Page 88 of Of Grief And Gratitude

She laughed humorlessly and looked up at me, tears in her eyes. “Tempting, but then we’d have to kill Sam, and I kind of like him, still.”

Sam leaped away from his brother, holding his hands in the air. “I didn’t look, I swear. I tried to get him to stop.”

“Dirty rat,” Sean shot at his brother, glaring.

While he wasn’t paying attention, I snatched the camera out of his hands, handing it to Riona. “That’s yours as far as I’m concerned.”

Sean perked up. “Listen, I’ll add it to my collection if you don't want it.”

“What is wrong with you?” I stepped up to him, shoving at his chest and making him scramble to keep his balance. “You don’t go snooping around people’s houses and looking at things that don’t concern you.”

“On the contrary, that’s exactly what I do.” He shrugged and pointed to himself. “Started my life of crime with good old breaking and entering. Jewelry, paintings, anything that looked expensive. I had a pretty good black market sales business going by the time I graduated high school.”

“That won’t end well for you if you do that to my family,” I threatened.

Riona let out a noise that was something between a gasp and despair. She shook her head violently. “I can’t do this.”

“What about dinner?” Sean called out as she turned to leave.

“I’m not hungry anymore.” She waved us off. “You go on. I’m going to bed.”

“Uh.” Sam hesitated. “Our stuff is in the other bedroom. We put your things in here.”

Riona’s shoulders slumped in defeat. “Seriously? Is nothing off-limits?”

“I didn’t think you’d mind, given what we realized was going on with you two,” Sean said with a hint of remorse. “We’ll get out of your way so you can rest.”

The brothers hurried from the room, and Riona flung herself on the bed, crying. My chest tightened, but I didn’t know how to fix it without beating the ever-living fuck out of Sean. Instead, I sat on the bed and stroked her back.

“I’m so sorry,” I mumbled. Her body shook with her sobs, but she didn’t speak. I waited, keeping up long, slow strokes of my hand up and down her back like my mother used to do when I was a child. Eventually, her sobs turned to sniffles and hiccoughs.

She turned to me, her eyes rimmed in red. “Please. Just go. I want to be alone.”

“Riona. I—”

“Go, Romeo,” she said firmly, pointing toward the door. “I’m not just saying that. I want you to leave.”

I nodded and stood, looking back as I closed the door quietly. She kept her head turned away from me. I slowly descended the stairs to find the O’Connor boys sitting at the dining table, eating their food. It wouldn’t do me any good to refuse to eat, so I sat at the other end of the table and finished the tepid but perfectly cooked steak.

I thought Sean could take a hint, but he proved me wrong when he opened his mouth as I neared the end of my salad. “You’re a lucky bastard; you know that? My dad has been trying to get one of us to land Riona for years. And here you come in with your dick dangling on national news and steal her right under our noses.”

“Shut up, O’Connor,” I warned, stabbing the last bit of lettuce like I wanted to stab his jugular with my fork.

He didn’t.

He rolled his eyes. “I don’t know why you’re all fucked up over this. It’s not like I’ve never seen people fuck before.”

I stood, intending to be the bigger person by walking away. The asshole just couldn’t let it go, though, as I walked by.

“Colin owns that sex club. When I was there, your sister, Bianca—”

I decked him. Fucking punched him right in the jaw. It sent him tumbling backward in the chair with a crash. He looked shocked but was silent for the first time since he’d invaded my cabin.

“I said shut. The. Fuck. Up,” I snarled, lunging when he tried to get up and shoving him to the floor. “Don’t talk about my sister. Never mention that video with Riona again, and watch how you talk to or about her. I won’t be so nice next time if I even think you’re being disrespectful. I’ll make sure I hit you so hard your jaw will have to be wired shut for a month.”

I stalked away, shaking the hand I’d used to hit Sean and noticing the blood on my knuckles. The night air held a chill and the threat of rain when I stormed out the back door, but I didn’t care. I breathed it all in, determined to calm myself before I had to return to Riona.

Sean was an ass, but damn, punching him had felt good.

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