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She smiles big and runs out of the kitchen. Sullivan waits until they are gone. “You seriously told the fucking school you are getting married?”
Darragh shrugs. “Sure, why not? Since you three are all so keen on her sticking around, I figured there was no harm in it.”
Cian spins around on his chair to watch the action go down.
“No harm in it?!” Ronan bites out. “For fuck’s sake, she was so fucking happy to go to the meeting to help the girls, and you used her?”
“Just drop it,” I interject. “It’s fine.”
“You can’t keep letting him treat you like shit,” Sullivan says.
This time it’s me who walks up to him and wraps my arms around his abs, resting my head against his chest. “I’m a big girl, and I don’t need you to protect me from him. We have an understanding. Let’s face it, one of his daughters hates him right now, and she loves me—he needs me.”
Sullivan’s chest rumbles beneath me. “Are you sure?”
“I am. I’m just the whore his daughters love, and they feel safe with me. Plus, the asshole has been teaching me self-defense, so I can karate chop him in the neck and kick him in the nuts like a pro.”
Cian laughs. “If anyone ever gets to marry you, it’s me.”
“No fucking way,” Sullivan says. “I saw her first.”
Cian cackles. “This isn’t an ‘I saw her first’ situation.”
Back and forth they bicker, until Ronan eventually snaps. “Shut the fuck up! I’m the boss, so it would be me, obviously. Now, Harper, take the girls to school with Cian. Your security will follow behind. Darragh and Van, you’re with me.”
Darragh opens his mouth but thinks better of it. I look at him and ask for permission silently, and he nods, even if he doesn’t look happy about it.
Everyone files out of the kitchen—Cian first, then Ronan, Sullivan, me, and Darragh last. As I walk through the archway from the kitchen, Darragh grabs my elbow and pulls me into his body.
“I’m going to see John on Friday if you want to see your grandmother.”
At my nod, he releases me. I have spoken to my grandmother a lot over the phone, but I haven’t been emotionally strong enough to see her in person. She will know something is wrong, and I will break. I won’t have her see me that way.
If Darragh comes with me, I won’t allow myself to fall apart—not in front of him. There is no way I could let him see me so vulnerable around my grandmother. That, and she might murder me for cutting my hair. Okay, not really, but she will have a very strong opinion.
The girls are strapped in by the time I get to the green mom car, and Cian is in the front seat with Taylor Swift playing on the stereo, both girls singing along.
As I get into the driver’s seat, I have to pull it forward a little and adjust the mirrors, but thank god it’s not a stick shift—I fucking loathe driving those. Darragh reversed the car into the garage, so I pull straight out into the driveway. As I get to the gate, a black SUV pulls in behind us. I hate the fact we have to be followed, though I get the reason. My nerves were on edge the first time Callum showed up. He is my main security, and if he isn’t available, Ronan sends one of his regular guys, normally Kayne.
Once we clear both gates, it’s smooth sailing, until we get to the end of the next street and see Reid walking down the road.
“Hey,” I call out after I’ve pulled over. She comes over to my open window.
“What’s up?” she asks.
“Why are you walking? There are zero bus stops around here.”
That makes her laugh. “I know. It’s a pain in the ass to get here from Huntersville, and then to race over the bridge to get to school, but money is money.”
“Get in. We’ll give you a lift. The girls’ school is over the bridge, so you will at least be closer.”
Reid smiles and climbs in the back with the girls. “Thank you. Normally, my best friend, Tyde, will ride his dirt bike and come get me, but he didn’t answer his phone this morning.”
Cian pulls the visor down and looks in the little mirror. “Do you have a license?” he asks, and Reid nods.
“Good, we’ll fix up a car for you, maybe even this monstrosity. You can drive the girls to school once Darragh trusts you. He has mentioned getting them a driver, but this saves time and money, though some of the time you’d be lumped with Dusty—she is the girls’ personal security. Ronan has security on all our asses now.”
“I can’t afford that, honestly, and I don’t mind the walk. It only takes forty minutes for me to get to the bus stop, and the bus takes me straight to school.”
