The Aishling Cafe

Part 5

Lorcan stopped outside of a low brick building downtown. A sign swung in the wind above the door with the name The Aishling Cafe. Lorcan got out and opened Martha's door, helping her out. Lorcan set an arm around her waist and whispered in her ear, "Now. I have to warn you about my sister, she gets... excited when I bring girls around."

"She can't be that bad." Martha smiled momentarily, then remembered her loss and looked at the ground silently after.

The door burst open and a young woman ran out, short red hair curling around her ears. She flung herself at Lorcan dramatically yelling, "Honey! You're home!"

Lorcan guwaffed. He caught the woman with one arm, the other still secured around Martha. "Cara. Nice of you to attack me."

Lorcan released the woman on the ground and she pulled back looking at her brother, before she realized the woman that was at his side. Excitement lit up her face, she jumped up and squealed happily. She nearly yelled; "Do you finally have a girlfriend?!"

"Shush Cara. You'll scare her away." Lorcan chuckled. Cara rolled her eyes and held out a hand towards Martha.

"I'm Cara." She greeted, as Martha shook her hand. "The better half of him."

"Twins." Lorcan offered in explanation. He grinned and looked at Cara teasingly. "I'm older."

"By six minutes!" Cara cried out in annoyance, throwing her hands up.

"Still older by 360 seconds." Lorcan had a smirk on his face as he annoyed his sibling.

Instead of retaliating against her brother, Cara smoothed her dress and asked Martha, "How about we get you something to drink? They have good coffee."

"Alright." Martha followed Cara as she walked into the cafe. The cafe was filled with men and women, laughing and eating. Cara quickly approached a table with a man lounging in one of the four chairs, drinking out of a mug and watching the crowd. Cara grinned happily and asked, "Ren, you want some company?"

"'Course Cara." The man nodded and Cara took a set right next to him. Lorcan and Martha filled in the last two. The man was examining Martha. "Who's your new friend?"

"My name's Martha." Martha said daintily as she offered a hand which the man accepted and gave her a grin in greeting.

"My name is Ren. I'm running the-"

"He's Maeve's other second hand man." Lorcan interrupted with a slight jerk of his head towards Ren. "She has two so that either one can take some time off and the other can fill in."

"She knows?" Ren asked Lorcan.

"When Maeve pulled the gun on the partner? She's the one who screamed." Lorcan explained. Ren grunted in understanding and sipped at his cup.

"Startled everyone." Cara laughed, that's when Martha noticed that she was the second girl at the restaurant that night.

"Well, Maeve's at Martha's parents' home. Investigating their murder."

"Ah. Well how bloody was it?" Ren looked genuinely curious. Martha couldn't hold back a shudder, Cara slapped Ren's arm.

"Stop that." Cara demanded, her smile falling into a frown as Ren started laughing. "You're not going to talk about murder when Martha and I are around."

"Sorry, Martha." Ren took a break from laughing to apologize, he motioned towards Cara. "It's always fun to get Cara riled up. It's so easy."

Cara slapped his arm again, rolling her eyes. Lorcan was chuckling from beside Martha, she turned to him slightly and raised an eyebrow. Lorcan grinned down at Martha and slung his arm over her shoulders, he murmured. "I'm not trying to be rude, Martha. Just their banter."

Martha gave a slight nod and Ren asked, "She's not very talkative today is she?"

Lorcan shrugged and answered for Martha, "I guess she's just startled. Wouldn't you be?"

Ren grunted in agreement and started up a conversation with Cara that Martha didn't care to pay attention to. Lorcan seemed to be paying attention, but Martha wasn't sure. She stared at the table for a minute or so only for Lorcan to suddenly stand and state, "I'm gonna bring Martha into the back. It's been a long day for her."

Ren and Cara waved him off, having no interest in Lorcan. Lorcan just smirked and held out a hand for Martha, Martha grabbed his hand and he led her to the door to the kitchen of the cafe. He pushed through the door, making sure to keep a grip on Martha as they entered the loud kitchen.

The chefs were talking over the clanking of pots and pans while waiters darted around the aisles narrowly avoiding being hit by a cook. Lorcan hastily made his way to the back corner where two large freezers sat, Martha took note that one of the freezers had a lock on it and the other didn't. Lorcan released Martha's hand in order to insert the code. He opened the door to the freezer and revealed stairs instead. He motioned Martha forward and she cautiously moved up the stairs and heard Lorcan follow her and shut the door behind him. The two of them walked up the stairs and Martha was surprised to find a room filled with people, all of which were either drinking, smoking, or playing cards.

Lorcan set a hand on Martha's lower back and moved through the crowd to a small hallway that was unoccupied. He opened the last door to the right and revealed a cozy hotel-looking room. Martha walked in and sat on the bed, sighing tiredly. Lorcan shut the door, and stayed near it. He asked, "So. It's been a pretty long day."

"Yeah." Martha agreed, sitting up straight and trying her best to look proper.

"You don't need to, Martha. Just relax, no one comes in here without clearance from Maeve." Lorcan smirked at her, "Besides, I've already seen you in your pajamas."

Martha rolled her eyes and reached up to pull her hair loose, she asked, "May I have a nightgown?"

"I can lend you a shirt and some pants." Lorcan offered, "We generally don't have an extra nightgown lying around."

Martha rubbed her face as soon as her hair fell down in gentle waves, she didn't want to wear pants and a t-shirt to bed, she was accustomed to a nightgown. Lorcan moved from his spot by the door and stepped up to Martha. He complimented, "Your hair looks pretty down like this."

"Thank you." Martha brushed part of it behind her ear, noticing how close Lorcan sat next to her on the bed. It was close enough to be comfortable but not too close to make things uncomfortable. Lorcan leaned back on his elbows on the bed.

"Maeve will probably want to have dinner with us when he returns." He brought up, Martha groaned.

"I don't believe I can handle the presence of that infuriating woman anymore today!" She huffed falling back onto the matress, looking over at Lorcan with a soft gaze. "Can't we just eat by ourselves?"

He chuckled and watched her, smiling. "You can hang in there. You've been doing wonderful."

"Yeah. But even I have a limit." Martha rolled her eyes and rolled to her side still facing Lorcan. "I could pass out right now."

Lorcan leaned in close, his eyes gaining a teasing glint, Martha became suddenly aware of how close they were- their lips were centimeters apart. He glanced down at Martha's mouth as if asking permission she shut her eyes and leaned forward.

"'Ey! Lorcan! You could've helped clean up!" A man swung the door to the room open and shouted just as they were about to kiss. The man looked proud of himself, Cara was tucked into his side and a grin had found it's way onto his face. "Why, Lorcan, you sly dog."

"Shae. Always nice to see you."