Page 55 of Sullivan

“No thanks.”

He frowned, yanking on my forearm. “I said dance.”

I shook him off. “I said no.”

“Uppity bitch. Too good for the likes of me, are ya?”

“I am with someone. I don’t dance with strangers who accost me in the hall. Especially drunk ones.”

He narrowed his eyes, but before he could speak again, I ducked under his arm and hurried to the table, grateful Sully was already there. He regarded me with a frown.

“You okay, love?”

“Yep,” I replied. “Busy hallway.”

He looked over my shoulder, his gaze becoming frosty. I followed his glance to see the stranger staring our way. He turned and walked away, and I picked up my drink. “Now, ladies, Sully here assures me you have stories to tell. I’m anxious to hear them.”

That distracted Sully enough that he groaned.

Connie and Maggie looked thrilled and launched into story after story, Roisin often joining in. The three of them talked over one another at times, and their hands flew to make various points. I never knew who to look at, but the stories did make me laugh.

Sully putting a squirrel in the teacher’s desk drawer. She screamed and fainted, falling to the floor.

“Gave us a half day off.” Sully smirked.

“And yer ma tanned yer arse when you got home,” Roisin pointed out, while looking amused.

“Worth it. I spent the afternoon in the apple grove eating apples and pelting the cores at little arseholes who tried to bother me.”

Sully with Niall and Finn, sneaking into the school and releasing a goat in the headmaster’s office in the middle of the night.

“It shat on everything in sight,” Sully said, sounding proud. “The man was an eejit. No one—not a single person—ratted us out.”

“How did they know it was you?”

He grinned. “They didn’t until years later when Niall let it slip.”

Our good time was interrupted by a woman’s raised voice. “I said no. Get off on yerself!”

We looked over, and I saw the same man who had pestered me leaning too close to a woman. Roisin rolled her eyes. “Talking about eejits.”

“Who is that?”

“His name is Kevin.” She lowered her voice. “One of O’Leary’s boys.”

Sully pursed his lips as Roisin stood. “I’ll be getting more drinks soon. Dance with yer girl, Sully.”

He rose, offering me his hand. He pulled me to him on the dance floor, leading me in a fast sort of jig. It made me laugh, but he was sexy as hell to watch. Then the band played a slower number, and he held me tight, his hand in my hair.

“Told you she’d love you,” he murmured in my ear.

“I see why you adore her.”

He nodded, pressing a kiss to my skull. I felt him tense as someone walked past. “Keep yer eyes off her if you know what’s good for you,” he snarled.

I didn’t have to look to know the eejit was close. I heard his drunk laugh as he walked away. “Fecking prick,” he muttered.

Sully tensed, but I gripped him, not wanting to cause a scene.