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CONOR

YOU - TWO FEET

“I’m telling you this will work,” I drawled as I read the message Star had just sent me.

Star: I want to kill Stimpy.

Me: She’ll never forgive you if you do.

Me: Leave the damn cat alone. At least it’s cute.

Star: Lucifer was supposed to be beautiful.

Me: You can’t compare a cat to Satan.

Star: Sure I can. Cats are spawns of Satan.

Star: You ever heard anything about the Sparrows harvesting organs?

Me: Where the hell did that topic come from?

Star: I just remembered something Reinier told me.

Me: Jesus. We never actually talked about what you two discussed. Maybe we should?

Star: No. He said nothing important.

Me: That’s a lie. But no. I’ve never heard anything about organ harvesting. Though I’ve read it’s becoming a trafficker’s idea of a smart business choice. Body parts have a high street value for people in need of organ donations.

Star: Creepy.

Me: Agreed. Reinier said they were into that?

Star: He said he wished he’d harvested my organs instead of putting me into the sex slave market.

“Are you listening?”

I arched a brow at my eldest brother. “Of course.”

Me: And you genuinely don’t think we need to talk about what you discussed?

Star: Not really. He was lying. I know he was.

Me: How?

Star: He talked about a secret property he owned in Florida where he had a bunch of blackmail material on clients. I've already scoured his tax returns and the bank accounts he used to filter his dirty money through. He doesn’t have a property in Florida.

Me: Do I want to know how you got access to them lol?

Star: Probably not.

Me: Could it be in his wife’s name? A child?

Star: Maybe. But I already checked. It doesn’t matter. Was just something that came to me when Ren and Stimpy double-teamed me and scratched the shit out of my arm.

Me: Doesn’t sound like nothing to me.

Star: I’m just being open.

Me: Ahh, teamwork makes the dream work?

Star: Sharing (mostly) is caring.

Me: Lol. I can look when I get back?

Star: If you want. It isn’t necessary though.

Me: If you say so. Speak later xo

Star: Course 3

“Where did you come up with this idea again?”

Star: Oh, before I forget. You - Two Feet

“Conor, dammit. Are you listening?”

I blinked at Aidan. “It was something Ma said combined with Liam’s current problems.”

“Not so current seeing as the Rabid Wolves are off licking their wounds,” Brennan muttered darkly, glowering at my phone like he had a personal vendetta against it.

“What the fuck is going on with you?” I demanded, all thoughts of Star, Ren, Stimpy, and Reinier fading as irritation with my brother took up the full blast of my attention span. “I’m well-adapted to your grouchy ass but Jesus Christ, you’re more miserable than usual.”

He pinned me with a disapproving glare. “I’m not miserable. I’m cautious.”

“More like overcautious,” Eoghan grumbled behind a Knicks’ travel mug I wasn’t totally convinced didn’t contain whiskey.

Finn, who’d been doodling on the notepad in front of him, mused, “Ever thought he misses your… our Da.”

“Still having trouble with those possessive pronouns, Finn?”

“Yes, Conor. It’s a lifetime’s habit I’m breaking and it’s not easy.”

“Well, Bren?” Aidan peppered.

“Well, what?”

“Do you miss Da?”

Brennan’s nostrils flared but he bowed his head. “What’s to miss?”

“Fair point,” Declan chimed in. “I don’t miss getting my ass kicked or being accused of trying to make my son gay because I took him to the ballet.”

Finn’s brows lifted. “He gave you shit for that?”

Aidan snorted. “Of course he did. It’s Da. You know, it’s a wonder we’re not all homophobic asswipes.”

“More like a miracle,” Brennan mumbled, but he hitched a shoulder. “It’s weird to miss someone you hated more than you liked.”

“Emotions are weird,” I said carefully, knowing that ‘feelings’ and Brennan weren’t a comfortable combination. Seeing as he was the bruiser of the family, it was only fitting that he’d find it hard to deal with losing Da. “We’re coming out of a toxic relationship where the only escape was death. How was that not supposed to fuck us up?”

Brennan grunted. “Ma’s finding it easy enough.”

“Are you mad at her for finding some peace with Paddy?” I questioned.

“It’s early days, wouldn’t you say?”

“How early is too early? They ain’t getting any younger, Bren,” Declan stated.

“He has a point,” Eoghan drawled.

Brennan scrubbed a hand over his face. “Do you guys miss him?”

A silence settled over the dinner table. Because Aoife’s kitchen was constantly packed with experimental versions of her recipes, we’d taken to meeting in Finn’s house—whether he approved or not.

“You know when you pull a hamstring?” Finn asked as he doodled. “And the pain is there for goddamn ages and you want the ache to go away but it won’t and you know it’ll take however long it takes to heal?”

“And then, one day, it’s not there, and you forget about the ache until you remember it’s not there anymore?” I added, nodding.

“Yeah, it’s like that,” was Finn’s gruff retort.

“Like a toothache that’s gone after years of misery, but you still miss the tooth because hell, those fuckers don’t grow back,” Aidan rumbled.

Declan scratched his chin. “I don’t miss toothaches or hamstring aches.”

“That’s because he treated you like shit,” I murmured. “He never had a kind word for you, never gave you any approval. You can’t kick a dog and expect it, at some point, to like you.”

Declan reached for the creamer as he dosed his coffee. “I guess.”

“I don’t miss being fined.”

Aidan chuckled. “I can keep that arrangement going if you want?”

My lips twisted. “Nah. I’m good.”

“Thought you might be.”

Brennan cleared his throat. “Da blamed me for what happened to Ma for so long that every time he looked at me, I knew he was thinking about that . About my fuckup. It’s strange not having to deal with that residual guilt.”

Because that was about as open as Brennan got, the five of us stayed quiet. I figured we were waiting to see if he had more to say. Then, when the silence grew weird, I broke it because Brennan and Aidan had been around Da’s toxic bullshit longer than any of us and getting them to talk about this stuff was next to impossible.

“You know you had no reason to feel guilty, don’t you?”

“I let Ma down.”

“You didn’t.” Aidan cracked his knuckles. “You were a boy. Just because he treated us like men doesn’t change the years on the clock.”

“He blamed you when he was blaming himself. He was the reason she got taken. The Aryans had beef with him and he fucked up by not being prepared for every eventuality.

“Ma should never have been kidnapped. That’s why we’ve got our wives locked and loaded with more guards than the president. Especially after what happened with Aidan and Savannah, which only went down anyway because we trusted those asswipes,” Eoghan rumbled. Then, to Brennan, he continued, “There’s nothing wrong with missing the old bastard. It’s like Stockholm syndrome. There ain’t an instant cure.”

Brennan chuckled. “Stockholm syndrome. Never thought of it that way.”

Eoghan took a sip of his drink. “I think Kid’s idea is a great one.”

None of us were surprised by the change of subject, but I still corrected, “It was Ma’s idea. Star perpetuated it.”

“Yeah, but you put in the work. Does it have to be soccer?”

“Start small. You know it’s the league with the least interest in the States, but it can have a global impact with the international tournaments.”

“What’s the aim, Conor?” Aidan tapped his pen against the table. “Match-fixing?”

I shrugged. “I figure we have several routes we can take. Match-fixing, eventually . But we need to be associated with wins.

"I think we take the Saturns, for example, a team that regularly underperforms, and make our mark by sending them soaring to the top of the league.

“It's the next phase of ‘Shay for the Oval Office.’”

“You know, if he knew he was a phase, we’d never get him out of his room because of his fat head.”

“Don’t lie, Dec. You never get him out of his room anyway,” Aidan retorted. “I remember that age. He doesn’t have a girlfriend, does he?”

“No.”

“So his left fist is?—”

Declan groaned. “Do we have to talk about this?”

Aidan grinned. “Like you don’t know he’s doing it.”

“Aela’s glad she’s not the housekeeper. Let’s put it that way.” He smiled sheepishly. “I told her he can’t knock up a sock. Shay overheard and now, he won’t maintain eye contact with either of us.”

I chuckled. “Ah, the joys of youth.”

“Youth, my ass. It’s ten times harder now than it was for us. At least the only thing Da cared about was us becoming a Five Pointer. You should see the crap you need to do to get into Harvard. I don’t think even you’d cope, Kid.”

“I foresee a wager,” Eoghan drawled.

I rubbed my hands together. “Can’t be that difficult being a mature student, can it?”

Aidan chuckled. “You’re about to find out. But before you become Harvard’s next MVP, can we get on with this conversation, please? What can we hold over Maloney’s head to make the purchase?”

“Nothing. We just buy it." At their blank looks, I snickered. "Your faces. Honestly, did you think we could go into this by blackmailing him? Legitimacy has to start somewhere."

Brennan frowned. “That’s going to be expensive?—”

“And a presidential election campaign isn’t?”

He conceded that with a grunt.

“I’m telling you this is the way forward. We formulate a Super PAC with O’Grady subsidiaries as major cash cows for the election campaign, funds that come from legitimate income streams like Ellie’s Bakery, and then we get the O’Donnellys linked with sports.”

“I’ve started checking out locations for new branches of the bakery,” Finn said. “Aoife’s being difficult, but it’s her baby so she can be.”

I hummed. “So long as we start the expansion soon, she can be as difficult as she wants.” To my younger brother, I informed, “Declan, you’d have to be the one who approaches Maloney.”

“Me?!” He groaned. “I hate fucking soccer.”

“We all do,” Brennan pointed out.

“I hate it more than most. Can’t we buy out a ballet company or something?”

“So we can look more elite than our bank balances allow?” I arched a brow at him. “Sports unite, Dec. Ballet doesn’t.”

“He’s right, Dec,” Finn stated.

“He is,” Brennan agreed.

When Aidan and Eoghan nodded, he grumbled, “Fine. But if I have to suffer, one of you can too. I’m not doing this shit alone.”

“Need us to hold your hand, Dec?” Eoghan mocked. “I’ll suffer with you. I don’t hate it as much as you fuckers.”

“I hate the sport, but I’ll come with. Wouldn't be a bad thing to get friendly with Maloney. His fiancée's father owns Puritan Oats. Ya know, what our nation was founded on.”

Brennan whistled. "Those and Cornflakes."

“Okay, so while the youngest are keeping out of trouble,” Aidan mocked, “we focus on…?”

“We need to make strategic purchases of players. Nothing major at first, a slow build. But we need to make an impact over the next two seasons. Splash our names about. While that’s happening, Aidan, I’ve got a connection I need you to... encourage.”

“Who?”

“Star’s grandfather. Anton Kuznetsov.”

“The head of the United Brotherhood?” Eoghan queried.

“More secret society bullshit,” Brennan complained.

“Not bullshit,” I corrected. “More like useful . Have you seen what that Interpol department he built has accomplished since its inauguration?”

I tossed a newspaper at him, one whose headline declared:

Interpol confirms two dozen arrests of previously unknown Sparrow agents via DGSI, Scotland Yard, and Guardia Civil.

He sniffed as he read it, but I ignored him to continue, “Plus, he’s a kingmaker. We want to think that we are, but we’re not where the legitimate side of things comes into play. He is.

"Aidan, you get on his side, and he can lay the path for Shay.”

“Does Shay know what we’re doing for him?” Eoghan demanded. “You were joking earlier, but he could knock up a girl and ruin everything we’re working toward. Is he on board? Shouldn’t we talk to him before we go further down this path?

“The soccer route is smart. Match-fixing and gambling—they’re all great revenue streams. But getting involved with the Union is heavy shit. We don’t want to owe them dick if we’re going to fall through?—”

“He’s right. We’ll come early on Saturday, Finn. We’ll talk to him before we eat,” Aidan instructed.

“That’ll work wonders for our digestion,” Declan muttered. “I’m not even sure if I want this for him. It’s a lot of pressure.”

“It’s what he wanted.”

“When I was his age, I wanted to be a fucking artist,” Declan sniped at Aidan. “We change our minds more than we change our underpants as teenagers.”

“Shay’s less like you and more like me,” I remarked. “I knew what I wanted when I was thirteen and I went for it.”

“What did you want?” Brennan asked.

“I wanted to know everything.”

Aidan frowned. “You mean that literally, don’t you?”

I hitched a shoulder. “I don’t like closed doors." People whispered behind them. "I wanted to open as many as I could and I have. To this day, I work on the same tasks. Nothing’s changed. I don’t think it will with Shay, either. Politics is as much of a vocation as being a doctor is.”

“Less of a God complex with a politician than a doctor though,” Aidan drawled.

Finn grunted. “True that.”

“We’ll talk with Shay on Saturday, Conor, and once we learn if he’s ready for what we’ve got planned, then I’ll talk to Kuznetsov.”

“He’s in the city until next week,” I confirmed. “Star’s with him now.”

“Is that why she isn’t here?” Finn queried.

My lips twitched. “Probably.”

“She shouldn’t be here anyway,” Brennan grouched.

“Star’s not like the other women,” Finn remarked. “Her insight would?—”

“Come at too high a price,” Brennan snapped. “We can’t trust her yet.”

I slapped my hand against the table. “Yes, we fucking can. What’s she got to do to prove herself to you, Brennan?”

“She’s not an O’Donnelly.”

“That’s all it takes? A wedding ring?”

“It’d help if the Feds wanted her to testify against you,” he retorted.

My brow furrowed. “This is about her ratting us out?”

“Conor undoubtedly has as much shit on her as she has on him, Brennan,” was Eoghan’s lazy retort. There was definitely whiskey in his coffee mug because his words were starting to slur. “If she betrays him, I figure he can take care of himself.”

“She wouldn’t betray me. We’re in this for the long haul.” I stabbed a finger in the air at him. “I get that you’re mourning and that you’re so emotionally repressed because Da was a shit father that you can’t cope with your grief, but don’t take any of this out on Star.

“You want Cammie. I want Star. You married Cammie. I put a ring on Star’s finger and we will decide when we’re ready to marry. It’ll have nothing to do with pressure from the Feds and most certainly not from you! Understood?”

“Understood, but I don’t want her at these meetings. Whether you like it or not, my concerns are valid.”

I got to my feet. “Star is the one who’s helped me work out a solid plan to bring the Saturns around?—”

“Star likes soccer?”

I barely flicked a glance at Aidan. “She spent a few years in London. Says she got hooked on it then. Whatever, she’s as invested in this as I am. If she has something to bring to the table, then I’m not going to pay her back for her help by telling her she can’t come.

“Whatever problems you have with her, Brennan, you need to get over them fast. Because if she isn’t welcome here, then I’m not welcome here.”

My words sent a shockwave around the table, but I strode off and allowed them to settle like nuclear fallout because I meant each and every one of them.

It was time Brennan accepted that.