Page 22 of The Irish Rogue

He drove out of the city, thinking to work on club business for a few hours. But as soon as he stepped through the doors of TBC, Emily stopped him. “Nope!” she announced, halting him with a hand in the air.

“What are you doing?”

The dark haired woman glared up at him. “You’re not coming in here to snap at people again today. We’re sick of it. You either promise to be nice, or leave.”

He laughed, thinking she was adorable. “I’m just going to my office to get some work done.”

Her eyes narrowed up at him. “The last time you came in, you won over half a million dollars from Harvey.”

“So?” Sean didn’t care about the pompous bank president. The man deserved to lose the money.

Emily chuckled as she crossed her arms over her chest. “So, you’restillin a foul mood and we’re not going to fleece our members today.” She leaned forward, whispering in a conspiratorial tone, “You’re scaring away the members!”

He grumbled. “If they can’t take the bets, they shouldn’t sit at the table with me.” He started to step around her, but a snarl came from the right. Sean glanced in that direction, already knowing what he’d find. Sure enough, Hendrix Pilarti, the head of security for the club, stood off to the side, a warning look in his dark eyes.

Since he was an ex-special forces guy, Sean chuckled, but backed off. He looked at Emily once again, contrition in his features now. “How about if I promise not to gamble today? Can I go to my office then?”

She considered the offer for a moment, then she nodded slowly. “Fine. But stay out of the poker room.”

He agreed and again started to step around her, but she did a quick side shuffle and added, “And you aren’t allowed in the pool room either.”

Sean muttered a few choice words under his breath, but nodded his agreement. Not that he would have allowed Emily to keep him out of the club. He was one of the owners while she was only the club manager. But she was a formidable personality within the club. Emily was an essential part of the club’s recovery.

Also, if anyone pissed her off, she’d leave and take the entire wait staff with her. Emily garnered an impressive level of loyalty among the staff members.

And that brought his thoughts right back to Kennedi. She held enormous loyalty to Tom. So did the rest of the staff members at the pub and brewery. Hell, even he felt a certain amount of loyalty to Tom and he didn’t even work for the man!

Damn it, he really was losing his mind!

Since he wasn’t allowed to play poker or pool, both of which would have given him something to focus on besides his current problem, he headed stiffly to his office on the third floor.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Levi demanded. “I thought Emily was going to ban you from the grounds until you cheered up.”

Matteo stepped out of his office, leaning a shoulder casually against the wall as he surveyed Sean. “It’s been months since you have been in anything besides a foul mood. What gives?”

“None of your business,” Sean countered, trying to step around the two men he considered his best friends. “I just…have some things on my mind.”

“Would those things have anything to do with a quaint brewery located in a small, southern town?”

Sean stopped, his eyes narrowing suspiciously as he glared at the smirking pair. “How the hell do you know anything about that?”

Levi and Matteo shared a glance. Matteo was the first to speak. “Because your hobby is buying up any brewery that has a gifted brew master,” the man replied.

Sean gritted his teeth. “I don’t buy up justanybrewery. Just the ones that are a good investment.”

Levi sauntered closer, clapping Sean on the shoulder. “We know your brewery hobby is mainly to spite your father.” He looked at Matteo, then said, “We each have ways we snub our dads. But was there something special about the place in Georgia? It seems as if you’ve been on edge ever since returning from that trip.”

“Nothing was wrong with the brewery in Georgia,” he snarled, thinking of that day when he’d held Kennedi in his arms, feeling her passion and laughing with her in between bouts of mind-blowing lust.

Matteo pushed away from the wall. “Are you telling us that your visit to Georgia last year didn’t have anything to do with creating a better brewing empire than your father?”

Sean rolled his eyes impatiently. “My father ownsonesmall pub and a small beer distribution factory in Ireland. He lives off of the profits from those two establishments.” He looked at Levi, then at Matteo. “There is no chance that my father could ever compete with what I’ve accomplished over the past fifteen years.”

“No doubt. There’s no competition between you and your father,” Levi agreed easily and Matteo nodded. “So, what’s going on?”

Sean ran a hand through his hair, frustration hitting him hard. He considered just turning around and heading to the gym for a hard workout, but his two best friends in the world, the two men he trusted more than anyone, were telling him that he’d been an ass for the past year.

Their comments, plus Emily’s comments about his merciless gambling issues, were enough to make him pause.

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