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She flipped me off, but there was a slight smile curving her mouth. “Go to hell. I’m not some doddering old crone. If I want to play with my damn dog, I will. Not because you ordered it.”
I waved her stubborn self off. If I tried to be tender, she’d start raging again, so I left her with a promise to update her as soon as I could.
I opened my apartment door to Iris and Finn’s laughter. “Fuck you,” she giggled. “I don’t stink.”
“Want me to lie to you? Go take a damn shower, ya monkey. I’ll be back in an hour when you’ve made yourself presentable.”
They were in my kitchen, Iris downing a glass of water as she bent forward over the sink. Finn had a hip leaned on the counter, his shoulders relaxed, drinking from a water bottle.
I didn’t like how comfortable they were with each other. Yesterday, it wouldn’t have raised a brow, but things had changed. Finn had destroyed my opinion of him. Any honor he’d once had had been left behind at my bedside in Ireland as far as I was concerned.
“You won’t be coming back,” I ground out.
They both startled, and Iris dropped her glass in the sink with a clank. I set my keys down on the counter and slipped my hands in my trouser pockets. Free hands weren’t good for me when I got angry, and Finn’s bemused expression was blinding me.
“Hey, did you get my text about lunch?” Iris started to approach me, but stopped, trepidation filling her features. “What’s going on?”
I scrubbed my jaw and shifted focus to my friend. “I need to have a talk with Finn. This doesn’t involve you.”
Finn’s head jerked back. “Whoa. Is that how you speak to her?”
That gave me pause. As livid as I was with him, Iris had done nothing wrong and didn’t deserve my cold treatment. I strode past Finn and took Iris by the shoulders, touching my lips to her forehead.
“I’m sorry,meala. I have something serious to talk with Finn about. Could you give us a few minutes?”
She raised her chin. “Don’t do that again. That’s not okay.”
I shook my head. “I won’t. And I’ll tell you everything when it’s done. Okay?”
“Sure. I can do that. All you had to do was ask, Ronan.” She raised on her toes and pecked me on the lips. “I’m going to take a quick shower.”
With Iris gone, I faced Finn. His casual stance had morphed into one of defense. Arms across his chest, spine steel straight, brow furrowed, he was prepared.
“What is this, Ronan?”
I jabbed my finger at him. “You fucked up. You fucked up so big, there’s nothing I can do to fix it. And if I could, I wouldn’t want to.”
He raised his hands. “Back up. What did I do? Is this to do with Iris? Because I’ve only ever done what you asked me.”
My nostrils flared at the very implication he could have done anything more than guard her. “You know I would kill you if you touched her.”
He had the audacity to shoot me a half grin. “That I do. The other side of that coin is I don’t think of Iris as more than a friend, so I would never cross that line, even if you weren’t around.” His hand smoothed down his sweaty T-shirt. “But that’s not why you’re angry.”
“You’re damn right it’s not.” I drew closer to him so I could look directly into his eyes. “Would you like to tell me something about Vanessa Goodman?”
He blinked twice, then shifted his gaze to the side. The bastard was trying to think up an excuse to get out of this. When he looked back at me, whatever he read in my rock-hard expression had him heaving a ragged exhale.
“I slept with her.”
I shoved his shoulder, and he took a step back, but he didn’t retaliate. “Aileen had to take a phone call about your fucking indiscretion from her husband. Mr. Saul Goodman, one of our largest contracts. You slept with his wife. What the fuck were you thinking?”
He staggered, catching himself on the counter. “Aileen knows?”
Aileen was a second mother to both of us. She gave us hell, but she cared. We were family. I understood why disappointing Aileen would stagger Finn. Seeing her as upset as she was had staggered me too. It had also filled me with the need to throttle the man in front of me. He’d hurt our business, but more importantly, he’d hurt Aileen.
“She knows. Saul knows.Iknow. We’re lucky Aileen talked Saul out of telling every single one of our clients. The situation is bad enough. You’ve created a shitstorm Aileen and I are going to have to clean up while you do whatever the fuck you want, as always.”
His jaw hardened with resolve. “I’ll clean up my own mess. I’ll fix it.”
