Kieran snarls, “Someone dies, if necessary, to answer your bloody question!”
I jam a finger over the vent, pressing the funnel of scorching air away from my already furious skin. “You’re—”
“Abawbag, aye! Never said I was a saint!” He shifts the gear, and the sleek Audi SUV zips into action.
A few cleansing breaths later, I edge out, “Kieran, baby.”
Appreciation breaks through his psychotic episode for a fragmented moment. There’s a smile on his face, not his signature cocksure grin. But the light in him combats the darkness swirling around him.
“Baby. Yeah, call me that all you’d like,eun beag.”
“Well,baby. . . Youcannotkill everyone we cross paths with,” I reprimand as we drive past miles and miles of mossy green woodlands.
“You’ve no idea what you’re asking, lassie. Same as Kiera, having a meltdown for no reason!”
“No reason?”I shift in my seat, glaring at his handsome side-profile. Slick, raven hair tucks under Kieran’s ear and whispers across his stubbly, chiseled jaw.
“Aye, no reason. I’d gut myself for the lassie, Ava.Slit meown throat.She’s asking to place herself in a precarious position. While you—”
“Oye, what am I doing?” I argue as the rain dies down, no longer dropping buckets over the window but tiny splatters.
“You want my sister on afeckingplatterfor enemies? No! Kiera’s low-hanging fruit. A means to retaliate against my clan,shite, Clan Mackenzie, or any of my affiliates. And if something happens to her, I’ll never hear the end of it from Ma—”
“From whom?” I stare at the man tortured by his own vile decisions.
“My . . . Listen, I’m gonna fill up.” Kieran pauses at a fork in the road, glancing in my direction. His tempting gray eyes hardly flicker over me, and I smell a setup. “One of the guys will meet us at a station, take you home, Ava. The rest of us’ll drive about until we find Kiera. She couldn’t have gotten far.”
“No. You fill up.Wediscuss her closest set of friends. That way, you’re not adding any more bad karma to your life with the need tobump offeveryone we talk to. Actually, I’ll do the talking if the people speak English or Spanish.”
Kieran rolls his eyes.
“What?”
“Your Spanish. It’s awful.”
“How would you know?” I turn in my seat, playing as if I’m interested in our surroundings. In the tree line, a set of tree limbs bend, creating an arc. It’s truly a breathtaking sight, but my heartbeat thumps in my chest. I’ve cursed him in the Caribbean dialect like Mama.
He jerks a shoulder. I decide that’s a conversation for another day as he navigates into a two-stall gas station. The door zips open, and an attendee comes to the window.
“How ya, Kieran. Had a mind ‘twas ya.” The Irish brogue grows so thick that I pick apart the redhead’s language while he pops a hand on the roof.
“Any taxis pass this direction?” Kieran asks a few minutes later once the Irishman has finished pumping gas.
“Yeah. Just topped one off a few minutes ago.”
“Oh?” I take on a sound of surprise while Kieran shoots me an astonished glare.
“My cousin was visiting us. She left her purse.” I cock my head to the backseat. “Her cellphone’s broken, so it’s impossible to catch up with her.”
“Do chol ceathrar?” The attendant speaks slowly. “Your . . .cousin?” The man’s face is questioning. “She’d dark ‘air like me mate here.”
Damn, assuming it’s Kiera, she discarded the disguise.“Well, it’s actually red—a dark red.Mi prima tiene el pelo oscuro.” I mention my cousin has dark hair, thinking he’d assume her Hispanic roots too.
His bright eyes seem to ask questions his mouth is too respectful to ask.
“Did the taxi driver say which direction they were headed?” Kieran inquires. They exchange a few words, which I’m surprised Kieran translates for me. The Irish henchmen Kieran employs are much easier to understand. While the attendant leans his elbows onto the window, Kieran says how the Irishman had a hard time hearing them over the rain and that the taxi driver had highly suggested not going to Glasgow.
My eyebrow hikes. “But Glasgow’s in Scot . . .” Practically reading both our lips, the Irishman gives a sympathetic nod. “Aye, Scotland,puh!”