Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107306 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107306 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 537(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 358(@300wpm)
“I knew you’d get it.”
“I want your name too.”
I grin, a calmness coming over me I haven’t felt all night. “I expect nothing less.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Shai
Rory came with me to get his name tattooed on my chest. It’s so fucking hot being branded with him and knowing he’s forever branded with me. Over the past few weeks, I’ve started going with him to do little things. We went to Boston for a reason I still don’t know, but I got to go with him. As lethal as I know the mini mob is, they don’t scare me the way the older guys do. Not enough to walk away, never enough for that, but there’s a sharper edge to them than our friends. I don’t feel the same bond between them as I do with our crew. Our crew. I have no idea when I started to think of them that way, of myself as part of them.
I’m not an idiot. I know my relationship with them is not the same as theirs with each other. When they get together, lock themselves away in Tiernan’s office—or the secret fucking room, which I imagine is cool as shit—I’m always out of the loop, like Ollie. The difference is, I want to be in the room with them. I want to be involved. I want to be a part of every fucking thing that Rory is a part of.
“We sold all the coke we brought with us,” I tell Rory. This is one of the things on the approved Shai-and-Rory list. I’m able to go with him when he sells drugs, so that’s fun. It’s not the actual drugs part—I don’t do anything other than weed—but just like that high I got sneaking around and robbing people, I get it now too. Not as intense, but it’s there, that rush of adrenaline I’m seeking. And the thing is, I get that from Rory. Just being with him is a rush, addicting, all the fucking things.
“Let’s go home, then.”
Back at the house, everyone is in the living room, Dean and Cillian with video-game controllers in hand.
“How’d you do?” Tiernan asks.
“All the coke is gone, and we were good boys and didn’t get into any trouble.” Rory winks at Tiernan, who flips him off.
“You’re an asshole is what you are,” Tiernan counters.
“That makes two of us.”
“No lies detected,” Dean teases.
“Hey, when is the last time you’ve done that?” Ollie asks, and it takes me a moment to realize he’s asking Rory about doing coke.
“I don’t remember.” My boyfriend shrugs. “Weird.” He wrinkles up his nose like he’s trying to figure out the last time he took a bump. “Fuck…I’m like sober and shit.”
Everyone laughs. I wrap my arm around him and pull him close.
“You have a new drug now,” Cil says. “Oh fuck. You killed me, motherfucker,” he complains to Dean.
“I like that.” I kiss him. “I want to be your drug.” After all, he’s mine.
“And people think we’re obsessed with each other,” Dean says as they start another round.
“Literally every time I see one of you, there are more marks all over you. You brand each other just like me and Rory,” I say. Theirs might be done with their mouths, but it’s all the same.
“It’s a warning for everyone to stay away from my little lord.” Dean tosses Tiernan a look.
“Or they’ll have to deal with my little fighter,” Tiernan agrees.
I wouldn’t want to piss off either of them. They’re both scary motherfuckers.
Rory kisses me, then plops himself onto Ollie’s lap. “Are you proud of me, Bunny? Shai’s a good influence on me.”
“I didn’t do anything,” I say.
“You’re here.” Rory grins, then gives his attention to Ollie. “Sooo…”
Ollie pushes his glasses up his nose. “Yes. I’m very proud of you, but your gun is poking me in the side.”
“Are you sure it’s his gun?” Cillian pumps his brows.
Ollie flushes.
My dick twitches.
Cillian darts a look in my direction, as if checking if what he said is okay. That he’s not overstepping, which has to be hard for him because he never had boundaries with Rory until me. “I’m not so sure it’s his gun,” I say, letting him know it’s okay.
Rory hasn’t been with the two of them since the night he watched them, then called me. Cillian and Ollie have watched us fuck twice so far, though, both times Cillian pulling Ollie away to fuck him alone afterward.
I get it. He’s shared everything important to him with Rory since they were five years old. They have a history I’ll never be a part of, and he’s not ready to share that with me. Maybe he won’t ever be, but I know I want it. Want to experience the connection Rory and Cillian have with each other in those moments, want to be immersed in their past, their brotherhood, their bond. That’s how Ollie explained it to me—said it’s overwhelming, like his love for Cillian is more intense because he feels Rory’s, and that he feels what Cillian does for Rory in those moments too. It sounds…indescribable, like a dream, like this deep, sacred place most people could never reach, where platonic love and romantic love collide, and it’s beautiful.