“Eamon, Mickey—can you give us a moment?” Shay asked softly after they went through the last room on the impromptu tour, a classroom.
Shannon didn’t set her down until after the two men had left.
“What is it, love?” he asked. Fuck. Maybe he shouldn’t have brought her here. Fuck, fuck, fuck! He had no freaking idea what she was going to say. But it mattered. Shit, it mattered so damn much!
“My name is Shay…” Shannon moaned, his chest feeling like it had been punctured with a dull spike. Was she ever going to trust— “My real name, Shannon, really is Shay. LaShay, really. LaShay Reid. My brother Jesse—”
“Ran Mattapan until he was set up by his number two and killed by a crooked copper,” Shannon supplied, stunned.
Of course, it all made sense now. Word on the street was the crazy fucker who’d betrayed his boss had an insane bounty on Jesse’s sister’s head, but no one seemed too interested in collecting. Jean-Paul Henry was not well liked because of what he’d done to Jesse. The rumor was the man had betrayed his oldest friend to get at Jesse’s sister. No one was going to trust him after that. The empire he sought to split with Junior Toussaint, the police detective that he’d sold Jesse out to, was in turmoil. Junior could never hope to hold it without street gangs doing the dirty work for him, and no one wanted any part of the duo. The toughest and most loyal seemed to be leaning towards D’Andre Carter to take Jesse’s place. He, after all, had been loyal. He was also the one Shannon had been dealing with in a combined effort to control their perspective areas and lower the rates of addiction. Junkies you would have with you always, but it could be controlled.
“Yeah, that was my brother.” A single tear traced down her cheek, causing Shannon to ache something horrible. And he thought he had hurt before! Seeing her pain—God, nothing on earth could feel worse than this. He couldn’t kill the memory that made her hurt. But by God he was damn sure going to kill the bastard that caused it. Both of them. “I ran a school there, in Mattapan. My brother funded it. But after he was killed…” Suddenly those sad eyes turned fierce. “I will never lay down with Jean-Paul. I would rather sell my body than have him touch it. That’s why I applied for the position at one of your brothels. It was the last place they’d look for me.”
Shannon nodded absently. He could see that. And he didn’t blame her at all.
“No more running, Shay.” How ironic he had dubbed her with her real name. Shay O’Shea. His brothers were going to have a field day with that, but oh fucking well. That would be her name, damn it. But first, he had some assholes to kill.
Shay heard Shannon talking to Mickey, and on the phone with his brother. Mickey had told her he knew D’Andre, but he hadn’t told her Shannon had already been working for him. Shay had to admit she was kind of glad, but more than a little antsy at the current moment.
As soon as they left Home, the place Shannon had created for street kids, the unwanted, drug orphans, the abused, he had taken her to a refurbished eighteenth-century brownstone. This part of South Boston, West 4th Street, was far different from the working-class and more questionable sections he’d taken her to over the two months she’d been with him. It was better even than the neighborhoods Sugar Babies and the Ritz were in. The place had a walk-out balcony and a rooftop one. It was sparsely furnished and looked completely unlived in. At least it had. Little by little, Shannon had taken her into other parts of Boston for furniture, art, knickknacks, anything and everything needed to make this house a home. He had even arranged for her clothes to be packed up from her old home and brought here.
Shay wasn’t stupid. She knew he had done it in broad daylight on purpose, making a show out of giving D’Andre the house (which was in her name), and all the furnishings. Only her personal items were removed. And she had been right there watching the burly South Boston guys move her things with loving care. He’d done it on purpose, sending a message to Jean-Paul and to Junior. She was still here, and she was protected.
Tonight things were coming to a head. Junior had cops trailing them, following everywhere she and Shannon went. He wanted Jean-Paul to come for her. And tonight he had.
It was just before midnight when Fionn and Conall let themselves into the house, then huddled with Shannon, D’Andre and Mickey. Every once and a while one of the men would cast a look in her direction, then go back to whispering furiously among themselves. Finally, Shannon walked over to her.
“The cop is outside, waiting with two other unmarked cars. We made a call in to Kieran. He can take care of the cops.” Shannon looked unsure, which was so not like him. For a brief moment, Shay was worried.
“Junior is well known,” she hedged. “Respected. I don’t want you to get—”
“We aren’t going to get into any trouble,” Shannon cut her off. “That’s what Kieran is for. We are just waiting for him. I just want you to know—baby, I know you want Jean-Paul, but it is important that D’Andre take him back to Mattapan and take care of him there. It has to be done that way.”
Intellectually she knew that. But damn, she wanted to kill the rat bastard herself! He took away her only family. But she knew the way these things worked. D’Andre needed to establish himself.
“You could run Mattapan yourself,” D’Andre cut in. “I would gladly work for you.”
Shannon opened his mouth but Shay cut him off. The agreement was tentative; there was no need to push it. “I think my place is here,” she reassured him. “But I want Junior if it’s possible. He is the one who pulled the trigger.”
“If we’re going to do this, it needs to be now,” Fionn said, glancing at his watch.
“Can’t kill the cops until we have cover from Kieran,” Conall cut in, looking at his watch also. “Don’t know where the fuck he is though.”
“Patience was never one of your virtues.” Kieran entered dressed like a predator in a suit. No one would’ve guessed under the three-piece tailored get-up and wool overcoat, the man was all tatted up like he’d spent years in a federal prison. “I’m guessing the guys waiting outside are the problem?” A long heartfelt sigh escaped him. “I swear, if you weren’t my brothers…”
“I think I will go invite them in,” Fionn stated, a malicious gleam in his eyes. It was kinda disturbing to see how eager Fionn was to get to this. Conall and Kieran seemed almost stoic, Shannon mad as hell, but Fionn? He was like a kid at Disneyland.
Within seconds, Junior and four other cops entered, followed by Jean-Paul. Funny, Jean-Paul suddenly looked ill.
“I think we might have a misunderstanding.” Junior smiled an oily kind of smile. It was the only thing he got to say before Fionn opened fire. One bullet to the head and that problem was over. Before he hit the ground, two more shots rang out. Again from Fionn’s gun. That left Jean-Paul and one other cop. Fionn looked like he might have let the last bastard live, but the dumbass just had to go and draw his weapon. Which left only Jean-Paul.
“I have to take him back,” D’Andre told Shay softly. “But no one says he has to go back whole.”
Yeah she knew that. And she’d actually had time to think about it despite how fast the situation had just gone down. “Fionn? May I have your gun?”
His brother said nothing, just turned over the weapon without blinking an eye. Just as efficiently, Shay aimed and shot Jean-Paul dead in the crotch. Jean-Paul seemed stunned at what had just happened, then in agony. Unable even to scream, he cupped his now ruined groin as if trying to hold in the blood and intestines spilling from him as he crumpled to the floor.
“I would rather have died than to ever be with you.” Her voice was a lot calmer than she’d thought it would be. But tears flowed freely. All this for what? Because some sick bastard had the hots for her?
D’Andre lugged a howling Jean-Paul out of the house.
“I’ll take care of the cleanup,” Conall offered quietly.
“The bodies will be gone and the men were never here,” Kieran stated before making a quick call.
“I think I am going to escort that poor dickless bastard and D’Andre back to Mattapan,” Fionn said cheerfully. “I want to make sure it’s done.”
Shay didn’t have a chance to see anything else. Shannon picked her up and carried her up the stairs.
“I should at least clean the floor.” Yeah, she didn’t really want to do that. She just wasn’t sure she could process this. Jean-Paul was suffering, soon to be dead. Junior was gone. Her brother was avenged. And she was left with…
Oh God, she was left with Shannon.
That was a hell of a thing. Up until now she’d been able to at least partially convince herself staying was a necessity. But what D’Andre said was true. She could’ve gone back. Jesse’s men would be loyal to her, and Lord knows she knew as much about the business as any of them—more than most, even. But she didn’t want to do that. She wanted to stay with the slightly insane Irishman who liked to bare-knuckle box, provided a home he actually called Home to disenfranchised kids of any race, and loved her like she was the sexiest, most precious woman on earth.
And oh yeah, Shannon loved her. There was no doubt about it. Not once since she first walked into his office at Sugar Babies had she slept alone; not one day had been spent without him. He took her on business, allowed her to handle the non-physical things, told her stories about his childhood that made her want to cry, and she’d seen some shit so she wasn’t moved to tears easily.
More than that, she knew he needed her love. He didn’t even known how much he craved a soft touch against his skin, but Shay knew. She saw it in those emerald eyes every time she touched him. It was just that, now there was no other thing left to hide behind, it left her vulnerable in a way she’d never been before. She wasn’t really sure what to do with all these…
feelings
.
“Baby, look at me.”
Shay immediately raised her eyes to meet his fierce gaze. God, he was beautiful in a terrifying, brutal kind of way. God, that was sexy.
“It is over.” Using his thumb he brushed away a tear that had been hanging off her chin. Shit, she was crying. “I will never allow anything to threaten you, not ever.”
“I know.” And she did. Shannon would always be there for her. She knew it in her soul. And that scared the shit out of her. No one should be this certain about another human being.
“Let me show you?” Setting her down on the bed, he kneeled between her legs, looking so desperate it broke her heart to witness it. “I need you. I need to… Shit…” Scrubbing his hands over his face, he looked around the room before returning his gaze back to her. “I need to make sure you’re okay, that you’re safe. I know you are, but baby, I need to be inside you, to be a part of you.”
She knew the feeling. “I need you too,” she swallowed her pride and admitted. Nothing good could come from denying it anyway.
As soon as she said it, she was flat on her back, Shannon’s weight crushing her to the bed, his lips taking hers in a storm of pent-up emotion. It was so easy so be swept up in his storm. His fingers stole into her hair, pulling her head back, holding her mouth open for him. Their bodies pressed relentlessly against one another, their sexes meshing through their clothing as they ground against one another. Shay wanted the clothes gone; they only made the needy ache growing in her core worse.
“There’s no way in hell I can be gentle,” Shannon growled, coming up for air. All the while he was tearing at her clothes.
So she returned the favor, almost frantic to get rid of anything between them. And just as soon as they were gone, his fingers were probing between her labia, using her own juices to lubricate his way, his mouth seizing her nipple in a sharp, biting suckle.
Fuck, that hurt! But damn did it feel so fucking good! Her hips rocked with his fingers. How was it possible for a man to unerringly find her g-spot each and every time?
Needing to drive him just as crazy as he was driving her, she pushed at his shoulders, knocking him backwards so that he lay on his back. With a growl of her own, she took a quick bite on his chest, then moved down to where his heavy sex bobbed angrily in the air, pearls of pre-cum glistening the very tip. There was no way she could take it all in her mouth, but she was damn sure going to try.
Smiling at the hiss that escaped his lips as soon as her tongue touched his heated flesh, she swirled it around and around before suddenly sinking her mouth as far as it would go down his shaft.
“Fuck, baby, no I can’t—I can’t take that.”
And as soon as she had his cock in her mouth, it was gone, and she was on her back, looking up at a man that was teetering on the edge of his control. It was odd how his hunger fueled hers, making her pussy weep in earnest.
Her thighs parted immediately, accommodating the width of his body. Shannon immediately drove his throbbing length deep inside her in one stroke, burying himself to the hilt. Shay’s back arched completely off the chaise, offering him full access. Without pausing he drove deep and hard, riding her as if this might be the last time they’d ever come together. And Shay thrust back up just as hard, swiveling her hips from underneath him, needing every inch, every stroke. Nothing else mattered but this, his possession. Under his touch she was alive, more than she’d ever been.
“I don’t want to hurt you,” he groaned, but not slowing, not easing his slamming hips.
It was intoxicating, being taken so brutally, like he wanted to really become a piece of her. Like a man possessed he slammed inside her, over and over again, causing her mind to blank to everything but him, making her moan with abandon at the way she gripped him, hugged him. Sweat dripped from both of their bodies, the rich aroma of unbridled lust heavy in the air. Shay breathed it in, savored every sensation. The fingernails she scraped down his back only spurred him on.
“Shay, baby, I’m not going to hold on,” Shannon rasped, holding her tight against him.
“Don’t,” she encouraged. “Please, Shannon, I need you, need this.”
“FUCK!” Shannon roared, slamming into her one last time with force that knocked her breath away.
She felt him convulsing inside her, felt his hot sperm flooding deep inside her. It was too much; Shay screamed her own release, her arms locked around him, holding on for dear life. Just as soon as one wave crashed over her, another began, leaving her panting, unable to suck in enough air. She was never going to stop, it seemed, until finally the whole world turned to black.