Cillian
“The Free Canary?”
I watch Saoirse as she looks up at the nondescript façade of the place I’ve brought her to. The broken sign has fallen to the side and hangs off its hinges.
I smile fondly. “She’s a beauty, isn’t she?”
Saoirse turns to me, her eyebrows knotting together in abject concern. “You’ve brought me here to kill me, haven’t you?”
I bite back laughter and pretend to be horrifically offended instead. “I don’t kill women,” I say seriously. “Particularly not the beautiful ones.”
She rolls her eyes, but I see the twinkle of a smile in there somewhere.
“Is this really a functioning pub?” she asks hesitantly.
“It is indeed. Dublin’s best-kept secret.”
And it really is. It’s hidden in the very heart of the city, expertly covered over to look like an old, abandoned shithole.
Keeps out the riff-raff.
Or, rather, it lets the riff-raff in.
I’m not sure which.
There are several different ways to enter. But this way is my favorite.
You have to come through the alleyway and take the steps leading down. The echo of normal bar sound—glasses clinking, music playing, laughter rising up—reaches us back here, but just barely.
Enough so that you assume there’s a pub somewhere in the vicinity. But you’d never assume it’s in the decrepit building you’re standing in front of.
I have a thing for theatrics.
Sue me.
“Are you ready?”
“As I’ll ever be,” Saoirse says with a sigh. “You promise you’re not trying to lure me to my death, are you? Because I bite.”
I have no fucking doubt about that.
Wouldn’t mind finding out, either.
“Trust me,” I say instead. I hold my palm out to her.
She doesn’t hesitate as she slips her hand into mine. We walk down the steps together.
When we come to the black iron door at the bottom, the dim streetlights are all but cut off. Which suits me just fine because it means Saoirse moves a little closer.
I don’t even think she realizes it.
But I certainly do.
I’ve spent all of a few hours with her, and I feel like I’ve known her my whole life.
“Aren’t you gonna open it?” Saoirse asks.
“We knock first,” I explain, using my free hand to knock twice.