Page 8 of Lorcan

He left the kitchen and I felt my breath rush out of my mouth, as if I’d been holding it for too long. What the hell?

One thing was for sure, I needed to get as far from Lorcan O’Farrell as I could…and yet just the thought made my chest feel a little funny.

Chapter Two

Lorcan

Acewasstandingbythe window in the dining area when I got there. Pushing all thoughts of that gorgeous little woman in the kitchen out of my mind, I focused on the task at hand.

“Sit and speak.”

I sat down at the head of the table as I always did, but usually, my brothers were here. It felt oddly off-putting to do it without them. Just like Finn, they were both unpredictable, and if what Ace had to tell me was going to throw a spanner in the works, I was going to need a level head.

“A little over a year ago, just before we turned up, an old friend came to us pleading for help.”

“Does he have a name?”

“Nolan O’Farrell.”

I stiffened at the familiar name. What the hell was he doing getting involved with an MC?

“So you know my uncle, so what?”

“Let me explain,” Ace said.

I sat back, my heart pounding in my chest. This shit just got personal and I hated personal shit.

“Nolan and my dad go way back,” Ace started. “He came to him asking for a favour, not knowing my dad stepped down. It’s my duty to uphold the relationship between Nolan and my father, so I did. We came here, built a clubhouse and stuck to the shadows to watch over you and your brothers. He’s heard shit, you see, and he knows the war that’s coming. It’s not just Ronan O’Brien, Lorcan, he’s one fucking pawn in a huge operation that spreads continents. This is linked to the Reyes Cartel in Spain, all the way to the Bratva in Russia and the Barone crime family in Sicily.”

“How the fuck could Ronan O’Brien figure all this out and connect with them?”

“He’s not the one you should worry about,” Ace told me. “Adrian Moriarty has been after your seat here in Galway for a long time.”

“The Moriarty’s from Cork?” I enquired. “He’s a nobody.”

“Not anymore,” he said. “Look, there’s a lot of forces out there that want the O’Farrell’s to be dethroned. I’m not going to let that happen.”

“And why is that?”

“We’ve been here a year, and you’ve not run us out, even though we never told you why we came here. You let us live our lives, you let us operate a business in town, and you treat us with respect. Even now, you didn’t shoot me even though Dog did you wrong. You let me talk to you like a man. You’re different Lorcan, and I will pledge my club to you to defeat this fucking power that’s coming for your blood.”

“I’ll have my brothers rallied, they should hear this.”

“Come to my clubhouse tonight,” he said, getting up. I followed suit. “Bring your brothers. We’ll drink, we’ll talk, we’ll throw down if necessary.”

Ace didn’t wait to be let out, he headed for the door.

“Wait,” I called out. He turned back around. “Since we’re about to go into business, per se, I think we need to know your actual name.”

He smiled. “Cooper.”

“Alright, Cooper, we’ll be there.”

He nodded his head in acknowledgement and he left. I sat back down at the table and weighed up the options.

We didn’t have many. Maybe bringing in more of an army would help us. But he’d thrown some pretty serious shit my way. Ronan wasn’t the problem, it was the Moriarty’s in Cork.

We’d had very little to do with Cork even during my father’s reign, so when we started having issues with them a few years ago, we’d basically given them the run of Cork. Obviously, that had proven to be an error in judgment.

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