Page 33 of Monsters in the Dark

“That sounds uncomfortable, Declan,” she replied. “Plus, I’m not big on crowded beds.”

So, apparently, telling her that my bed was never cold was another mistake to add to the list.

Chapter 20

Keavy~

Though I had no right to feel anything apart from anger at Declan O’Brien, I couldn’t lie and say that my feelings hadn’t been hurt when he’d said that they weren’t willing to risk the lives of the females in his family. However, it also wasn’t hard to identify why I’d felt hurt. I’d always been Cian’s main priority, and he’d always proven how I’d been the most important thing to him, so the feeling of being casually dismissed had been a new one.

I also wasn’t stupid enough to make more of the sex than it was. Declan had been very clear about his options when it came to willing women, so he hardly needed me around for the long haul. For a moment, I’d been flattered and hopeful that a man like him would still want me after knowing how different I was. However, being able to easily discard me had snapped me back to reality.

Not wanting to have this discussion with Declan looming over me, making my body want what he’d already shown me, I rolled over, forcing him to have to move, then sat back up on the bed, pulling the sheet around my chest again. Though Declan seemed completely comfortable in his nudity, the sheet was still long enough to cover us both, and I was thankful for that small measure, since Declan’s body was a very distracting one.

“What if I don’t catch his eye?” I asked. “I mean, it’s not that hard to find out where he’ll be mingling or whatever, but what if he’s already got another girl with him or he prefers blondes?”

“He likes to pick up his girls at The Wooden Table,” Declan answered, his voice a few degrees cooler than it’d been earlier. “It’s a…sort of a lounge, or gentlemen’s club if you prefer.”

I nodded. “Yeah, I’ve heard of it.”

“As for taking the bait, Donaldson doesn’t have a type,” he went on. “He likes what he likes, and since you’ll be a fresh face, he’d definitely be interested.”

Pushing my feelings and thoughts about Declan aside, I thought about Cooper Donaldson and what would be my best course of action. If he liked to abuse women, then he’d have to pick the ones that he knew weren’t going to report him, and the only ones that wouldn’t report a man like Cooper Donaldson would be the ones that were easily terrified or the ones that needed money desperately enough to allow such a thing to happen to them.

Well, since I didn’t have a meek bone in my body, I knew that I wouldn’t be able to pull off a timid character. No matter what could be said about the man, Cooper Donaldson hadn’t become a multi-millionaire by being stupid, so it’d be a mistake to underestimate him. My eyes were also too expressive to pull off the victimized look, so I was going to have to go with the money angle.

As the cogs in my mind went to work, there was only one thing that was more powerful than fear, and that was love. The love of a parent, kid, sibling, or whatever was powerful enough to make people do things that they’d normally never do. Family would even kill or go to prison for one another, so it was sellable that a woman would let a man abuse her for money if it meant saving a sick relative or something equally tragic.

When I met Declan’s gaze again, I said, “I have a question.”

“What?”

“Why would you trust me to see this through?” I asked. “What makes you think that I won’t tell Cooper everything, revealing your plan to take him down?”

“Because you seem like a woman that keeps her word,” he answered. “I can’t see you betraying us, especially knowing that the entire O’Brien organization would come after you if you did.”

“You’re forgetting that I’m not afraid to die, Declan,” I reminded him.

“There’s dying, and then there’s keeping you alive to torture you for years to come,” he pointed out. “As you can probably guess, we don’t take kindly to traitors, lass.”

I nodded, knowing and accepting that he’d meant every word. “I suppose not.”

“He needs to be put down, Keavy,” Declan said, and his reassurance was misplaced. I wanted my freedom from the situation that I’d found myself in with the O’Briens, so I didn’t need that much convincing. Especially, now that I knew how disposable I was to them.

“What if he doesn’t get violent?” I asked. “What if he’s a perfect gentleman? What if the sex is perfectly acceptable?”

Declan’s chin went up, and his back straightened, reminding me of just how big he was. “What are you talking about?”

“Your plan hinges on the hope that he gets violent,” I replied. “What if he doesn’t?”

“Inna askin’ ‘bout tha, Ke’vy,” he bit out. “Wha’ did ye mean ‘bout da sex bein’ acceptable?”

While I wasn’t sure why Declan was pissed again, there was no denying that his accent was sexy as hell. Still, that was the least of my problems right now. Plus, he wasn’t the only man on the planet with a sexy accent, so I could always find another one.

“Just what I said, Declan,” I answered. “What if everything goes well? Then what? How many dates am I going to have to go on with this guy before I get to kill him?”

Declan’s hard gaze glittered like blue sapphires. “Yer no’ feckin’ him, Ke’vy.”

I blinked at that.

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