I go through the motions, but it seems odd. Something’s off, and I don’t know what.
We meet Tiernan at lunch. He looks grim, and as soon as he can, he beckons for Lachlan to come to him. Aisling and I look over the maps we got at orientation as the two of them speak.
“God but he’s a sober sort, isn’t he?” she says, her eyes on Lachlan.
I shrug. “Not really, unless he’s concerned, which he is now.” I quietly tell her about my guard.
“Are you fucking kidding me?” she whispers. “God, Fiona. Are you serious?”
And for the first time, her face registers real concern.
“Aye,” I say with a sigh. But how do I tell her this is nothing out of the ordinary? It’s par for the course with mob life. And yes, I’m in danger, but that’s why Lachlan and Tiernan are here. Though they’re in danger, too, in my mind, they’re sort of invincible.
Lachlan comes over to me a minute later and takes my hand again, but his eyes are on Aisling’s.
“Where did you meet those two men, Aisling?”
She blinks and looks at me. “Just in town. Why? Is there a problem?”
“Bloody well is,” Tiernan says in a low voice. “We’ll get lunch and talk it out.”
The four of us take the boxed lunches stacked for incoming freshmen by the main entrance. We have an hour before we’re to meet with the guides for our tours. We sit on the grass of the front lawn. Wordlessly, Lachlan reaches for me, and arranges me between his legs. I lean against him, grateful for his warmth and protection. My heart does a little somersault in my chest. I could get used to this.
“Few things you two ought to know,” Tiernan says. “First thing, Aisling. I went to the address you gave me. It’s a rented room. No one on the premises has ever heard of the lad you mentioned. Says it’s been vacant for two damn months.”
She blinks, her sandwich halfway to her lips. “What? But it was furnished,” she said. “Like a home.”
“Course it was,” Lachlan says. “He played the cards well, didn’t he?”
She looks at me in astonishment. “Fiona, what the hell?”
I shake my head. I have no idea. “They seemed like normal blokes, didn’t they?” Fiona says.
“Aye.” I sigh.
“Did either of them ask you anything about where you lived? Or anything about your family, or who you were.”
My sandwich turns to a rock in my belly.
“Aye,” I tell him. I’m suddenly ashamed at how freely I spoke, and I wonder if I’ve put us in danger. I sit up and turn to Lachlan. I speak in a low voice so neither Tiernan nor Aisling hears me.
“I didn’t really tell him much of anything, Lach. Did I do something wrong?” He tucks a stray strand of hair behind my ear and shakes his head.
“No, Fiona,” he whispers. “I was the one who was wrong for letting you go. But I’ll make up for it. I promise I will.”
Hope surges in me, and I close my eyes to the sudden rush of emotion his words bring out in me. I want to kiss him. I want to wrap myself up in his arms and go back to the hotel room and give all of me to him. I feel as if the clouds have broken through on a dark, dreary day, and I can see the path in front of me.
“It isn’t your fault,” I tell him, but he shakes his head.
“No more talk of this now,” he says. Then his brows draw together and his voice sharpens. “Did he touch you?”
I shake my head. “No, of course not.” I frown at him. One minute I want to kiss him, the next I could slap him. I drop my voice even lower and nearly growl at him, “As if I’d ever let another man touch me.”
Heat flares in his eyes, but he doesn’t speak. I hear them calling for us to come back to the next leg of orientation.
“We have to go,” he says, getting to his feet. “Tiernan, you’ll call Keenan and fill him in, will you?”
“Aye,” Tiernan says, rising as well. It’s then that I notice we haven’t gone under the radar of my fellow classmates. Small groups of girls are whispering and pointing to Tiernan and Lachlan. Is it our accents? Or the way the two of them, with their muscles and ink, look completely out of place?
We go back, and Lachlan steps to the side to have a brief word with Tiernan. Their voices are heated, and Lachlan’s eyes are flashing. Tiernan’s shaking his head, and I want to know what the hell they’re talking about, when someone to my right taps me on the shoulder.
A tall, lanky youth with dirty blond hair and glasses points to the papers I’ve got.
“Excuse me, those are mine,” he says.
I look down at the map and schedule they gave me. “They’re not,” I tell him. “They had my name on them.”
He has the nerve to actually try to take them out of my hands. He knocks my backpack right off my shoulder.
“Give them here,” he says. “You took the wrong schedule.”
I pull away from him, astounded at his boldness, when a deep voice comes over my shoulder and I see Lachlan’s firm grip on the boy’s arm.
“Leave. Off,” he says, giving the guy a murderous look.
The boy runs and nearly trips.
“What a douche,” I mutter under my breath.
“Jesus,” Lachlan says under his breath. “Goddamn lucky we’re on a feckin’ college campus. Are we almost done here?”
I turn to him, and I don’t care who sees me or what they think. I lean in and kiss his scruff cheek.
“Aye. You know what? I am done. I’ve no interest in the rest of this. Let’s go.” With every minute that passes I feel less and less like I belong here and more like I need to be back home. I dismiss the feelings as homesickness. I need to be brave. I need to go out on my own. I can’t let my fears hold me back.
“Good girl,” he says approvingly. His Adam’s apple bobs when he swallows hard, and it takes me a second to realize I’m the one that affected him like that. Me. Fiona Hurston, barely over the cusp of womanhood, has the power to affect Lachlan.
Tiernan stays with Aisling for a while when the two of us head back to the hotel room.
“Lachlan, I have a dorm room here on campus, though.”
“Not anymore you don’t.”
I open my mouth to protest, then slam it shut. Is he saying what I think he is?
“Don’t ask, Fiona,” he says. “I have no fucking idea what we’re doing, but I do know a few things. First, I’m not allowed in your dorm. Second, if you think I’m sharing space with Aisling…” he shudders.
“Isn’t Keenan expecting you back, though?”
“The only way I go back to Ireland is if you’re with me. And since you’re here… my answer’s clear. Keenan’s put me as primary guard over you.”
Though I’m pleased to hear he won’t be leaving me, I can’t help but wonder. What does this mean for us? For him? Men of the Clan don’t casually date. I don’t know everything about their rules and bylaws and code, but I do know when they claim a woman, it’s for life.
“We have a lot to talk about, Lachlan.” I can’t stay in this place of uncertainty. I can’t keep wondering what will happen next or if I mean anything to him. Is it just a schoolgirl crush that has me hoping for more? Or is he really as devoted to me as I’ve dreamed he would be?