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The Crowes are making moves.
They’re waiting for a Tallon or a Harrington to make the first mistake and it sure as hell won’t be me.
Graves hits harder when he thinks I deserve it.
This afternoon he drives a bare fist into my ribs the moment I give him the opening. The impact travels through bone and forces the breath out from behind my mouth guard.
I recalibrate quickly with an elbow he barely avoids, then catch his shoulder on the next strike and drive him back across the mat.
He grunts and keeps bouncing on the balls of his feet.
Graves circles me, breathing fast. “You’re fighting ugly.”
“You taught me well.”
He comes in low. I block, pivot, and put him on his back hard. He lies there for a moment, looking up at me with the expression of a man deciding whether retirement would bore him.
Then his gaze drifts past my shoulder to the mirror.
I know what he sees.
The scratches have faded to pale lines, but they’re still visible on the skin that’s got no ink. They don’t mean anything. Men in my position collect scars the way priests collect sins.
Graves gets to his feet. “Who was she?”
I reach for the towel on the bench. “No one important.”
“Right,” he mutters. “That no one almost got ya in trouble. If the Kinnanes caught you fucking some woman at your—”
“They didn’t.”
He gives me a look that would make a weak man confess everything. “You took a risk, Fionn. I know ya, and I know business comes first. But you’re walking around with marks on your back and a fiancée you’ve only kissed on the cheek.”
I wipe sweat from my neck and toss the towel aside. “You asking questions or making accusations?”
“I’m trying to figure out how much trouble you’re in so I can help.”
Graves gave the best years of his life to protecting my family. Even now, he’s still dedicated to the core. I respect him for it and consider him a mentor. Maybe even a friend.
But if he sees a weakness, he names it. And if he names it, he expects me to cut it out.
“There’s nothing to worry about,” I say.
His eyebrows lift. “You still fucking this mystery woman of yours?”
I put my guard up.
“You cock-blocked me,” I tell him. “I never got far enough to make it count.”
Graves comes at me again, and I dodge his punch. “Sera Tallon looked flustered when she rejoined the party.”
“Why do you think I care?”
Graves stops and lowers his voice. “You’re weeks away from marrying Eilish. If there’s a woman in the middle of that who could ruin everything, I need to know whether she’s a problem. Did you forget about the outside security cameras, Fionn? You’re lucky it was me doing the checks.”
Fuck. I got careless. She makes me careless.
I take a long drink of water while I think of how best to address this with him.
