Page 26 of Lorcan

“You can knock it off with the anger, Bridget.”

I looked up at her in surprise, but I don’t know why it was surprising. She and Lorcan were close, I’d seen it on the tarmac when I’d been bundled onto the plane against my will.

“You seem close with Lorcan,” I said, taking a seat on the stone carved bench by the wall. Teeghan moved onto the balcony and stood against the railing. “Does that make you jealous?”

“I just see how much he trusts you. You’re the one keeping me locked away so I can’t flee.”

“Why would you want to?” she countered. “Look at where you are, look at the room you’re in, no airbnb would ever suffice. It seems to be pretty nice conditions for captivity.”

“There are all kinds of captivity that can be buried under the guise of beauty,” I told her. Her eyes narrowed, as if she were trying to read my mind. I should just keep quiet. Everything I say will probably be repeated and I didn’t need Lorcan to try and rescue me from my eventual fate. He deserved better than that. “Why does he want to keep me around?”

“He likes you,” she said. “You should feel honoured. He hasn’t looked at a woman like that in a long time.”

“I’m surprised,” I replied. “He’s probably one of the hotter brothers, no offence. Why is he still single?”

Teeghan smirked. “No offense taken. Yes, he’s handsome, but he’s nothing compared to my Conor. Personal preferences, I suppose.”

“So are you going to tell me why he’s still single and such a caveman?” I asked her, suddenly feeling like I desperately needed to know.

She sighed, looked out at the water before she made a move to sit next to me. “A long time ago, before Lorcan was the head of the family, he was being primed to be the head by his brutal father, Finneas. He fell in love with a girl called Clementine, she was sweet, innocent and hated violence. She tried to be with Lorcan, but she knew he would one day be like his dad, so she left him. Knowing she was probably right, Lorcan let her go, thinking it would be best for her to be away from the violence of his world.”

“What happened?”

“She married an asshole. He beat her senseless and ended up killing her. Lorcan was devastated, thinking it was his fault. If he had convinced her to stick with him, he believes they could have had a future, that he could have protected her.”

“That’s not his fault,” I said. “How could he have known?”

“Exactly,” she said. “He takes all the guilt on himself and tries to protect the innocent whenever he can. It’s a lot he deals with on the daily, and although I love Conor, he’s the cause of a lot of that stress.”

“Most little brothers are,” I replied, thinking of my own little brother and the trouble he used to cause when he was little.

“You have a brother?”

“Yeah, three of ‘em, well I used to. My little brother died a few years ago.”

“I’m sorry,” she said. “My older brother died a few years ago too.”

For the first time since I met her, I felt some sort of kinship with Teeghan. She has a tough exterior, one I knew was probably necessary in this sort of family, but she had a soft side too. She had a history away from the O’Farrell’s.

“So Lorcan is…like a caveman, huh?” she asked, changing the topic. I was thankful for the change of topic.

I rolled my eyes at her and rested against the wall. “You caught that, huh?”

“Always,” she said. “Come on, spill. He’s so pent up and frustrated, I need the gooey goss.”

“Are we friends now, are we?” I countered.

“Bitch, you knew we would be best friends the second Lorcan slipped that dick inside of you. Now spill.”

I chuckled, realising just how easy to like she was now that she had opened up. Maybe this captivity wasn’t going to be so bad afterall.

Lorcan

Killian and I sat in the car outside the club where the Moriarty’s usually stayed at night. We’d already been to their safe houses and their personal homes. Every single one of them were rigged to blow.

It was going to be one hell of a night in Cork. No sign of Amity or Ronan yet though, which could only mean they were deep underground or they’d already left Cork. Conor was still at the estate, running things. Jye had gone back home to help Conor. The two of them were an unstoppable force, so I felt secure leaving him alone.

I couldn’t wait to get back and face whatever was coming for us. The sooner I could get home and sort our shit out, the sooner I could figure out what the fuck to do about Bridget.