32. Ronan

Chapter 32

Ronan

T he bell rings and Seamus comes at me hard.

I expected him to be a little sluggish after last night. The guy’s got to be hungover and aching from the beating he took, but if that’s slowing him down, he doesn’t show it. Instead, he gets aggressive from the second we square up.

I take a couple of good punches. A jab, a hook, another jab. My guard’s up and I dance back to get some space, and when he comes in for another sequence, I duck left and counter with a series of hard body blows. He lets out some air and staggers away.

He comes again, teeth grimacing in rage. Another few good hits until I manage to land another body blow, a hard one right in his stomach. He grunts, but I don’t let up. Another, another, another, all punches into his body, hitting hard.

Seamus staggers back, cursing and swinging. Now he’s feeling the night before. My ears are ringing from a particularly good jab he landed on my cheek, but this is my chance. I rush forward and lay in with a solid sequence of punches, half of which land hard, and Seamus is on his back foot. Another jab, another jab, and a hard right hook that connects directly with his chin. Seamus lets out a gasp and drops to one knee as Uncle Brian comes in to break up the action.

“Just stay down,” I tell him, glaring hard. All eyes are on this fight. Half the fucking cousins showed up when word got out that Seamus and I were going to settle our beef in the boxing ring at Bloody Strike. They’re a bunch of vultures, but I would’ve done the same if I were in their shoes, and I can’t blame them.

Seamus needs to hurt for this. The rest of the cousins need to see him lose. But if he wants to save face and bow out, right now is the time. He took his shots, and there’s no reason to prolong it.

Unfortunately, Seamus is stubborn and gets back on his feet.

Uncle Brian calls the action back on. I advance on Seamus, take a weak shot to the ribs, and unload on him. All my anger and frustration from the past few weeks, all my rage ever since Valentina came into my life: I pour it into my punches. Seamus does well to avoid the worst of it, but he takes more ugly body blows and finally catches a sharp left to the jaw, staggering him for a second time.

Two solid jabs knock him onto the mat. Uncle Brian’s there, backing me off, and Seamus is slow to climb up. When he does get to his feet, he’s unsteady. Uncle Brian calls it.

The crowd is silent. I didn’t expect cheers, but fucking something would be nice. I catch some hard looks as Seamus is hustled off the mat and looked at by some of his friends. Niall joins me in my corner with some water and a towel.

“How’d that feel?” he asks brightly. Chipper fuck. It’s too early for that level of enthusiasm.

“Not as good as I hoped.”

“Really?” He pretends to be surprised. “Here’s me thinking punching your problems in the face would help.”

“He’s got to learn.”

“And yet he doesn’t seem like he caught the lesson.”

I look over at Seamus who seems dour and angry. Someone squirts water in his mouth and another cousin pats him on the cheeks to wake him up, and the vibe in the room is entirely off. There should be shouts and excitement, but instead it’s like everyone in here wanted to see me lose, and they’re disappointed that I didn’t.

“I have to handle this differently,” I say with an exhausted sigh. I towel off and pull my shirt back on. “Sometimes I wish leading this fucking family were easy.”

“If it were, anyone could do it.” Niall pats my back. “Come on, boss, you’ll be all right.”

I grunt at him, annoyed, and move around the ring to Seamus’s group. They look at me warily, not sure what to make of my approach, and I can’t blame them.

The family shouldn’t be like this. It was never so divided under my father. He ruled with fear and respect, which isn’t my style, but at least it worked. There was talk and some grumbling from time to time as certain uncles took issue with my father’s decisions, but overall, the Hayes Group operated smoothly.

Until I took over and things went to shit.

“Seamus,” I say and everyone’s staring at me now. “Come with me.”

Cousin Jacob stands up. He’s one of Cormac’s cronies, a young kid with shaggy dark hair and a crooked nose from boxing too much. “I think he took enough punishment already, boss,” he says, and I don’t like the implication.

“We’re going to talk and put this behind us.” I nod at Seamus, who looks wary and uncertain, but pushes up to his feet. “You good?”

“I’m good.” Seamus brushes off his friends and follows me.

We walk across the room and sit together at the bar. The others give us space while Niall pours some coffees and places them down in front of us. Once we’re alone and drinking, I lean forward on my elbows and let out a sigh.

“I hate fighting you,” I say.

Seamus frowns at me. “Why’s that?”

“You fucking punch me in the face and you’re good at it.”

He snorts. “Doesn’t seem that way to me.”

“You’re hungover and not at your best. Peak condition, that fight would’ve gone differently, and you know it.”

“Maybe.” He seems wary as he sips his coffee. “We’ll have to find out.”

I smile at him and shrug. “Yeah, maybe we will.”

“That was good in there though. The second combo you threw at me? Didn’t see it coming. And the body shots were smart.”

“I appreciate you saying that.” My smile fades. “We have to talk about last night.”

Seamus glances away. Is that shame I see on his face? Or is it still anger? I can’t tell, but he just shrugs. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Tell me why you hate Valentina so much.”

That surprises him. He looks back and seems like he’s trying to come up with an answer. He must’ve assumed I was going to chew him out, but I don’t think that’s the way to settle this problem. Instead, I’m trying a different tactic.

“She’s not one of us,” he says at last. “She’s an outsider. It feels like you’re listening to her over your own family, and that’s just wrong, you know?”

I nod my head. “I can understand that.”

“We’ve got ideas too,” he says, warming up to the topic. “Like Cormac, he’s always talking about ideas, you know? But you’re too busy with the Italian girl.”

“You do realize that Cormac has never actually come to me with any jobs or plans before, right?”

His eyebrows knit. “Really?”

“Seamus, really. Not a single time. Neither have most of the uncles. Neither have you. I’m listening to Valentina because our family is at a crossroads, and she’s the only person with actionable ideas.”

“Crossroads?” He seems confused. “I don’t get it.”

“We’re growing.” I drink my coffee and try to make myself relax. “The last few years have been good for the Hayes Group, but my father’s gone now. I’m the one in charge, and if I’m going to keep this growth up, I need some bold new plans. That’s why Valentina’s important. She’s got experience.”

“Experience with an Italian family.”

“The old divisions don’t matter as much as they used to, and you know it. The Biancos employ dozens of different people in their organization, black, Chinese, they don’t give a shit so long as they’re loyal and good workers.”

Seamus’s expression darkens. “We’re not the Biancos.”

“No, we’re not, and we never will be. I don’t want to be like them. But I do want to drag this fucking family into the future stronger than it ever was. Valentina… she’s a part of that.”

Seamus hunches his shoulders. He stares at his coffee, not drinking it, not looking around. A new fight starts in the ring, a sparring session between a couple of the cousins, neither of them very good.

“You’re really not trying to replace us?”

I laugh. I can’t help it. “Is that what Cormac’s saying?”

“I guess so. Something like that.”

“No, Seamus, not even a little bit. This is my family. You’re all my blood. I’m just trying to make us stronger, that’s all.”

Seamus shifts in his chair. “People are talking, you know? They’re used to the way things were before your father died, God rest his soul, and they’re not sure they like the way things are now. Valentina, she seems okay, but she represents all the change they don’t like, you know what I mean?”

I lean back and can’t believe Seamus is capable of a subtle analysis like that, but maybe I’ve been underestimating him for too long.

“We’ll have to get past it. This family is either going to move forward or rip itself into pieces, and you know what I want.”

“I want to move forward too,” Seamus says, gripping his cup. “I wouldn’t have said that shit to her, you know. I shouldn’t have.”

“Yeah, you shouldn’t have. And you can’t ever do it again.”

“You care about her? Like you two are together?”

“I don’t know what we are, but all that matters is nobody can insult her when she’s a part of our organization.”

“All right. I can handle that.” Seamus finishes his coffee and manages a grin. “My fucking kidneys are going to hurt all goddamn day now.”

“Same with my jaw.” I rub my face and grin back. “Niall said the fight was a bad idea, but I don’t know. It was kind of fun.”

“Hell, yeah, it was.”

As Seamus walks off to rejoin his friends, I turn back to the bar and stare at the bottles. Niall joins me and quietly cleans up Seamus’s mug.

“How’d that go?” he asks.

“We’re good for now, but I need a win. A major fucking win.”

“Where’s that going to come from?”

I don’t answer, because I don’t know, not yet at least. But I’ll think of something.