I scrubbed my face with my hands.
“Can you not talk to ‘im about it?” I asked. “Maybe give ‘im some pointers on how to approach me sister? He still has the compound mentality that when he says jump, women will ask how high? That doesn’t fly here, that’s the backlash he is gettin’ for tryin’ to be bossy and intimidatin’ with Bee.”
Ryder snorted. “Tell me something I don’t know. I’ve been all around the world and I’ve never met women like you, your sister, or Aideen. Irish women can be terrifying. I’m glad my brothers haven’t met Ado yet, she’d horrify them.”
That amused me greatly.
“Tell your brother that.”
“After tonight?” Ryder snorted. “He definitely knows.”
I looked away as my lips turned up in a smirk.
“I love you,” Ryder said, catching me off guard.
I turned and looked at him with adoring eyes.
“I love you too, sweetheart.”
His lip twitched as he watched the road.
“Not that I don’t love hearin’ you tell me that you love me, but why say it now?”
Ryder shrugged. “When we’re around Dominic and Bronagh, we end up fighting because they’re fighting and we feel the need to defend our little siblings. I just wanted to say I love you once more today, in case we’re at each other’s throats in an hour.”
I couldn’t help but smile.
“That’s really sweet, you know that?”
Ryder glanced at me and smiled before returning his eyes to the road.
“I have my moments,” he mused.
“They’re few and far between,” I countered, grinning.
“Which is why when my moments come along, I make them known.”
I chuckled.
“We’ll be fine,” I assured him. “I mean, what’s the worst that could happen?”
“Do you understand that if the kid you attacked presses charges, you will be arrested for assault, ma’am?”
The worst happened.
When Ryder and I showed up in A&E I was calm. So. Bloody. Calm. When my sister rang me and told me what happened, I was ready to end Dominic Slater, but on the car journey to the hospital Ryder relaxed me, and I reached a point where I was willing to see him and behave like a normal human being… then I walked up to the triage nurse’s office and saw Bronagh clutching her hand to her chest, and Dominic in her personal space. There is no other way to describe what happened—I just lost it.
I jumped on him, and while I wasn’t a strong person, and didn’t exactly know how to fight, I pulled his hair, ripped his t-shirt, slapped at his head, and managed to get in one solid punch to his face before Ryder wrestled me away.
Things got serious then, hospital security retained me and called the Gardai. I was furious at Dominic, but even more so at myself for behaving so irrationally. If I got arrested, I was screwed. I didn’t know if the Health Board at the maternity hospital would allow me to keep my volunteer job or offer me a permanent job once I graduated college in a few months if they found out about this. I didn’t know if they would hold an assault on my record against me either, but I really didn’t want to find out.
“So let me get this straight,” the male Garda questioning me said on a tired sigh. “The man you attacked is your partner’s younger brother, and also your younger sister’s boyfriend. Am I gettin’ that right?”
Both Ryder and I nodded in unison.
The Garda sighed, again. “I don’t get paid enough for this.”
Ryder snorted, but covered it up with a fake cough.
“Okay, so why did you attack…”
“Dominic,” I said, filling in the blank.
“Dominic,” the Garda nodded. “Why did you attack Dominic?”
“Well, you see, since he moved here a few months ago he has been nothin’ but a bother for me sister. He hassles ‘er at school, and is very forward with ‘er because he really likes ‘er, but doesn’t know how to handle a feisty introvert like ‘er. They’re the polar opposites of one another, but for some unknown reason, she likes ‘im too, but she doesn’t want to. She went on a date tonight with a cute lad in ‘er class to play the field a little, you know? But Dominic showed up, ruined ‘er night out by fightin’ with her date. That forced ‘er to defend ‘er date which led to ‘er hittin’ Dominic, and hurtin’ ‘er hand. That’s how she ended up here. She called me, told me what happened, and obviously I was furious, I mean, she’s me little sister, and when I saw Dominic, the urge to smack the shite out of ‘im consumed me, and then you and your partner were called and, well, yeah. That’s what happened.”
When I finished speaking, the Garda stared at me for a few moments, unblinking. When he came back to the land of the living, after another ten-seconds of silent staring, he shook his head and said, “I definitely don’t get paid enough for this.”
“If you think it sounds bad,” I cringed, “you should try livin’ with us.”
The Garda quickly shook his head. “No, thank you.”