Mob Bride (The O’Rourke Brotherhood #5)

Chapter 15

Chapter Fifteen

Shane

I put my hand on her thigh. The call ends, and I lift Carrie onto my lap. She curls into me, and I know this is where she belongs. It feels so incredibly right to hold her. Like she’s always belonged here and always will. She’s beautiful, and I love the way she feels when I touch any part of her. But it is so, so much more. She’s brave, intelligent, stubborn, irreverent, loyal, confident. My list could keep going. I know she usually does the honorable thing, and she’s trying to do it now. She’s struggling to balance her duty and loyalty to her job and her feelings for me. I get that.

I don’t know all the day-to-day details about her. I don’t know her favorite food or the toothpaste she prefers. I know who she is on and elemental level, and that won’t change even if her job or allegiance does. The same values that drive me, drive her, too. Love, loyalty, honor, duty, and family. I know I admire her for who she is and always will be. It’s why I’ve fallen for her, and my feelings grow by the minute. The minutia will come with time because the important qualities are there and make me want to stick around for the little things.

I think she feels the same because she relaxes. I glance down, and her eyes are closed as she rests against me.

“Daddy, can we stay like this forever? Do we really have to let the rest of the world find us? Can’t we just continue as we are?”

“I want that too, cailín . We can stay like this as long as you want. Nobody’s getting in here that I don’t let in. I have men already stationed around the house, and they’re ready the moment they need to act, but I don’t believe it’ll come to that.”

“I hope you’re right.” Her voice isn’t as calm as it was a moment ago. “Shane, I’ve got to call into the office and find out what happened to Angela and Steve. I can’t go without knowing. I’ll panic if I don’t find out, and it’s my duty to make sure our supervisors know something went wrong. Thank God it hasn’t been as long as I thought. Nearly three hours isn’t too unreasonable. Hell, it’s plausible it took me that long to get somewhere safe.”

She doesn’t get off my lap as she dials another number. I see her finger hover over the speaker button before she taps it. I don’t envy the position she’s in right now. I wouldn’t wish it upon anyone.

“This is Special Agent Carys Pritchard. I need to speak to Supervisory Special Agent Phil Hammond.”

“Agent Pritchard, we’ve been expecting your call. Hang on.”

The line goes quiet for a moment, and I can tell we’re on speakerphone too.

“Agent Pritchard, where are you? Angela and Steve already reported to us. We know you’ve been made.”

“I’m somewhere safe outside the city. I’ll stay here until I’m sure I can get back into Manhattan without anyone finding me.”

“Where are you? We’ll come to you. You know wherever you are isn’t a designated safe house unless you’re in Pittsburgh.”

“Sir, I’m fine where I am for now. Until I know what’s going on and exactly how they made me, I’m better off staying put exactly where I am.”

“That’s not acceptable, Carys. You will follow this order.”

“And if I die in the process, Phil, then what? I haven’t given my last report. I’m not doing it over the phone.”

“You know this is a secured line.”

“Maybe, but not absolutely. I will give my report in person, but not yet. Deal with the Nowakowski brothers and put them in jail, and I’ll consider going back.”

“What exactly are we supposed to arrest them for?”

This is a second voice. He sounds snide and arrogant.

“Steve, you know as well as I do, there’s plenty to arrest them for. You’ve got probable cause up the yin-yang and back, and if nothing else, you can pin attempted murder on at least Jacek. You have the photos from what he did. There’s no way he wasn’t trying to kill me when he attacked me. At the very least, you have assault on a federal agent. We have plenty of other evidence already to indict both brothers on drug trafficking. The only reason we haven’t brought them in is because we wanted the bratva more.”

“About that.” This is a woman’s voice, but she says nothing else. Carrie mouths “Angela.”

I can tell Carrie’s frustration is rising with how her handlers press her, but now she can breathe a little easier since they’re safe after all.

The woman’s voice comes back on the call. “Someone clued them in they’re under investigation. I wonder who that could be.”

“Are you suggesting I did it?” Carrie’s incredulous tone is genuine.

“We know you’ve been in contact with someone in another syndicate family. Tell us who, and we can make a move.”

She meets my gaze. “You know I have CIs all over the place. I’m cultivating a relationship with one right now, but it’s too soon to say anything about it.”

“Maybe to people outside this agency, but you can tell us.”

Angela presses her. I don’t like the bitch. It’s her tone, too. I rarely say shite like that about women, but I will about her.

“No, I told you I’m not saying anything else over the phone.”

“And you need to get your ass in here.”

Angela snaps at Carrie, and it makes me want to curl my hands into fists.

“You need to back down, Angela. I’m doing what I can. I’ll get to all of you when I can. It’s not safe for me to stay on the phone here. I need to go. I checked in to find out whether you and Steve were safe. You are. Now I gotta go.”

Her supervisor, Phil Hammond—tucking that name away for later—comes back on the line.

“That is not how it’s going to work. You’re going to come back into the office, and you are going to debrief us on everything.”

“I would happily do that if I thought I’d live long enough to get there, but I don’t. So, until I’m confident I’ll survive to get there to tell you everything, you’ll have to give me some more time. You trusted me to get into the Polish mob’s world. Now I need you to trust me to get back out.”

“Fine. But I expect daily check-ins from you, since your tracker isn’t on.”

“I know. I had to leave it behind. I took it off to shower because it was irritating my wrist. I couldn’t put it back on without Tymoteusz wondering why I needed a piece of jewelry—at least one that didn’t come from Bartlomiej. That would have made him inspect it. There’s too great a chance he would have found out it’s a tracker. Then I’d be dead.”

“The phone you’re on doesn’t have location services on either.”

“Obviously.” She snaps the word before taking a calming breath. “If you could track me, then so could they. That would defeat the point of the safe house, wouldn’t it? Just give me some time to make my way to you. I’ll come as soon as I can.”

“And you’ll tell us about this new CI you have.

“I have to go. I’ll be in touch as soon as I can.”

“Agent—”

“I have to go.”

Carrie ends the call, looking up at me. She’s biting her lower lip, and I can tell she’s struggling to keep it together. I know she’s in work mode, so she doesn’t want to come across as someone who’s too emotional. I will disabuse her of that idea.

“It’s okay to let me know how you’re feeling. It’s okay to be scared. I’m terrified.”

She looks at me as though I’m lying.

“ Cailín , just because I don’t show my emotions doesn’t mean I don’t feel them deeply. I’ve been conditioned not to show them. It took a lot of training over a lot of years to hide what I think and feel so easily.”

She’s slow to nod, but she does.

“Carrie—”

I stumble over my words. I want to admit a bit more about my life, so I don’t come across as so closed off and secretive, but I don’t know what I should tell her.

“Carrie, obviously none of us were born with the skills we have. We started with little things when we were eight years old like learning how to pick locks, learning how to pickpocket. By the time we were ten, we were committing minor crimes like that. Not because we needed any of those items we took, but to prove to my grandfather we could. There’s a fecked-up family tradition among all four families.”

Her brow furrows, and I can only imagine what she going to make of what I tell her next.

“We grew up playing peewee and little league sports together. Our parents were the ones who brought snacks to our games. During the week when our dads were rivals, business was business. But on Saturdays and Sundays, when we had games, it was family time. Wives and children were present, so they put aside their animosities and cheered on whichever team their kids played for. And that often-meant cheering on their rival’s children, too. But when we all turned twelve, our birthday gift was a pocketknife. We’ve all carried one since then.”

She can’t hide her shock. It only gets worse.

“When we were fourteen, fifteen, we started helping our dads and the other guys prep for missions. Sometimes we went, but we were far from the action where we couldn’t get hurt. My grandfather and Uncle Donovan pressed for us to do more when we were younger, but my parents and aunts and uncles wouldn’t allow it. Uncle Donovan tried to take us on a mission without our dads one time when we were fifteen. He was my mom’s brother. My mom’s Breda. Dillan’s mom is Siobhan, and Cormac and Seamus’s mom is Saoirse. They terrified their brother more than any other danger he could have ever faced.”

It makes my lips twitch when I think about my mom and aunts, who’re all pretty tall at about five-eight, terrifying Uncle Don, who was like me at six-three-and-a-half.

“They locked themselves in his office one day when they found out what he planned for us. He came out pale as a ghost, clearly shaken. No one ever suggested any of us go on missions where Grandda and Uncle Don expected us to fight like men before we turned sixteen. My mom wanted to prove a point—one I’m not supposed to know about, and neither are my brothers or cousins, but we all do. She put a hit on one of Uncle Don’s men just so Uncle Don knew she could. The guy was in the hospital for weeks as a reminder that Uncle Don might’ve led the mob back then, but his sisters led the family. And family comes ahead of everything.”

That’s probably one of my proudest family memories. I’m keeping that part to myself. I’m already sharing plenty of fucked-up shite. I don’t want Carrie to believe I’m as fucked-up as the things I’ve done.

She waits patiently for me to continue. In for a penny, in for a pound.

“But by the time I was ready for college, I’d done things I can never describe to you. Things that would make you look at me the same way you must Jacek.”

“No, Shane, never that. Jacek does these things because he enjoys them. He’s Bartlomiej’s chief enforcer because he takes pride in his work, and he enjoys watching people suffer. I don’t believe that’s you. Maybe you feel vindicated or maybe even—I don’t know—satisfied by a job well done.”

She offers me a half smile. Neither of us misses the irony of a law enforcement officer understanding my need to murder people.

“But I don’t think you do it to get your jollies or to get your rocks off. That’s exactly the way Jacek is. Pushed too far, that’s the way Bartlomiej is too. You do what you do because it’s a job, and I get it now. I understand just how important family is to you and how much people rely on you.”

“I’d never do any of the things I have or the things I will do if it weren’t necessity. It truly is life or death in most situations.”

“I know. I can’t fault you for that, so I don’t think you’re a monster.”

“But, Carrie, you need to understand there’s nothing I won’t do to protect you. You have to be okay with knowing I have no limits. If Bartlomiej or Jacek get too close, then I’ll do whatever I have to, to not only make sure they can never touch you again but so all syndicates understand you’re off limits.”

“I know, Shane, and I don’t know what kind of person it makes me because not only can I agree to that, I want that to happen. I want to know I’m safe. But I also want to know if we have any future together—whatever type of relationship it is—it means that much to you. You shouldn’t underestimate my willingness to protect you as well. I’m relying on you right now, but I’m not without means or ability.”

“I know, Carrie. I saw what you did to Jacek. I know you wanted him to suffer by bleeding out, but have you killed anybody point blank before?”

“Yes.”

She says it without hesitation, and the steel in her voice tells me whatever situation she was in, she doesn’t regret the decision she made. I want to ask her about it, but for the umpteenth time, that feels like it would be unfair to expect her to reveal something like that when I can’t tell her even a fraction of the number of people I’ve killed.

“Shane, it was in the line of duty each time.”

Each time?

What the fuck does that mean?

“I can practically hear your thoughts, Shane. If I had to guess, you’d say, ‘what the fuck does that mean?’”

She smiles at me. My expression is completely neutral. I doubt it was that obvious that’s what I think. Most of the time people have no idea what’s on my mind unless I want them to know.

“Shane, your face betrays no emotions, and that tells me more than if you said anything aloud.”

That makes sense.

“They were all in the line of duty, but there were a few times when maybe that wasn’t my only recourse. But it was the best one I thought I had. It’s not like I’m regularly in shootouts, and it’s not like I believe my only course of action is to shoot rather than talk. This isn’t some stupid tv show where the law enforcement officers kill a guy when they could maim him and get the information out of them.”

“That irritates me so much.”

I grin because it’s true. If neither of us had context for those sentiments, it wouldn’t be so bad. I don’t want her to think I’m fucked-up, but then I smile like the fucking Joker. When she laughs, I know we both need to lighten the mood.

“What do you want to do, Carrie? You’re safe here, so if you want, we can keep talking about whatever you wish. You could take a nap. We could watch a movie. As long as we stay here at the house, you can go outside as well. But for right now, there’re parts of the yard I want you to stay away from. They’re too exposed. My men are around the perimeter, and I have a tall wall, but it doesn’t make you completely invisible.”

“I—I’d like—I—um…”

She stutters over the words, uncertain whether she can reveal whatever it is she’s thinking. My hand goes to her arse and squeezes as hard as I dare. Rather than squirm away from the pain, she sinks into it. I run my hand up her ribs until I cup her tit and squeeze just as mercilessly. Then my hand creeps up to her throat. It’s not breath play. It’s just resting there heavily.

“Little girl, I told you, you’re mine, and I will do everything I must to protect you. I’ll do everything to take care of you, too, and right now, I think my little girl needs to come to make her relax a little. Is that what you want, cailín ?”

“Yes, Daddy, please.”

“Good.”

My hands roam over her body as she sits up enough for me to touch her. Our lips come together in a fiery kiss. Then I’m sliding my hand down her pants. I stop when I feel her panties. I noticed them when we were at Dillan’s, but I said nothing. Now I do. I cup her pussy tightly.

“What are you wearing?”

“Uh, panties, Daddy.”

“And what did I tell you?

“Not to wear them anymore.”

“You knew you were going to come to me, didn’t you?”

“Yes, but…”

“But what, little girl?”

“I—I wasn’t thinking about that when I got dressed. What if you weren’t the one to undress me?”

Now the tears well in her eyes, and I feel like a complete arse for not thinking first before I spoke.

“Shh, cailín . It’s all right. I’m here now.”

“I know, Daddy. I couldn’t be sure I could get to you. You’re who I wanted and who I was thinking of, but I also feared Jacek would do something to me regardless of his brother’s wishes. And after all the times I’ve turned Bartlomiej down in the months we dated—or whatever it was—mind fucked him—I don’t even know how to describe that pseudo relationship—he’d finally get his way. He’d take what he always believed he deserved.”

She rests her hand over my heart.

“The only one who deserves any part of me—the only one who can ever take what he wants is you, Shane.”

I offer her a dazzling smile to lighten the mood again. She cups my cheeks before giving me a kiss that makes my cock pulse. I want to be inside her, but if I do that, it’s going to be over way too soon. I won’t even thrust before I come. The idea of her pussy being wrapped around me makes my balls ache something fierce.

“Maybe I’ll just keep you naked the entire time you’re here. How about that?” Something flares in her eyes; she likes that idea.

“If it means you could touch me anytime anyhow, then I’d be down for that, but only if you’re naked, too. Only if I can touch you whenever I want.

“Little girl, you can do that regardless of whether I have any clothes on. If we’re in public, maybe don’t grab my dick, but you can always hold my hand or wrap your arms around me. Anything. I’ll never hide from public displays of affection with you, and in private—well, I hope you cup my dick anytime you want.”

“If that’s permission, Daddy, then you better believe I’ll follow those instructions to the T.”

My fingers dip into her moist heat, and I groan from how wet she is for me already.

“Shane, I’m in a perpetual state of arousal—soaked—whenever I think about you, let alone be near you. Even with how scared I was, all I’ve wanted is to feel you inside me again. You’ve ruined me for all other men. I can’t imagine having somebody else inside me. The way you feel is unlike anything I’ve ever had before.”

“I know, cailín. I feel the exact same.”

I work her pussy, my thumb rubbing her clit as she raises and lowers her hips in time with my fingers. We continue to kiss; the need growing exponentially by second. I lift her and turn her to straddle me.

“I want to get you off, Carrie. This isn’t about me. It’s not about reciprocating. It’s about taking care of you.

“But that’s not what I want. I don’t want this to just be about me. I want it to be about equals.”

“Later, Carrie. Right now, I think you deserve a bit of spoiling, so Daddy decides.”

It might kill me, but I want this for her even more than I want to get off.

“Thank you.” Her voice quivers as she gets closer to coming.

“I’m spoiling you, little girl, but you will ask for each orgasm I give you because I can give them, and I can take them away.”

“Yes, Daddy.”

Her breathlessness tells me that’s exactly what she wants. Her pupils dilate, and a flush rises along her neck into her cheeks.

“Daddy, please may I come?... Please?!”

“Yes, cailín .”

Her moan is one of ecstasy, and I don’t think I have felt more manly in my entire life. None of the times I’ve taken someone out. None of the times I’ve drunk my brothers and cousins under the table. None of the times I’ve lifted more than Seamus and Cormac, who’re both built like ox. None of those things made me feel like more of a man than right this minute when I look down at Carrie, and I know I’ve taken her mind off of her problems and given her pleasure—given her relief. That’s what makes me happy.

I continue to work her pussy, adding another finger, so now I have three inside her. She’s tight, and it reminds me of how good it felt to be inside her. I’ll enjoy that later. My fingers stroke her g spot as her feet push down on the sofa cushion, raising her hips as high as she can, chasing my questing fingers.

“Is this how you like it, cailín ?”

“Yes, Daddy. But rougher. So much rougher.”

I pull my fingers from her. She mewls in disagreement, but I scoop her into my arms and carry her up to the guest bedroom. I don’t know where she’ll want to sleep tonight. I don’t want to make it awkward if I take her to my room. Then she decides she wants to sleep somewhere else. But then again, maybe this’ll make her think I don’t want her in my bed.

Oh, fuck me.

Maybe I should’ve just kept her on the sofa, but we’re here now. I set her down on her feet and go to sit in the armchair in the corner.

“Strip, cailín. Slowly. I want to watch every delectable inch of you revealed to me like you’re unwrapping a Christmas gift for me.”

“But, Daddy, don’t you want to unwrap it for yourself?” She practically purrs.

“Tempting, cailín. Another time. But for today, I want to watch you do it.”

She comes to stand in front of me, unbuttoning her shirt with excruciatingly slow movements.

This is fucking purgatory, and I put myself there.

She peels the shirt down her arms before she pushes down her pants. She leaves just her bra and panties. She kicked off her shoes before she curled up on the love seat with me. She turns around to let me watch her unclasp her bra. She takes it off and flings it over her shoulder at me.

I growl as I catch it. Then she slips her panties down, purposely bending forward as though she needs to push them to the floor rather than letting them drop on their own. It presents the most beautifully erotic scene I have ever laid eyes on. From the way she spreads her feet apart, I have a view of her glorious tits between her thighs and a view of her soaking wet little pink pussy and even her arse. She runs her hands up the side of her thighs, then over the back of them before up to her arse, pulling her cheeks apart. She stands as she does that.

“I told you to strip. I didn’t tell you to tease me.”

I’m out of the seat. My hand lands across her arse hard enough to make her take a step forward, but I’ve already slipped my other arm around her waist, holding her right where I want her. My hand rains down spanks, alternating sides, the sound ringing in the air.

“Carrie, you know this isn’t a punishment, right?”

“I know, Shane. It’s something we both enjoy, and I think this is exactly what I need right now.”

“You need to relinquish control. You need to know you’re not in this alone, and I need to feel like I have some control when I know everything outside this house is a fecked-up mess I can’t fix easily.”

“That’s right, Daddy. I need to not worry about what’s happening for a bit, and I want you to feel like you have control. I know you breathe easier when you do. That bad things happen when you don’t. So, if this gives you the same peace it gives me, I’m more than happy to relinquish control to you.”

She gets me.

“You need a safe word you can use if it gets to be too much.”

“Okay—how about—” She thinks about it for a moment. “ Digon .”

“What does that mean?”

“Enough in Welsh. Both my parents grew up in Wales, so they had compulsory language education. I spoke quite a bit of it as a kid, but we don’t use it that often.”

“Would you say you’re still proficient in it, even if you’re not fluent?”

“Yeah, I would say conversationally proficient. I’m not too bad at reading, but I can’t write it well. My grammar isn’t that strong. What about your Gaelic?”

“One hundred percent fluent. Reading, writing, listening, and speaking. We use it as much as we do English. You’ll notice we often switch back and forth. It’s not always because we’re speaking about something private. It’s just that natural to us. Our parents insist we use it whenever we’re with them as though we might somehow forget. My parents learned Gaelic before they learned English. It was the same thing for us. We went to kindergarten already able to read and write some basic things in both languages.”

“Wow!”

It makes me silently wonder if we ever had a family, would we automatically raise our kids to be trilingual? I don’t know that Welsh would be of much use to them. But if it’s part of who they are, then it’s a tradition I would want to keep going for Carrie. The way she looks at me over her shoulder makes me wonder if she’s thinking the same thing. It’s way too soon to even contemplate that, let alone discuss it.

Instead, I focus on where my hand lands with each spank. I get progressively firmer until she’s stomping her feet in between. Her arse is the prettiest shade of pink. It almost matches her pussy. The view I have makes me consider all the things I’d like to do to and with her. It’s a visceral reaction of longing and excitement when I see her like this. I’m excited for what we’re going to do now and all the things we could do in the future.

But it’s longing as well, since as much as I want to make something out of this, I’m still not convinced we can. I know she wants it, and so do I, but wanting something and having it aren’t always the same, especially when you live in a world like mine.

I help her stand and let go of her waist. Then I spin her around to face me and wrap my arms around her waist. Our kiss is one that builds. It starts out fiery but explodes into a full blaze in just a few seconds. My tongue explores every crease and crevice in her mouth until I feel like there’s not a single inch I don’t know, a single inch I’m not committing to memory. My hands run down to her back to her pink arse and squeeze. She yelps, but it only pushes her into a heightened state of arousal.

She presses her hips forward, grinding against my cock, which strains against my boxer briefs, irritated I’m so rude as to keep it confined when all it wants is freedom to thrust into her.

“Daddy, I think you’re very overdressed for the occasion.”

“Is that so, little girl? And if I have plans for you before I decide to get undressed?”

“Plans change, don’t they?”

She asks me with a devilish smile that makes me consider changing them. But if I strip, then this will be over far too fast.

“You know, when we were together at the warehouse, it was exhilarating having the threat of being found, but it also meant we knew we had to rush. I don’t want that this time. We’re in the safety of my house, tucked away in a guest bedroom. There’s no reason to rush, since we’re going to be here for a while. You’re delectably delicious in every way, and I intend to enjoy a mid-afternoon snack.”

I lift her, and her legs wrap around my waist. I carry her to the dresser, wanting somewhere slightly unpredictable. I keep nothing on here, since it’s a room rarely used. When my brothers or cousins spend the night, they’ll come in here, but I keep no personal effects. There are clothes in the closet because we’re all an interchangeable size, but they don’t really belong to any one person. They were mine when I got them, but they’ve become community property since then.

She perches on the edge of the dresser, and I tilt her hips in front of me. Her hands go behind her to brace herself before I lean in, her legs now over my shoulders. I lick her cunt, and she squeals and sighs. It’s music to my ears, knowing I’m pleasuring her, that I’m the one who will make her come. The idea of Bartlomiej doing this flashes in my head, and it sours the moment.

She must be able to tell. She puts her hand on my shoulder, and I look up at her. I hate she feels she must reassure me.

“Don’t think about that. It’s not what I’m focused on now. Don’t let him ruin the mood for us. He’s not a part of this, and I refuse to let him come between us. I’m sorry you even know there was a time when he tried this.”

That makes me stand up straight. “Only tried?”

She grimaces. “There were a few times very early on when I let things go further than I wanted, because, at first, I worried about what he would do to me if I said no.”

My fingers dig into the back of her thighs. “Did he threaten you? Did he pressure you? Did he force you?”

She cups my cheek and shakes her head. “Pressured me, but never forced me. It was while I was still building his trust, and I needed something to pacify him and get him to buy into me being a girlfriend. He lost his temper one time, and that was the only time I needed to convince me when he was in a certain mood, no wasn’t an option. Not because I thought he would force me, but I worried he’d slap me around. Shane, I’m not telling you these things to anger you or make you want retribution even more than you already do. I’m telling you because I don’t want to add to all the secrets unnecessarily. So, if there are things I can tell you, I will.”

She watches me to gauge my reaction to this. I’m willing to listen, even if it makes me want to wrap my hands around that piece of shite’s throat and squeeze until his eyes nearly pop out of his head.

“He believed I was a virgin and very Catholic. I used that to my advantage because not only did it make me come across as sweetly naive and the perfect future wife for a Polish mob boss—untouched and unsoiled by being anybody else’s possession—it gave me an out for most things. I claimed, even though it was never penetrative sex, it was still called oral sex, therefore I feared for my immortal soul.”

If he bought that bullshite, then she’s clearly an excellent actress. It makes me wonder what else she might tell me that’s all an act.