Finale: A Dark Gang Romance (Academy of Stardom Book 4)

“Good to see you all,” Hudson says a couple of days later as we gather together at The Noble Arms, the Irish pub I visited once before with Beast.

“What are we doing here?” Xeno asks, cutting a look at the same group of men who were here that night Beast and I spoke with the Deana-dhe. Tom O’Brien’s bodyguards are playing a game of cards, but every now and then they look over at our group. There’s no hostility coming from them, more curiosity than anything else.

“Beast called. He wanted to meet us here,” Hudson explains. “Apparently one of his contacts has some news that might be of interest to us.”

“Finally,” D-Neath says, grinning. He slides an e-cigarette between his lips and starts puffing on it. The smoke that pours out of his mouth is thick and smells like liquorice. In other words, it’s disgusting. I wave my hand in front of my face and try not to choke. Opposite, Zayn, Xeno and York talk quietly with Hudson, whilst Dax collects our drinks from Tom at the bar. The rogue catches my eye and winks. “How are ye álainn?”

“Good, thank you, Tom,” I reply evenly.

Across the table, York scowls. He might not understand Irish Gaelic, but he certainly understands flirting and he’s none too pleased about Tom’s friendliness, even if it is harmless.

“So, I bet you’re glad to be rid of Tiffany, eh? She really didn’t like you very much did she?” D-Neath says, leaning his forearms on the table as he looks at me. His wrists are adorned with thick gold chains to match his gold tooth, and I briefly wonder how much all that jewellery is worth.

“We weren’t friends, no,” I reply instead.

“Funny how she took a real dislike to you. Why do you think that might be?”

I shrug. “Your guess is as good as mine.”

Sucking in another lungful of simulated smoke, he nods, watching me carefully. “You’re a great dancer. Not everyone can appreciate that without feeling jealous.”

“Thanks,” I reply, not feeling comfortable with the compliment in the slightest.

“You’ve got that fire in your belly. I see it. Only kids who’ve grown up in shitty environments like us carry it inside of them. Pretty sure everyone sitting around this table has the same spark,” he remarks.

“And Tiffany didn’t?”

“Nope. She comes from privilege. That girl ain’t struggled for anything in her life. The spoilt little rich bitch has lived a life of luxury.”

“Maybe once upon a time, not anymore.”

“Regardless, she ain’t experienced trouble like we have. She doesn’t understand what it means to really fight for what you want.”

“I don’t know, she seemed pretty troubled to me. Just because she came from money once doesn’t mean she didn’t have problems. Money just makes it easier to hide them.”

D-Neath nods his head. “Maybe that’s true in some cases, but believe me, Tiff ain’t had to work hard for anything in her life.”

“You seem to know an awful lot about her, D-Neath, any reason for that?”

He laughs. “Not particularly. Just reading between the lines, that’s all.”

Opposite, Xeno shifts in his seat as the bell over the door to the pub rings. Grim and Beast walk in, followed by Arden, Carrick and Lorcan. Everyone turns their attention towards the three men and my skin pricks with goosebumps. I really, really don’t like those guys.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me. This is who we’re here to meet?” Xeno mutters whilst Hudson flashes him a curious look.

“Do I need to be concerned?” Hudson asks.

“Watch your back with these three. They have a reputation for being merciless bastards,” Zayn explains quietly.

“Yeah, these guys aren’t to be fucked with. I don’t know what Beast is thinking, but you don’t want to exchange a debt for information from these guys,” Xeno warns, eying Hudson. “Seriously, watch your back.”

“Noted.”

“They don’t look all that scary to me,” D-Neath remarks.

Zayn cuts D-Neath a look. “Then you’re a fool. Those guys are possibly the most dangerous men you’ll ever come across.”

D-Neath raises his brow, unconvinced. Nevertheless we all quieten, watching the group with wary eyes. A feeling of disquiet creeps up my spine as my internal warning bells start ringing loud and clear. My gut is screaming at me to get the hell out of here and as far away from the Deana-dhe as possible. It’s not often I ignore my gut, but given everyone else is rooted to the spot, I keep my arse seated too.

“Good to see you, mate,” Beast says, striding over to the bar so he can shake Tom’s hand. He slaps Dax on the back next, introducing him to the Deana-dhe, and even though Dax is acting relaxed, I can see the tension in his jaw. Grim, on the other hand, just waves at Tom then walks over to our table and takes a seat next to me, giving me a quick one-armed squeeze before she throws a look at D-Neath.

“Don’t smoke that shit around me,” she snaps, motioning to his e-cigarette and the plume of dense smoke. D-Neath opens his mouth, presumably to protest, but she cuts him a look that would make any man piss themselves. He wisely places the offending item on the table.

“Evening, Beast, do you want to introduce us to your friends?” Hudson asks, assessing the Deana-dhe with one quick sweep of his gaze as Dax, Beast, and the scary threesome join us.

“Evening,” Arden says, taking a seat. Lorcan and Carrick remain standing behind him, looking nothing less than intimidating. At least to me, anyway.

“Arden, this is Hudson, the man I was telling you about,” Beast explains. Arden cuts Hudson a look, acknowledging him without saying a word in greeting. “And these are the Breakers. Dax you’ve just met,” Beast continues, nodding to Dax, who is currently handing out a round of drinks. “This is Xeno, York and Zayn.”

“I know who they are,” Arden replies ominously, raising guarded looks from the guys.

“And you’ve already met Pen.”

“Pen,” Arden says, his strange amber eyes lingering on me a little longer than is comfortable. I wilt beneath his stare, swallowing heavily. Beneath the table, Grim grips my hand, sensing my fear. I can’t even look at any of the guys. If they knew the depths of just how uncomfortable I felt right now they might start a fight, and honestly, I’m not sure it’s one they’d win.

“Who’s this?” Arden asks, jerking his chin towards D-Neath. Though by the look in his eyes, something tells me he already knows exactly who D-Neath is.

“Duncan Neath. Owns The Pink Albatross on Fenchurch Street. He’s working with us,” Beast explains.

“Is that so,” Arden raises a brow, and D-Neath shifts uncomfortably in his seat. I get the distinct impression that Arden has taken an immediate dislike to him. Then again, he looked at my guys in exactly the same way, so perhaps he just dislikes everyone he meets.

“Beast says that you have some information that might be useful to us?” Hudson asks, cutting to the chase.

“That I do. I heard you have history with Santiago Garcia, is that correct?” Arden fires back, his Irish accent lyrical and deceptively alluring. I find myself relaxing to the sound of it, even when everything else is telling me to run.

“I do, yes.”

“And you’re seeking vengeance?”

“Justice,” Hudson corrects him.

“I see.” Arden takes a sip of his Guinness, and a seam of white froth lines his top lip. He stares at Hudson, licking his top lip clean. “Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why do you want justice?”

“It’s not something I wish to discuss.”

Arden raises a brow, turning his attention to me. “Do you know?”

“You don’t need to speak with her,” Xeno butts in, his voice thick with menace.

“Are you her keeper?” Arden questions, his long, thick fingers tapping on the table top.

“No, I’m her fucking soulmate,” Xeno snaps, and it strikes me as odd that’s the term he uses to describe our relationship. I mean, it’s true, but still… odd.

“It looks like Pen has more than one of those,” Lorcan says, his strange grey eyes looking between my guys before resting his gaze on me.

“I do,” I respond firmly, somehow feeling that it’s important that I acknowledge that fact. “They’re mine. I belong to them and they to me.”

“Is that so,” Carrick says, cutting me a look. His black eyes glittering with sudden interest. I try not to shiver.

“What the fuck is this?” D-Neath mutters, clearly not getting the weird power play on display here. I’m not sure I understand it either. Regardless, no one answers him.

Arden strokes his neck as he contemplates us all, and I find myself fixated on the butterfly tattoo that covers the long column of his throat. Taking another sip of his drink, his Adam’s apple bobs below the skin, making it come to life suddenly. I could’ve sworn it was way more colourful the last time I saw it. Now the butterfly has grey wings edged in black and red, a skull sitting in the bottom half of each wing. Something about that makes my pulse beat erratically, and my stomach suddenly flutters with deadly butterflies just like the one I’m staring at now.

“If you need compensation for coming here today and speaking with us, I’m more than willing to oblige. It’s very important Santiago is brought to justice for what he’s done,” Hudson says.

“Very important to whom?” This time it’s Carrick who asks the question. He pins Hudson with his hawk-like eyes. “To the Breakers? To D-Neath here? To Penelope Scott? What about Beast or Grim?”

“To me. It’s very important to me,” Hudson clarifies.

“Then the debt is yours to pay when the time is right,” Arden says.

Hudson frowns, cutting a look at Grim who grits her teeth. “I don’t wish to be in debt to you. I wish to pay you for the information you have. Providing it’s worth it, of course.”

“Whether you believe it to be worth it, is irrelevant. Agree to owe a debt that we will claim at a time of our choosing, and we will give you the information we have. Don’t agree and we walk, and you’ll be none the wiser.”

“What’s the debt?” Xeno asks, leaning forward and pressing his elbows on the sticky surface of the table.

Lorcan shifts his gaze to Xeno. “That is none of your concern.”

“Hudson’s my friend. That makes it my concern.”

“Our concern,” Dax, York and Zayn chime in. Hudson dips his head at the four, acknowledging their loyalty and friendship.

But Arden doesn’t seem to give a shit. “No. It isn’t,” he insists, smiling with what can only be interpreted as malice. He doesn’t even bother to hide it.

Beast coughs into his fist, looking between the two groups of men. He’s definitely nervous and that’s something I’ve never seen before. “Listen, we’re all friends here. No need to take this down a road none of us wish to visit. Yeah?”

“Oh, I don’t know, some roads lead to interesting destinations,” Arden says, turning his attention back to me. “Wouldn’t you agree, Pen?”

“The only journey I’ve ever wanted to be on is with the Breakers. We travel together, no matter how difficult the path. That’s the way it’s always been, and always will be,” I answer quickly.

All three of the Deana-dhe stare at me, and I feel like they’re stripping me back layer by layer, trying to reach right into the very essence of me. I’ve no idea why, but I feel it’s important that I don’t look away. They can strip me bare, but the truth of my words won’t change.

Eventually Arden nods, looking away, and I find I can breathe again. “Understood,” he says, and I swear to fuck the whole pub takes a breath, let alone the people sitting around this table. Who are these men?

“Is this guy for real?” Xeno growls, about two seconds away from starting a war. York rests his hand on Xeno’s arm, shaking his head.

“Let’s get back to the point at hand,” Hudson says. “Fifty thousand for whatever information you have.”

Arden cocks his head. “We don’t take money as payment. We have enough of that already,” he says with a slow, easy smile.

“Property then?” Hudson counters. “I have property all over the world. I can show you my portfolio, you can take your pick.”

“You want Santiago that bad, huh?”

“I need to put this to bed. Once and for all.”

“Ah! So this is about revenge. He hurt someone you love and now it’s time to pay?”

Hudson leans back in his seat and crosses his arms. “Something like that.”

“Love is man’s one true weakness,” Arden remarks, taking another sip of his drink. Behind him Carrick yawns, clearly bored. Lorcan, however, looks like he’s itching for a fight. He smirks at Xeno before trailing his hot gaze over to me. Smiling, he licks his lips provocatively. My cheeks flush with heat, not because I’m attracted to him but because he makes me feel so uncomfortable.

“Take your eyes off Pen. Now!” This time it’s Dax who’s had enough, he pushes up from the table, but Zayn grasps his shoulder and forces him back down in his seat.

“Enough!” Grim snaps. “Pen is off limits.”

Arden grins. “We had to be sure.”

“What the fuck is that supposed to mean?” Zayn asks.

“That she’s definitely yours.”

“Fuuuuckkk… Is shit getting weird or what?” D-Neath mumbles under his breath. For the first time ever, I’d have to agree with him. There’s more to the Deana-dhe than meets the eye, that’s for sure.

Lorcan crouches down and whispers something in Arden’s ear. He nods, returning his attention back to Hudson. “We don’t want money. We don’t want property. We deal in debts. Information for a debt of our choosing. That’s how we work. Take it or leave it.”

“I’m a businessman, I don’t make deals when I have no idea what the debt is. Whatever you know isn’t worth compromising myself like that.”

Arden nods, a flicker of respect crossing his features before he shuts it down and stands. “Then we shall be on our way.”

“I will take on the debt,” Grim suddenly cuts in.

“The hell you will!” Beast shouts, standing. His chair scrapes across the floorboards and in seconds he’s standing behind Grim his hand on her shoulder. “Arden, no!”

Arden slides his gaze to her and nods. A look passes between them, and despite Grim’s relaxed demeanour, her hand tightens around mine beneath the table. “Done,” he agrees, arching a brow at Beast who’s the palest I’ve ever seen him.

“No, we are not done. There’s no deal. Grim owes you nothing, thank you for your time, gentleman,” Hudson says quickly, understanding that Grim has promised something that goes beyond money or property, something far too personal.

“What the fuck have you done, Grim!?” Beast shouts.

Arden smiles slowly. “That’s between Grim and the three of us now. You know better than to question it.”

Beast’s mouth slams shut, but his grip on Grim’s shoulder tightens. She winces, but doesn’t make a sound. Behind the bar, Tom looks up. He shakes his head, takes a bottle of brandy from the shelf and pours two generous glasses.

“Beast, there’s a drink here with your name on it,” Tom says, jerking his chin.

Grim untangles her hand from mine and squeezes Beast’s. “Go have a drink with Tom. We’ll talk about this later.”

“Don’t you fucking dare dismiss me,” Beast counters. It’s the first time I’ve seen him speak in anger towards Grim, and it’s the first time I’ve seen Grim look cowed. What the fuck?

“I’ve got this in hand, Beast,” she says quietly.

“The fuck you have,” Beast snaps, turning his attention to Arden. “Regardless of what debt you come up with, there are things I won’t accept. She is mine, and I will protect what is mine to the death. You know this about me. I fought hard for Grim. There’s isn’t a damn thing in the world that I wouldn’t do for this woman. You hear me Arden Dálaigh?”

Arden nods his head. “This we know, and because you are a friend of the O’Brien’s who are friends of ours, when it comes to settling the debt I won’t take what Grim isn’t willing to give. You have my word.”

Beast visibly relaxes, but the rest of us watch the exchange with confusion and apprehension. “I have your word. All or yours?” Beast insists, looking at Lorcan and Carrick too.

“Yes,” the three agrees simultaneously.

Drawing a breath through his nostrils, Beast nods once then strides over to the bar and sits down heavily on the barstool opposite Tom. He knocks back the drinks in quick succession. Tom grips his shoulder, squeezing tight.

“The information, Arden,” Grim insists, squaring her shoulders as she stares him down.

Arden shifts in his seat, leaning forward, his palm’s flat against the table top, his fingers spreading out before him as he speaks.

“Santiago Garcia’s pride is his weakness, but you know that already, don’t you?”

“Yes,” Hudson agrees. “We’re counting on it.”

Arden nods. He raises the pint glass to his lips and slowly drinks the rest of the Guinness. “But what you don’t know is that there is someone close to home who isn’t who she seems. When you find her, you find Santiago.”

“What? Who?” D-Neath pulls a face.

“That’s all I know,” Arden shrugs, schooling his features into a hard, unreadable mask.

“What the fuck good is that?”

Before anyone can even blink, Arden has pulled out a knife from the waistband of his jeans and has slammed it down onto the table between D-Neath’s pointer and middle-finger of his left hand that’s currently resting on the table top. I watch in morbid fascination as blood starts to spill from a cut to his middle finger. The edge of the blade slicing through his skin like a warm knife through melted butter.

“What the fuck?” D-Neath exclaims, pulling his hand back and inspecting the wound as blood trickles down his finger, dropping onto the table. “You just fucking cut me.”

Arden pulls his knife from the table and tucks it back into the waistband of his jeans. “Next time I’ll be sure to take the finger off, I didn’t out of respect for Grim and Beast, but you ever talk to me like that again and I don’t care who your friends are, I will chop off each finger and shove them down your motherfucking throat until your choke to death,” he says, his pretty Irish accent wrapping the threat in honeyed vowels.

“Go wash up. There’s a toilet out back,” Grim says to D-Neath, jerking her chin towards the back of the pub, effectively dismissing him.

Once D-Neath is gone, cursing under his breath with every step, Arden returns his attention to Grim. “Santiago left his estate in Manzanillo three weeks ago with a man I believe you’re also very familiar with,” Arden says looking directly at me.

“My brother?”

Arden nods. “You will have one opportunity to bring them down, and you will succeed, but not without sacrifice. Someone sitting at this table is going to have to pay a high price.”

A chill runs down my spine at his words. “Who?” I whisper, my heart squeezing in my chest.

Arden’s amber eyes burn into my skin as he contemplates his response. “We look forward to seeing you dance at Tales this weekend, Pen. If you’re willing to dance for us privately, then perhaps I’ll tell you.” With one final nod of his head, Arden gets to his feet and walks out of the pub, Carrick and Lorcan following behind.

“Can someone tell me what the fuck just happened?” Yorks asks, breaking the heavy blanket of silence. “Who the fuck are those men really, and what is their story?”

Grim sighs. “Truthfully. No one really knows. There are many rumours, none of which they’ve denied. Some people say they’re only partly human, others that they’re from a world within our world.”

“You’re shitting me?” Zayn comments. “People actually believe that horseshit?”

“People are willing to believe anything if the ones telling the story are persuasive enough, but I would have to agree with you, Zayn. The Deana-dhe might want everyone to believe that they’re gods dressed in human skin, but they’re just very clever, very perceptible young men who’ve built their reputation on stories and make believe,” Grim explains.

“Clever,” Hudson states.

“Indeed,” Grim agrees. “They exchange information for debts, and they obtain that information by living up to their very fierce reputation.”

“So they’re bullshitters who happen to be good fighters, is that what you’re saying?” Dax asks.

“No, they don’t bullshit. They follow through on all of their threats. They’re undefeated fighters in the world-wide underground fighting circuit, and they’re also merciless killers. Rumour has it they’ve killed a thousand people each.”

“Fuck,” York exclaims.

“You shouldn’t have stepped in Grim,” Hudson says. “I had it under control. Now you owe them a debt, and that’s on me.”

“No, that’s on me. I know how to handle the Deana-dhe,” she replies, her body language shutting down any talk on the matter. They exchange looks and something tells me that Hudson isn’t going to let this lie, but for now at least he lets it go

“And the information they gave us…? Can we trust it?” Hudson asks.

Grim nods. “Yes. Without a doubt. They’re not liars. Part of the reason why they’re so respected is that they never give incorrect information. Ever.”

“Except when they’re making shit up about themselves,” Xeno points out.

“They’ve never made up a single story about who they are, they’ve just never stopped anyone else from doing the same. They’re smart. That is how legends are born. One man can tell everyone he’s a god, but that will only become true if enough people believe it.”

“Fucking devious bastards, ” Zayn mutters.

“And Arden’s prediction about us being able to take down Santiago and David? He said we would succeed but only if someone at this table pays a high price. What about that? Is he a psychic or something?” I ask, goosebumps rising across my skin at the thought.

York laughs, shaking his head. “Just a lucky guess, Pen. We always knew we were gonna finish this, and it ain’t too much of a stretch to think one of us might get a little hurt in the process.”

“He said someone would pay a high price. That doesn’t usually mean a punch to the jaw, York,” I retort, casting a look at Grim. “Should I dance for them?”

As soon as the question comes out of my mouth, all four of my guys are expressing their thoughts with a series of colourful curses that turn the air blue. I block out their reactions, waiting on Grim’s response.

“I guess that all depends on whether you believe the rumours are true.”