Colour Series Box Set (53 page)

“Who gets Warrick his blow - who drops it off?” I ask him as I gaze out the windows over the dirty city. It's taking all my willpower, not to just leave this place. I hate the grey that settles over this place and me while I am here. “I know his boys they fetch and deliver for him, Neil isn’t aware of his issues I think he chooses not to be.” Art replies very matter of fact. “Neil is fucking blind; I noticed he was jonesing after three seconds in a room with him. He is a road block we need to eliminate, and his blow is how. Make sure the next batch is not clean. By that, I mean dirty enough that he dies quickly.” Art looks me in the eyes and nods before he answers. “Not a problem boss, that’s easy to arrange I will get one of my boys on it today.”  He starts to put his jacket on. I contemplate how little I know about my family, my hate clouded my need for knowledge.

“Art what else should I know about my brothers? Have I missed anything?” I wonder how much I need to know. I don't want to know anything about them, but I may need to find out more than I want to.

“Neil has a liking for whores, and his wife would kill him if she could, she isn’t even in the city she left after your father's funeral, she spends her time in London now. Has a toy boy over there some soccer player. He is a very insecure man but shouldn’t be underestimated he has influential connections. He knows nothing about you personally and it scares him shitless because he does know that you are running the business, and he can’t unless you show him how. I think he plans to eliminate you once he has enough control.” I laugh at the silly notion of Neil learning from me, he is too short sighted. You cannot teach the stupid out of someone. He inherited his dimwits from his mother. She had the brain of a goldfish but the body of a whore. She also had a heart of coal, black bitter and fragile.

“Go deal with Warrick and let me worry about Neil. And Art, let me know when it is done.”  I say to Art as he puts his jacket back on. “Art, be discreet about who does this.” He nods and retreats from the office. He is not a man of many words, but he is a loyal man and that’s all I need.

IT HAS BEEN TWO WEEKS since Callum left me standing in my waiting room feeling a strange hum in my chest and the sharp sting of his rejection. He hasn’t even contacted me; Neil is unimpressed but with the accidents, deaths and business interruptions I am the least of his worries. We will have another funeral soon for his eldest son. Now that his body has been released to the family. I know that in this business accidents are never just accidents, and his son’s death was a warning shot. This family is in danger, and I can feel the fear dripping off of every single one of them. It is more than that the talons of death are sinking into the flesh of this family.

The surgery is quiet this morning I have had a few walk in’s with a cold or another everyday complaint. No bullet wounds or stabbings today, I like days like today. I know that one of the thugs will come in to “check” on me later on, but for now I enjoy a moment of simple admin work at my little desk. My receptionist Megan, who is an O’Reilly, sits behind her counter swinging on her chair playing candy crush on her iPad waiting for the phone to ring or the door to chime. The monotony of the surgery has extinguished her fire too. She is a lovely young woman in her twenties, I think she is a cousin, I am not sure I was just instructed to give her a job. She is useless at it, but I can’t argue that I need someone to answer the phones. She seems too innocent to be one of them.

I spend a little time organising my office safe and the scheduled drug cabinet; I am fidgety and unsettled today; I have that feeling of doom that something bad is going ruin my day. Something always does.  Megan, who is of course also bored, comes and stands at the door of my office. “So what happened to that doctor who took you out last month? He was a hottie; I haven’t even seen him at the coffee place is he avoiding you? Because he was there every day.” Her world revolves around who I am dating; the doctor was splendid looking, but I have had my fun and discarded of him already. I don’t think he will be at the coffee shop anytime soon after what I did to him. “It wasn’t going to work long term Megan, you know who I work for. It isn’t easy to have relationships when you have to lie to stay alive every day.” I try to brush her off so I can return to my own thoughts. “Hmm, can I ask him out if I see him again?” She chirps far too excited about my used-up date. He isn’t going to be seen again, but she doesn’t know that. “Sure Megs if you see him, ask away he was a bit of a jerk in bed though.” I suddenly have the urge to know more about Callum, I shouldn’t, but I do. “Megs what do you know about Callum, your cousin. I think he is your cousin?”

She raises an eyebrow at me and I get the distinct impression she thinks I am crazy for even asking. “He is crazy and everyone hates him, that Callum? Why are you asking?” She looks confused at my interest in the least favourite cousin. “My aunt Orla says he has some sort of psychotic break when he has sex, murders women or something like that.” She sits down at my desk getting comfortable to spill the gossip. That word
murder
has me curious.

“What do you mean psychotic Meg’s? He seems rather normal and put together, like all the men in your family.” I want to know more, I
need
to know everything.

“I don’t know Shan, I was like five when they sent him to South Africa. I have only heard the rumours from the older ladies, you know he is in his forties, he’s old as…” I cut her off.

“Old as, be careful Meg’s I’m as old as! Why did they send him away?” I’m thirty-six, not that old, but I don’t need to be reminded that I am past my prime.

“My dad says it was for killing some girl and my mom says it was because Connor hated him. Probably both if you ask me. He just looks like a crazy person, have you seen those eyes? He scares the shit out of me. He is hot though, for an old man.” The phone is ringing at the front desk. She has managed to get me thinking of Callum and that has me all hot and bothered, in a good way. But  having sex with a psycho is not a good idea.

“You better go get that,” I say the Megan crossing my legs and trying to hide the heat in my cheeks as I imagine sex with Callum.

Megan laughs loudly as she turns to go back to her desk and answer a ringing phone.

My mind wonders back to the doctor Megan liked so much, Max and his demanding attitude and lack of finesse in the bedroom and my mouth curls into a smile that I can feel in my soul. There is nothing better than getting rid of a bad date.

Megan returns to my office quickly huffing and puffing after a jog down the passage. “There has been some kind of incident at the boxing gym and they are bringing two guys here to get stitched up, apparently this is a bit beyond the coaches stitching skills. I will set up suture kits in both the rooms for you while we wait.” I just knew someone would ruin my fucking day. If they are not killing each other on the streets or in the pubs, they are now doing it in the gym.  I wonder which of the O’Reilly kids will be coming through my doors. It’s too early for the men to be at the gym so it must be some of the younger boys getting a little over excited. Even more irritating is now I will have to call parents and deal with one or more of the wife's club. I loathe the women even more than the men.

I slip on a white coat and tie up my hair, so it doesn’t get in my way. I go and wait in my small procedure room where Megan has set up a suture tray and covered the bed in linen savers. She hates when these little twerps bleed all over the linens. I wash my hands and slip on a pair of latex gloves in preparation.  I hear the door chime from the front and the shuffle of footsteps and voices. 

Megan brings Joel, Warrick’s oldest son into the room. “I will dump the other one next door to wait; cousin Joel here is the loser.” She is so blunt, and I can almost see his ego shrivel up and die at her words. The man has a gaping cut above his left eye; his nose is broken and swollen, his lip is split and gushes blood down his chin and those are the injuries I can see on his face. Whoever got him in the ring clearly had the upper hand. I don’t understand these idiots that feel the need to beat each other for fun, although this looks personal. He was being taught a lesson.

I stitch up his broken face and try to set his nose, but I think he may need to see a specialist to fix that. The bones feel crushed as opposed to cracked. He has several broken ribs, and I tape his chest with a pressure bandage to try making breathing less painful. This guy is a train wreck I wonder what his opponent looks like. When I am done bandaging, I sedate him and leave him to rest for a while, his concussion is quite severe, and I would rather he wait it out here where I can observe him. I might have to call in a nursing sister to help me out tonight. I throw away my gloves and go switch out my coat to one that doesn’t look like I was present at a chainsaw murder before I return to my other patient.

I pass Megan on the way down the passage again. “Megs please can you call the nursing service and see if there is a sister available to help babysit that idiot tonight?” She is blushing furiously as she slinks past me into the passage “Sure Doctor I will get on that now.” Doctor? She calls me Shan - that's weird and a little off.

I wonder what has Megan flustered; she is usually unfazed by the things that come in and out of here.  I push the door open, and my heart almost stops when I find a shirtless and slightly bloody Callum perched on the end of the bed. No fucking wonder Megan was blushing.  I am blushing; the man is exactly as I had imagined, and beneath those suits is a weapon, a finely tuned and breathtakingly gorgeous weapon. No wonder the poor fool next door is half dead what sort of idiot do you have to be to go up against a body like that.
Pull yourself together, you are a doctor Shannon. He cannot see you react to him.
Callum has a small cut on his lip and a swollen eye, nothing that actually requires my skill to fix. I suspect that his injuries have nothing to do with why he is here, he wants to see me; the smirk on his face gives his intentions away. I don’t want to date Callum, I don’t want to sleep with Callum, I won’t be able to get rid of Callum like the rest, and this is dangerous. I coach myself as I ignore his sexy smile and slip on a fresh pair of latex gloves. I can smell his sweat and aftershave fill the small room. I cannot deny the pull between us and I know my body is defying my mind. I feel a clench between my thighs. I inhale a little more of his smell and let out a strangled breath. He’s intoxicating.
He murdered your sister Shannon! You should hate him.

I pull the trolley with the suture kit on it closer; I don’t think he needs stitches, but he will get them just for that sexy fucking eat me alive grin on his face. As much as I don’t want to get close to this man I need to, and I know this is my second chance, and I don’t plan on blowing this one. I step in between his powerful thighs where they hang from the end of the bed, and I begin to clean his bloodied lip with antibacterial wash; he hisses as it stings the open cut. I smile at his reaction that earns me a scowl from him. “Hello, Doctor Shannon.” He says in a low voice that coils my insides in a dangerous way. “Hello Callum.” I don’t say more I just clean and stitch his face, without lidocaine. I think he secretly likes the pain because he hasn’t complained or whined at all. His lip is stitched and cleaned; I cannot move away though he has trapped me with those legs, and I feel his eyes reaching into my soul for answers. He doesn’t trust me, he believes that Neil owns me, no one owns me and if one of them did I think I would rather it be Callum. “I’m surprised my brother hasn’t killed you yet Doctor.” His breath is on my cheek as he talks to me, way too close to let my brain function. “I don’t care about Neil; I am just the doctor. I cannot be more.”

“That’s where you are wrong Doctor; you are already more to me.” His words turn my blood to ice, and I cannot move not just because he is holding me but because I don’t want to be more to anyone. “I just need to know if it’s worth keeping you alive, whose side will you be on if I do?”

“I don’t understand Callum; you know what Neil wants from me. There are no sides you are O’Reilly’s, and I am not.” He is confusing me with his words and his closeness and his smell and his legs that are crushing the breath out of my lungs. “It’s simple doctor; I give you what you need to stay alive and you join
my
side. You see there is a war waging that no one knows about yet but betray me beautiful little ghost, and I will kill you myself.”  He holds my head in his big hands so that I cannot avert his gaze, those green eyes scare the shit out of me. “From this second doctor Shannon you belong to me, you follow
my
plan and I will keep you alive. You run to my idiot brother with anything other than what I tell you to I kill you. Simple, our whirlwind fucking romance starts this second. Are we clear?” I nod; I want to cry he is going to fucking ruin my life and kill me I just know it. I cannot stop the things I do and belonging to someone means just that. Fuck. Before my mind can comprehend all that he is saying he kisses me again, the hum is back, and I kiss him, I allow him to take over my mouth with his tongue. The stitches I just placed in his lip scratch mine causing a sensation that I cannot explain. His legs loosen their crushing hold on me, and I can breathe again. Only now I am breathing in Callum he is like the poisons that I love so much, so good but so very bad all at once. I just became a pawn in a war I know nothing about. I don’t care because his hands are moving up my sides pulling me closer to his naked chest, and I am being sucked into his world with every swipe of his tongue over mine. He is playing a dangerous game that neither of us can win.