Play Dirty (Wages of Sin #2) - Neve Wilder Page 0,23

the parsley from the side of his hand. “My mom was an American tourist. Fell in love with him while traveling overseas, I suppose. I was born in Ireland. We were there for three years before coming here.” He glanced up, surprised to find that Az had set his knife down and was listening raptly. “A year later, they were both dead. Murdered in their bed.”

“By the IRA? And left you alive?”

“Not the IRA.” Madigan shook his head. “I had enough sense to hide when I heard the commotion. Didn’t move for hours. I remember the morning light coming in through the window, how it looked different. It never looked the same again.” He cleared his throat. “I saw them in their bed and ran outside to a neighbor’s house.” So much of it was a blur to Madigan now, whether time had faded the memory or he purposely blocked it out. He remembered only sunlight and red and the coolness of the sidewalk under his bare feet as he ran.

“Anyone figure out who murdered them?”

Madigan set his knife aside. He had enough chopped parsley now to supply a restaurant. “I did, later on. It was a couple of hitmen. I never found out who hired them, though. Doesn’t matter, I suppose. One was already dead by the time I was able to do anything. The other was half senile in a home. Talked a bunch of gibberish. Never stopped talking.”

“Who raised you?”

“I was passed around to aunts and uncles, eventually turned over to a group home. I wasn’t exactly easy to handle. Again, I’m sure that comes as a shock.” He smiled wanly.

“Is that how you met Jonah?”

Madigan glanced sharply over. Azrael did know more than he’d given him credit for. “Jonah came later. I roamed around for a while doing odd jobs after highschool, then joined the Army. Did a stint there and was trying to figure out what to do next. I met Soren at a bar one night, saw him strangle a man in the alley. He didn’t even seem to care that I saw. Walked right up to me where I was taking a piss against the wall after and looked me up and down, told me he’d find me if he needed to. I believed him. I asked why he’d strangled the man rather than using a knife or a gun. Soren said strangulation was specifically requested. So then I asked him if he made good money taking requests like that, and when he said yes, I asked him if he’d teach me, too. I met Jonah through him.” There was a little more to it than that, like the fact that Soren had initially said no, and Madigan had hounded and followed him until Soren had finally put a knife to his throat. It was only when Madigan tilted his head back, giving Soren the full expanse of his throat, that he’d acquiesced. Madigan had still spent the fist couple of years convinced that at any given moment, Soren might turn around and kill him.

Az seemed to weigh all of this in silence before nodding once and saying, “I appreciate you sharing that with me. I’m very sorry about your parents,” as he dried his hands off on a dishtowel. Then he strode over to the island, invading Madigan’s space without warning. He licked the tip of his index finger before swiping it through a bit of parsley on the cutting board and sucking it clean, his shoulder brushing against Madigan’s in a way that was oddly soothing.

“You’re a strange man, Azrael.” Madigan wiped the knife and set it aside just as Az twisted to face him and skimmed a finger along his jaw. Goosebumps broke out over his shoulders immediately. Thank fuck, he was wearing a shirt.

“You’re strange, too. Know what else I am?”

Madigan straightened abruptly when he realized he’d automatically tilted his head to the side to give Az access to his neck. “What’s that?”

“Patient.”

Yep. He should’ve known better than to ask. Az’s smile widened as Madi caged him against the island. God, the man could turn even a smile into a weapon. “You are that. But I’m incredibly stubborn.” He gave himself approximately five seconds to soak in the sensation of Az’s body against his.

Az chuckled. “Are you? I hadn’t noticed.”

“Mm-hmm.” Madigan stepped away and picked up a plate of kebabs. “We grilling these or what?”

Sunlight poured through the windows of the villa where Madi sat hunkered over his laptop.