Page 35 of The Ties We Break

I waste no time getting changed and walk over to where he’s still kicking the shit out of a punching bag and tentatively say hello. He doesn’t respond, most likely because he’s too far in his own head. So I grab hold of the punching bag, making my presence very well known.

“Sorry, brother. I didn’t see you there,” he says between puffs and pants as he tries to catch his breath.

“Yeah, I noticed when you ignored me saying hello. What’s going on with you? I can tell there's something wrong.” Kian rolls his eyes before dropping to the mat he’s standing on. He sits cross-legged, and to everyone around us, he simply looks like he’s stretching. But I can see the pain in his eyes. I join him on the floor straight away, as he seems to struggle to find the right words.

“Okay, so you know I have been working with Paddy O’Keenan, and he has been training me for a special project?” Kian asks, and I nod in confirmation, indicating he should continue. “Basically, his granddaughter, Bree, is the heir to the London branch, and it’s fucking imperative that they maintain their hold on London because people like your crazy motherfucker of a boss will try to capitalise. So, now she’s reached legal age, she has to marry someone who will take over the business. The problem is that she doesn’t want to marry someone just for business purposes. To cut a long story short, I have to go to London to learn how their branch works. Paddy will be coming for a bit to teach me. The aim is that when a new leader is elected, I will be their second in command.”

I let his words settle in, remaining silent until I finally found the right words to reply. “Fuck, I thought you were about to tell me you are getting married,” I tease, and we both have a small laugh until I carry on with the more challenging part of the conversation. “You’re leaving too, aren’t you? Fuck, maybe it’s time I thought about going to England,” I muse more to myself than to Kian, but his face lights up like a kid in a sweet shop.

“Yes, you have to move with Issy and me. I can tell you like this girl, like really like her. You haven’t gotten into a fight in a long time, yet you threw down without thinking when she was in trouble. If that’s not love, I don’t know what is,” Kian jokes. He isn’t saying anything I haven’t already heard or thought about before, but after the morning we’ve had, it hurts so much more.

“I do like her, and she likes me. We basically confessed as much today, but there’s no hope for us, Kian. She has to auction her virginity off tomorrow night, and I’m not allowed to bid. Which means she will have to fuck someone else, and they will get what is mine. I don’t think I can ever forget that, no matter how much I want to.”

The words sit between us, and like Belle and I did a couple of hours earlier, we both sit in silence, trying to find the ties we can break and how we can get away with it. But just like this morning, we both come up empty.

“It’s a nice dream, bro, and I’m not saying no. I’m just saying I don’t know. I don't know if I can come to London to be nearer to you, only to risk bumping into her. And don’t even think about giving me a lecture on how big the damn place is; it could happen. Let me think about it. When do you leave?” I ask, not entirely sure I can cope without seeing Kian daily. He has become a significant part of my life since he barged his way in all those years ago.

“Maybe a couple of weeks. There’s no real rush because, as I said, rumour has it, the granddaughter’s a bit of a firecracker, and I wouldn’t be surprised if she refused to ever get married, just to piss her whole family off. The more I learn, the more I like her,” Kian says with his usual cheeky, bad boy smile, complete with dimples.

“Do not fuck this one. Paddy may not be as fucking nutty as Desmond, but he still won’t hesitate in putting a bullet through your brains for that kind of thing,” I chastise, making sure my manwhore best friend remains aware of the situation he has gotten himself into.

Although I tried for years at first to keep Kian away from Paddy and the O’Keenan Mafia Family, I never succeeded. The one thing my friend has always craved is a family. Someone more than just me. So, of course, he gravitated towards people who could capitalise on his role as an underground fighter, and who could offer him a family with more people in it than just me. Whilst I may not agree with him joining a mafia family, I can’t deny that Paddy has got him to calm down a lot. He looks after him and agrees that Kian can fight as long as he does it in one of Paddy’s rings, and it’s never unplanned.

“I promise I won’t fuck Paddy’s granddaughter, he really would fucking kill me, or he’d castrate me. I don’t know what’s worse. I’m not that much of an eejit.”

With a slight chuckle and a shake of my head, I stand up and offer a hand to help Kian up, which he accepts. “Shall we do what we came here for and spar?”

Kian wastes no time jumping into the ring, something I replicate more slowly and controlled. That’s the difference between us; I'm cold, hard, and calculated, whereas Kian is hyper, funny, and loveable. Don’t get me wrong, he has a lethal side, but he doesn’t use it all that often. Instead, he uses his smile and dimples to get more pussy than he could ever want. It works a lot better than my stern, asshole face. Not that I do poorly with women, but I do have a ‘fuck off’ face, whereas Kian has a kind face.

We begin sparring, and I don’t even hesitate when I strike the first blow. I have a lot of excess energy to work off, more than when I first walked in. Not only are the only two people in my life leaving me and moving to England, but I’m so sexually frustrated after the intense session Belle and I had earlier, I wanked three times in the shower and still, it wasn’t enough.

Even though we only used our fingers or our tongues, we took our time with each other, learning all the parts of the other person’s body and generally owning that person. She swallowed my cum three times, and I finished a fourth time on her tits. I didn’t think I could come a fourth time. My stamina is good, but I didn’t know it was that good.

I think I aged ten years when Belle asked me to show her what it’s like to have her anus played with. That was me fucking gone. I showed her how to stretch it, what it feels like to be rimmed, and how it feels to take fingers deep inside. It was too much for me to feel her coming just from having two of my fingers stuck in her ass, and I practically finished without being touched.

As we both dressed afterwards, I couldn’t help but think that whoever gets my beauty will be getting one hell of a vixen. She has come out of her shell so much compared to the timid mouse I met just three weeks ago. I can only imagine how much of a siren she will become when she gets her first taste of cock in her pussy. I know she will love it and demand so much more. But thinking about someone else getting to be her first instead of me is just too much for me to handle.

Every time I land a blow on Kian, the more force I apply, the more I think about saying bye to Belle. I tried to say that it was only goodbye until the auction tomorrow, but we both know that isn't the case. Today was our proper goodbye, and as she left, it felt like she took a part of me with her. I felt lost, and for the first time in as long as I can remember, my eyes filled with tears. I didn’t cry, but I came close. Maybe I really did fall for her?

I remember at the beginning when she was talking about her parents. She wondered if when soulmates part, does the other person keep a part of their mate so they will always find each other again? At the time, I thought it was rubbish. Now, that’s exactly how I feel. But if I do have a piece of Belle with me, I promise I will keep it safely in my heart until the day she finally comes to claim it, most likely in another life.

“Woah. Woah. This is training, you asshole! I didn’t come here for you to just beat the shit out of me!” Kian yells, pulling me out of my painful thoughts as he moves to his corner to get a drink.

Just as I’m walking to my corner, I hear the ringer of my mobile, and I rush to answer it. Throwing myself onto my knees, I rifle through my bag, desperately searching for my phone. When I finally find it, I’m sad to see it isn’t Belle’s face staring back at me on the caller ID. Instead, it’s my boss, Desmond.

“Hi, Declan here,” I answer, trying to sound as professional as possible.

Desmond wastes no time with pleasantries and gets straight to the point. “Did you get into a fistfight with a client last night over a girl?”

“Not exactly. Firstly, yes, I did fight with a client, but it was not on club premises, and no Gardai were involved. Second, it was hardly a fight over a girl. She is one of our auction lots. I have been working with her, at her request, to learn what she likes and doesn’t, to make the virginity auction safer. She called me because he had not only stalked her on her night out but also touched her without consent and issued threats. His behaviour was unacceptable, and I don’t regret my actions or that I banned him from the club.”

With a loud sigh, Desmond starts to sound weary, like he can’t be arsed with all the stress. “I know, that’s why I’m calling. Put it this way, Mr Lalor rang me to express his disgust at your actions. He feels they are the actions of a jealous man who is bitter that he can’t bid on the girl at the auction. He basically threatened that if we do not let him back in the club and give him full access to the auction, he will report you to the police and expose us.”

Now I really am fuming, and I’m sure Desmond can hear the rage in my voice. “Please tell me that we are not caving in to his demands? Why the hell are you not sending someone straight to his house to put a bullet between his eyes for threatening your business?”

“I have enough Gardai in my pocket to be confident his complaint won't get far, Declan. But he has some very serious friends, ones I need to work with for some of my future plans. I can’t risk upsetting any of them. Trust me, when the time comes, I will not hesitate to put a bullet in his brain, but until then, we are going to have to do as he says,” Desmond explains, and given the hiss at the end of the sentence, it sounds like he is talking through clenched teeth.

“You agreed when I took over as manager that I could run the club how I wanted and that you wouldn’t interfere. This is you very clearly interfering. How can I tell girls that the auction is safe when I let animals like him bid on them?” I question, and Desmond's responding groan tells me he already knows this.

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