Page 4 of Stay, Swear.

Mystery man holds his huge hand up to stop her, “No, let her continue. I’d love to find out what she thinks she can do to stop me from tagging along and ‘gawking’ at you guys all night.”

The nerve of this man, I don’t care how hot he is, he can fuck right off. “Oh you sweet, stupid man. Let me assure you, we can dodge you in a blink and you’ll never see it coming. You’re not going anywhere with us if you’re going to make crude comments at Clara. Frankly, the fact that Rowan hasn’t ripped out your jugular and shoved it up your ass has me second guessing my approval of him.”

The amusement dancing in his eyes disappears in an instant,replaced by barely contained anger. Rowan steps between us and puts his hands out in surrender facing me.

“Brittany, first off I’d never let anyone disrespect my wife. So if I thought he meant even a single word of the bullshit he just spewed he would be laid out unconscious on the floor right now. Second, let me introduce you to my little brother, Kieran.” My eyes widen in shock, oh shit. Kieran nods but says nothing to me. He looks at Rowan, sarcasm dripping from his words.

“I’ll be in the car, I’m assuming they can get themselves in the Tahoe without assistance.” Without waiting for a response he turns on his heels and stalks out of the door.

Gritting my teeth and turning to a smirking Clara, “You couldn’t have told me? Showed me a picture? Literally anything before we came down?”

Her and Rowan laugh in tandem for a solid minute before she wipes at her teary eyes, “I could have, but this was so much more fun. Kieran is such a sweet, lighthearted man, especially when it comes to Rhett and I. I’m not sure how you got him wound up so quickly. However if I was you I’d apologize and try to make it right with him.”

Rowan cuts in, “Seriously, he’s not a man you want to be on the bad side of, trust me.” Ugh, okay, maybe my temper got the best of me. I’m not above saying sorry when I’m wrong. Admitting fault to an insanely sexy man though? Yeah that’s going to be a tough pill to swallow.

After about ten minutes of Rowan trying to convince Clara to stay home and have their own ‘private party’ instead we finally make it out of the door and into the Tahoe. There’s a man I recognize as Killian who’s driving. Kieran sits in the passenger seat texting, he finally stops long enough to speakto Clara, “Where to, Mrs. Byrne?”

She rolls her eyes, “Seriously, we’re doing this tonight? She’s just protective, Kie. She didn’t know who you were.”

He nods but doesn’t turn around, “Yes ma’am. No problem, where to?”

She huffs and sits back, crossing her arms like a petulant child, “We’re going to The Byrne for dinner, then we’ll head over to Z13 for drinks after.”

Kieran shoots a, “Yes, Mrs. Byrne.” over his shoulder effectively cutting off the conversation. Okay, so I guess this night is going to be awkward.

3

Chapter Three

Kieran

Standing with my back against the bar of this packed club, my eyes stay firm on the two women who have garnered the attention of most of the men in this bar at least once. Luckily, they haven’t seen me intervene yet, so they’re none the wiser. My eyes roam down Brittany’s tall stunning body for the millionth time tonight. My hands itch to roam every inch of her skin, to touch, taste, and memorize every part of her. I’ll admit I was extremely annoyed when she stepped to me at the house earlier and questioned my intentions with my sister-in-law. Now that I’ve had time to cool down I can respect the drive to protect her best friend. I wouldn’t let anyone be disrespectful to Ryan either, and I’d cut a motherfuckers tongue out for daring to think about stepping to Mac. She didn’t know it was only brotherly teasing so she gets a pass, this time. Not to mention the fire in hereyes turned me on but I tamper that down. She’s Clara’s best friend after all.

I’m sure Clara thinks I’m still pissed because I’m only referring to her in an official capacity, but that’s how I’m expected to address her outside of the house. She’s not my sweet sister-in-law right now. She’s the Captain’s wife, so she’ll be treated as such. We’ve been here for a few hours at this point and Roe has texted me about a hundred times. I also have it on good authority that he’s invaded Mac’s room as well and is watching everything on Z13’s security cameras. It’s way past Bear’s bedtime so he’s bothering us because he doesn’t have anything to distract him from knowing his wife is dancing in a club without him.

I’m pocketing my phone after responding to another text from Roe when I catch Clara’s alarmed eyes scanning for me in the crowd. Before I even know what’s going on, I’m moving to her. Scanning the area while stalking over to her. I spot a man holding on to Britt’s hips while dancing with her. She’s facing him so I’m unsure what they’re talking about.

Clara grabs my arm and pulls me down so my ear is right by her lips, “Kieran, help her. That man has come over here more than once and she’s asked him to leave her alone. This time he grabbed her hips hard enough to make her flinch then spun her around.”

Looking back over to Britt I’m instantly on edge as she tries to jerk away from the clearly drunk douche. He grabs her wrists and pulls her impossibly closer. I can hear her whimper of pain from here. Checking our surroundings looking for Killian, he’s not even three feet behind us. “Killian, take Mrs. Byrne to the car. I’ll grab her friend and we’ll head home.”

Killian murmurs out a, “Yes sir.” before leading Clara out ofthe club. She looks back at me worried, so I mouth, ‘I’ve got it. Don’t worry.’ as she’s escorted to the Tahoe. With Clara out of the club and potential danger it’s time to make my move. Moving behind Brittany while wrapping my arms around her waist, the man shifts his focus to me, he has to look up to meet my eyes.

“Sorry man, I’ve already got her. She’s feisty, but you know a little fight always makes for the best nights.”

My blood is boiling. My patience which is thin on the best days, is nonexistent right now, “Yeah, well I’d really hate to ruin your plans, man. But this is my girlfriend and if you don’t take your fucking hands off of her in the next ten seconds every single bone in your hands will break before they’re mysteriously amputated from your wrists.”

She must recognize my voice because her body sags into mine. I’m holding up most of her weight, and every piece of me screams to get her out of here. The guy’s hands fly off of her in a flash as he stutters out, “Oh.. I didn’t know.. She..she didn’t mention a boyfriend..”

Finding her voice again Brittany speaks up, “No, I didn’t. But I did mention no and stop multiple times didn’t I?” I can feel the adrenaline pumping through my veins as it gets ready to knock this drunk bastard out.

Bending down my lips brush the side of her neck lightly then against her ear so she can hear me, “You okay? I’m more than willing to take him outside and teach him to keep his hands to himself.”

Locking eyes with the douche she shakes her head then brings my left hand up to kiss my swollen and scarred knuckles from last night, “No, he isn’t worth it. Let’s go home.”

“Saved by my girl being ready for me to take her home toworship her, bro. Let me catch you anywhere near her again and I’ll make your worst nightmares look like the best dreams you’ve ever had, got me?”

He quickly nods, “Yeah, yeah you got it.” He doesn’t even fully finish his rushed sentence when he takes off through the crowd.

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