Saving a Legend(96)

Kieran glanced behind him for a second, wondering what Jimmy was staring at or why he looked so confused. At the same moment, he felt Fiona’s fingers dig into his forearm as she went stiff as a board against him. Several people noticed and started glancing at them with uncertainty.

“Officer?” Fiona squeaked out. Her face was turned away from Kieran, but he could feel her shaking like a leaf as she clutched his arm.

“Fiona Doherty? What are you doing here?” Jimmy asked, seeming to blink back to life. He didn’t look upset, or even angry, just extremely confused.

Everyone in the small room turned to look at Kieran; then he realized they were actually looking at the woman in his arms. He tightened his grip around her, feeling the need to anchor her, but he was too late. She pulled from his side, trying to make a break for the door. Unfortunately, there were too many people in the small space to allow her to escape easily, even though the locker room held only the Kavanaghs, Nora, and Ace at the moment.

“What’s going on?” Rory asked, looking back and forth between Fiona and Jimmy, who had now climbed down off the bench he’d been standing on.

“I’d like to know that, too. What the hell, Jimmy?” Kieran echoed Rory’s statement.

“Um.” Jimmy looked uncomfortable, unsure what to say. “Fuck, K, what do you want me to say? I told you weeks ago not to get involved with her. It’s complicated.”



“Don’t you dare talk about my woman like that,” Kieran warned. “Tell me now—how do you know each other?”

“Not here, guys,” Seamus tried to interject, but Kieran needed to understand what he was missing.

“Listen to your father. This isn’t the time,” Dee agreed.

Fiona looked at his parents with wide eyes, as if they knew something no one else did. The entire situation was getting too confusing.

“Kieran, please. Just drop it. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t be here,” Fiona told him, her face beet-red.

“I worked the homicide she was involved in about three years ago.” Jimmy sighed and threw his hands up in defeat, as if he was annoyed even to be having this conversation, an attitude that enraged Kieran even more.

A what? Did he just say she had been involved in a homicide? Kieran’s jaw dropped as he turned to Fiona. Her expression was pure terror, her hands were clutched tightly together, and her face was pale. She wasn’t denying it, though.

She actually looked guilty.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” Kieran finally asked as he saw his family turning toward Fiona, too. He felt protective of her, genuinely worried for the first time in his life that the woman he loved wasn’t who he thought she was. There’s that word again. I’m in love with her.

“I need to go, please.” Fiona pushed by Casey, who stepped aside, seeming as confused as everyone else. Fiona’s hands were covering her face as she finally fled the room.



Kieran wanted to rush after her, but his feet seemed glued to the cement floor and refused to budge. Nora was standing close to Kane, her hands on his arm. Kane whispered something to her, tipping his head toward the door, and Kieran knew he was asking Nora to follow Fiona. She nodded, understanding. She looked just as nervous before she left, but she definitely didn’t seem surprised.

She must have known, too, Kieran thought.

Kieran turned to face Jimmy. “Someone explain to me right now what the fuck is going on.”

Everyone looked to Seamus, as if asking for permission to continue. When he nodded his head, barely perceptibly, Jimmy grimaced and told the story.

“She killed her stepfather three years ago. I was the first on scene, and it was a fucking mess. She stabbed him, apparently hitting a main artery. Combine that with the fact that he was drunk as shit, he bled out quickly.” Jimmy was more subdued now, his voice full of sorrow just at the memory of it all.

Kieran let go and stepped back, searching Jimmy’s face for any sign he was lying, but there was none. Fiona had stabbed a man to death, and had never told him about it. What the ever-loving fuck was going on?

“Shit,” Rory said, as the rest of the room fell silent.

“I don’t understand.” Kieran shook his head. “If she did what you’re saying, why isn’t she in prison? Why was she granted custody of a child? None of this makes sense.” She could have been in prison…ironic, he thought.



“She was defending her family,” Jimmy tried to explain, looking as uncomfortable as everyone else. “The stepdad was beating on her mother.”

“Her mother’s dead,” Kieran said. That much he had known.