“Fucking hate this city,” Lachlan says. “If I never set foot in here again, I’ll be totally fucking fine with that.”
“I didn’t think you had anything to do with it, though, did you?” I ask. He grew up in our finishing school, I know that much, but I thought he hailed from south of the country.
“I didn’t,” he says tightly.
Boner gives me a look that tells me to shut up. I shrug my shoulders at him, but he only rolls his eyes and sighs.
Ahhh. That’s when I remember. Lachlan may not have hailed from Stone City, but Fiona did. Well, that makes sense.
A pang hits my chest so hard and fast I can hardly contain it. What I wouldn’t give for someone who sought to protect me with the same fierce loyalty Lachlan does Fiona, or Nolan does Sheena, or any of the of them of the Clan do for their significant other. And for a time, I thought I could be that woman for Carson. The one he fought for. The one he came home to, to lay his head to rest.
But instead he broke up with me.
To protect me, he said.
But a part of me wonders. Is it me he’s protecting, or is it his own wounded heart?
“What will we do when we get there?” I ask Tully.
He nods. “Whatever we fucking have to.”
“Shouldn’t have fucking brought her,” Lachlan says.
“Hey!”
He doesn’t even acknowledge my existence. “If she gets hurt, it’s on us.”
“Aye,” Tully says. “I’ll make sure she doesn’t get harmed.”
But I don’t want his protection. I don’t want any of them thinking of me as their charge.
I know then that they’re not planning on being gentle.
“Give me a gun, then,” I say. Boner’s brows shoot up so high he looks like a mime.
“Come again, lass?” he asks, his voice laced with incredulity.
“Give. Me. A. Gun,” I repeat, as if he’s hard of hearing.
“You know how to shoot, Megan?” Lachlan asks.
“Aye,” I tell him. “Carson taught me. Said I was a fucking good shot, too.”
“’Course y’are,” Lachlan says with a grin. “You’ve been raised with the feckin’ McCarthys. You may not have McCarthy blood in your veins, but you’ve learned from the best, lass.”
I grin, my chest swelling with pride.
Why yes, I have.
“Now come off it and give me a fucking weapon,” I tell them. “I know you all are packing half a dozen each yourselves.”
“Not half a dozen,” Tully mutters. “But I’ve got a few spare.” He reaches into his harness and tugs out a handgun, exactly like the one Carson taught me with.
“Ah, a glock. Perfect. It’s what I learned with.”
Boner shakes his head. “If Keenan finds out…”
“He’ll be fucking proud,” Lachlan says.
We pull up outside of a seedy-looking bar, not too far from where I came before with Carson. My stomach tightens into knots at the memory, of that fateful day when Carson ended my assailant’s life. And I know. I have a choice.
If I choose a member of the Clan, I’m in this for life. All of it. The good, the bad, the ugly. Their old-fashioned, domineering, but protective ways. Their fierce loyalty and dedication to Clan code. The battles that take lives.
Lachlan parks the car.
“Show me, Megan,” Lachlan says. “I want to see.”
I show him everything Carson taught me. How to cock it, how to hold it, how to aim. When I hold it cocked in both hands, he grasps the barrel of the gun and points it to the floorboards of the car with a nervous laugh. “Easy, now, lass, I’d like to go home with my bollox intact, aye?”
“Aye,” I say, chuckling. I’m pretty sure Fiona would eventually appreciate that as well, I think. I don’t say it aloud, though. “I know the safety rules, too, but I didn’t think that’s what you wanted me to demonstrate.”
“Bloody hell,” Lachlan mutters.
“Where do you think he’s gone?” I ask. “Anyone know?”
“The old, abandoned church is headquarters for the O’Gregors,” Lachlan says. “But they could be anywhere. We know he’s hacked into their private system, don’t we?”
Lachlan’s phone rings, and he frowns at it. I see Fiona flash on the screen. He answers it on the second ring.
He frowns into the phone, but his face softens a bit. I don’t miss how his whole body tightens, though. Fiona’s upset.
“Easy, now, lass. Speak slowly so I can understand you.” He’s quiet for a moment, then he mutters, “Jesus. Where are you right now, this very minute?” He nods. Boner and Tully stand by, ready to listen and help. They eye me nervously but I only shrug. I’ve no idea what the problem is.
“Do not leave the mansion. Do you have a guard nearby?” He nods though she can’t see him. “Put him on the phone.”
Another beat passes, and I’m assuming the guard’s on the phone. Lachlan shifts, his voice hardening. “Take Fiona to the bunker, now. See to it every woman of the Clan is under protection and if not, they go as well. Do it now. Lock down every gate and entrance to the mansion. We’re in immediate lock down.”