Page 13 of Shamrocked
Idrained the mug and slammed it down on the bar. Without even looking at me, Warwick swiped it up and poured me another draft while he stared at Viviana. My best friend wasn’t going to take any pity on him. He might be a legendary leprechaun but he was still a man, and she’d eat him for lunch. There was a reason she worked for the best defense attorney in the city. In a matter of minutes, she’d have him by the balls.
Usually I enjoyed watching her work so effortlessly, but this time…
It was a silly thought. It made no sense. But all I could think wasI saw him first.
With her elbow braced on the bar, she drew circles on the polished wood with her other hand. “So does she have any powers that she can use or call to force these obstinate men to help her?”
“With practice, she can call all the powers of Faerie to her will. She’s the conduit. We know how important it is that she receive what she needs in order to reunite the treasures. Especially after their defeat.”
When he turned to me, I almost fell out of my chair with surprise. His eyes gleamed, whether with amusement or interest, I wasn’t sure. How could he be interested in me, with Viviana right beside me? It was like comparing a candle to the heat and warmth of the sun. “The Tuatha De Danann aren’t supposed to interfere in the mortal realm, beyond giving gifts for our own amusement, but over the centuries, we’ve become quite adept at circumventing our own rules.”
I had a sneaking suspicion I knew where he was going with this. “You helped Doran, didn’t you? Against the rules.”
“Aye. After he was trapped, I created the miniature statue, so he could interact with his conduit and pull her to his side. Though I’d practically given up hope that anyone would ever step into me pub and see him for what he truly is.”
My eyes widened with sudden realization. “You left the token too, didn’t you?”
He inclined his head. “Guilty as charged. I can’t help it if the purse split open and dropped me precious gold all over this cursed city. Eventually, I hoped the magic would call you and you’d pick up one of the coins. I knew you were close, though I admit, I’d almost given up hope.”
“How long have you waited for me to find a token and step into your pub?”
He turned aside a moment, fiddling with bottles that lined the bar. “Honestly?”
“No, Pointy Ears, she wants you to lie to her,” Viviana retorted.
I burst out laughing. I couldn’t help it.Pointy Ears.
Warwick scowled at her, and his cheeks reddened. “I do not have pointy ears, thank you very much. I’ve been waiting nearly five years for you to find one of the tokens I scattered throughout the city.”
My mouth fell open. Five years? That was almost as long as I’d been married, if we’d made it through to our next anniversary.
It made an odd kind of sense, though. While married, I never would have gone out clubbing or wandered into an Irish pub. Jonathan was too uptight to go drinking. Let alone allow me to go out on a girls’ night to drink and party. I’d barely picked up a paintbrush in that entire time, so even if I’d found Doran, he wouldn’t have had a medium to speak in my head until I actually heard him. It was freaky, how close I’d come to never stepping foot intoShamrocked. Never finding Doran’s statue. Never meeting Warwick and learning the history of the treasures and what my role was.
I still didn’t know what my role involved, exactly, other than finding the other three treasures. “Do you know where they are?”
He nodded solemnly. “You do too. You’ve seen the place. You felt their pull.”
Surprised, I tried to think of anywhere else I’d been. Other than Vivi’s condo and this bar…
“You said something weird.” She turned on the barstool, searching my face. “You joked about getting a tattoo. You’d never said anything about that before.”
Oh yeah. That biker tattoo place down the road. My eyes widened. “They’re the treasures? A motorcycle gang?”
Warwick dropped his elbow onto the bar and braced his chin on his hand, smiling with that wretched dimple. “I’d hardly call three men a gang, now, would you?”
A highly inappropriate thought popped into my head.
A thought that never would have occurred to me before I’d stepped into this bar and seen a glaring gargoyle on a shelf. Or had a leprechaun wink at me.
Because I could certainly think of one kind of gang that would involve three men. Or four. Or maybe even five.
Gangbang.
My cheeks fired up as red as Vivi’s hair.
Warwick threw his head back and roared with laughter.
“What?” She glared at me and then the bartender as he gasped for breath. “What’d I miss?”
