Page 226 of Dirty Padraig: Dirty Dusters

“Who said you had to?”

“What are you saying?”

“You know what I’m saying. It’s clear they’ve shared women in the past, given the way Sabrina Hawthorn was pawing at them both. It’s common knowledge in our legal world that she’s quite partial to a menage-a-trois.”

“You sound like you’ve had firsthand experience.”

“I don’t. It’s not really my thing, but each to their own.”

“Maybe I don’t want to be shared.”

“You’re a lawyer. At least try to make it sound convincing.”

“Maybe they don’t want to share.” I snap.

“I’m sure you could convince them. Surely, it’s got to be better than witnessing them be with other women.”

I stand. “I think that’s my cue to leave.”

He laughs dryly. “Jaine, you’re meant to be one of the top legal brains in Manhattan, yet here you are, running away because you don’t like what you’re being told. Debating is what our kind do, or is it because you don’t have a valid argument?”

“No, Nate. I’m leaving because this is about me. It’s not about a client. My personal life isn’t up for debate. My personal life has got nothing to do with you.”

“Where the O’Connells are concerned, I beg to differ.”

I stare at him. I get it now. “That’s the other reason you’re keeping my secret, right? Because I’m one of them.”

He smiles, saluting me with his glass before throwing his drink back in one.

“Do yourself a favor, Jaine. Stop playing the martyr because one of these days, you really will run out of lives, and it’ll be too late. Given the number of times you’ve almost died, you should know better than most that when we’re faced with death, it’s not the things we’ve done that we regret, it’s the things we didn’t.”

Jaine’s Apartment, Upper East Side, New York

“Did anything go down between you and the very tasty and extremely single Nathan Hawke last week?”

“Jessie, what did I say last time we had this conversation?” I roll my eyes.

“That if you fucked the DA, I’d be the first to know.”

“Exactly, and given that I haven’t said, ‘Hey, Jessie. Guess what? I fucked the DA’ then it means it never happened.”

“A girl can dream.”

“Married girls can’t dream about having sex with divorced, single men who cheat on their wives.”

“Sabrina didn’t go home with Eoin or Padraig that night, even though she was throwing herself at both.”

“They don’t take women home. They hook up at their willing victim’s apartment. Maybe they all met up later for their menage-a-trois.”

“They didn’t. Dylan was on the phone with both his brothers the moment we got back. Can you believe Sabrina fucked them at the same time? I know how demanding one O’Connell male can be. I can’t imagine how hard it must be trying to satisfy….”

“Jessie,” I warn.

“I mean, Eoin on his own must be exhaust….”

“Jessie!”

“Did you ever think about it?”

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