Yeah, they know who I am. I guess their story has more holes in it than a fucking cheese grater. Like the one I’m going to take to his lying cop face as soon as I get my hands on him.
“We’ll be taking Mellie with us now,” Seamus tells the cop. “And we’ll be hearing no more about these false allegations, will we?”
The Vice cop knows when he’s been beaten, his shoulders slumping.
“We will release Ms. Rogan into your custody,” he concedes, glaring at Seamus. “And you keep your dog on a leash.”
He jerks his head at me as he speaks, and I snarl again.
“You keep walking around Boston calling his woman a whore, and you’ll see just how long that leash is,” Seamus replies coolly. The weak prick cringes, unable to meet my eyes.
We’re only waiting for another five minutes while Connor and Seamus keep their hold on my jacket. My lungs fill up as Mellie is escorted out, looking shaken and small.
I want to burn this fucking place down. Howdarethey dim her light? As soon as she sees me, Mellie’s face clears, and she takes two hurried steps toward me. Stumbling to a halt, her eyes dart uncertainly over Seamus and Connor, who are watching her closely. Fuck that.
Closing the distance between us in a few long strides, I tug her to me, crushing my mouth to hers. As I pick her up, Mellie’s arms snake around my neck, her legs hooking around my waist. I break the kiss, and she nuzzles her face into my neck as I bury my face in her hair.
“I want to go home, Niall,” she says in a small voice.
“And so we shall,amhuirnín,” I murmur, stroking her hair gently.
Chapter Twenty-Four
MELLIE
Connor and Seamus come home with us. If they seem surprised that we go to Niall’s condo, they don’t show it. They do a small double-take when I emerge from Niall’s bedroom dressed in yoga pants and an oversized sweater but school their faces into neutral expressions wicked fast.
When I emerge from the bedroom, Niall stops hovering near the door and sits in the easy chair next to the sectional where Seamus and Connor are seated.
Tugging me into his lap, he nuzzles his face into my hair, stroking the nape of my neck comfortingly as his other arm wraps around me to hold me tightly to his chest, making me feel safe.
Seamus watches us for a beat, his eyes burning into my face.
“Mellie, we need to know what happened. Exactly.”
I nod, trailing my fingers over Niall’s bare forearm, fixing my eyes on the coffee table.
“I was going to the store. We needed some more eggs. Two cops stopped me on the street and said they'd cuff me if I didn’t go with them willingly.”
A low, cold growl rumbles out of Niall, and Seamus shoots him a warning look before gesturing for me to continue. I do.
“They took me in and told me there had been allegations m-made that since I started working at Oracle, I’d been….” I hesitate and swallow, “a prostitute.”
Niall makes another scary sound, his arms tightening around me, but Seamus ignores him.
“When I denied it and asked them who had made the allegations, they changed tack and started asking about my s-stepfather.”
I let out a shaky breath, and Niall’s arms are like steel bars around me, his fingers skating over my arm.
“Why were they asking about your stepfather?” Seamus’s eyes spark, and I swallow, closing my eyes and pressing my cheek into Niall’s solid chest.
“He’s Hart Remington,” I whisper. Niall stills beneath me while the other two start muttering.
“Hart fucking Remington?” Seamus spits out, sounding outraged. “And you never fuckingthoughtto mention it to any of us?”
I cringe at his tone, and Niall strokes my nape again.
“I don’t have anything to do with him or my mother,” I say defensively. “So I didn’t see how it was important.”