Page 9 of Bad Blood

She clears her throat, and the barest whisper comes out this time. “I don’t have anywhere to go.”

Jesus fuck. I should never have told the lads to fuck off. Fitzy could have taken her back to his house. He has three spare bedrooms. Hell, Connor has two. He could have taken her home. His mammy would have coddled the fuck out of her.

Too bad the idea of her going home with either of my two best mates has me seeing red. I have no idea what it is about this lass, but she is bringing out weird reactions in me. I blame her fucking eyes.

“Paddy.”

Lauren and I turn to the scantily clad woman who has come to a stop in front of us, jutting her hip and thrusting her tits out.

“I’m here to take care of you.”

The words hang in the air as she preens, and we stare up at her. Right. Because it’s after a fucking fight. Delic would have seen the lads leave and sent her in to me, like always.

Lauren is flushing bright red again as she cops on to the tenor of the woman’s words.

“O-oh. I can wait outside?”

She is starting to slide off the bench, her feet flat on the ground. Outside? Outside the rooms, where the crowd was getting drunker and rowdier with each fight? Or outside the warehouse? Both are fucking unacceptable. Besides, I have no desire for Tits Magee here right now.

“Stay,” I growl at her. They both blink at me in shock.

“If that’s what you want, Paddy,” the stunning redhead simpers, throwing a glare in Lauren’s direction.

“You can fuck right off now,” I tell her, tugging a shirt from my bag, pulling it on, and shoving my feet into my shoes. “I’ve no need for what you’re offering.”

An uncertain look crosses her face, her eyes flickering over Lauren. They pause there for the barest moment, but she quickly dismisses her as no threat. Clearly, she didn’t get a good look at the lass’s eyes.

Groaning as I stand, wishing my fucking ribs would stop aching, I snag our duffels, brushing past the redhead on my way to the door.

I get halfway across the room when I realize Lauren is still sitting on the bench, gaping after me, eyes swiveling between the redhead and me. What the fuck is she still doing over there?

“Come on, lass.”

After another moment of confused blinking, she shoves off the bench and scampers after me. That’s more like it.

Chapter Three

LAUREN

Trailing Paddy out of the warehouse, we pass the bouncer, who shares a nod with Paddy and watches me carefully. I offer him a small smile, but he turns away, looking amused.

Paddy strides purposefully to a small parking lot, hitting a button to unlock a large, comfortable-looking SUV, nodding to another large, black-clad guy – who I think might be the security in the parking lot.

Opening the door to the backseat, Paddy places both duffel bags there, rounding the vehicle to hold open the passenger front door.

“In you get, lass.” He nods, and I scramble into the car, my cheeks flaming as he closes the door like I’m a child.

He doesn’t speak or look across at me when he slides behind the wheel, wincing a little as he pulls the car out onto the road.

Paddy doesn’t speak to me at all in the comfortable SUV. I have no idea where we are going, but we don’t leave the city, pulling into an underground parking garage in Back Bay.

The silence continues as he opens my door, holding it and waiting for me to exit the car. Shutting the door as I stand to the side, Paddy grabs the two duffel bags and strides off, not bothering to look over his shoulder to see if I’m following him.

He has my bag and hasn’t told me to fuck off, so I trail him into the elevator, where he jabs at the button for the fifth floor.

I don’t think he’s much of a talker – he didn’t really speak to the other Irish guys back at the warehouse –so I’m not offended when we ride the elevator in silence or when he leads me into a small apartment.

Looking around, I blink in surprise. This kind of wasn’t what I was expecting. Paddy drops my duffel bag on the leather sofa, nodding to the small kitchen.

---