Page 27 of Celtic Dragon
“Absolutely, you can use my office. It’s right through here.” He guides me through a door off to the side of the pool tables. “Take all the time you need,” he says as he closes the door behind him.
I pull out my cell and call Hawk.
He answers on the second ring, saying, “Have you turned into a leprechaun yet?”
Fucking smart-ass.“No, not yet, but my hands are beginning to turn green,” I reply.
“You better watch out,” he says, “once the hands go, they say the cock is next.”
I laugh. “You’re a sick fuck!”
“Yeah, I know, but you love me,” Hawk replies.
“Ok, lover boy … can we talk business now?” I ask.
He quickly becomes serious and says, “What’s up?”
“Well, as you have surmised, we’re in Belfast. We’re gonna be spending some time with the club and then we’re gonna head over to see the family. Everything ok at home?”
“Yeah, all good here. I told you, you don’t need to worry. I’ve got your girl and your club and I won’t let anything happen to either of them,” he says.
“I know. It just sucks being so far away. I feel so out of touch already and I haven’t even been gone 24 hours.”
“Just stop worrying. The less worrying you do, the more focused you will be on what needs to be done there so you can get your ass home.” He pauses and then adds, “… to the ones you love.”
“Yeah, whatever. Well, I wanted to let you know we made it. I’ll check in again once I get more intel on what’s going on here.”
“Sounds good, man. Talk to you soon.”
“Ok, sounds good.”
Just as I’m about to hang up the phone, I hear him say, “Ice …”
“What?”
“Don’t worry. I know I joke around with you, but you know you can trust me. I got this,” he says reassuringly.
“I know, brother. You always do.”
After I finish speaking to Hawk I start to dial Emma, but I have second thoughts and quickly disconnect the line. As much as I want to talk to her, I don’t want it to be rushed. I’ll call her later when I have more time to talk.
I quickly text Hawk:
He replies
I leave Declan’s office and head back over to the pool tables, where my boys are sitting at the bar. A drink sounds good right now, so I walk over to join them. When I get up to the bar, Aideen the barmaid asks me what I’d like. A couple of seconds later, she’s pouring me a cold Guinness.
The boys need this; the last two days have been a mad rush to get everything in order for our departure. We kick back for a couple of minutes and enjoy our drinks. I look over at Rebel, who’s sitting the farthest away from me, to see if his mood has shifted any.Fuck, I’m still seeing the same uneasiness that I noticed when we landed.
“Reb,” I call over to him, “get your ass over here for a minute.”
He dutifully gets up from his bar stool and walks over to me. “What’s up?”
“You ok?” I ask.
“Yeah. Why would you think something is up? I’m fine,” he says defensively.
“’Cause ever since we’ve landed, something has been bothering you. Are you having second thoughts about all this?”
