Page 61 of Dublin Brute

“You boys still at it?” Bryan strides into the living room and plunks down in the chair by the fireplace. “What do we know?”

Finn looks up from his computer. “We know what headquarters building is being used for the task force, and that it’s a joint operation between Europol, National Crime Agency, Garda, and the US Customs and Border Protection.”

Bryan frowns. “It’s not much.”

“It’s a start.”

Bryan turns his frown on me. “Any chance your girl will give us more?”

I close my computer. “There’s no way to know because I won’t ask her.”

“That’s a waste of a fucking opportunity.”

I flash him a middle-finger salute. “Nora isn’t an opportunity to be exploited. She’s an amazing girl who stumbled into the life of the wrong guy at the right time. She’s severed ties because she doesn’t want to be caught in the middle. She’s better off being clear of us.”

“Or not.” Finn shrugs when I peg him with a stink-eye look. “Things weren’t all rainbows and raspberry orgasms for Sean or Tag either, but they worked through the obstacles well enough.”

“I wish that were in the cards for me and Nora, Finny, I do. But I’ve thought about it from every angle and can’t see any scenario where a made man and the daughter of a head Europol agent wind up sitting on a porch swing. If you know how I make that happen, please tell me.”

The silence that stretches on proves my point. The loss of control burns like acid in my gut. I really need to hit something. “I’m done. Let’s pick this up tomorrow after breakfast.”

Finn nods. “Aye, that sounds good to me. I’m knackered. I’m going to raid the kitchen and see if there’s any of those scalloped potatoes left from dinner. Care to join?”

“I’m always good for a snack,” Bryan says.

I shake my head. “I’m heading down to the gym. I need to blow off some steam.”

Finn holds out his fist for a knuckle bump as he and my twin pass me on their way out. “Hang in there, man. We’ll figure this out.”

I watch them leave and then get my ass out of the couch and head for the stairs. I’d like to think Finn’s right about finding a way but, try as I might, I don’t see how.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Nora

The learning curve to working at a nightclub is steep: the late hours are hard on the body, the noise rings in my ears, and after working here almost two weeks, I’ve realized it doesn’t matter what night of the week it is, this place is always packed.

My tray wobbles as I weave through the wall-to-wall crowd. I’ve got one arm up, protecting my order, like Alexis taught us, but when the place is at capacity with half-drunk and half-stoned bodies flailing around in the dark, there’s no escaping all of them.

The music from the live band vibrates in my bones while strobe lights flash, making navigation even trickier. Three cosmos, two mojitos, and a pina colada need to make it to table twelve before they warm up.

“Coming through!” I shimmy between a party pack of bachelorette besties, and have my sights set on the table when a guy backs into me.

The tray tips and I scramble to get it level.

Pink liquid splashes down my front, seeping into my cleavage, and down my front to drench the waistband of my skirt.

“Hey, watch it, bitch!” The guy spins around, drink in hand. His eyes zero in on my glistening chest. “Want me to lick that up for you?”

“Not even a little.”

“Get away from my boyfriend, whore,” a brunette snaps, pushing in on me.

“If you get out of my way, I’d be happy to.”

“All right, people, back to your business.” Jay dives into the mix. “Nothing to see here.”

I take that as my cue and hurry to deliver the surviving drinks to table twelve. My skin is sticky, my ire is up, and my cheeks are burning.

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