Irish Promises

Chapter Seven

We head to a restaurant close by and I'm so relieved that it isn't a fancy one. 

Especially when I look at the menu and pick what I want straightaway. When I close my menu within seconds and sit expectantly waiting for my order to be taken he arches a brow at me and laughs. 

"What?" I ask feeling a bit flustered under his gaze. 

"Nothing" he laughs shaking his head. 

"That's a lie" I accuse and that earns me another laugh. 

Resting his menu down he leans back in his chair seeming to analyse me for a moment before he speaks. 

"So how have things been with you?" he asks and at the awkwardness of it I snort. 

"No we definitely aren't doing that" I laugh.

"Doing what?" he asks. 

"The boring small talk surely we're past that by now" I say with an arch of my brow which earns me a smile back.

"This is new waters for me to navigate" He admits but I don't quite understand what he means. 

"What is?" I ask needing him to clarify.

"Friends" he says and that actually makes me sad. "Don't look at me like that I have friends, I mean more of a friend in this sense" he then clarifies gesturing between us. 

"With a woman?" I ask guessing that's what he's getting at. 

"Yeah" he says with a nod "Cause that's what we are right? Friends?" he then asks clearly hopeful and that has me smiling. 

I was going to use this as an opportunity to make it clear that anything more than that would not be happening but he's made it so I don't have to and I could literally kiss him taking that pressure off. 

A completely platonic kiss though. One on the cheek. 

"I'd like it to be like that yeah" I confirm which earns me a smile back. 

"Good, so would I" he replies. 

The waitress comes and takes our orders then and then we kind of just fall into an easy conversation. Not about anything in particular at first, just general chit chat which is somewhat comforting. 

He doesn't ask me about the brothers or anything intense. It's just easy. So easy the time slips by so quickly. By the time we get onto serious chat I've eaten my meal and had two servings of dessert, about ready to pop. 

Leaning back in my chair I rub my belly with a happy little content smile on my face. 

"So daddy dearest is on the run" I say finding way more pleasure in them words than I probably should. 

He chuckles and relaxes back himself. 

"Yes well I wasn't completely sure you were telling me the truth about what he had done to you" he says and I'm pretty sure a guilty shudder runs through him at the omission. "Once I found out the truth I decided he had to pay for it and low and behold he'd disappeared" 

"So you were planning on coming here already? If you're here because he's gone" I say feeling like part of that doesn't quite add up. He hadn't mentioned coming back here before, or all the times we spoke on the phone whilst I was in Ireland. 

"No" he says quickly. "That has more to do with you" he then adds. 

"Me?" I ask hesitantly wondering where exactly this is going. 

"We didn't exactly leave things on the best terms" he admits and now it's my turn to shudder as the memory of me hitting him with the bottle comes flashing back. 

"Yeah I'm- erm- well I'm sorry about that" I say with a grimace tapping the side of my head which earns me a laugh which is surprising.

"You said if I ever betrayed you that you'd-" I start to say but he quickly cuts me off before I can even finish. 

"I did that to bring your walls down Anastasia. I would never actually hurt you, like I said you have made your choice and I can accept that" he says easing any anxieties I had left. 

"So you're not here to fuck with them?" I ask needing the answer to be no because if it's the case that he is that's definitely not something I will stand for. 

"I'm not here to fuck with them" he says keeping eye contact with me, "When it comes to the O'Leary brothers my engagement with them will be purely professional" he then says seeming to be telling the truth, and that's all I need to hear for now. 

The moment I feel like it's any different I won't stand for it that much I do know for absolute certainty. 

Maybe once they see that there is nothing but friendship between me and Irvin they'll come to accept it. At least then we can all just get on with things and be happy. 

I can smooth this all over, I just know I can.

———

Once we've finished Irvin pays up and we head out of the restaurant. As we step outside Bogdan approaches and hands him a set of keys which he attempts to hand over to me straightaway. 

"Why are you giving me these?" I ask completely dumbfounded as he practically forces them into my hands. 

"That car" he says gesturing to the one parked behind his a brand new all black Land Rover Discovery. "It's for you" he then adds. 

"No I can't accept this" I object shaking my head and attempt to pass him back the keys but he won't take them. 

Bogdan then hands him a new phone still in the box which he also tries to hand to me but I tuck my hands behind my back this time making it harder for him. 

"No Irvin please you don't have to do that" I say shaking my head again but of course he doesn't like taking no for an answer. 

"I'm not going to have a friend of mine wandering around the streets getting buses with no way of contacting anyone if anything happens" He deadpans and I see the genuine care in his eyes and I guess he does have a point after all. 

He then shoves the phone into my bag and starts heading to his own car putting an end to the conversation just like that. 

"Either use the car or not Anastasia the choice is yours" he says over his shoulder as he opens his door and goes to climb in but pauses for a moment before slipping inside. His eyes meeting mine in an intense way. 

"Call me if you need someone to talk to, my numbers written on the box" he then says and that's it he and Bogdan climb into the car, then he's driving off leaving me standing in the middle of the street. 

I contemplate not using the car, leaving it where it is and telling him to come back and collect it but as I see the dark very evident rain clouds rolling in I can't help but decide that I'd rather use the car than wait in the rain for another bus. 

There isn't a doubt in my mind that this is going to get a bad reaction but maybe if they hadn't of been so stubborn it wouldn't have resulted to this in the first place and that's exactly what I think to myself as I slip into the car and quite literally beams at how fucking good it feels to be able to drive myself about.