Chibs was in the garage at the crack of dawn, disassembling a troublesome engine and inventing creative new profanities to cope. The current work orders hung from clipboards on the wall. He had already block-printed the names of the mechanics and Sons scheduled to work on sticky notes and affixed them to the clipboards. He was under the hood attempting to threaten the vehicle into submission when he heard a truck pull into the lot. He poked his head out and saw Wade and Lowell. Wiping his hands on the grease rag, he walked to meet them.
"Mornin', Chibs," Lowell offered. Wade just grunted and took another gulp of his coffee.
"Boys," Chibs growled in greeting. "We've fallen a bit behind 'round this shithole. Clay asked me to make sure we get caught up today. Clipboards are hanging up with your assignments. I'm tackling that pain-in-the-ass truck back there. We're orderin' lunch from the sub shop. Menu's on the desk." Lowell and Wade nodded their understanding and started to walk away. "Oh, and boys?" The two men turned back to face Chibs' feral grin. "Soon as we close up shop, I'm taking my old lady out of town. I don't think any of you want to make me late for that."
Lowell visibly paled. "No, sir." Wade made no comment, but he didn't waste any time collecting his clipboard and getting to work.
Having finally conquered the engine, Chibs prowled the garage and confirmed that everyone else was making progress on their jobs. He then used his lunch break to catch a quick nap in the clubhouse and put the last few items in his duffel. Just before he went back to work, he rang Aoife.
"Hello?"
"Hey, there, beautiful! You ready for our trip this evenin'?"
He could hear her smile through the phone. "I am. Are you going to tell me where we're going?"
"Nope. Just dress for riding and bring somethin' to wear to a nice restaurant for tomorrow night."
Chibs secured the duffel to the back of the bike. Aoife closed the barn door, locking both cars inside, and strolled over, both hands in the back pockets of her jeans. "Not your usual bike," she commented.
"No, this one's better for long rides with a passenger. Bought it pretty cheap off a brother's widow a while back. It needed work and she just wanted it off her hands. Guess I was hoping to someday have an old lady to ride with." He told her with a wink. Aoife responded by clasping her hands behind his neck and kissing him. Without breaking the liplock, he hoisted her up onto the bike seat. "I can't wait to get you where we're goin' and have you all to myself for two days," he murmured as their lips parted briefly.
"I can't wait for that, and to see where we're going," she whispered back.
After helping Aoife with her helmet, Chibs donned his own and pointed the motorcycle down the dusty private road that cut across Aoife's and Oswald's property to dump them out near the freeway on ramp.
Chibs rolled the bike to stop in front of a homey building painted robin's egg blue with soft white trim. He dismounted from the bike and stretched. Aoife followed. "You alright, lass?"
She twisted her torso and then extended her arms above her head, stretching every muscle in her body. "Aye. Just not as used to long rides as you are, so I'm a wee bit sore."
"'Spose not." Chibs helped her take off her helmet. He then removed his cut and folded it up so that the patches didn't show. "You want to come in while I get us checked in?"
Aoife shook her head. "No, I'll wait out here and get some more of the kinks out of my legs." Chibs nodded and pressed a kiss to her lips.
"Be right back, lass."
Chibs swiped the keycard and pushed the door open. "You told me one time that because of the coffee shop, Rois was only able to take you to the beach once or twice during your visits. So I thought that this would be a perfect place to bring my beautiful lass." He dropped the bag at the foot of the bed and turned to catch Aoife around the waist.
"It is," she agreed, allowing him to pull her into an embrace. "The ride was gorgeous, and this is a darling little room. I can't believe you were able to get it on such short notice."
"Well, to be honest, lass, Juicey-boy took care of it for me. He also got the dinner reservations for tomorrow night."
"He did a damn good job. I'll be baking him a batch of cookies when we get back."
"A batch of cookies, eh?" Chibs slid his hands under her top and touched the soft smooth skin of her back. "I might get jealous if he gets cookies," he teased, nibbling on her ear lobe.
"Oh, sweetheart, no reason for jealousy. You're going to get something much better than cookies," Aoife promised, taking his hands in hers and leading them to the button of her jeans.
"And much, much sweeter," Chibs agreed, his lips devouring hers as he coaxed her jeans and underwear off her hips."
After a shower, a beachside stroll and a dinner of Chinese food, Aoife and Chibs took a bottle of wine onto the small side porch that faced the ocean. He settled into the padded wicker loveseat, propping his feet up on the white wicker table. Aoife sat down, half-facing him, draping her legs over his. Chibs took a swig from the bottle and passed it to her. She giggled after she took a sip.
"What're you laughin' at?" he smirked.
"Us, sitting out here drinking wine straight from the bottle."
"Well, you know me, lass. Nothing but fucking class all the way." He took another swallow of wine and then leaned forward and planted a smoldering kiss on her lips. He whispered soft and low, "Look, I don't know how to do this romantic shit, a chuisle. Fi and I were just a couple of hormonal teenagers when we got together. All I needed to turn her head was a bad boy attitude and her Daddy's disapproval. I've haven't done a relationship since. I don't know if I'm doing well or fucking up."
She kissed him back before answering. "You're doing quite well, indeed, a ghrá."
He caressed her cheek and looked into her eyes. "I just want to make you happy. You ain't seemed happy lately."
Aoife sighed, dropped his gaze, and then picked her head back up and gave him a sad smile. "You do make me happy, Filip. What's wrong is nothing to do with you."
"Then what?" Chibs squeezed her closer to him, his right arm around the back of the loveseat, hand lightly touching the base of her neck.
"Well, Donna's death frightened me. I'm not going to pretend it didn't. And then there's everything going on with Luann. I was there at the hospital when she took Lyla in after those thugs were done with her. They beat her up pretty bad/ And it hasn't been that long since you and Hap got everything under control with Finnbar…"
"I checked in with Hap. He confirmed the bastard is still buying our story. We got that under control," he assured her, knitting the fingers of his left hand with hers.
"There's been somethin' else that I didn't know how to tell you. Juice got me a phone that I can use to talk to Dec – no, wait, let me start at a different point in this story…you remember me talking about my brother Colin?" Aoife changed tactics. She refused to outright lie to Chibs.
"Of course I do." He rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. "You lost him about two years before Thomas."
Aoife leaned her head against Chibs' arm while she continued. "Aye. The bomb he was working on detonated. But not long before that, I had gone with him on a supply delivery to Donegal. We stayed with one of his best mates, Brian. He had started as Colin's IRA contact and they got to be the best of friends. On the last day of the holiday, to celebrate we all went out on a tear – me, Colin, Brian, and bunch of their friends. When we got back to the flat, we all kept drinking til the wee hours. Folks were hooking up left and right, and I ended up going off alone to Brian's bedroom. We snogged a bit, but then he started pushing me for things I didn't want to do. He got on top of me, and tore open my blouse and was trying to get my jeans off when grabbed a lamp off the side table and smashed it upside his head."
Chibs bristled. "Fucking bastard," he pushed through gritted teeth.
"I took care of his advances with that smashed lamp and came out of that room like the devil was chasin' me. I caused a scene. I was hysterical. But the worst part was that Colin didn't believe me. He believed Brian – that we were going along fine one minute, and then I just snapped. Colin just refused to believe that it was anything other than a misunderstanding, and he blamed me for it, telling me that it wasn't Brian's fault if I couldn't handle my liquor. He was angry at that I was 'putting his mate through this pain and suffering.' I could handle what Brian had tried to do to me, but I couldn't bear my own brother treating me that way. It cut to the bone."
"I don't much like your brother right now. I'd have punched him in the fucking face," Chibs admitted, his voice venomous. "And I'm ready to hop the next plane to Ireland and slit this Brian's fucking throat."
"No need. He's dead. The explosion was in Brian's flat. The blast killed him, too. It would have felt like some sort of cosmic justice if it hadn't taken Colin, too. Colin and I never reconciled. We were still not speaking the day he died. That pain is always with me." Aoife's eyes teared up.
"Oh, my lass," He pressed his forehead to hers. "I'd take that pain away if it was in my power."
Aoife felt a few tears escape and make their way down her face. "Declan's told me the same thing. Not too long ago, I found out a friend of mine was raped. And it's stirred up all those old feelings - that terrible fear when I realized that Brian didn't care what I wanted, only what he wanted, and then the horrible knot of anger and guilt and sadness that my own brother blamed me for what happened." She prayed that the proximity of her phone call from Dec and her revelation would have Chibs making the inaccurate but reasonable assumption she got her news from her cousin. It would keep him from making any connection to Gemma's recent injuries. That deception rankled, but coming clean to her Filip about the emotional roller coaster she was on felt like taking 99 pounds of a 100 pound weight off of her shoulders. Chibs' left hand went up to meet his right, encircling her in the protective circle of his arms. He held her until her tears dried.
"I'm here, lass. Long as I'm here, no one's ever going to make you feel that way again."