37

Completely lost and introspective, I drove down the streets of Dublin in Rian's BMW, still not sure exactly how I was supposed to be feeling after all that had happened...

Of course I was glad that at least Irina didn't have my balls anymore, but what was the price?

blood on my hands...

With that thought, I looked at him in the rearview mirror and looked deep into my dark brown eyes, which had changed completely in a very short time...

But there were also enough positive feelings in me. Rian and Odran showed me that despite all the difficulties that had driven us apart in the past, they now stood by me as brothers. That was more important to me than all the shit that was going on around me.

I turned onto Valentina's street, briefly remembering the situation with Fiore and after parking the car on the side of the road, I sat lost in thought for a while and looked at the sky, which at that moment seemed a lot bluer than a few hours ago in the forest.

When I had collected myself somewhat, I got out, took a deep breath and slowly made my way to the front door, which opened before I could even knock.

"There you are," Tina greeted me with a smile and at the same time was busy holding her three dogs on the leashes. "We were just about to go for a walk," she added, looking over at Padraig, who appeared next to her and put on a leather jacket.

"Hey," he also greeted me and when they both walked past me outside, Tina turned to me again.

"Mandy's in the back bathroom."

I nodded my thanks and entered the house to shoot the door right behind me. With my eyes closed, I thought briefly about whether Padraig and Tina even knew about everything ...

Only Keeva and my brothers had heard about it from me. Mandy knew from Keeva... Had anyone told them either? I didn't think so and if they did, they definitely tried to pretend.

"Fuck it," I muttered to myself, opening my eyes again to walk straight down the narrow hallway. When I got to the bathroom door, I paused for a moment and heard water running from inside while I just stared at the white door.

"Tinaaa?" Mandy suddenly called from the inside and my heart started racing when the door opened and Mandy looked at me with her big blue eyes. Rubbing her irises over my face, she took a closer look at my shirt and suddenly took a deep breath when she saw the dried blood on my hands.

I would have liked to say so many things to her, explain so many things, open myself completely to her, but when she carefully took my hands in hers and pulled me into the bathroom, I was more than speechless for the first time towards a woman.

Otherwise I always had a cool saying up my sleeve, provoking regardless of everything, but I was so grateful to her that she still looked at me in her loving way that we didn't need any more words.

I watched her very closely as she turned on the warm water in the sink, put my hand under the water with hers and ran her thumb very gently over my skin. Her touches were so delicate and yet they triggered so much in me that my entire body began to tremble.

She probably felt that she triggered something in me. At least she looked up at me shyly, while she now also freed my other hand from the dry blood. Her eyes drew me into a spell that I could barely catch my breath, and when she saw me take a step closer to her, she too caught her breath, while her pale cheeks took on a delicate pink color.

"Your shirt," she suddenly said almost out of breath, pointing to a spot on my chest where I also saw the blood. I raised an eyebrow, reluctantly releasing my hand from hers and then took off my shirt, whereupon she took it and immediately avoided my gaze in embarrassment.

I watched as she padded to the other side of the small bathroom while I leaned my back against the wall and my eyes caught a glimpse of her ass shown off really well in the tight gray sweatpants.

"Come here," I whispered, and after putting my shirt in the washing machine, she turned to face me, tossing her dark blonde hair behind her shoulders.

"Me?" she said with a grin and slowly I really noticed that behind her shy facade there was also a provocative person. The bastard had probably changed her, made her small, but I already knew he was going to pay for it.

I would take care of that...

"Who else?" I smiled defiantly, walking slowly towards her, making her eyes widen and she swallowed hard. She let her gaze wander over my torso, seemed to be examining my tattoos closely and when I came to a halt just a step in front of her, she put her hands on my chest, causing goosebumps to run down my arms.

I fixed her eyes, allowing her time to explore my body, enjoying as she traced lines across my skin with her fingers. I rested my hands on the wall to the left and right of her shoulders in order to get even closer to her, which caused her sweet smell to penetrate my nose and our lips were only a few millimeters apart.

This excitement was palpable and I didn't intend to wait any longer...