Page 40 of The Irish Redemption

“Hold on,” Harry says, not looking up. “I gotta count it all and make sure you’re not trying to pull one over on me. You wouldn’t do that, though, would you?”

He glances up at me, but before I can reply, blood drains from Harry’s face and his mouth falls open in shock.

“She wouldn’t,” comes Cormac’s voice from directly behind me, and warm shivers dart down my back. “But I would.”

I hadn’t even heard Cormac walking up, but somehow, he’s right here. He places a gentle hand on my lower back and guides me to the side as Harry stumbles upright and tries to flee.

He makes it two steps before Cormac is on him, lifting him by the collar of his jacket and slamming him down onto the top of the dumpster. Harry struggles and fights back, but Cormac subdues him with a couple of punches. By the time Harry’s face is a bloody mess and he’s panting, Cian has joined us.

My stomach flips and I take a step back to meet Hank.

He takes me by the arm and leads me toward the mouth of the alley. “You don’t need to see this part,” he says gently, and the kindness isunexpected. I don’t know Hank at all, but at a glance, he seems hardened and mean. Given that he’s clearly Cormac’s bodyguard, it makes sense, but I got the impression he didn’t think much of me so his kindness is nice. We stop near the mouth of the alley just as the skies split open and rain pours.

As Cormac and Cian beat sense into Harry, Hank shrugs off his coat and offers it to me to protect me from the rain. I accept it and hold it up over my head. Thunder rumbles overhead, and each flash of lightning gives me a sudden flash of the fight happening in the alley. Harry gives up quickly and ends up shoved against the wall by Cormac, who is panting heavily.

The rain soaks his shirt in seconds, and despite the danger in the situation, my eyes wander. His shirt becomes a second skin, so all I see are the long curves of his thick muscles and the way his hair turns blood-red when wet. Fear melts away just like it did when Cormac tackled Dillon. This man doesn’t even know me, even suspected me for a time, and yet he’s still doing what he can to keep me safe.

And it’s so fucking attractive. My mouth runs dry and I can’t take my eyes off him. Cian crouches down and quickly zips up the duffel bag to protect the money from the rain.

“The fuck?” Harry gasps through a bloodied smile. “The fuck are you guys?”

“I want to have a little chat,” Cormac growls low, anger lacing his words. “About you and who the fuck you work for.”

“What—” Harry’s next response is snatched away by a roll of thunder. I watch lips move, but I can’t hear them over the storm so I hope that Cormac is getting the answers he needs.

“You'd better have a better fucking answer than that!” Cormac suddenly yells during a lull of thunder. In a long flash of lightning, Harry drives his knee up into Cormac's crotch. He doubles over with a grunt and fails to avoid Harry’s elbow crashing into the side of hisface. As Cormac stumbles back, Harry starts sprinting toward me with Cian hot on his tail. Hank steps forward, pushing me back a few feet to maintain distance between angry Harry and me.

“You fucker!” Cormac yells, bolting after Harry like some kind of human bullet. I huddle into Hank’s jacket, eyes wide, and step back a few more feet as Hank sprints forward. Harry is caught in a clash between Mob Boss and bodyguard and he hits the ground like a sack of bricks.

“Excuse me,” mumbles a gentle voice to my left, making me jump in surprise.

I turn, alarmed to see that I’ve stepped out of the alley and am blocking the path of someone trying to hurry home in the storm. My lips part to apologize, but the hooded stranger shoves hard into me on the way past and their elbow catches me just beneath my ribs.

“Hey!” I snap with a gasp, stumbling back as they continue on their way down the street. “Rude,” I mutter, glaring after them, then I turn back to the fight, only something is… different.

Where the stranger’s elbow impacted me, a strange hot pressure begins to spread through my chest and down through my abdomen. My next breath in is tight, and the world sways when the alley lights up with another flash of lightning.

How hard did they hit me?

A wave of dizziness sweeps through me like a shiver, and Hank’s jacket slips from my grasp. I don’t hear it hit the ground. My focus is on the gradual pain growing through my body.

I open my mouth to say Cormac’s name—or maybe Hank’s—but nothing comes out. Instead, a hot spray of blood darts across the back of my tongue and the tang of copper is sickening. I step forward. Hank turns toward me. I watch his eyes widen and his mouth twists.

“Cormac!”

Cormac seems so far away, but I see him lift his head at the yell of his name. He looks at me and his brows shoot up to his hairline, then he abandons Harry to Cian and starts sprinting toward me. Despite how fast I can see his legs moving, he doesn’t seem to be getting any closer. The next flash of lightning is dull as darkness spreads across my vision. I touch my abdomen, trying to understand why an elbow to the ribs hurts so damn much.

My legs weaken and I trip over myself, then look down.

In a flash of light, my hand illuminates red.

It’s covered in blood.

What the hell?

“Evie!” Cormac yells at the top of his lungs, and yet he sounds so far away. I try to lift my head again but suddenly, every part of me is incredibly heavy.

I close my eyes and darkness takes me.

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