“Not yes,” I correct.
She blinks. “Yes, sir. Of course, sir. Will you still have me call you that when we’re married?”
“Aye.” My dick hardens. I want to fuck this woman so badly I ache, my hunger for her ravenous. “I’ll have you do loads of things when we’re married.”
Her eyes widen momentarily, and she bites her lips. “Well, there’s that,” she says. I laugh out loud and kiss her pretty mouth, before we prepare to go.
Tonight. Tonight, I’ll have this woman, my future wife.
It’s with great trepidation I allow Caitlin to go out with Caira, arm in arm. Though they’re wired and being watched, I don’t like how easily they could be harmed, especially given what’s happened to the other girls most recently.
As Captain, I’m the one who should oversee any type of sting, but not tonight. Tonight, I insist on being the man on them, nearby, prepared.
The first half of the night goes off without a hitch. I’m in the cramped black car outside the pub, listening to Caitlin in my earpiece. The other girls enjoy her company. How could they not? She’s friendly and kind, intelligent and quirky. She’s damn near the cutest fucking thing I’ve ever seen.
I wonder if we’ve hit amiss with this sting, when we enter the third hour of the girls’ night out without so much as a snare.
“Anything at all, Keenan?” Malachy asks in my ear.
“Nothing.”
“Shite.”
“Patience,” I tell him.
“Fucking grasshopper telling the master, eh?”
I snort. “Something like.”
“Listen up, lads.” It’s Nolan. He’s disguised at the bar, and though I’ve told him to lay off the drink, I’ve no doubt he’s snuck a shot or two in. We go silent. It’s then that I hear a man’s voice talking to the girls. I have to force myself to stay where I am, not to run in there and yank my lass back to safety and protection.
“He’s one of ‘em,” Nolan says. “I can see his feckin’ ink from here, telltale mark of a Martin.”
My pulse spikes. We suspected the Martins were at play in this, but if any of them see and recognize Caitlin…
“Caitlin safe?”
“Aye, brother,” Nolan says, his tone amused. “You know it.”
I don’t fucking know it, but she’d better be.
There’s the sound of the girls getting up and coming outside. I wait. They’re at the door, I can see them from where I am. They’re walking to their cars. The man who was speaking to them accompanies them out. My body goes rigid in anticipation, prepared for the ambush. Fucking hell, I hope they give me a reason to strike.
They don’t. Not yet. The girls get into their car, and it’s when the car pulls away, I see a car begin to follow them. Not ours.
My own car purrs along at a safe clip behind them, marking what happens, when another, larger car pulls alongside the first.
“You girls safe?” I say into the mic.
Caitlin’s clear voice speaks aloud. “They’re following us, Keenan.”
“Aye. We’ve got you covered, lass.”
With great reluctance, I allow more distance between my car and the girls’, giving the Martins enough rope to hang themselves.
I don’t see it coming. Peeling around the corner at a breakneck speed, a car comes straight at the girls. I hear their screams, the squeal of tires. Their car is sideswiped, skidding along until it slams into the guardrail. Six hooded men exit the vehicle.
I’m driving as fast as I can, and Nolan and Cormac are on my tail, but I can’t get to them fast enough. They’re too far away. Too fucking far away.
I peel after them, throw the car in park, open the door, and my gun’s in hand, pointed at the perpetrators. They’ve already got the girls, manhandling them into the waiting cars, when I shout.
“Hands off! Fucking hands off them!”
They move faster.
Caira’s shoved into the car despite her fighting back, and a second girl goes in with her. I shoot at the tires, and my mark is solid. The tires deflate. They will not fucking get away. Nolan’s at my side and Cormac on my right, and in seconds, we’ve got them surrounded.
“Fuck!” Nolan screams as a gunshot rings out, narrowly missing him. I get a good aim at one and pull the trigger. The girls scream when glass explodes and blood splashes on the ground. My aim was pure. The man holding Caitlin’s shot straight between the eyes. He falls to the ground, and she comes with him, but she’s still flanked by men.
“Weapons down,” one shouts. “Weapons down or we shoot the girls.”
Nolan and Cormac look my way. We’re outnumbered. Caitlin meets my eyes, hers filled with trust and bravery. She nods. Christ, she’s going to do something, but I don’t know what. I open my mouth to tell her no, not to do something reckless and dangerous, but she’s already moving. With an ear curdling scream, she falls to the ground and lunges for her assailant’s knees. He crumples on top of her, but she doesn’t lose her head. She grabs his arm and bites.