Page 9 of See You Maybe
A hard shove from the side caught her, and she slipped, her head smacking the bar as she fell. Olivia sat for a second on the floor, watching the legs and feet moving erratically around her until her stomach couldn’t be ignored any longer.
Pulling herself upright with the help of the bar, Olivia stumbled to the bathroom and locked herself in a stall before her stomach revolted again.
CHAPTER FIVE
Dublin—12 years ago
Declan hadn’t planned on staying at the pub after he left a message for his Uncle Iain. But Brian, who normally handled the door Friday nights, had suddenly bent over in agony and rushed to the toilets at the back of the building. To help his cousin out, Declan offered to fill in. He thought that keeping an eye out for troublemakers, with the chance of maybe knocking some heads together, was a welcome distraction from the anger that had been simmering in him all week. Not to mention it was a nice change from his every-day corporate life.
His mother’s family, the McGraths, had built an entertainment empire across Ireland. They owned several bars and clubs in Dublin, including one in the famous Temple Bar area. The Celtic Crown was slightly off the main, and while it might not be the first stop on a tourist’s pub crawl, it was frequently one of the last, and saw plenty of excitement between the locals and the tourists.
After the last week, Declan had enough anger boiling under his skin that he almost hoped he’d have an excuse to fight. So far, the opportunity hadn’t presented itself. Instead, he watched the striking brunette with pale skin and red lips who had come in with a hen party a couple of hours ago. He appreciated beautiful women. What healthy twenty-five-year-old man didn’t? But there was something about this girl that had his gaze returning to her again and again.
Her outfit didn’t scream look at me in the way some of the other skimpy, tighter dresses around her did. But he wasn’t the only one in the pub who had noticed her short leather skirt, tights and high-necked sleeveless blue top that looked like it was painted on.
Her hair was long and dark, nearly black, a tone so deep that under the twinkle lights decorating the bar, it looked almost blue as it hung in long waves down her back. She turned her head, lips parted in laughter at something the bride said, and he stared.
Declan couldn’t tear his eyes away from her. His gaze followed her graceful neck each time it tilted back to down one of the many shots she and her friends were consuming.
His cousin Colum relieved him for a few minutes, and when Declan returned to his post at the door, he couldn’t find her. Declan stood, his full height allowing him to glance over the heads of most in the pub. No sign of her or her friends. He shoved the pang of disappointment away.
You have bigger things to worry about than some random girl.
The next hour passed quickly as the pub filled with the cheerful sounds of a Friday night. Declan felt his muscles relax, and rolled his shoulders. The simple task of working security at the door of one of his family’s many establishments was more relaxing than his life in New York. When he was in Ireland, he was Siobhan’s boy, not the heir apparent to his father’s billion-dollar media empire.
His cousin worked his way through the crowd, his black T-shirt stretching across his biceps, and pressed a pint into Declan’s hand.
“Thanks,” he said, taking an appreciative sip. Nothing tasted as good as Guinness on tap.
“How are things going with Seamus?” Declan’s mood soured with the mention of his older half-brother. He might sometimes resent being sent to live in the States with his father when he was twelve, but there were drawbacks to Dublin as well. Family ties and loyalties ran deep alongside grudges.
His mother, Siobhan, was the youngest of her siblings and the only girl in the McGrath household. She had been welcomed into the family business when she was ready, but there had never been any question that the vast, powerful business the McGrath family had amassed over the last century, legal and otherwise, would pass to the eldest male heir and his offspring.
Siobhan married Oein Riordan, much to her family’s dismay, when she was young and had Seamus soon after. But when her husband was killed during a robbery, it left Siobhan and Seamus in an odd position.
A McGrath by his mother, but also a Riordan by blood and name, Seamus’s loyalties were even murkier than Declan’s. At least, Declan’s father never got into physical turf wars with his mother’s family the way the Riordans and the McGraths had. When Declan was born, the result of Siobhan’s relationship with the American billionaire David Bloom, the first lines were drawn between him and his brother.
David Bloom claimed his son and raised him to take over his own empire one day, whereas Seamus felt lost in the middle. Close to power on so many fronts, but no chance for his own.
The result was a resentful man who frequently saw his younger brother as a rival. Declan had little in common with his elder brother, and as time passed, he became increasingly impatient with Seamus’s lack of ambition.
Declan offered him a job at Bloom Communications, but his brother had scoffed at him. Seamus would rather spend his afternoons in a pub with his Riordan cousins, talking big and making sketchy deals that would only end up getting him into trouble that Declan had to fix.
It was the reason Declan’s mother summoned him home last week, and the source of yet another argument with his father. David Bloom had been furious, hating what he considered Declan’s misplaced priorities. If the senior Bloom had his way, Declan would cut ties with Seamus instead of flying thousands of miles to bail his brother out of a deal that had gone badly. But what could he do? Seamus was his blood.
“Declan?” His cousin’s words brought him back.
“It’s taken care of.”
Colum’s lips pressed into an angry line. “He needs to stay away from Padraig Riordan.”
Declan grunted and took a long draw of his drink.
“I’m serious. He’s reckless. Cuts corners and pisses off the wrong people.” Brown eyes met Declan’s with a message he wanted to ignore. “Seamus is going to end up in jail or dead. No one will be able to help him then.”
Declan’s neck tightened. His McGrath uncles had made it clear they were done protecting Seamus. His last deal, selling guns to a dubious group, had taken place inside a McGrath establishment. There was a lot their family would forgive, but putting the legal businesses at risk by conducting illegal activities was forbidden.
“He’ll bring you down with him,” David Bloom said, after Declan briefed him on why he needed to go to Ireland for a few weeks.