Honored (City Series Book 4)(31)

He looked sad. "This is my last resort."

"It could work," Leary said.

I gave him a look. "Stay out of it."

"Actually," Liam interrupted, "we need him. Leary is going to send a message to Colm tonight, and he'll hopefully set up a meeting for tomorrow."

I gaped at him. "Tomorrow? Are you kidding me? You're practically still bleeding."

"We can't afford to wait. Colm will find us eventually, one way or another. We need to make this happen while everything is still fresh."

"And what if it goes bad?"

"It won't come to that." Liam looked at Leary. "Can you make it happen?"

He paused. "Yeah, all right."

"Thanks. I owe you my life."

Leary stood up and grinned. "Yeah, well, you'll pay me back in the end."

He nodded. "I will."

"See you soon, brother." They shook hands. Leary gave me a little grin and then disappeared out the front door. I got up and locked it after him. When I turned back, Liam was frowning at me.

"What are you thinking?" he asked.

I sighed. "I'm thinking you're trying to commit suicide for me."

He laughed. "Believe me, I'm not."

I sat back down next to him. "Don't disappear on me, asshole."

He grinned. "Disappear, and not get to see that perfect fucking ass of yours anymore?"

I laughed and kissed him, hard, letting him know how much I meant it. He relaxed into me, though I was careful with his injured shoulder. I pulled away after a minute, letting my forehead press against his.

"You don't have to save everyone else."

"I do, or else I'm lost."

I sighed. "Why are you like this? I thought you Mob guys were all selfish pricks."

"We are, except I'm not a Mob guy anymore."

I pulled away and looked at him. "What do you mean?"

He shrugged. "Before you, I was a selfish dick. I only thought about pussy and money. Now, though, I have other people to worry about."

"You had Richie before."

He looked away. "Yeah, I guess."

"This is all so fucked and wrong," I said softly.

He looked back at me. "It's both. It's right and wrong. We're fucked and not fucked. We'll keep going."

I sighed and kissed him again, more softly. He wasn't exactly a poet, but he had a way with words. He wrapped his arms around me and hugged me close to him, despite the pain I guessed was lancing up his shoulder.

"Earlier, when the gun was against my head, I kept thinking that I'd let you down. That I had failed you somehow."

"You can't fail me, Liam."

He sighed. "I know you think that, but it's not who I am. I won't be able to forgive myself if I fuck all this up and we end up at the bottom of some gutter."

I kissed his neck softly. "You're not going to. I believe in you."

"I wish I had that much faith."

I pulled away and looked him in the eyes. "Listen to me, idiot. No matter what happens, this, this right here, is the realest I've ever felt in my entire life."

"Everything else was like a dream," he said.

"Exactly, and ever since that bastard put a gun to my head, I've been awake. You've already saved me."

He shook his head and opened his mouth to speak, but I didn't let him. I pressed my lips against his and swallowed his words whole, not caring what kind of self-deprecating shit he wanted to say. He had to know how much I needed him and how grateful I was to have him in my life. Even if it was for such a short and horrible time. I was grateful that I'd had the courage to kiss him, to stroke his body and to feel him.

No matter what happened next, that wouldn't change.





Chapter Twenty-Three: Liam


I looked down at the ringing phone on the nightstand, Ellie stirring next to me, and flipped it open.

"What's up?" I grumbled, annoyed that I was awake.

"Colm took the bait. Meeting is at three this afternoon."

That got me up. "What's the deal?"   





 

"You go alone, in that little empty lot on the edge of your territory, the one kids use as a baseball field."

"Yeah, I know it."

"Bring the documents. He said if it's all there, and it is what you say it is, then he'll exchange that info for your life. You'll have to leave Philly, but you'll be allowed to live."

"Ellie too?"

"Yeah, her too."

I paused. "Thanks, Leary."

"Yeah, well, I won't be there to save you this time if something goes wrong. Colm is more careful than de Barra."

"I know that, man. You've done enough."

"Good look, Liam. I'm rooting for you."

"Thanks."

We hung up, and I looked over at Ellie. She was sitting up in bed, staring at me. Her face was passive, almost serene, and I marveled again at how strong she was, and how fucking sexy. I never thought I was the type to obsess about a pretty face, but there I was, staring into her gorgeous eyes and wishing I never had to look away.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Leary set the meeting up. Looks like Colm is going to make the trade."

She didn't react. "When?"

"Today, at three."

"That's soon," she said softly.

I looked at the clock on the phone. It was ten in the morning.

"Let's get something to eat."

She nodded softly as I climbed out of bed. My arm was aching like a fucking wasp's nest, but it was stitched up. I'd live, at least for the next few hours. I walked downstairs, not bothering to get dressed, and entered the kitchen. I put on a pot of coffee and began to make eggs, the way Ellie seemed to like them. After a few minutes, she walked into the room wearing one of my big white dress shirts. It was a cliché out of a movie, but she looked so fucking sexy that I didn't care. She smiled at me in that way she had, both inviting and innocent, and it almost made me hard. I had to look away before the eggs burned.

Finally, I put a plate in front of her and sat down. She grinned at me.

"Eat up. You've got a big day."

I grunted. "Yeah. Guess I do."

We ate in silence, lost in our separate thoughts.

Time passed too quickly. We didn't do much; I talked to her about the plan a few times, but mostly we sat around on the couch killing the hours until it was time for me to go. Around one in the afternoon, I hobbled upstairs and took a quick shower.

As I finished and began to dry off, Ellie appeared in the bathroom doorway.

"Let me do your bandage."

I glanced at my arm. "Yeah, thanks."

She got some gauze and some medical tape out of the cabinet. I finished toweling off, wrapped it around my hips, and sat down on the toilet's closed lid. She crouched down next to me.

"It looks a little better."

"I'll live."

She laughed softly. "You keep saying that."

I shrugged, and I immediately regretted it as pain lanced through my arm.

"Careful," she chided.

"Sorry," I muttered.

She cut off a piece of gauze and began to gently press it against the wound. She used the medical tape to hold it in place. It didn't take her long, and she managed to keep the pain to a minimum. If I had tried to do it, I'm sure there would have been more than a few curses and plenty of fucked-up pieces of gauze before it was done.

"There," she said, standing back.

I grinned at her. "Perfect. Now I'll be invincible."

She didn't smile. "I hope so."

I stood up and stretched, and I moved passed her, heading into the bedroom. I heard her follow behind me.

"I would never lie to you," I said playfully. "Nothing can touch me now."

"How dangerous will today be?"

I pulled a black T-shirt from my duffle bag of rumpled clothes and picked out a clean pair of jeans. I pulled the shirt over my head with a minimum amount of pain.

"Probably pretty dangerous, honestly."

She frowned. "And you're really going alone?"

I grabbed a pair of gray briefs and threw the towel across the room. I felt her eyes immediately run down my body, and I smirked at her. She looked away, almost embarrassed, as if she hadn't seen me naked plenty already.

"Something you like?" I asked her.

"Cut it out, ass."

"Don't be so uptight."

She frowned at me. "I'm trying to be serious."

"I know you are."

I pulled the briefs on as she moved closer.

"You can't do this alone, Liam."

"Look, I have to. Colm will have his people crawling all over the place. They'll recognize Leary for sure, and I don't have anyone else that I trust or that I could put in danger for this."   





 

She didn't respond right away, and there was this strange look on her face. She chewed her lower lip for half a second, and then she looked me dead in the eyes. I blinked as she crossed the room and threw her body at me, nearly knocking me back a step, and crushed her mouth against mine. I could feel my cock rise immediately at her touch, at her soft, full breasts through my thin cotton button down.

I kissed her back hungrily, all joking forgotten. Fuck what was about to happen, and fuck everything that happened. All I wanted in that moment was her body, her soft skin and her perfect fucking pussy wrapped around my hard dick. I grabbed the front of her shirt and ripped it, buttons popping off and falling to the ground with a satisfying clack.

She pulled back, surprised.

"Always wanted to do that," I mumbled as I began to kiss her neck.