Total pages in book: 64
Estimated words: 59738 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59738 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 299(@200wpm)___ 239(@250wpm)___ 199(@300wpm)
Ivy is still on the couch, snoring, and Rory is on the floor. My eyes move between the two of them, and I’m irrationally bent out of shape when I think about what might have happened in my absence last night. Then I realize how ridiculous that notion is, and I try to focus on the task at hand.
I’m not here to worry about whose bed Ivy wants to warm at night. I’m here to see what she knows, and I start by digging through the bag she carries with her. All that turns up are an extra set of clothes, a few toiletries, and her cash from last night.
No needles. No drugs.
My eyes move over her face, and I know I can’t be wrong about this. She’s too thin. If it isn’t needles, it must be pills. I take a peek at her arms, and there aren’t any marks that I can see, but that doesn’t mean shite. There are a million other places to inject.
I blow out a breath and toss her shit back into her bag before nudging Rory with my boot. He mumbles incoherently, and I nudge the fecker again. When that doesn’t work, I blast him with some ice-cold water from the kitchen. He told me to wake his arse up, and I’ve never been happier to oblige. It’s the least he deserves after bringing Ivy back here last night. Rory comes up swinging, and I shield myself behind the couch.
“Real gentleman ye are.” He scowls. “Hiding behind a lady.”
My lip curls and I can’t hide it. “Yeah, a real lady.”
Rory grins at my bitter tone, and then a laugh bursts from his chest. “I brought her home for you, ye fucking muppet. I saw the way ye were making eyes at her all night long. But then ye disappeared and couldn’t be bothered to come back here to sort her out.”
My chest expands, and I shouldn’t be so relieved by his dumbarse admission. I have no right to that feeling, not with her. I’d do well to remember that.
“Get her some breakfast and then give her a lift home,” Rory says.
I want to tell him to feck off, but I keep my gob shut as he disappears down the hall and I nudge Ivy. She doesn’t budge, so I poke at her arm again, and still nothing. Acid coats my lips as I wait for her chest to swell. She was just snoring a few minutes ago.
My fingers come to rest on the soft flesh of her throat, waiting for a pulse. And when I feel the quiet tremor of warm blood pumping through her veins, it hits me like a ton of fucking bricks. I shouldn’t care. It shouldn’t make a lick of difference when her eyes fly open and lock onto mine, but it does.
“What is it?” She eyeballs the hand that’s still on her throat, then darts upright to check that her clothes are still there. “What’s going on?”
“It’s morning.” I retreat from her and try to find my bearings. “Time to go. I’ll sort ye out some coffee and then drop you wherever ye need to be.”
“Right.” She clears her throat and stares at the floor. “I should probably do that.”
I warm up the car while she puts herself together in the bathroom, and she joins me a few minutes later. She looks different this morning with the makeup scrubbed free from her face and her hair pulled back. The sexualized dancer from last night is gone, and all that’s left now is sweet. She looks like the kind of girl a guy would want to take home to his mammy.
I force the car into gear and pull onto the street. “Hope you like Dunkies. It’s about the only place we ever do breakfast.”
I feel her eyes on me before she answers. “Dunkies is fine.”
The silence between us doesn’t improve, so I opt for the drive-thru to make it as quick and painless as possible. “What do ye fancy?”
She looks at the menu and shrugs. “Just a donut and coffee would be fine.”
She’s trying to make it easy, and I wonder if it’s because she knows I think she’s a nuisance. As if I haven’t already made that clear. But I remember how she scoffed down her pancakes last night, so with that in mind, I order a mixed dozen and two coffees. I hand them off to her and pull back onto the road.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Oh, um, you can just drop me at Sláinte. I left my car there.”
“Right, I’ll do that then.”
We’re both quiet, and I can’t get there soon enough. I have half a notion to let Crow know this task doesn’t suit me, but that would make me a fucking muppet to say so. I barely know this girl. Crow has asked so little of me, and this is the only thing he’s ever asked me to do in confidence. I’m not about to let down the man who took me in and gave me a purpose over a bloody woman.