Page 36 of Destroy (Deadly Hearts 2)

“He is in the right industry to look out for you. He will protect you and our mam.”

I narrow my eyes and then it strikes me. He is worried about leaving me here with his mom. Me the troublemaker.

“I can go back to England with the other men,” I say stiffly. Not insulted, per se. Just a bit hurt because how could I not be. But I understand his hesitation. I would be the same with my mom.

“No!” he says instantly. “No, I want you to stay. I just need to know that you and Mam will be safe. It’s okay, I won’t go. It’s fine.”

Well, ‘fine’ crunched it all down for me. I used fine and it wasn’t, so I don’t believe him one bit.

“Declan, look. If Cillian is here to watch out for us, then you can go. What does he do anyway?” I ask casually, suddenly desperate to know.

Declan’s eyes meet mine with reluctance. “He is part of the Irish mafia,” he states.

“Ooh,” I say, trying to feign disinterest but WHOA!

It all makes sense now why he barely talks about his twin. He knew we would have so much in common and with Cillian looking exactly like him, he got insecure. It’s so super sweet, I smile and run my hand through his dark hair.

“See, I knew that would pique your interest! It’s why I didn’t tell you!” he exclaims.

“Declan, don’t be ridiculous. You are the man I want to be with. Yes, I’m intrigued, but so what? He lives here and I live over there and I’m with you and the other men. Plus, the whole…you know…”

He sighs. “Yeah, I know. Sorry for being a paranoid arsehole. Old habit.”

I kiss him briefly, still a little gun-shy. Not because I think it might be Cillian lurking pretending to be Declan, but because I don’t want to give him, any of them, the false hope that things are getting back to normal.

They aren’t.

Not by a long shot, and that both worries and scares me.

“Go and do your job. Your mom and I will be perfectly safe here. You know I won’t let anything happen to her.”

“If anyone does…come here…you are in no way to confront them, Ruby. Leave it to Cillian and his men. They’ll be watching the house twenty-four seven. If anyone slips through the net, please, please promise me that you will run or hide or something.”

“I don’t know if you know me, but running and hiding is not really my style. Now fighting and stabbing, that’s my thing.”

He snorts. “Yes, I’m aware and that’s what scares me the most about leaving you. You have no fear and will dive in headfirst.”

“I have fear,” I say lightly.

“No,” he shakes his head. “You work on instinct and it’s on point. Look at what you managed to do three weeks ago,” he adds quietly. “I don’t know of anyone who could’ve done what you did.”

I bite my tongue, hurting myself.

I try not to think about that day. I know he wants to talk about it. They all do. They have all tried over the last two weeks, but I don’t want to. I just want to forget.

“If I promise not to dive in headfirst, will you go? I don’t want you to stop working because of me. I know you need that to deal with your demons.”

He nods slowly. “When I get back, we’ll talk. I’ll tell you all about it.”

I smile. “I’d like that.”

“On one condition,” he adds sternly.

“Hm?”

“You have to talk too.”

“Sure,” I lie.

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