Page 53 of Retribution

Annoyance flickers in me. I have no interest in playing up what happened in front of Carys, but at least stick to the facts. We could have died because Finn wants Lorcan back on his side.

“We’ll see you at dinner.” I drag her around the corner to go through Lorcan’s wing of the house to mine.

We’re at the end of his hallway when his bedroom door swings open.

“Kim!” he calls. “Carys, so nice to see you.” He strides down the hall, and something about his approach warms my insides. He gathers her into a hug.

When they separate, he scans me for a beat longer than normal. “You look happy.”

There’s a softness to his face I like seeing, as though my presence matters. Even though I know it’s false, I can’t help being sucked in by it.

“It’s been a long day so far. But, yeah.” I glance at Carys. “I’m happy now.”

His face turns serious. “Anything I should know about? Are you okay?”

“I’m fine now. Everything is okay.”

“I’ll see you at dinner, yeah? The caterers arrive in about an hour.”

“You’re not cooking?” I smirk, knowing he rarely goes into the kitchen without a take-out bag.

He chuckles. “I fear she might have a higher standard than I’m capable of achieving.”

“That’s right,” Carys says. “I keep a cook employed at mine.” She takes in my figure. “Please tell me you’re eating.”

I laugh. “I’m fine. No need to play the mother hen.” When I glance at Lorcan, his eyebrows are raised in assessment, but he doesn’t mention my meltdown at the O’Malleys.

His phone buzzes in his pocket. He gives us an apologetic smile as he takes it out and checks the caller ID. “I gotta take this. Dinner, ladies. We have a few other people joining us. No yoga outfits, Kim.”

I frown as he answers the call and wanders down the hall. My frown deepens when I realize he’s speaking Irish to whomever called.

“Is that annoying?” She gestures toward him.

“What?” I lead her to my set of rooms.

“The Irish all the time.”

I wrinkle my nose. “They don’t do it a lot. Not that much, actually.” It makes me doubly curious about who called.

She gives me a thoughtful look. “As kids, they used to use it to exclude people from their private conversations. I worried they were talking about me.”

“Well.” I cock my head. “The number of conversations I’ve seen Lorcan and Finn have has been limited.”

“Must be a tad frustrating.”

I make a noncommittal noise.

“You like to be in the thick of things.”

“When they’re using me like a Ping-Pong ball to bat between them, I feel plenty involved.”

She drops her bag into a spare bedroom, and then we go into the sitting room which I use from time to time to read or watch TV. Running around for one of the men or working out consumes most of my time here. She eases onto a couch, and I take a plush chair.

“After Lorcan’s mum died, Finn and Lorcan became more competitive than brotherly. I don’t know if that makes sense, but there was a distinct shift.”

That’s what happens when one brother suggests the other’s mother should have been sacrificed in favor of his own. How do you come back from that?

“I’m sure they had their reasons.” I pick at the material on the armrest of the chair.