Page 36 of Duncan (Irish Mob of Boston #1)

Duncan

The doors closed behind me and I stared at my nephew. I swear I’d heard my sister’s voice. Something had been fucking with my head since Mardi Gras.

“So, what’s up?” King asked. Seeing his officers sat around the table, I thought about the last time we were in here.

“We’ve got shit going on up in Boston. Colleen needs to stay here with Lannie,” Sal explained. “Need you to watch over your cousin.”

King’s eyes widened so slightly I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t been watching.

“My cousin?”

“She’s your uncle Duane’s daughter,” I told him.

King just looked at me, then Sal.

“You ok, brother?” Cash, King’s VP asked.

“Not sure. Hadn’t really thought about any other family aside from Sal.”

Sal sighed next to me. I didn’t say anything but I would talk with him later. Patience wasn’t his strong suit.

“You have an aunt and another cousin in Boston. My sister Caity and her daughter Maddie.” Sal looked at Blade. “Same for you.”

Blade looked up quickly. “Fuck, I’ve got more family?” He looked at King and grinned. The two had recently learned they were cousins themselves. Blade’s father was Sal’s half-brother.

“We didn’t get much time to talk back in December,” Sal stated. Then the fucker had to be petty. “Haven’t talked much since I left either.”

“There’s been a lot of shit going on. Not much time to catch up with long-lost fathers,” King snarked.

I dropped my head in agitation. “No fuckin’ doubt you two are related,” I mumbled. “Look, there’s more. I want to talk to you about your mom.”

“My mom died when I was ten.” King scowled at me, and I got it. He never knew Darcy.

“Look, kid, I know you got dealt a shit hand. But my sister was your fuckin’ mother. She did what she did trying to protect you. Don’t fuckin’ disrespect the sacrifice she made.”

“Fuck you, Uncle ,” he sneered. “I don’t know she made any kind of sacrifice. For all I know, she was no better than my niece’s mother, who was a selfish, petty bitch who kept her from growing up with a father who loved and wanted her.”

My hands clenched, and I took a deep breath, counting to ten in my head before I responded.

“He’s hurting.”

I ran my hands over my mouth and chin, trying to calm myself down. I didn’t lose my temper often, but this fucking brat was testing my patience.

“We have information about your mo—about Darcy. If you’re interested,” Cian said.

King leaned forward. His arms crossed, resting on the table in front of him. His officers stayed quiet, but I saw the tension lining each of them. They would move in an instant, like they did last time, if their president was at risk.

“What information?” he asked carefully.

“Duane found her,” Cian informed.

I watched for King’s reaction. At the same time, I watched Sal out of the corner of my eye.

“Where is she?”

“We don’t know,” Sal answered.

King looked at Blade. “The Mob always talk in fucking riddles?”

Blade smirked at Sal. “Yea. Sal doesn’t give out information freely. Plays it closer to the vest than you do.”

“Look, King. We believe my brother knew where she was, but was killed before he could tell anyone.”

“What about Maureen?” he asked, the concern evident on his face.

“She didn’t know anything. But Colleen did. Duane told his daughter he had found Darcy. But didn’t tell her where,” I explained.

“We think Tyran killed Duane after he got the information about Darcy’s location. He went to California shortly after Duane was killed,” Sal added. He focused on the table for a moment before looking back at King. “I’m sorry, Son. Tyran said she died seven years ago.”

King stared at Sal. Everyone was quiet as Sal and his son shared a moment of grief that none of us understood. I mourned my sister. But I loved Darcy in a way that differed vastly from Sal. And King, well, he just lost the mother he didn’t know he had and would never meet.

King stood and turned his back on everyone.

“You ok, Prez?” Jack asked solemnly.

“Everyone out,” King ordered quietly.

His officers stood. Jack stepped up to King and said something to him we couldn’t hear. King nodded, and Jack slapped him on the back. As the men left the room, Cian and Mac followed.

“Give me a minute with my son.”

“He needs to know the rest.”

“I’ll tell him,” Sal rasped, his voice filled with emotion.

With one last look at my nephew, I pulled a few pictures out of my jacket pocket. Setting them on the table in front of my boss, I walked out of the room.

Entering the main room, I searched for Freyja. What I found had me shaking my head with a wide smile. My woman, mo bandia , was sitting at a round table in the middle of the room, surrounded by pregnant women and club girls, giving tarot card readings.

I left her to her fun and walked to the bar. I sat on a stool and a prospect stopped in front of me.

“What can I get you?”

“Whiskey, please.”

Lannie sat down beside me, and the young man set a beer in front of him. “You gonna fill me in?”

I gave Lannie the rundown of what we told King. Including the information about Darcy’s son that we knew about. Then I told him Freyja’s theory about why Tyran had betrayed us all.

“That motherfucker,” Lannie snarled. There was no love lost between Sal’s little brother and his former best friend. “Think he’ll come here?”

“Tyran might not be all there, but he isn’t stupid enough to come here. Think even he knows that badge wouldn’t stop you from putting him in the ground. Not to mention King and his guys.”

“Got that fucking right,” he said before taking a drink from the bottle in his hand.

I held the glass in my hand, watching the amber liquid swirl around as I moved my hand in a circle. “Can I ask you something, Lannie?”

“You know I hate that fucking name.”

“Yea, but you’ll always be little Lannie. Calling you Declan would be weird. And I sure as fuck ain’t calling you sheriff.”

He chuckled and asked, “What’s up?”

“You’re only two years younger than me. How do you really feel about having another kid?”

Lannie looked over his shoulder to where the women sat laughing with each other. “Is your girl…?”

“No.” I shook my head. “But she wants kids. I feel so fuckin’ old these days. How the hell do I protect them?”

“Well, you could, you know, stop doing illegal shit.”

“Fuck off.” I laughed.

“No seriously, though. I get it. It scares the shit out of me having a baby. When I found Beck, I became an instant dad. But she was an adult. I don’t know anything about babies.”

“Well Maureen does. That woman was born to be a mom.”

“She’s been so goddamn happy. Once the shock wore off.” He chuckled. “But having her happy is the only thing that matters to me. Everything else will work itself out.”

He sounded like Freyja with her universe bullshit. “Yea.”

When the double doors finally opened and Sal walked out, he came straight to the bar. “Whiskey.”

“Please,” I added.

He just glared at me. It hadn’t escaped my notice he’d come out alone. But we hadn’t heard yelling coming from behind the closed doors, so I counted it as a win. Sal didn’t look like he agreed.

“We need to get back to Boston,” Sal said, looking around the room.

“Same as last time. Fly in, disrupt his life, and fly right fucking back out,” Lannie scoffed.

“Fuck you, Lannie. He doesn’t fuckin’ want me here.”

“He’s dealing with a lot of shit. Give him some fucking time.”

Sal huffed. “I don’t know what to do. I just want to be part of his life.”

“Just keep trying,” Lannie offered.

“What about you?” Sal asked.

I sat between the two of them, uncomfortable as fuck. But I knew if I got up and left, Sal would kill me. For all his bullshit, he missed his brother, but Sal wasn’t the best at communicating his feelings.

Unless those feelings were anger and rage. Those he didn’t have a problem showing.

“What about me?”

“You gonna answer the fuckin’ phone if I call?”

Lannie paused; his hand hung in the air holding the bottle he was drinking from as he looked straight ahead.

I looked at the prospect hanging out to the side. He appeared more uncomfortable than me, if that were possible.

Lannie set his beer down and looked at Sal. “Yea, I’ll answer the phone.”

Sal nodded and downed his drink. “We’ll stay the night in Denver and leave in the morning. We’ve got a kid to deal with back home.”

“When you say kid...” Lannie started.

“He’s almost thirty. Knew what he was doing,” I corrected.

Lannie shook his head.

“Not your jurisdiction, Declan.” Maureen wrapped her arms around me. “It was good to see you.” Then whispered, “I like her.”

“Me too.” I chuckled.

Maureen smacked my chest and walked over to Sal. “Get rid of him, Sal.”

“Reenie!” Lannie groaned, and that made Sal smile.

He hugged Maureen, and I heard him whisper, “I plan to.”

I walked over to the table and set my hands on Freyja’s shoulders. She looked up at me and smiled. “Having fun?” I asked and leaned down to kiss her.

She rolled her eyes at me but didn’t answer.

“I’ll miss you,” Colleen said as she hugged me.

“Hey, it isn’t forever.”

“Yes, it is.” Beck grinned. “We like her. So, we’re keeping her. Besides, she has a nephew due in a few months. She needs to be here to meet him.” Beck grinned at Colleen, and she blushed. Colleen always wanted siblings. Now, she had a sister and a brother on the way.

I grabbed Colleen’s chin and turned her focus to me. “No bikers, Lollipop.”

Colleen rolled her eyes. She hugged me again and whispered, “I love you, Ducky.”

“Love you more, Lollipop.”

I caught Freyja’s eye, and she had a look I couldn’t discern. She smiled at me and though I smiled back; I was worried about the look on her face.

“Take care of my uncle, Freyja.”

“I will, Colleen.” She hugged my niece and said goodbye to the other women before we piled into the SUV.

The next morning, we boarded the plane. Freyja chose a seat away from the others.

I couldn’t be sure she wasn’t separating herself from me, but I wouldn’t let her.

We’d spent the night in bed, rather than talking.

I sat in the seat next to her and once we were both buckled in, I took her hand and pulled it into my lap.

“What’s wrong?”

She smiled at me. “Nothing’s wrong.”

“You had a look on your face when I said goodbye to Colleen.”

Freyja set her hand over mine. “I was just thinking about what a wonderful father you would make.”

“How can you be sure?”

Her hand went to my cheek, and she smiled so sweetly.

Her eyes shined brightly. “The way you were with Colleen. She trusts you in a way she would trust a parent. You are more than an uncle to her. You are safety. Protection. It’s why she called you the night Brian tried to break in. She knew you would be there for her.”

Her hand fell gently to her lap. “Speaking of Brian. What will happen to him?”

“When we find him, it all depends on how much he cooperates.”

“He saved my life, Duncan.”

“He was part of the reason you were there in the first place.”

“When you find him... can I speak with him?

“That will be up to Sal.” She nodded, and I didn’t want to see the sadness. I thought about what Lannie said and asked her, “So, how many babies do you want?”

Her smile turned seductive, and she answered, “As many as you will give me.”