Page 184 of Tempting Fate

Before Lily can protest my pronouncement, I put a couple steps between us.

“Slash,” I call out my best friend’s name like it is poisonous as I glare at him over Lily’s head. “Need you to do somethin’ for me.”

He knocks two cops on their arse on his way to me.

For the second time, Joseph Kingsley stays his officers.

There’s worry in Slash’s voice when he asks, “What do you need?”

“Feumaidh tu pòsadh, Lily, cho luath’s as urrainn dhut cead fhaighinn.”

Gaelic isn’t my second language. I’m only fluent in English, Hebrew, and Yiddish, but I spent enough time in the Hudson household as a kid to pick up enough to get by, even if I still butcher the pronunciation on most occasions. It was impossible not to absorb a sizable portion of Crystal’s mother tongue when she constantly lapsed into it whenever we drove her into a flap—which was often.

“Why?” Slash asks in the face of my demand that he marry Lily as soon as he can get a licence.

“You know why. Speak to Gabriel and Cass. Ask your mumma.” When Slash doesn’t agree, I add. “Lily will explain the rest.”

My woman is watching our conversation with hawklike intensity. I know she hasn’t fully grasped the request I’ve made, although I see her working it through in her mind. “What do I need to explain? You said…”

With a shake of my head, I silence her to tell Slash, “Use my rainy-day fund for the rest of it. There’s more than enough for everyone.”

“I’m confused,” he replies. “None of this seems like a good idea to me.”

It’s clear Slash isn’t sold on my plan, but I don’t have time to explain everything right now. Not in front of Brutus and the cops. If this is going to work, it needs to be a blindside.

“Just need you to tell me that you’re gonna do what I’ve asked as quickly as you can. We’re running outta time here.”

“Fine,” he concedes with a grimace. “I’ll do it.”

“I’m trustin’ you with my life.” Lily glances between us, then loses her battle not to cry. I want to look away as she breaks, but I can’t. The need to make sure Slash understands his part in this plan is too important to back down. “Look after her.”

“Always.” Slash inclines his head. His expression is completely serious when he tells me, “I’ll look after her like she’s mine ’cause she belongs to us both.”

Everything that’s happened in the past six months floods my head.

The betrayals. The mistakes. Brutus’ double cross. His future plans to barter Lily to cement his alliance with the Maddison Clan. Cass and his secrets. My father and his terminal cancer diagnosis. The Shamrocks being torn apart. The truth about Topher’s death.

So much treachery.

It all hurts.

Somehow, hearing Slash claim Lily pains me the most.

Yet it’s the only option I’ve got right now. Slash can marry my woman and spend every dollar I have saved. As long as Lily’s safe from Brutus’ scheming, I can swallow my pride and stomach them being together.

Until I get back, that is…

Then the rules will change and he’ll pay for daring to cross the line with her.

“That’s enough chitchat, ladies.” Joseph steps forward to grab my upper arm when it becomes clear that me and Slash are all talked out. “We need to get you settled in your new home before nightfall.”

We manage two steps before the sound of a single shot booms from behind us. Next to me, Joseph Kingsley stumbles. I avoid falling with him as his grip on my bicep goes slack, and he drops face-first onto the concrete floor of the bar.

There’s a gaping hole between his shoulder blades.

A large calibre rifle shot.

“What the fuck?” Ready to dive for my life if it turns out the shooter was actually aiming at me, I whirl around to see who shot Joseph. I stumble backward a step when I spot my dad standing a few metres away with his Steyr HS .50 M1 clutched in his hands.

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