Page 50 of Destroy (Deadly Hearts 2)

ChapterTwenty-Two

Ruby

“Hey,” I say, coming face-to-face with Cillian as soon as I enter the house.

“How are you?” he asks straight away.

“I’m…good,” I say with a smile. “Better than I have been for a while.”

“Good, that’s good,” he says, acting agitated.

“What’s up?” I ask cautiously.

“Did you talk to the men? Clear things up?” he asks.

“I did,” I reply.

“Can we talk then?”

I nod. “Let me just go and say hi to your mom first.”

“Queever is here too,” he says.

I grimace. “Okay. How the fuck do you spell that?” I whisper.

He snorts and rolls his eyes at me. “C-a-o-i-m-h-e,” he spells out.

“Fuck’s sake,” I mutter.

“Never mind that. You already know how to pronounce it, which is far more than any other non-Irish get. Hurry up. I’ll wait upstairs for you.”

He takes the stairs two at a time. I wonder what has him so eager. He must be dying to get in on this non-action that I’ve got going on. I purse my lips and head towards the kitchen.

“Hi,” I chirp.

“Oh, there you are,” Mary says. “Cup of tea?”

“No, I’m fine thanks,” I politely decline yet more tea. “I just wanted to let you know I was back.”

“Cillian told us you’d be along shortly. Did you two have fun?”

“Mm-hm,” I murmur and feel Caoimhe’s eyes on me.

I look at her and her blue eyes, just like her brother’s, are boring into me, her arms are folded, and she looks pissed.

Shit.

What did I do?

“I’ll go and freshen up and be down later,” I mutter.

Mary waves me off, but Caoimhe follows me out and steers me towards the front room. “I’m very protective of my little brother,” she says to me. “Both of them. What are you playing at here?”

“Nothing,” I defend myself lamely.

“Saw you with that other guy,” she accuses. “Hurt Declan and you have me to deal with. He’s been through enough. He doesn’t need some fancy tart turning his head and then stabbing him in the heart when he isn’t here. And I’ve heard you were out with Cillian earlier.”

“Look, Caoimhe, it isn’t what you think,” I start, taking offense to the ‘fancy tart’ remark.

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