with me, she’d picked up a waitressing job at a diner around the corner to tide her over—soon enough, news would pass around the tables there, and everyone would know a war had come to our streets.
“Fuck, Aoife,” she rasped, her eyes wide, pupils dilated. “Aren’t you scared?”
My lips curved. “No.” The question amused me because I knew she’d dated several Points men in the past.
“But he’s dangerous.”
I shrugged. “Not to me. And he isn’t a danger to my dreams, either. Something’s happening, Jenny,” I warned her, and she winced.
“Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know.”
“I wasn’t going to tell you,” I retorted. “I don’t have that much to share. Finn just told me to hold off on getting this place. That’s all I know.”
Her mouth firmed into a perfect O. “Is this to do with that stripper that died a few nights ago?”
“Do you really want to know?”
She swallowed. “Is shit about to go down?”
I nodded, not about to lie to her. “There’s no need to worry about this place, either,” I informed her. “I’m getting the deeds as a marriage gift.”
“What?” she squeaked. “He’s buying you this place?”
I’d prefer her to think it was Finn than know the gift was actually from Aidan O'Donnelly. I didn’t want her to know how close to the inner circle Finn was.
None of us knew how the Five Points worked. They were secretive, and though we knew who was aligned with them, we didn’t know the inner circles. Only members did.
Aidan O'Donnelly was the face of it, and only then because everyone was fucking scared of him and what he was capable of.
He was like a human bulldog with rabies. Everyone knew to avoid his bite. Just not the people who were messing with his business, it would be seem.
I didn’t even have it in me to feel sorry for them. They’d killed an innocent woman to get back at the Points. They deserved whatever evil was coming their way.
“What are we doing here then if you’re not getting this place ready?” Jenny asked, and I was glad my revelation had jerked her out of her sulk. She peered over her shoulder at the two men standing outside the store front. “Is that who the other guy is? I figured he was with the real estate guy.”
My lips twitched. “You thought Billy was in real estate? He’s my guard.” I had to laugh at that, and though she pouted at my amusement, she started snickering, too.
With his scar and the bulge at his shoulder, Billy looked more like he was prepped for a bank robbery than a tour around a vacant property. But, he was my guard. He was here to keep me safe not to look pretty.
“Okay, so my eyes were definitely not focusing right when I came to that conclusion.”
“Ya think?” I joked. Then, I sobered and murmured, “I wanted to see all of it again before Finn bought the place for me. Now I have, now that I’m certain I want it, I feel comfortable letting Finn get involved.”
She gnawed on her bottom lip. “Am I ever going to meet this Finn?”
“You already have,” I teased.
“Once,” she pshawed. “That’s not enough. I need to vet him, make sure he’s good enough for my BFF.”
“He’s busy, Jen. But you’ll see him at the wedding.”
She grunted. “That sucks.”
“Such is life,” I told her with no apology.
Maybe I was being a bit mean, but I didn’t appreciate how she’d acted earlier. I wasn’t a little girl, and she wasn’t my mom.
“I can’t believe you’re getting married, Aoife,” she murmured, her gaze glued to her feet.
“Me, either.”
She peered at me under her thick lashes. “You sure you’re not making a mistake?”
I shrugged. “Who knows? I just know I’m happy, and after everything with Mom. . . .” I released a shuddery breath when I thought back to not just how she’d died, but the fact she wasn’t here anymore. “It’s good to be happy again, Jen.”
She strode forward and wrapped me in a hug. “Okay, then I’ll stop being a bitch and be happy for you, too.”
“Thanks,” I whispered, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “That means a lot.”
Chapter Fifteen
Finn
“You’re not inviting any family to the wedding?”
I frowned at Aoife. “I don’t have any family save for the O'Donnellys, and they’re trouble enough, trust me.”
Her chin jerked up as she pondered that, then she shrugged. “Okay.”
“Your dad can’t come, can he?”
She shook her head. “No. But . . . he does want