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Darragh snorts. “Fired is not the word I would use.”
“Pretty sure they understand Ronan’s subtlety—this end of the building is off limits. Thank you all for coming and I will see you Friday,” I say.
Everyone gets up and leaves the room, and I make my way over to Ronan. As I pass Darragh, I pause for a moment. “FYI, Reid has the car. What sort of dick makes a teenage girl walk forty minutes to a damn bus stop just so she can get to school?”
Darragh opens his mouth, but Cian cuts him off. “Oh, she isn’t keeping that car, either. You are buying her something flash which says, ‘Fuck your wealthy asses, we are the fucking O’Brien’s, and we are here to make a statement.’ I was thinking a monster truck would do it, but I will leave that up to you.”
Darragh blinks and then flips Cian off. Ronan is smirking at me when I finally reach him, and I throw my arms around his neck. “Thank you.”
“You don’t have to thank me, Harper, or any of us. This is what we do for people we care about.”
“Correction, people you’re fucking. I didn’t get no brothel given to me,” Darragh says with an exaggerated sigh. I flip him off, and he laughs.
“You’re just jealous you didn’t get to try me out before I retired. And before you throw the word whore at me, remember who frequented my establishment. Ronan sent me over the financials, and Dylan made a lot of money from a certain Irish man.”
Darragh falls into a chair and throws his legs carelessly up onto the table. “What can I say? The guy is flexible and loves to be manhandled.”
Ronan and Sullivan looked shocked at his admission.
“So you’re gay now?” Cian says. I can hear something in his tone, maybe a little jealousy laced with frustration.
Darragh throws his head back and laughs. “I don’t know what the fuck I am—you know how shitty my childhood was. Fuck, you all were there when my uncle shot my cousin for being gay.”
I step back from Ronan and attempt to sneak out of the room. As I slip behind Darragh, he reaches out and grabs my arm.
“Stay, Cian has a big mouth and will tell you all this shit anyway.”
I nod and move around so I am sitting across the table from him.
“My whole family is homophobic. They hide it behind their religious beliefs, and the fucked-up thing is, I could respect their views if they were not so messed up and toxic about it. My cousin didn’t deserve to die because she was in love with a woman, and that was only one of the fucked-up things I went through. When I met you guys, shit changed for me and I had a genuine family, one who didn’t care who I fucked or what came out of my mouth. Shit, I still have long hair because my grandfather was pissed at Iris for cutting her hair short; he told her she was a disgrace, that boys had short hair and girls had long hair.”
“Is that why you freaked out when I offered to suck your dick?” Cian asks, and Darragh nods.
“You’re my family, and I can’t fuck that up. I have so many hang ups from my past. Everything happened at once, with finding out I was a father and then Cian’s accident, so I wanted to clear the air.”
“You know, even if I sucked your cock, I would always be your best friend. Tell him, Harper, you can mess around with your bestie and still be friends, right?”
All four of them look at me. “How the hell should I know? I haven’t fucked my best friend. Jordyn is hot and all, but she is straight and so am I—or mostly, unless I was paid enough.”
“Let’s drop it. I won’t repeat any of it again and you don’t even know the half of it. My family was fucked up, and I’m just glad most of them were taken care of.” Darragh looks at Ronan, who gives him a small nod.
“Well, thank you for sharing, but you’re still a douche. It must just be a personality defect,” I say, sliding my chair back.
Ronan clears his throat. “Harper, did you want a tour of the place now that it’s been renovated?”
I nod. Everything looks like it’s mostly done, but I want to see it all before Friday arrives and I get my first taste of being the boss.
Something is off with Ronan; he won’t look me in the eye. I have known the man for a long fucking time, and he is avoiding me, but I can’t worry about it today. Cian and I have been working on a surprise for Harper, and today is the day her brand-new Jeep is being delivered.
Cian smiles at me. “It’s here,” he says, as he stands from the lounge chair he has been confined to. Ronan has one of us babysitting his ass all the time now, since he can’t trust the idiot won’t saw his cast off, having decided his leg is now better.
“I will go find Harper if you meet the man downstairs.”
“Who are you meeting downstairs?” Darragh asks as he walks into the living room.
Cian explains, and I ignore Darragh as I walk past. Things between us are still not great. While everyone else might have forgiven him, Darragh isn’t off the hook with me yet, even if he is being nicer to Harper.
I take the stairs to the bedrooms two at a time; she must be in her room, considering I haven’t seen her for a while. Her room is empty and the only other person missing is Ronan, so I head to his room, placing my finger on the digital scanner, and the door clicks open.
