Aven grinned and pulled out a pint glass from the far cabinet. She filled it with the Italian man's favorite beer and set it in front of him.
"You're an angel," Rocco sighed, taking a deep swig of the brown ale.
"You're most welcome," she returned. "Will your friends be joining you soon?"
"Should be. They're just finishing up some business."
Aven frowned but didn't ask questions. She knew that Rocco didn't always join them in completing their saintly duties, but it wasn't often that he didn't wait for them at their shared apartment afterwards. Her chest twinged with concern, but Aven stamped it down and went about her work.
The bar was not so filled up this night as it had been a month ago on St. Patrick's Day. Business was always pouring through, especially since Torrin had started that lunch menu last week. Along with the lunch menu had come Alana, a young waitress working until she decided what she wanted to go to college for, and Tiger, a burly Native American man who made the best pub food Aven had ever tasted. The four of them got along amazingly; Alana and Tiger worked from open to around seven or eight in the evening, while Aven came in the late afternoon and stayed till close. Torrin would come in and open the bar, get Alana and Tiger helped out during the busy times, then come back a few hours after the kitchen closed to finish the night out with Aven.
Since St. Patty's, not a day had gone by that the two Irish cousins didn't at least see Murphy and Connor for a few minutes. As Aven picked up the empty plates and glasses of a table whose patrons had just left for the evening, she thought back over her experiences with the MacManus brothers. Even in just the short month since they had met, she and Torrin had become comfortable around the two men – Rocco, too. Besides Gavan, Torrin's horrible boyfriend, Aven didn't spend much time with anyone who wasn't at the bar, so it was nice to find friends there.
Particularly Murphy. He and Connor always stayed for coffee. Sometimes they talked as a group, sometimes Torrin went on home to Gavan, and Aven stayed behind. Occasionally Connor would go for a walk with Torrin or corner her in the office for a talk. Those times, Aven and Murphy would pull down a couple of chairs at one of the cleaner tables and talk. Once, they talked for so long, the sun was coming up before they realized time was passing at all. Connor was nowhere to be found at first, but they located him passed out on the couch at the girls' apartment, with Torrin safely tucked away in her own bed. Aven admitted only to herself that she wanted more than friendship from him. Aven also admitted also only to herself that she had let the old-fashioned parts of her heart win out – she wanted Murphy to come after her.
More than an hour passed that Rocco sat at the bar without the company of his Irish friends. Aven could see the concern on his face, although she knew he tried to hide it. The Funny Man was full of jokes this evening, but she wasn't much for laughing. More to shut him up than out of generosity, Aven told him to order dinner on the house. Maybe the food would give him something else to do with his mouth for a while. The time and his jokes were only making Aven more concerned.
Finally, about an hour before Torrin was due back in the pub, the bell over the door rang. Aven was taking orders for a new table of patrons so that Alana could help Tiger start with closing the kitchen. Aven looked up, and there he was. Murphy MacManus in all his blue-eyed, roguish glory.
She forced herself to look away before her mind could process any further details. Only a bit disappointed when he didn't call out a greeting to her, Aven went back behind the bar, pouring the usual drinks for both Murphy and Connor before going on to the orders for the party at the table.
"You boys all right?" she asked. Connor was acting suspicious, and Murphy was angled away from her, as if he was avoiding her presence.
Connor downed half of his beer. "Aye, just fine. Right, Murph?"
He simply nodded, barely turning towards them, then going back to his hushed conversation with Rocco. Aven loaded bottles and classes onto a tray, filled the glasses with the appropriate drinks, dropped limes into a few of the bottles, and lifted the tray to shoulder level. As she left the counter, she gestured with her head for Connor to follow her.
She pulled him to the side once her tray was empty. "Did I do something I'm not aware of? Why will Murph hardly look at me, let alone speak to me?"
Connor pulled a cigarette from a smashed pack and lifted one to his lips but didn't light it "You've bewitched him, Aven, and tonight that bewitching gave him trouble."
She frowned. "What in the hell are you talking about?"
"Not for me to explain, lass. Say, is Torrin at home? Alone?"
"Far as I know," Aven answered, her eyes on Murphy again.
"I'll go see her and be back." Connor followed her line of sight and added, "Get angry, if you want him to talk. He won't be able to stand it."
Aven thanked him quietly and went back to the bar. Get angry, Connor said. Oh, she had no problem with that.
.&.
Torrin had been dozing on the couch, with the television providing some background noise. She hated the sound of silence. All growing up, silence had never meant anything good for Torrin. Even now, she slept with a sound machine playing unless she got drunk and passed out before she realized it.
The bar would be waiting for her return in an hour or so. Alana and Tiger would have closed the kitchen by then, so Torrin figured she should get up and eat before going downstairs. She had just started warming up some leftover pizza when Connor MacManus showed up at her door.
"Come in," she smiled, closing the door and fumbling to lock the deadbolt. "Just warming up some pizza, if you're hungry."
She finished toying with the cranky deadbolt on the door and turned right into Connor's kiss.
He hands hovered on her hips until Torrin responded and kissed him back. His arms snaked around her back, pulling her close. Torrin's hands found their way up his arms and met behind his neck. They went on like that for a few minutes before Connor gave her one last kiss and moved his hands back to her hips.
"I'm sorry," he told her in a voice just above a whisper. "Couldn't wait any longer to do that. We … we had a scare tonight, Torrin. Almost got in some real trouble."
She stepped back out of his reach. "What do you mean, trouble? Where's Murphy?"
"He's downstairs, pissin' Aven off," Connor chuckled.
Her pizza forgotten, Torrin crossed her arms over her chest and pushed for more information. "I fail to find the humor in this. You come in here, kiss me for more than I'm worth, tell me you almost got in trouble, and next thing I know, you're joking about Murphy pissing Aven off. Explain yourself, Connor."
He sobered his laughter. "Where would you like me to start?"
Torrin thought it over and decided maybe she didn't want to hear the scary parts first. "Why is Aven upset?"
"Because Murphy's not talking to her."
"Why not?"
"He got his face busted. He doesn't want Aven to worry. He cares for her, Torrin, but he's afraid that she'll see he's hurt now and see how serious his injuries could get one day. Afraid that she won't want him after that."
Torrin swallowed hard. "He should get to know her better. Aven won't run from something like that."
"Would you?" Connor asked.
Torrin shrugged. "Why does it matter?"
"Because you kissed me back," Connor said, raising a careful hand to cup her cheek. "And because when we saw Aven at a glance, then Murph said right away that she was prettiest Irish girl he'd ever seen and nearly fell in love with her then and there, I thought he was crazy – until not too long after that, when I saw you."
Torrin let out a deep breath and pushed his hand away, going into the kitchen to start the microwave again. "I have a boyfriend, Connor."
"I know that," Connor continued. "But I'll be better to you than Gavan is. I'll tell you every day how beautiful you are, and I'll see you every day. I'd wait on you hand and foot, give everything else up – I swear I would. Just give me a chance to show you."
"No."
Her tone left no room for argument. Connor shoved his hands in his pockets and took a seat at the kitchen table.
"What, you think if you wait it out, I'll change my mind? Or that Gavan will come and you'll duel him for my honor?" Torrin snapped.
"They knew who you were, Tori."
Torrin didn't know what caught her more off-guard. No one had ever called her Tori except her mother, and oh, did Torrin miss that woman terribly. It sounded so natural coming from Connor though, and she couldn't imagine her heart skipping a beat over it like it had when Connor said it. On the other hand, she knew who they were. Maybe not exactly, but she knew he meant the ones he and Murphy had gone after that night.
She swallowed hard, leaning against the kitchen counter. She had put her pizza on a plate but suddenly found that she had no appetite. "Are they dead? All of them?"
Connor was a bit surprised by her reaction. "They are. We took care of it."
"Who were they?"
He was silent, staring at the table.
"Damn it, tell me who they were!" she yelled.
Connor threw his head back. "Russian mafia."
"How do they know who I am?"
Connor shook his head. "We don't know, exactly, but we know they were waiting for us. They were prepared for us to be there, I mean. We were in a stand-off and they threatened to come here, after you and Aven, if we didn't leave. Murphy rushed one of them when he started talking about raping Aven, and that's when he got it to the face. It was enough distraction for me to start the killing."
"All right. I have to shower before I go down there, so you better go."
"I'm not leaving you alone."
"You said you killed them all," Torrin reminded him.
"Doesn't mean there aren't more – and we don't know how they knew about you. To know that mentioning you girls would get to us, they had to have been watching us. Means they've seen us up here. They know where you live."
Torrin pursed her lips together. "Aven and I know how to take care of ourselves. We don't need you two watching out for us."
"Yes, you do."
She stared him down for a few minutes. "Come with me."
Connor pushed away from the table and followed her back to the bathroom. She opened the cabinet where the linens were kept and removed a false bottom. In the space were several guns and even a couple knives, and ammunition to last for a while.
"We've guns in our rooms too, each of us. So, as you can see, we're prepared for anything."
He wanted to ask her why they had those, how they knew how to take care of the guns and how to use them. It was both her tone and her countenance that let him know this time that the conversation was over.
"All right, then. I'll see you downstairs."
He risked her further anger by leaning in to kiss her cheek before disappearing from the apartment. Torrin waited to hear the door shut. Once it did, she leaned against the bathroom wall, sinking down to the floor. It had taken everything in her not to let herself fall apart with Connor there. Aven had secrets, and so did Torrin. It seemed though, that her secrets may be coming back to haunt her – and Aven. She would have to tell her cousin about this, but not now. They would talk about it later, after getting through this shift at the pub.
In the meantime, she would try to come up with a plan.
.&.
Aven tried the cold shoulder, but it wasn't very successful when Murphy had already been giving her the same treatment. She tried harder, filling only Rocco's drink and not Murphy's. Somehow though, he always had a new drink when needed. Finally, she realized that he was reaching behind the tap, filling his own drink. If she wasn't angry enough before, that sure did the job.
Aven tossed down the rag she had been cleaning with and marched over to where he sat. She got a good hold on his ear and dragged him towards the kitchen, yelling at Rocco behind her to watch out for any other shitheads who might try to get behind her bar.
Once through the kitchen and out the back screen door, Aven let him go. "Damn it! Do you know I ought to call the police on ya, Murph? The hell are you thinking? Are you really that up-ended at me that you can't even ask for a damn drink? Look at me when I'm talking to you!"
Murphy sighed and turned to face her full on, so she could see the side of his face he had kept from her. Her face turned from angry to concerned in a mere moment. From just under his eye, across his cheekbone and back towards his ear was swollen, cut, and bruised. The purples and blues were intense, even in the light of the alleyway. Cautiously, Aven reached up to touch it; Murphy winced, then leaned into her hand just slightly.
"You could have told me, you know."
Murphy let out a deep breath. "No, I couldn't. I've never let anyone get the jump on me. Tonight I did."
"That's not what I meant," Aven said, dropping her hand and let a smile play on her lips.
Murphy raised his brow. "What then?"
"You could have told me … Oh, how did Connor put it? Ah, right. Bewitched. You could have told me that I bewitched you."
"Oh, God," Murphy groaned. "He did not tell you that."
"He did. You should have told me, Murph."
The look in her eye and the words she spoke sparked a confidence in him. He reached for the hand that had so tenderly touched the injury on his face and laced his fingers through hers. "Yeah? Why is that?"
"You haven't noticed I'm fond of you?" Aven teased. "Come on, let's get you an ice pack."
She held on to Murphy's hand and pulled him towards the door. In turn, Murphy pulled her back to his chest, backing her quickly against the brick wall. "Surely you're not going to fix me up before I get to kiss you?"
The old-fashioned parts kicked in, and Aven coyly shook her head. "No kisses yet. Ice pack. Then beer – maybe some whiskey. But no kissing."
Connor came down the steps just as they were headed back into the kitchen. He didn't look too happy, but Murphy advised her to leave it alone.
"Hear about it from Torrin," he encouraged.
As she filled a towel with ice, Aven nodded. She certainly intended to hear it from somebody.
