Ryan Reign (New York Ruthless #4)(3)

Conor leans back in his chair and runs a hand over his jaw.

“Shane’s right,” I say. “Besides, I’m not just going to sit around in this apartment, waiting for the Wolf to come and pick me off. Now that he’s active again, I’m sure I’ll be able to track him, but let me have one more week of not being completely consumed by him first. Please?”

Conor rolls his eyes but he doesn’t speak.

“The Wolf will have no idea I’m in Ireland,” I add.

“And I promise I will take care of our girl, boys,” Shane offers as he shoots me a look that tells me not to open my mouth and contradict him. Then he stands and places his empty glass on the coffee table. He walks over to me and grips my chin in his strong hand, tilting my head to look at him. “I’m going to pack. I’ll meet you by the elevator at ten tomorrow morning.”

“Okay,” I blink at him. It’s only six p.m. so why am I not going to see him until morning?

He turns to his brothers. “You got sixteen more hours with our girl, boys.” Then he walks out of the room and I’m left with his three siblings.

“What do you feel like doing, baby?” Liam says softly as he curls his fingers around mine. “We can watch a movie if you like. We never did get to that pumpkin pie.”

“Or pussy,” Mikey mumbles beside me.

I turn to him, my mouth open as I feign my indignation, but the truth is I can’t think of a better way to take my mind off the Wolf. And I’m going away from them for at least a week, and despite how much I’m looking forward to my trip with Shane, I’m going to miss these guys like crazy.

“You’re really thinking about pussy right now?” I nudge him in the ribs.

“I’m always thinking about your pussy, Red,” he says with an apologetic shrug.

I push myself up from the sofa. “You can come help me pack if you like,” I offer.

Mikey and Liam are beside me before I can even finish the sentence but Conor stays in his chair. He frowns at me. I know he’s worried about me but he must see that Shane and I are right.

I hold out my hand to him. “I’m not going to Ireland with you mad at me, Conor Ryan.”

“I’m not mad at you, Angel,” he says as he stands and walks toward us. He leans down and presses a soft kiss on my temple. “But I have something to do. I’ll come find you later.”





Chapter 2





Conor





I watch Jessie and my brothers walk to her room before I head off to find Shane. Vlad’s announcement has completely floored me. I suppose that Shane has a point about her being safer in Ireland. If the Wolf knows she’s here then it’s only a matter of time before he comes for her. Despite that, I can’t shake the feeling that she would be safer here with me and the twins. Safer with me. I would never let anyone harm a hair on her head, even if it meant never letting her out of my sight for a second. I consider the possibility of going with them, even though I’ve sworn never to set foot in Ireland again, but I would for her.

Shane is in his room when I find him. I walk inside and sit on the bed while he packs his small suitcase.

“I’ll keep her safe, Con,” he says, reading my mind. We’ve always been in sync, he and I, but I don’t agree with him on this one.

“I know you will, Shane…”

“But?”

“You’ll be distracted there. You won’t be able to watch her every second of every day.”

He closes his suitcase and shoves his hands into his trouser pockets. “The Wolf is in Moscow. I’m certain if he knows about Alexei then he knows about Jessie too, and it’s only a matter of time before he comes here looking for her, Con.” He shakes his head and I see the worry etched on his face.

“You really think she’ll be safer there with you?”

He nods at me. “Liam still isn’t one hundred percent. You’ll be running the businesses. Mikey will be run off his feet helping you. There are more distractions here, and you know she won’t stand for being locked up in this place.”

“And in Ireland?”

“She’ll either be with me or she’ll be in the suite at the hotel.”

I let out a long breath and close my eyes. “I can’t believe he’s back, Shane. I was starting to believe he was dead. I think she was, too.”

“I know. But once we get back, we can focus our energies on finding him. When I’ve sorted out Patrick’s estate and tidied up all of our affairs, there will be nothing tying us to Ireland any longer. Liam will have had another week to recover. We’ll be back to full strength and we can focus on what needs to be done.”

“I suppose you’re right.” I look up at him. “You sure you don’t need me to come with you?”

He narrows his eyes at me. “You want to come?”

“No!” I shake my head. “But I will if I need to. If you both need me to.”

“I need you to take care of business here, Con. Me and Jessie will be fine.”

“You just want her to yourself for a week,” I say, throwing a pair of balled up socks at him.

He shrugs and grins at me. “Yep.”

“Lucky fucker.”