Page 41 of Dublin Brute

“I can explain. Please, angel, give me a chance to explain.

Nora

Explain?I stare at Brendan heaving from the exertion of beating a man to near death. Even in the dim light of the alley, the scene is brutal. My heart is pounding against the tension in my chest to a point where I can’t catch my breath.

“Explain how you lied to me since the moment you saved my life? Explain how the gentleman who supported me after the shooting is probably the reason Tanya died? How do you explain that away?”

He has the good sense to take stock, seeing how thedrip, drip, dripof blood falling from his split knuckles onto the pavement is the background music to this moment of horror.

The man who chased me lies motionless at our feet, moaning incoherently.

“Is this the Dublin Brute in action?”

I only glimpsed his violence in the cage fight—the calculated strikes, the muscles coiled to explode, the raw power behind each blow. But this is different. Savage. Primal. The kind of violence that should send me running.

But I can’t move. Can’t look away from him.

His expressive green gaze is black in the shadows of the side street, but the man who’s been so caring and kind is there, behind the panic. His eyes flash with wild and desperate rage. Like a caged animal awaiting his judgment.

His gray sweatpants are filthy at the knees, his bare chest covered in the spray of blood. His hands shake at his sides, but his gaze is locked on me.

“Are you hurt?” His voice comes out rough, barely controlled.

I wrap my arms around myself, the cold of the night replaced by the icy realization that I’m standing here with a man I don’t know who is said to be a monster. Icy air bites through my thin dress, but that’s not why I’m shivering.

“Am I hurt? Yes, I bloody well am. You’re not the gentleman I was falling for.” I take in the battered man on the ground between us. “You truly are the Dublin Brute.”

His gaze darkens. “If you judge me for saving your life, that’s on you. I am every bit the man who cared for you the past week, but I’m this, too. I’m the man who will defend the people I care about with no restriction. This fucker was going to kill you. I won’t apologize for putting him down. If it means you survive and hate me, so be it.”

Tension crackles in the night air and I watch the rise and fall of his heaving chest. Staring at his blood-splattered abs makes things both better and worse. I don’t hate him. Despite his angry words, I don’t think I couldeverhate him.

Because he’s right…he saved me. Again.

That doesn’t mean I can stumble forward and wrap my arms around his half-naked body.

I want to—but I can’t.

This man who my father hunts, who commands fear in the streets of Dublin, lives a dark and violent life. A life I want no part of. The man who took me to his French café and made me laugh isn’t real.

It doesn’t make a difference. Real or not, he’s still Brendan Quinn.

I hold up my hands, my heart cleaving in two. “I’m going to leave now. I won’t tell anyone about this, but you must let me go. You aren’t who I thought you were, Brendan, and for reasons you can’t understand, I can’t have anything to do with you. This was a mistake. Whatever it was or almost was…it was a mistake.”

The raw pain in his eyes breaks something inside me. It wasn’t a lie. He showed his true self to me and laid himself bare, and I’m rejecting him.

“I’m sorry…” The rest of my words are lost in the rush of emotion pushing against the base of my throat. I can’t meet his gaze. The pleading sorrow swimming in his eyes is too much. “I’m so sorry.”

I turn toward the main street and press a hand against the rough brick. My trembling legs won’t get me anywhere if I don’t pull it together. I draw in a lungful of chilled night air and push myself off the wall.

I make it two steps before my world spins.

Brendan frowns as I face him, bends to put his shoulder into my waist, and lifts me so I’m hanging over his back. A strong arm bands across the back of my thighs and then he’s carrying me off into the shadows. “No.I’msorry, angel. I’m sorry to do this, but there’s no way I’m letting you walk away from me. I can’t. You’re mine.”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Brendan

I’ve lost my fucking mind. With Nora slung over my shoulder and squawking for me to put her down, I punch in the security code to Tag’s loft. When the door grants me access, I hurry inside, set Nora down, take her phone, close the door behind me, and hit the panic button to lock the place down tight.

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