I want her raw. Soon enough, we won’t be needin’ a feckin’ condom, because I’m goin’ta make her mine in every way I can. I don’t move for a long while, watchin’ her face, how her lashes flutter and her plump lips part. Her short breaths come in spurts as she comes down from the high of her orgasm.
When those pretty eyes lock on mine once more, she smiles. The sight of her beauty knocks me feckin’ senseless. She’s always had this power over me. It’s been like that since the moment I first feckin’ saw her.
“Thank you,” Einin whispers, her eyes glazin’ over, and the tears that shimmer on her lashes cause me to panic. “I wanted that for so long. You made me forget. And I love you for it.” Her voice cracks.
“I don’t want ye to ever fear anything anymore,” I tell Einin while I keep my gaze on hers. “Nothin’ and nobody will hurt ye again.” There’s no doubt in my words, because I will kill before I allow anythin’ harmful to come near her again.
“My hero.” She gifts me a smile, and my heart feckin’ stops for a second before poundin’ against my ribs.
I move to help her up, then head into the bathroom to discard the condom. When I make my way back into the bedroom, she’s lyin’ on my bed lookin’ like a feckin’ seductress if ever I saw one.
Slippin’ under the covers, I pull Einin into my arms and I hold her tight. I still can’t believe she’s here. The reality hasn’t yet sunk in, and I know that when I wake in the mornin’, she’ll still be here. At least, I feckin’ hope she will be.
“Will ye tell me what happened?” I ask and I feel her tense in my arms.
She’s been through hell, and I don’t want to dampen this moment with her, but I need to know. Tomorrow, Monster is goin’ta want ta know more about the men who took her, and I’m goin’ta have ta find the feckers. Once we do, there’s no doubt we’ll go after them.
Patrick Bragan is still out there. And even though Callia is back, I doubt he’ll give up so easily. She told us he said he wanted revenge. For what, I don’t feckin’ know.
Einin scoots up, liftin’ her head to look at me. “I was on the bus travelling to Belfast when it was stopped by five black cars. We didn’t know what was happening.” The tears I’ve seen earlier are back, hangin’ on her lashes, just waitin’ for her to blink. “The other people on the bus were just goin’ta visit family. It wasn’t like we had done anything wrong. One of the ol’ biddies on the bus was going on about the IRA.”
“And ye didn’t recognise anyone?”
She shakes her head, and when her eyes close for a second, the tears finally trickle down her cheeks. “Naw, they were strangers to me. I wanted to hide, but there was nowhere to go. The men who got out the cars had guns when they stepped onto the bus. Took me and two other wee girls,” she tells me.
“What happened to the other two?”
“Dunno,” Einin says. “Never saw them again after we got to the private airport.” She drops her gaze to my chest. Her focus must be blurry now because the tears are streamin’ down her face. I reach up to swipe at them, but more tumble down. It’s as if the dam has broken. She needs this. “I was taken across the pond, but I wasn’t there fer very long.”
“Can you remember any of the faces of the men?”
“Aye,” she says with a nod. “If I see them again, I’ll definitely know them.”
This is good because I can pull up files from the databases from all law enforcement agencies. If we can get names, we can find them. No doubt it won’t only be us lookin’. Scotland Yard, The Garda, and MI5 will all be interested in the information we can pick out.
“Tomorrow,” I start slowly, hopin’ to keep her calm. “I want to try somethin’ if ye’re up to it.”
Einin glances at me with a watery stare. “What is it?”
“If I can get ye the photos of these feckers, will ye be able to tell me who they are?”
“Yes,” she confirms, her voice stronger. “The sooner we find them, the quicker they’ll pay for what they’ve done.”
I always knew she was a strong wee bird. Her wings may have been clipped, but it’s not broken her spirit. I know she’s been hurt. There’s no doubt about it. But she’s a fighter.
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” I tell her. “But fer now, we need to sleep.”
We nestle into each other. Einin fits in my arms. She’s a piece of me I had fer so long, and when it was taken away, I wasn’t myself.
When I told her earlier I never felt at home without her, I meant it. She was always the place I would want to come to after a long day. If somethin’ had hurt me, if I was angry at anyone, it was always Einin who could calm me down, who could bring me back down to earth.
I won’t lose her again.
* * *
The sun streamsthrough the windows. I forgot to close the feckin’ blinds last night. The only thing I could think of was holdin’ onto my girl. But when I open my eyes, I don’t see her beside me. Panic washes over me like ice water.
Shovin’ the blankets off, I push to my feet and race to the bathroom to find it empty. But when I walk into the kitchen, my erratic feckin’ pulse eases up.