Chapter Six
Finn
The feelof her in my arms was like nothing I could have imagined.
I’d seen pictures of her before today. Enough to pique my curiosity and ask for more. The two original pictures Jimmy had taken for me had been like an entree. Then, I’d had to head back for an appetizer.
Dessert would be on the cards, shortly, but after the clusterfuck that had just gone down in my living room? It felt good to hold onto something that wasn’t stained or tainted by my life.
No, there wasn’t a dead body out in my salon, but there were blood marks on the rug, sofa, and floor. As well as piss and goddamn shit stains.
Aidan’s team would be coming shortly, and I knew they’d get rid of any evidence, making my apartment so clean, only the memory of coming back here and seeing how Aidan had infiltrated my home would linger.
Still, as I tugged Aoife closer, I told myself it was for her benefit. Not mine.
She was right to be scared.
From her profile, a profile I intended on adding to, I knew that she’d been raised in Five Points’ territory. But then, that wasn’t hard considering how big our territory was, and growing.
The Irish Mob might be dying out in other cities, but in Manhattan and New York? We had the biggest presence in the nation, mostly because we had the capital.
Aidan Sr.’s daddy, as well as the man himself, had purchased a shit-ton of land back in the fifties, sixties, and seventies. Old buildings that had been ready for demolition back then, warehouses and big plots of land where factories had once pumped out pollution as well as the products they created.
Little by little, we’d been transforming the neighborhood with our version of housing projects, and as a result of the gentrification of the area, we’d also improved our demand.
Living in the city wasn’t exactly good for the soul. It had a ‘work hard, live harder’ vibe, and without something to make that easier to handle, it was a shitty place to be.
Ever since we’d cleaned up the area, taking up half our territory with elegant skyscrapers that were filled with bankers and traders, socialites and bored wives who sat on charitable foundations, our sales of cocaine and speed had shot through the roof.
A molly to come down, some pot to mellow you out.
The best part of it?
The dealers lived in.
It was like a fast food service. You didn’t have to drive anywhere to get your hit, you just got in the elevator and got off at the appropriate floor.
Even though I knew they were good for business, I hated drugs. Always had. The brothers and I’d had a best friend back in school who’d overdosed. Some fucker had spliced his baggy of coke with weed killer of all things.
We preferred the legit side of the biz, but I’d admit to getting a kick out of supplying the city’s finest residents.
So, with our territory taking up so much space, it was no wonder Aoife knew to be scared of me as well as the rep of my Family.
The beast inside that had urged me to bring her here, to my home, to my bed, reared its head again.
It was a metaphorical beast.
The creature that had helped me shoot out kneecaps, deal drugs even when I loathed everything they stood for, when I’d slept on the streets those first few weeks when I’d run away from home . . . it was that fire inside me that kept me going, kept me fighting, struggling for more.
Well, now, that beast wanted Aoife.
Anyway I could fucking get in her.
My adrenaline was high after brushing against Aidan. Handling him sometimes was like taking a leap out of a plane. Restful it wasnot. But I knew exactly what would help burn off my edginess.
I moved my hands down from her hips and cupped her ass through her black jeans. When she jolted at my touch, I half hid a smile in her hair as I drew her hips against mine until I had a nice rhythm and she was rubbing against me in a way that had my cock standing to attention.
She didn’t roll her hips back though, not until I left one hand there and grabbed her loose hair in a makeshift pony tail with the other, winding it around my fist as I’d dreamed. Then I dragged her head back so that I could press my mouth to hers and plunge my tongue between her lips.