Claimed - a Portwright Book

Chapter Five: Declan

I finished up my training, and Callum and I bundled Sophie back into the car.

"You want me to drop you somewhere or hand you off?" Callum asked.

"Sophie needs to go to the shops, so we may as well pick up a car," I said as I rolled my left shoulder.

"Still bothering you?" Callum asked, flinging me a look.

"It's healin'," I answered, shortly, hoping Sophie wasn't paying attention.

"You want me to come to the shops with you?"

I glared at him. "What do ye think's going to happen at the fucking supermarket?"

Callum shrugged. "The gathering of and paying for goods was my understanding."

Sophie snorted in the backseat and I rolled my eyes. Life had been simpler the day before. When all I needed to worry about was keeping the Martin Boys alive. Now, I had to worry about this headstrong independent young woman who gave zero fucks about how we usually did things.

"Ye're a fucking comedian, mate," I said.

"You want to change first, or should we go straight there?"

"Ye're coming then?"

"I shop too, you know," he said and Sophie snorted again.

"Yeah, ye run out of data this month? Going back to paper for inspiration?" I quipped.

Callum, good sport that he was, laughed. "Oh, yeah, nice one. See, Soph, because I couldn't possibly find a woman to sort my needs with. You watch yourself, Cú, or you'll be on the couch again and may soon know the annoyance of an itch you can't scratch and no data to help."

I chuckled. "If ye need the data, ye're doing it wrong, mate."

"Oh, really?" Callum's voice rose in mock-surprise. "And, do enlighten me, oh sex master, how am I supposed to do it right? My imagination mustn't be as good as yours."

"Ye know me, Cal. I'm very imaginative in the bedroom..." I let the sentence hang, my gaze flicking to the visor mirror to look at Sophie's face; she was staring out the window furiously, her cheeks flushed and her lip caught in her teeth.

Callum huffed a laugh and shook his head. "I've heard enough stories to last me a lifetime, thank you. If I have to hear another story about the number of times you made yet another woman scream your name, I'll rip my ears off. Besides, if you're so good and I'm apparently going to need the centrefold, why don't you share your infinite wisdom instead of hoarding it like a wanker? Share the love, man."

"Ye problem is, ye're too heavy-handed, mate. Ye don't need force to make a woman want ye."

"Force? I wouldn't hurt a fly."

I scoffed. "Ye had no problem killing that Liao."

"Yeah, well, that was a special circumstance wasn't it. Plus, I didn't have to get my hands dirty." Which was true, Callum knew a thing or two about making bombs look like accidents. "Although, I'm plenty happy to get my hands dirty for a beautiful woman."

I shook my head with a wry grin. "Ye shouldn't need to touch a woman to make her want ye, mate."

Callum scoffed. "Oh, that's right, you and your insta-woo-voodoo."

"It's not my fault the ladies like a fella with green eyes that tell them exactly what I want."

"You're demanding, is what you are," Callum scoffed.

I shrugged. "I know what I want and I'll tell her."

"Yeah, and when she doesn't like that approach?"