"Well, then—" She paused. "You hadn’t heard about my exposés?"
"No. Not until you went flying down the stairs. I’ve been keeping away from the business."
Her brow furrowed. "I didn’t think you’d be able to do that."
"My brothers shielded me from the worst."
"You’re lucky," she said dryly. "Mine wouldn’t."
I was lucky. I guessed that I knew that, but it resonated more when she looked at me with envy.
"You ever been to a war zone?"
"The nearest I got to one was a Macy’s on Black Friday," she joked.
My nose crinkled. "Okay, that example won’t work then."
"No, I was teasing. Tell me what you wanted to say."
"Brothers-in-arms." I blew out a breath. "They’re not just siblings to me, you know? We’re in a war zone together. Nobody gets that but them."
Eyes wide, she asked, "You’re not talking about with the other factions, are you?"
I shook my head. "Whether it’s the Italians or the Russians or the fucking Haitians, we’re always at someone’s throats. In this instance, I just mean being an O’Donnelly. It’s a war. A constant fucking battle." Tension clawed at me. "I can deal with it. I’ve always found it easy to compartmentalize my life, but things have been difficult ever since..." I broke off, gesturing at my knee.
"It makes sense," she told me softly. "The pain, the addiction... they’re bound to add a lot of pressure to an already intense situation."
That she got it resonated on a soul-deep level.
"I’ve never really talked about this shit with anyone. Not even my brothers."
"Well, we’ve already established that we’re weird together, haven’t we?"
I laughed a little as I snagged her hand in mine. "We have."
"You ever think that sometimes shit just works out how it’s supposed to work out?" She tangled our fingers together as she took a seat beside me. The bed jostled and I winced as it jarred my knee.
Voice rough with pain, I muttered, "No, it’s not in me to dream like that. I live in the real world, and it’s nasty and cruel. I’d like to think that way, though."
She fell silent, before, on a sigh, she asked, "Question, but don’t shoot?"
"I already promised I wouldn’t let anyone kill you, so I don’t see why I should be the one to break that promise."
"Reassuring," she grumbled under her breath. "When was the last time you went to the doctor’s about your knee? Not just for pain management?"
Chin tipping upward, I admitted, "Too long ago."
"Maybe there’s an advancement... something they can do to make it better?"
Grinding my jaw, I rumbled, "I doubt it. The joint was completely replaced after they tried pins that didn’t stick."
"So? They have problems with joint replacements all the time. Sometimes they’re outright rejected, and sometimes they’re just not aligned right. What if you’re in all this pain and it’s something that could be easily resolved? Or maybe you just need to have more surgery to fix what’s going on with it—"
"Savannah," I rumbled, "I know you mean well, but don’t."
She heaved a sigh. "Men." When she pulled her hand away, I grasped her fingers tightly in mine.
"Don’t."
"Don’t, what?" she retorted. "Have an opinion?"
"I didn’t say that."
"No? I fell down the stairs and twisted my wrist, slightly, and you’re all, ‘We’ll get you to a doctor if the injury doesn’t heal.’ But your knee looks like a fiber optic network of scars, and I can’t say anything?"
I rolled my eyes. "There’s a difference."
She shrugged. "If you say so."
"I do," I growled, and I tightened my fingers around hers even more when she tried to pull free of me.
"Let go," she snapped. "I’m pissed at you."
"You’re pissed at me? I’m the one who should be pissed," I retorted. "Look, just leave it alone. It sucks. That’s life."
"If you say so," she repeated.
"How can you be even more annoying when you’re not arguing with me?"
"It’s a gift," she sniped.
My cell buzzed in my pocket, and though my fingers stayed attached to hers, she jerked back as I reached for it, freeing herself as she began bustling around, picking up clothes and depositing them in drawers where there was space.
Partly relieved and partly surprised that she didn’t storm off back to the room she’d slept in last night, I answered the call. "What?"
"Is that any way to greet a long lost friend?"
"Wait a second," I said into the phone and, wincing at my stupidity in not checking the Caller ID, I leaned up on an elbow and asked Savannah, "Could you give me a few minutes?"
When she simply arched her brow at me, I rolled my eyes.
"You’re the one who wanted me in here," she told me sweetly.
I grunted, and because she was being difficult, was about to head out when I noticed her peeping under her lashes at me.
I didn’t have a clue what she was gaping at, but it was making her squirm.
No way was I about to cut that short.
"Apologies, Lucifer. How are you doing?"
"I could be better. I’m pregnant and I’m way too old for it, but what the hell? You only live once, don’t you?"
"Hopefully you don’t die twice."
"That’s true. Although I wouldn’t talk about my dying around any of my men. They’ll probably shoot you first then worry about killing an O’Donnelly later."
"Like any good husband," I drawled.
She snickered. "I do like dealing with you, Aidan. They palmed me off on that jackass, Brennan, but I can’t get along with him at all."
"He’s definitely not for everyone’s palate."
"Understatement of the year." She harrumphed. "Missed you at the wedding too. Anyone else would think it was rude that you didn’t show up."
"I sent Eoghan in my place. And his wife."
"Very pretty girl, that. I’d complain about the age gap and her looking like she belonged in a school uniform still but who can I judge? I fell for mine when I was her age, and Ama’s no better."
"They’re very happy together," was all I said, unsure why she always did this. I wasn’t that great at chitchat on a good day, never mind after the last twenty-four hours. I just put it down to her being from the South.
Lucie hummed. "Glad to hear it."
"Eoghan said the nuptials went well."
"They did. If it makes them feel better, then who am I to judge? Never understood the need to formalize these things, but that’s the rebel in me I think."
"You never thought about marrying one of yours?"
"Well, they didn’t give me much choice," she joked. "But we never did the whole group marriage thing.
"Anyway, enough about our personal lives, I know how you New Yorkers cringe when things dare go beyond business. I have news and I didn’t feel like speaking with Jackass so I thought I’d see if you were taking calls."