Page 110 of Alfie: Part Two

He looked away from Ellie and smirked. “Just for a couple of hours. I think you’ll live.”

Ah. Well, all right, then. Did he have something planned with Shan and Kellan?

“We’ll do a movie night in the living room,” Emilia said. “Extra cocoa for Ryan and Trip since they appear to be cocoa addicts.”

Trip glanced up at me and grinned sheepishly.

“With marshmallows, Auntie Emilia?” Ellie asked hopefully.

Emilia inclined her head, solemn. “Ofcourse, sweetie. We are not animals. Whipped cream and chocolate syrup too.”

I wasn’t coming back until that sugar high had worn off. Christ.

While West wrapped things up with Emilia, Nessa came over to me and asked if I’d seen Liam and Luna, so I glanced around the pub, figuring they could be off to put the kids to bed.

“CJ was cranky, so my guess is you’ll find them at home,” I said.

“I already looked there.” She folded her arms over her chest and looked around. Maybe some thirty people were still here. “Anyway—” She turned back to me. “You know how overprotective Liam is and crap, so someone always needs to come with me when I go shopping.”

That was…truth with some modification. Liam wanted her to have an escort when she was far away from home. Like, Kellan usually kept an eye on her when she was in Philly. In Chicago, she had a driver for certain things. And here, she had to have a family member with her for outings where she was gone most of the day.

It was all related to who her father was. John Murray still had enemies both inside and outside the syndicate.

He sure as fuck wasn’t my dad.

“I’m not sure he’soverprotective…” I hedged.

She laughed and patted me on the shoulder. “Oh, you’re wrong, big brother.”

I chuckled. That was so strange to hear—but it felt good too.

“Either way, everyone’s busy,” she said. “So, tag, you’re it. You and West may now accompany me to Cork tomorrow. I have to pick something up for Emilia. It’ll only be a few hours.”

Only a few hours? Gee, that was nothing. Fucking hell.

“Lucky us.” I smiled stiffly.

“I knew you’d love it! I’ll be ready at ten. Ciao.” She walked away with an entirely too satisfied grin.

Now I wanted to find Liam too. Motherfucker. How had this been dumped inmylap?

He was too fucking overprotective of that girl.

We’d lose two hours just driving between Cork and Killarney.

“Are you ready to go, sweetheart?” West came up to me, and he had our jackets.

“Uh, yeah. Looks like we’re taking Nessa to Cork tomorrow.” I buttoned up my parka, wondering what was so fucking important in Cork. And what it was that couldn’t be bought here in Killarney. “Don’t worry, I’ll try to get us out of it. If Liam wants a permanent babysitter on a grown woman, he should handle that himself.”

Huff.

“Or we could make a day out of it,” West suggested. “I’d love to see Cork. You could show me where you bartended in your backpacking days.”

Backpacking days was a stretch. I’d bought the cheapest ticket I could find, and I’d spent a few months in a hostel.

We could discuss it later during our pillow talk session after being cockblocked. Because we couldn’t very well have sex when the only thing separating our sleep alcove from the rest of our guest suite was a curtain.

In the meantime, we said our goodbyes to everyone, and West added a “See you soon” and “Be good to Aunt Emilia and Uncle Finn” to Ellie, Trip, and Colby.

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