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“What about the rat?” I ask, the only thing of importance to me. Whoever told Cormac about Thea and where she was being held is no man I want in this city. Only a handful of my men know about Thea, and none of them scream traitor.
Cormac nods once. “I’ll give you the rat’s name, and you can do whatever you want with him.” His eyes shift to where Thea and Max are. “I won’t go so far as to say the last forty years were stupid, but… maybe now that both our fathers are gone, it’s time to move past our hatred for each other. Your girl was right when she said we could do anything we want in this city if we work together.”
“That’s assuming I can look past you having Thea kidnapped,” I growl out, feeling the need to punch Cormac right in the nose. Break it. Inflict a little pain on the asshole.
“Come on. If you were in my position and you heard I had a girl I loved holed up in my place, you’d do everything you could to get ahold of her,” Cormac says, pouring another round for himself and me after snatching the bottle from an unhappy Roark. “Besides, she wants us to work it out. Don’t you think you should listen to your girl, Silus?” He throws back another shot.“The feud has gone stale.”
As much as I don’t want to agree with him, he’s not wrong on either count. Over the years, Roark and I have done everything we can to fuck with Cormac and his enterprises. The man has never gotten tied down, so that is a particular weakness we’ve never been able to exploit. And Thea does want us to work it out because, in her words, it’s a stupid grudge.
Stupid. I still can’t believe she called it stupid.
“As much as fucking with you has been a highlight of my life,” Roark is slow to say, “it might be a nice change of pace to do something different for a change. I mean, think about it, Silus: no one will expect us to be on the same side for once.” He shrugs. “We could keep our truce on the downlow. It’d be easy to catch any traitors and see who’s support we really have. Our forces combined, we could own every single street and alley in this city.”
“You’re not wrong,” Cormac says. “It’d be a fun game to play for a while, acting like we’re still at each other’s throats.” He waits a moment, and he spends the time glancing between Roark and me. It’s clear he’s semi-curious how a truce would go between us; whether it would work long-term only time will tell. “What’ll it be, gentlemen? Forgive and forget?”
I’m an engaged man. I’m in love. I’ve found a girl I would raze the city to the ground for. Three things that came out of nowhere. When you look at everything as a whole, what’s one more change?
It’s a while before I say, “I’ll forgive, but I most certainly will never forget.”
“Never forget what?” Max asks as he and Thea join us at the bar. “Kidding. We could hear everything you guys were saying.” He steals Roark’s glass and downs it—and then he grimaces and gags like it’s the worst thing he’s ever tasted. “Fuck. No wonder you guys are so hardcore. This shit’s strong enough to fry your brains.”
“Hey,” Thea says as she huddles next to me, and I respond by draping an arm over her shoulder, “that’s my future husband you’re talking about. Only I’m allowed to call him crazy.”
Max says dryly, “Right.” He glances at Roark and Cormac. “Hey, so, uh, not to abruptly change the subject or anything, but are either of you looking for a personal assistant or anything? I’m available. I’m good with scheduling and coming up with plans that, believe it or not, don’t always backfire spectacularly—”
Roark wears an intense look as he pats Max on the head like a dog. “You really are a tiny man, aren’t you? Ant-sized. Careful, Silus, any kid you have with Thea won’t crack five feet.”
Max huffs as swats Roark’s hand away. Cormac rubs his chin and muses, “You are an enterprising fellow, aren’t you? You’re not afraid to walk headfirst into danger, either. I might have some use for you, provided you’re up for it.”
“I’m down,” Max immediately says. “Or up. Whatever. If the money’s there, I’m up, down, side-to-side, even inside-out—okay, maybe not that last one, but you know what I mean—”
Thea pours Max another drink and shoves it at him, saying, “Here. I think you need another.” Max takes it and drinks it in one shot again, then acts like he wants to throw up. To me, Thea whispers, “I’ve never seen Max drunk before. I wonder if he’ll talk even faster.”
Cormac is the one who pours him his next drink, clearly interested in the outcome. Roark, on the other hand, keeps studying Max like he’s about to grow a second head. “Careful,” he says. “You don’t want to give him alcohol poisoning. He’s probably got a drink limit of one and a half shots.”
Taking the glass Cormac poured for him, Max goes off, “I’ll have you know I can drink four beers before getting dizzy. Four. Now, I know that might not be impressive to fucking mountains like you, but—” He pauses and acts like his tongue is suddenly too large for his mouth. “I think this shit burned my taste buds off. Something doesn’t feel right.”
Thea laughs. My brother even cracks a smile. Cormac looks like he’s debating whether to withdraw the job offer. And me?
The day was a whirlwind. A lot of shit happened. I can’t say I ever expected us to end up here. But all things considered, Thea is safe and in my arms, and that’s really all I give a shit about.
The future of the truce between Cormac O’Connor and the two surviving McLeans is blurry. We’ll give it a shot and see what happens.
But Thea? The girl is mine, and I’m never going to let her go.
Chapter Twenty-Five – Thea
A month goes by. A whole ass month, and I’m no longer trapped. I’m back in my house with Max—and to our surprise all of our bills were paid while we were in confinement. Nothing’s overdue. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out Silus was behind it.
The man was paying my bills while keeping me locked up. Go figure.
I’m in Mom’s room, wearing a set of old clothes. The carpet is covered with plastic tarps while I do some painting. Trying to make the house a little more live-able, do some upgrades that won’t break the bank. With Max’s new job as Cormac’s personal assistant, we don’t have to scrounge for money.
It’s actually been kind of nice.
And weird. Definitely weird.
Another thing that’s weird is the ring on my left hand. I got use to the weight of it, and now when I glance down at the sizable diamond rock, I’m not shocked, and I don’t get a pit in my stomach that makes me wonder if I’m insane for saying yes.
