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Finn nodded. “Definitely a job well done.”
Aidan rasped, “You had feelers out for Lodestar at one point, bro.”
“I had someone going to kick the shit out of her,” he concurred.
“You calling them off?” Eoghan asked.
His smile was unholy. “Like she said, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. There’s more than one way to play war with someone.”
“Jesus,” Brennan muttered. “I think we found Conor’s kryptonite.”
“Better than porn,” he commented.
I groaned and grumbled, “I got better stuff to do than listen to what gives you a boner, Kid. Now, fuck off, the lot of you. I need my beauty sleep.”
I cut the call before they could say another word, then, opening my desk drawer, I pulled out the gift I’d been dithering over whether to give to Aela.
Reasoning this could be my excuse for getting out of bed at this time of night, I slinked out of my office and back into my bedroom where Aela was still snoozing. The sight of her did something to me, filled me with a kind of happiness I hadn’t known since she’d left.
Most people sought happiness all their life. Me? I knew happiness wasn’t a part of the equation.
It was some lofty goal that people who weren’t mobsters could afford to search for. We dealt in reality—cold, hard facts and colder, harder money.
As I moved around to her side of the futon, I set the gifts on the ground before I retreated to my side and slipped into bed, she instantly turned into me, her warmth sinking where that inner chill had festered for over a decade without her.
“Where d’you go?” she mumbled.
I slid my arms around her, wondering how this could feel so fucking good, before I murmured, “Got a present for you.”
She rubbed her brow against my chest. “Don’t need anything.”
I smiled even though I had to shake my head because I knew she meant it. Everyone wanted something from me. Everyone. Apart from her.
Maybe that was what had always made her stand out.
If anything, she didn’t ask enough of me. Never had.
“You remember the day you got your tag?”
She tensed. And that was my answer.She remembered.
“I hated myself that day.”
“I hated you a little bit too.”
“Couldn’t blame you.”
“Loved you more, though, otherwise I wouldn’t have had it done.”
“I know.” I kissed her again. “Funny how that was what brought us to today, no?”
“Funny—haha or funny—strange?”
I laughed. “You’re a comedian tonight, huh?”
“Always.” She heaved a sigh. “Anyway, what’s my gift? Another tag?”
“Nah. Two gifts. Just like that night.”
