot on this property and he'll be missing his fucking head."

She groans. "It's a deadly mistake to underestimate Billy."

"Please. It's a deadly mistake to underestimate me . I run the Dublin Devils and have a crew of more than a hundred men who will do anything I tell them."

She sinks back in her chair. "You can't keep me prisoner, Sean."

"You're not a prisoner—you're my guest. Having you stay here is for your own protection and your father's."

She frowns. "How do you figure?"

I grin, letting her see just how serious I am. "Because if you go home and he lays one fucking finger on you, I'll rip his fucking hands off. I'll cut him up and leave his body for his precious Dobermann watchdogs to snack on. No one hurts you, Piper. No one. Not ever again."