The Wedding Pact (The O'Malleys #2)(58)

He’s not far off. Bitterness clawed up her throat, the taste acid on her tongue. If she was braver, she would have taken Teague’s offer to get her away. But the sad truth was that she didn’t know who she was if she wasn’t Sloan O’Malley, fifth child of Seamus and Aileen O’Malley, obedient daughter and…boring. So incredibly boring. I want more, I just don’t know what that more is.

But it was a waste of time and energy to rail at her situation, because the truth was that she wasn’t ever going to change. She’d do what her father wanted and, when the time came, she’d marry who he picked for her, slowly withering away like a flower on a vine. At least the flower had a second chance at life when spring came around.

Sloan didn’t.

“Hey, squirt. You’re looking awfully dark and down over here in the shadows.” Cillian leaned against the wall next to her. “Didn’t you know that Teague has the market cornered on brooding? You can’t take that away from him the night before his wedding.”

She looked over to where the brother in question stood in the middle of a group of people, grinning down at his wife like she was the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen. No one’s ever going to—Oh my God, Cillian’s right. I’m sitting over here, brooding. She took a sip of her wine. “I was just thinking.”

“Thinking is all you ever do, squirt. You’ve got to get out in the world and live a little.”

She eyed his nearly empty drink—no doubt it wasn’t his first for the night. “I think you do enough living for both of us.”

“Not how it works.” He finished the pale amber liquid in his glass. “Life experience can’t be shared, not really. I could tell you stories…” He glanced at her. “Then again, you’re my little sister and I think those stories might burn your virgin ears.”

Heat crept up her neck and over her face. “There’s such a thing as too much information.”

“I couldn’t agree more. But my point stands—I could go out and do the craziest shit anyone’s ever seen, and it wouldn’t count any more in life experience for you than those books you like to read.”

She knew that. Lord, she knew that. But wishing for courage to do something else—something wild—with her life was a long way off from actually taking that first step to do it. Sloan might only be twenty-three, but she knew herself. She liked her quiet, safe, boring life. Maybe it wasn’t always safe safe, but if she put herself out in the world, there were no guarantees of even that. “I’ll take it into consideration.”

“No, you won’t.” He snorted. “You’re saying that because you think it’s what I want to hear, but in reality you’ll be holed up in that nook in the library with a book, reading about someone else’s adventures.” He seemed to realize how harsh he sounded, because he sent her an apologetic look. “Sorry, squirt. If you can’t tell already, I’m not exactly good company tonight.”

She could. One benefit to always standing in the shadows was that she saw more than the average person. She’d known the second she got back from Connecticut that something about Cillian had changed. He still pasted on the carefree attitude when he had to, but that wasn’t the man he was anymore. Devlin’s death had changed him, just like it’d changed them all. She reached out and squeezed his arm. “It’ll be okay.”

His smile was mirthless. “Well, hell, squirt. I never pegged you for a liar.”





Chapter Sixteen


James spent the day in meetings. It was all shit he knew he’d been neglecting, but his talk with Lisa Marie had driven home just how many things he’d let slip through the cracks. It was time to change that. If he was going to run the Hallorans, he had to stop pussyfooting around and run it.

By the time he got back to the house, it was dark and he couldn’t remember the last time he’d eaten. But he was confident that there were no more nasty surprises lurking as a result of Ricky’s actions while James wasn’t paying attention. As for Ricky…

It was time to do something about that, too.

Ten days was long enough to let him stew. He needed to fix this. Now.

He checked his phone as he walked through the door. Nothing. Not that he’d expected Carrigan to call him. She’d made it pretty damn clear that she had a lot going on in the next few days, so there was no reason for the disappointment souring his stomach. He’d just spent the damn night with her. He couldn’t possibly miss her. But the thought of going another few days without seeing her again made the feeling in his stomach worse.