Page 121 of Dirty Dylan: Dirty Dusters

“Well, I’m glad you agree. So anyway, do you want to go make a start on that business plan of yours.”

“Right this minute?”

“Right this minute. If you want the Irish to consider your MC as part of their alliance, they’ll want to see your proposals in writing. I know. It’s awful. Having to do real work instead of just wiling away the hours drinking tequila, riding hogs, and fucking cum sluts.”

I wait, and he eventually lowers his face. Opening his eyes slowly, he turns to face me.

“I haven’t fucked a cum slut since I was eighteen.”

I raise an eyebrow and grin widely. “That, Tyler Grayson, is only because you fuckedallof them when you were eighteen.”

He snickers back in response.

“True.”

CHAPTERFIFTY-ONE

DYLAN

The Hudson Dusters’ HQ, Manhattan, New York

It’s the weekly meeting,and for the first time in I don’t know how long, there are no women present.

It’s a blessed relief.

Apparently, they’re having a get-together with Ma at The Palace for brunch. Or at least Molly and Sophia are. Social gatherings aren’t really Grace’s thing. She’s a loner like me.

Or at least like how I used to be.

“We’ve received an email this morning from Jessie O’Brien. A request to consider allowing another MC in on the alliance. All other parties have already agreed in principle, and Lucifer has also agreed to vouch for them. I’ve taken a look at the business plan attached, and it seems credible enough. Jessie’s prepared it, of course, on behalf of this…” Eoin glances inside the front cover. “…Tyler Grayson. On the surface it has the potential to be extremely lucrative for the Dusters. It would allow us the opportunity to gain a foothold in those harder to reach areas on the west coast no one wants to venture into.”

“How is she, Eoin?”

We all look at Da. He’s ignored the commercial side of things, which isn’t like him. It’s clear he’s missing her larger-than-life presence. We all are.

None more so than me.

“Her covering email mentions she’ll be returning soon. She just needed some time away to regroup and gather her thoughts.”

There’s a pause as everyone looks at me like it’s somehow my fault. I guess in part, it is. Not so long ago, the thought of anyone hurting her filled me with rage. What do I do when I’m the one responsible for that hurt?

There’s no background noise these days as no one touches the Newton’s Cradle. Not even Da. It doesn’t seem right somehow. It would be like committing sacrilege.

“What? I can’t help that I was entered into an arranged marriage.”

“You knew it was coming. You shouldn’t have gone anywhere near her,” Da says.

“We’ve been through this before. The arranged marriage was mentioned once and then never again. How was I to know it was still on the cards? Maybe if you and Ma were overt instead of everything being cloak and dagger.”

“Don’t give me that, Dylan. You’d still have gone there. And in the end, what did it achieve?”

“Well, I got myself another wet work partner,” Paddy pipes up, grinning at me. My da nods in reluctant agreement. Poor old Gavin was the first of many. It seems I’m as bloodthirsty a fecker as the rest of the family.

“Apart from that.”

“Well, for the record, I wouldn’t have gone there. But I’m glad I did as it made me realize how much I love her. That’s what it achieved.”

Everyone knows I do, so it’s not that revelation that has all of us now sitting here in silent contemplation. Maybe it’s the realization that out of four brothers, three are being forced into marriages against our will and when we’re in love with other women. The fact that two are potentially in love with the same woman and she’s already married is a minor detail.

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