Luann almost barreled over Aoife as the Irish woman was walking out of the hospital. "Oh, shit, I'm sorry," Luann apologized, pushing by Aoife without a glance, two other women in tow.
"Luann?" Aoife hadn't seen the porn producer since Donna's wake, and was disturbed by the wild look in Luann's eyes.
Luann stopped in mid-step and turned on her heel at the sound of her name. "Aoife?" She peered at the Irishwoman and her face broke into a tired smile. "Hey, honey. Good to see you. I gotta get Lyla here to the ER." She cocked her head down the hospital hallway and began to stride purposefully again. Aoife fell into step with Luann.
"What happened?" Aoife asked, gesturing to the blonde with curly hair who was holding a white washcloth to her face.
"Nothing your boyfriend and his idiot friends couldn't make worse," Luann grumbled under her breath. The porn queen and the two blonde women sat down, and Aoife joined them, not waiting for an invitation. A nurse with a clipboard appeared and pulled the injured blonde over to check her in. "Aoife, this is Ima. Ima, Aoife." Ima gave Aoife a long, critical examination. The blonde's nose wrinkled as she took in Aoife's practical work attire and then Ima turned away, dismissing Aoife as not worth engaging. Luann rolled her eyes at Ima's back and continued talking to Aoife, "The poor girl who's hurt is Lyla."
"What happened to her?" Aoife asked again.
Luann sighed and leaned in close to Aoife. "You know what I do for a living, honey. I've been having trouble with another producer who's set up shop around here. He's a real prick. Threatening my girls, trying to get them to come work for him. I got raided by the Feds. They took apart my studio, confiscated my shit. I know it was Georgie's doing. I tell Jax, and next thing I know he and those idiots go off and threaten Georgie. His thugs retaliated and now one of best girls might have a broken nose."
The injured woman - Lyla, Aoife remembered - returned to her seat and flopped down, still holding the washcloth in place with her long, slender fingers. "Nurse said it shouldn't be too long." Her tear-filled blue eyes found Aoife and she weakly greeted her. "Hey."
"Hello. I'm Aoife," Aoife offered.
"Lyla," the blonde replied, her voice muffled by the washcloth. You run the coffee place, don't you?" Aoife nodded. "My son loves your chocolate chip muffins."
Aoife's phone vibrated in her pocket. "Excuse me." She read the message from Cole. "I have to get back to the shop. Hope you heal fast, Lyla. Bye, Luann." She gave Luann a quick hug.
After she locked up the shop, Aoife trudged up the stairs to her apartment. She brewed herself a cup of lemon balm tea to calm her frazzled nerves and put in a CD of traditional Irish music. When she'd woken up that morning wrapped in Chibs' strong arms, the birds singing outside the window had promised a beautiful day. She'd rolled over and traced the lines of his Brigid's cross tattoo with her fingertip, watching his face relaxed and peaceful in sleep. His soulful brown eyes opened slowly, crinkling at the corners as he smiled up at her. "Dia dhuit ar maidin," Filip greeted her, his Scottish accent turning the words to honey.
"Dia dhuit ar maidin," she answered. She slithered on top of him and kissed his lips and then his cheek scars. "You got in late last night." He couldn't have been home for more than 3 hours. She'd gotten up to use the bathroom at around 3 am and found his side of the bed empty.
"Aye," he agreed, with a kiss to the tip of her nose. "'Round about 3:30. Stahl didn't even drop Bobby off until after dark." He brushed a lock of her coal-black hair off her forehead and gazed deep into her eyes. "Then we did a few shots in his honor, and I took some of Tig's money at darts. I had to make my escape from the crow eaters. Lucky thing Juicey was there, or I might not have made it out as soon as I did."
Aoife snorted playfully and rolled her eyes. "Sounds like a real rough night there, love. I'm not sure how you made it through."
"Hey, I like me a pretty lass as much as the next man, but I got you to come home to." He pulled her into a kiss and rolled over, trapping her under his comfortable weight. Dropping kisses along her collarbone and then down her sternum, he whispered onto her skin, "You're gorgeous and smart and just so fucking sexy." Aoife whimpered as his mouth found her right breast and his right hand traced its way to the inside of her thighs. He teased, his rough hands alternating between strength and tenderness to render her speechless, until Aoife felt the ecstasy of her orgasm wash over her. Grinning like the proverbial cat that ate the canary, he whispered, "Now that I've seen that, no night is complete till I've had you." Chibs lifted himself up on his elbows and slid inside Aoife, eliciting a huff of pleasure from his lass' lips. He rolled his hips in answer and groaned, "So fucking sexy."
Fifteen minutes later, Aoife's alarm clock buzzed insistently. Reluctantly, she sighed into Chibs' neck and disentangled her left arm enough to slap the snooze alarm and then brought her hand back to trail down the stubble on her lover's right cheek. He smiled lazily, his eyelids already half-mast. "Stupid bloody alarm," he cursed.
Aoife kissed him deeply, relishing the feeling of his lips pressing against hers and the dance of his tongue in her mouth. "Stupid bloody alarm, indeed," she agreed as the buzzing resumed. "I have to get to work, Filip. You can sleep here as long as you like."
"Think I'll do just that," he drawled, eyes closed. "Love you, my fair bonnie lass."
In her apartment, Aoife took another sip of lemon balm tea and closed her eyes, inhaling the steam. She set her mug down on the coffee table, leaned back against the sofa arm, and stretched her legs out across the cushions. She cracked open her new hardcover mystery from the Lodi library book sale and started to read. As the sunlight started to fade, Aoife's head dropped sideways and slightly forward, and her book ended up pages down on her bust. She had been asleep for about twenty minutes when just below the open living room window, a man cursed a passing car loudly in Spanish. Aoife startled awake, knocking her book to the floor and scrambling for the gun in the coffee table drawer. She glanced wildly around the quiet apartment, looking for the source of the noise that had interrupted her sleep. The undirected nervousness that fluttered in her belly was not normal, nor was the shakiness in the hand that now grasped the gun. She walked quickly around the apartment, checking on the door and windows. Finding nothing amiss, she forced herself to replace the gun in its hiding place and brewed another cup of lemon balm tea. While she waited for the water to heat, Aoife closed her eyes and breathed deeply, attempting to bring her rapid heartbeat under control, but as she did, she again pictured Gemma's battered, swollen face. She took out her phone and texted Chibs to ask if he was coming over soon. She knew she would feel safer if he was here.
Dia dhuit ar maidin - literally, "God to you this morning," Irish Gaelic equivalent of good morning