CONOR
THE SECOND MY computer screen went blank, I knew what had happened.
“Goddammit,” I groused under my breath, unsurprised when bright green text flashed onto it.
I swore, this bitch had a Matrix obsession—only ever did things in black and green.
Lodestar: **I know what you did last summer.**
aCooooig: **I’m not Freddie Prinze Jr.**
Lodestar: **Shame. Always had a crush on him.**
aCooooig: **There a reason you hijacked my hardware?**
Lodestar: **Fun?**
aCooooig: **Fuck. U.**
Lodestar: **Ouch. You trying to hurt my feelings?**
TWENTY-EIGHTSEAMUSI’D NEVER BEEN to Coney Island before, and after today, I knew I’d never go again.Ever.Again.The place was tainted. Absolutely wrecked. And not just for my memory banks.At first, I hadn’t known what was happening.We’d been walking on the boardwalk while Mom and I were eating ice cream that melted down our hands. It had been like any other day out. I’d been with her to the beach so many times, eaten ice cream with her so many times, but it was cool to be here.New York City was my place.My home.I wasn&
DECLANHAVE your eyes ever met someone’s across a crowded room?Have you ever looked into that person’s eyes, and somehow known you were theirs?That they were yours?I was fifteen when that happened to me.It wasn’t the first and only time it happened either. It kept on happening, only with the same guy. Over and over and over, it occurred.Our eyes would connect, and it was like the sun would peep out from behind the clouds on a dull day.I knew it sounded like nonsense, but it actually wasn’t.Every time my gaze was captured by Declan O’Donnelly’s, I knew we were meant to be together.That was what made things so awkward.I wasn’t his.He wasn’t mine.He was my best friend’s.
AEOLA“YOU’RE SHITTING ME.”It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.A statement because I knew Brennan was joking. He had to be, didn’t he?Of course, there was massive concern over the fact that he was the one imparting this news to me.After all, Brennan rarely joked.It wasn’t that he was somber, it was that he saw the world a little differently. There was nothing wrong with that considering the world we lived in was a shower of shit, but still, he wasn’t easily amused.And he’d never laugh or joke about the fact that I had a son out there.A son I’d fathered with Aela O’Neill.My throat tightened at the memories of her. She’d been the one who got away. The one I’d loved. Who I’d let get away.At the
DECLAN“YOU’RE SHITTING ME.”It wasn’t a question. It was a statement.A statement because I knew Brennan was joking. He had to be, didn’t he?Of course, there was massive concern over the fact that he was the one imparting this news to me.After all, Brennan rarely joked.It wasn’t that he was somber, it was that he saw the world a little differently. There was nothing wrong with that considering the world we lived in was a shower of shit, but still, he wasn’t easily amused.And he’d never laugh or joke about the fact that I had a son out there.A son I’d fathered with Aela O’Neill.My throat tightened at the memories of her. She’d been the one who got away. The one I’d loved. Who I’d let
AELABEFOREIN MY PLAID skirt with its box pleats, a crisp linen shirt, and a heavy jacket, I felt more than just stupid. I looked it too. My squeaky leather shoes had these tiny tassels on them, for God’s sake. Throw in the knee socks, and I looked like a character from some weird show.I wasn’t used to wearing a uniform. Back before Dad’s promotion, I’d just worn regular clothes at my regular school. Then I’d had to move to St. Mary’s Middle School for Girls, and we were now being shunted off to St. John’s High. St. Mary’s had been bad enough with its ankle-length skirts, but, and I knew this was horrendous, it hadn’t mattered at St
AELANOWWHEN SEAMUS’S head popped up at the door opening, I grinned at him.He’d just turned fourteen, and while he was a precocious pain in my ass because he was a teenager, and he’d been overridden with hormones that made him a jerk, he was mine.I was proud of him.I mean, I’d known that before this whole shitstorm, but to be honest, I felt it even more so now.I’d done this.On my own.I’d not only helped give birth to this wonderful kid with zero support system, but he was smart, well-rounded, and a good boy. He worked hard, was conscientious,
Working with Da meant being his fists. So far it was a miracle I’d avoided wet work, but it seemed like my time had come.Before the year was out, I knew I’d have my first kill under my belt—“Declan?”The soft voice, the whisper of my name, broke into my thoughts.Before I could get angry at having my space invaded, my private place that was free from the Irish Mob’s taint because no Westie would be caught dead here, I saw her.She was like an angel.A dark-haired one.Her face was petite, rounded at the chin with the tiniest little indent in the middle, and her cheeks were rosy with the cold. Her eyes were bright with expectation, and her smile was hesitant as she looked at me like she expected me not to know her.But I did.I knew her.I&
AELA“SEAMUS?” I called out, as I hauled a bag from my room and dumped it in the hall.The trouble with packing up all my stuff was that there was a lot of it.I mean, I knew that. I had to pack everything sporadically anyway when we moved, because we moved a lot.Intentionally.I never liked to stay in one place longer than necessary. Sometimes, I’d stay only long enough to do a course or to teach one. Sometimes, it was for as long as it took to craft a particular project. But Rhode Island? I’d gotten soft.I’d been stupid.Instead of changing scenery a few years ago, I’d stayed here because Seam