I move to step around him, already searching for Red and Rush, when I feel a hand clamp down on my bicep.
“Now, son—”
I whirl around in an instant, twisting the hand attached to my bicep and yanking his wrist toward the sky. He lets go of my arm, shrieking his displeasure.
I lean in, so our faces are inches apart. “Tell Captain McCarthy the Brotherhood thanks him for his service.” I watch in perverse satisfaction as the color drains from his pudgy face. “And don’t put your fucking hands on me again.”
He nods, his head bobbing in small, frantic movements. “Of course, sir. My apologies. Please tell Mr. Fitzgerald I’m sorry for the inconvenience, and you can come back to the station to give your statement later.”
“Sure thing, I’ll tell my da all about it at the dinner table tonight.” I raise a brow and smirk. I’d never run to Da about something as small as this. I can handle this minor inconvenience just fine, but he doesn’t know that. And if I really felt like fucking with him, I’d namedrop myself. Then he’d really shit his pants.
But I don’t have time for that today. I let go of his wrist with a shove and storm around him. I’m so busy looking to the left in between the vehicles and people milling around for my girl that I don’t see the female EMT until she steps right in front of me.
I expel a sigh, frustrated that there are so many fucking obstacles between my girl and me. I’m sure there’s some fucking existential bullshit reason behind it, but I’m too keyed up to look into it.
The EMT raises her brow and presses her lips together in a thin line. “Your girl won’t be impressed with your macho bullshit if you pass out and smash your pretty-boy face on the concrete. So let’s just get you checked-out, ‘kay?”
I didn’t notice her Boston accent until now, but I’m oddly amused that she called me out like that. “Fine,” I say with a shrug. “Lead the way.”
Chapter Four
Alaina
I lace my fingers with Rush’s as an EMT ushers us to an ambulance. I let her look me over, but I decline her recommendation of going to the hospital. She reset my dislocated shoulder and cleaned up my scrapes and cuts, applying butterfly bandages to the worst of them.
She’s an older woman, probably closer to my mom’s age than mine. Her dark-brown hair is pulled back into a tight ponytail at the nape of her neck, and her gaze is as inquisitive as it is kind. I turn my head to look through the chaos for Wolf. And Sully.
Where’s Sully?
My mind circles around and around, unable to land on one specific thing. I feel like I’m adrift at sea, trading one hell for another. I get moments of respite, but then another wave—another cataclysmic problem—crashes into me, and it’s sink or swim.
I’ve never been a very good swimmer, but lucky for me, I’m a fast learner.
I hear the EMT ask me questions, but I can’t bring myself to give her more than one-word answers. The events of the last hour play on repeat in my mind’s eye. I imagine how differently it could’ve played out, and my mind wanders at the possibility.
She cleans some wounds along my face that I don’t remember getting, and the sting pulls me from my musings.
“What’s your name?”
She pauses for a moment before she answers, “Meg.”
“Do you believe in the butterfly effect, Meg?” My words are low, but I don’t worry about her not hearing me with her face so close to mine.
I see Rush tense out of the corner of my eye, and Meg pauses for a moment. She crumples the gauze and antiseptic wipes in her hand as she meets my gaze.
“That idea that one small thing can ultimately cause one big thing? Sure.”
I wet my lips and nod. “Yes. And the thought that one small thing can snowball into a chain of events that result in something larger. Something catastrophic.”
She holds my gaze, her eyes softening the longer she looks at me. “I don’t know what happened in there, but I very much doubt that anything you did caused this.”
I glance to the side of Meg, to the half-collapsed building on fire. I didn’t think that anything I did caused this. In fact, I was thinking that I’ve let myself become a passenger in my own life.
I’ve fooled myself into believing this is the life I wanted. A life where I was begging for affection from my mother. A life where I wondered where the hell my father went. A life where the most spontaneous thing I did was try the Thursday lunch special at my favorite diner.
But I wasn’t happy. Not really.
I was content at best. Waiting, always waiting for something. I never knew what I was waiting for, but I think I found it outside a train station in Boston.
Or, I should say that I found the first piece of it outside that train station. Then I found another inside a pool and another inside a cabin in the woods and another inside a safe house.
I found pieces of myself.
Pieces that I didn’t realize I’d lost, parts of myself that I’d either been burying or denying myself the opportunity to explore.
Clarity settles on my shoulders, and I feel a sense of peace at the idea of discovering myself.
I refocus back on Meg in front of me, meeting her gaze. “No, I didn’t cause this. But I am going to end it.”
Rush steps up next to me, placing his hand behind my back.
“She good?”
Meg steps back and tosses the garbage in a bag with a nod. “If you feel dizzy or experience any other pain, go to the hospital right away. Your shoulder will be sore for a few days, but you’ll be alright.”
I hop off the back of the ambulance and impulsively hug Meg. “Thank you.”
She hesitates before placing a hand on my back, patting it a few times. Meg pulls away first, her brow wrinkled as she gives me another once-over. “Take care of yourself, kid.”
I nod as I let Rush guide me toward another ambulance that’s partially concealed behind a fire engine. Wolf’s broad back is the first thing I see, and I quicken my steps. Rush’s hand never leaves my back as he keeps pace with me.
“Conor!” I shout his name at the same time he turns around. He unfolds his arms from across his broad chest and extends them out to catch me. I jump straight into him and bury my face in his neck, inhaling his familiar sandalwood scent.
One arm curls around my waist, and the other goes underneath my butt. He crushes me to his chest as I wrap my arms around his neck and my legs around his hips.
“How’s our girl?” Wolf’s voice rumbles against me.
I feel Rush’s heat against my back before I feel his fingertips trailing down my spine. Goosebumps chase his touch, but I don’t move my face from Wolf’s neck. I don’t think I can right now. I need a few minutes to process what happened and what I know will have to happen next. Everything has changed.
“She’ll be alright, dislocated shoulder. How’s the cousin?”
My head snaps up at the mention of Maddie. I look over Wolf’s shoulder into the back of the ambulance. I see her familiar red hair, but everything else is blocked by an EMT and another man.
“Oh my god—Maddie!”
At the sound of my voice, I see her head peek out from behind the EMT. Her emerald-green eyes widen when her gaze collides with mine, and I watch her mouth drop.
“Lainey!” she yells as she jerks to the side.
I wiggle in Wolf’s arms as he spins around, so he’s facing the ambulance. I tap the side of his neck twice, and he releases his hold on me. His hands linger on me as I slide down his body until my feet touch the ground.
I move around Wolf at the same time Maddie slides off the back end of the ambulance. Worry settles like lead in my stomach, and I scan her from head to toe, looking for injuries. We’re two steps away when an arm comes out and blocks Maddie from taking another step.
I follow the arm up to see a face I wasn’t expecting, a frown forming on my face before I even realize it. “Matteo? What are you doing here? I thought you were with Sully? Oh my god, where the hell is Sully?
”
He ignores me, his gaze firmly on my cousin. “Take it easy, Mads. You just got your head smashed open.”
I watch in fascination as Maddie reaches up and curls her fingers around Matteo’s hand, bringing it to her mouth. She places a kiss against his fingers as she glances at him from under her lashes.
“I’m fine, Matteo.”
My head spins as I attempt to process what my eyes are having a hard time believing. Before I can even begin to formulate one of the ten questions on the tip of my tongue, Rush growls from behind me. He honest to god growls like some sort of caged beast.
“What the fuck are you doing here, Rossi?” Rush moves around me, and in two steps, he’s in Matteo’s face. “You have something to do with this?”
A vein in Matteo’s forehead throbs as he stares right at Rush. “Fuck you, man.”
“No, fuck you.” Rush grabs two handfuls of Matteo’s shirt and slams him against the door of the ambulance.
The EMT spares a single glance at them before he finishes cleaning a cut on Maddie’s hand.
Violence shimmers in the air, and I can’t tell if it’s radiating from the men in front of me or the decimated building behind me.
My heart slams against my ribs as I reach Maddie’s side and look her over. Two butterfly bandages sit on the gash on her hairline. A bruise blooms underneath her right eye, but otherwise, she seems okay. Seems being the operative word. “Are you really okay?”
“I should be asking you the same thing. What the hell were you thinking going into that building like that?” Maddie’s voice cracks at the end, and her eyes pool with tears. “I thought you were going to die. And I’d never forgive you for it.”
She blinks several times, sending twin tears rolling down her cheek.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see Rush and Matteo engaged in a heated conversation. I trust him to figure out what’s going on and Matteo’s involvement.
I have to clear my throat before I can speak. “I’m sorry, Maddie. I just . . . had to. It feels like everything is changing, and I’m not even sure who the hell I am anymore.” My lip trembles as I blink to stop tears from spilling over. I sniff and look to the side to expel a breath.
She nods. “Alright, Lainey. You’re going to tell me what’s going on though, right? I know you’ve been keeping stuff from me.” She looks pointedly at Rush and Wolf.
“I promise.” I glance at Rush, who still has Matteo pushed against the door. Their exchange is mostly growls and raging testosterone, and they’re talking too low for me to hear. “So, Matteo, huh?”
Pink flushes her cheeks as the EMT finishes applying a bandage on her hand. She shrugs a shoulder but doesn’t say anything.
“I thought that was over years ago.”
“It was,” she says as she glances at the man in question. “But then we ran into each other and reconnected.”
“Alright. If you get dizzy or feel nauseated, have someone bring you in, okay? Otherwise, you’ll be fine. The wound on your head is more bark than bite.”
Maddie tilts her head to the side. “Alright. Thank you.”
“Head wounds bleed a lot,” I interject.
The EMT nods his head as he takes off his blue latex gloves and tosses them into the garbage can.
Once he steps away from her, she stands up, and I throw my arms around her. She hugs me back with a ferocity that’s born from spending your life with your cousin and best friend.
“We have a lot to talk about,” she whispers. “Should we break that up, or?” Her words trail off, and I lift my gaze to watch the scene in front of me.
Matteo brushes Rush’s hands from his shirt with a snarl. “Fuck off, Fitzgerald. I’m here as a favor to your brother and her.” He cuts his gaze to my cousin before he looks back at Rush.
“Aye? And where is my brother then?”
“In the backroom of O’Malley’s with a knife in his shoulder.”
Matteo delivers his words with such nonchalance that I’m positive is intentional, purposely antagonizing Rush. And he gets his wish. Rush explodes, shoving Matteo against the door again with a hand to his throat.
“You better start fucking talking. Now.”
Wolf grabs Rush by his other arm. “C’mon, man. Sully trusts him. Back off a little and let him speak.”
I exhale a deep breath as I step away from Maddie and head toward Rush and Wolf. A sense of calm blankets me. It feels tight over my skin, like that too-small long-sleeve leotard I had to squeeze in two years ago for a dance class. It’s both confining and comforting.
I square my shoulders and place a hand on Rush’s back. His muscles flex under my palm, and Wolf shifts, so he’s a few inches closer to me, his arm just barely grazing mine.
I meet Matteo’s gaze. Poorly concealed fury shines from his dark-brown eyes, but I remember when he was a scrawny kid hanging around outside our door stealing glimpses of Maddie.
Okay, so maybe he wasn’t ever a scrawny kid, but I do remember him at a time when he wasn’t as imposing. I mentally conjure that image, and it helps ground me.
“Where’s Sully?”
“I already told lover boy one and two here that he’s at O’Malley’s.”
I nod, still partially concealed by Rush’s body. “Tell me more. Please.”
Matteo looks from me to Rush and then back to me with a raised brow.
“Let him go, Dec.” My voice is low, meant only for his ears. Rush’s shoulders tense for a moment before he releases his hold on Matteo’s shirt and pushes off of him. He takes a step back, settling in next to me. I don’t have to look to feel Wolf step up on the other side of me.
A tingle of pride skates over me. I try to imagine how we look right now to an outsider. My dark kings flank me on either side, the three of us covered in dirt, dust, and dried blood. We look like we just walked out of a battle, and in a way, we did. It’s a good thing Wolf is so fond of black—all of them, really.
I tilt my head as I take in Matteo. Dark jeans, black sneakers, a black tee. Maybe there’s some sort of badass dress code? I bite my lip as I wonder if I’ll need to change my wardrobe as I start this next chapter of my life.
I chuckle and shake my head, the sound quiet in the chaos of the scene behind us. Nah. I’ll be taking my revenge in band tees and twirly skirts with a smile on my face.
Maddie wedges herself in between Rush and me. She looks at me with a raised brow. “You okay? You were laughing.”
I purse my lips as I glance at her. “Fine. Just thought of something funny.” Her other brow rises to match the first, and her eyes narrow, but I don’t have time to convince her I’m fine. I look back at Matteo and tilt my head, waiting.
Matteo leans against the door and blows out a breath. It’s then I see the dried blood on his neck. My eyes narrow as I look at his shirt with a critical eye.
“Is that blood?” I point to his shirt.
“Fuck. Okay. Sully and I were supposed to meet. I knew he was dropping you off at a nearby restaurant, but then when he never showed and didn’t answer my calls, I thought he got caught up in you. I left him a voicemail telling him how I felt about his brushoff and bailed. I was a few blocks away when I got the call that someone had torched the corner store.”
“From who? Who called you?” Rush asks, his gaze scanning Matteo’s face.
“What corner store?” I ask at the same time as Rush talks.
“My uncle’s guys called—they’re good guys.” He shifts his gaze to me. “And the corner store is under their protection.”
That doesn’t really clear anything up for me, but I nod anyway.
“Then what?” Wolf asks, widening his stance.
“Then the other reports trickled in minutes after that. My guys called with reports of another three locations were lit up like the fucking Fourth of July—a cafe, a restaurant, and a bodega.” Matteo sighs.
My brow furrows when Rush and Wolf curse under their breath at the same time. I look between the three men and ask, “
What does that have to do with anything?”
Matteo looks at me. “I put two and two together and realized that this was a coordinated attack. Two locations are a coincidence, but four are a declaration of war. I’ve known Sully a long time, and the guy always shows when he says he will.”
“So you went looking for him.” My heart jumpstarts in my chest, and I absently rub it. I knew something was wrong—more wrong than the obvious chaos behind me.
Matteo nods. “I retraced my steps, starting with our meeting spot. Then O’Malley’s. Then all the restaurants in between. And that’s when I got your call.” Matteo nods to Rush. “So I went to his last known location and found him bleeding in an alleyway, two coffees spilled and a knife in his shoulder.”
“Two coffees?”
“They left the knife?”
“Where exactly?”
Three of us talk at the same time. Maddie’s the only one who doesn’t voice anything. Urgency thumps inside my body, urging me to move. To do something.
Matteo runs his hand over his face before scratching his jaw. The stubble rubs against his five o’clock shadow, and I notice my cousin can’t keep her eyes off the movement. “Yeah. I had to throw him over my shoulder to get him out of there. I’m feeling a little paranoid, so I brought him to O’Malley’s instead of the hospital.”
“You left him there unprotected?” Wolf practically yells when Matteo pauses.
I watch the muscle in Matteo’s jaw clench as he stares at Wolf. “I left him with Jack. He has some on-call doctor at his beck and call. And Sully ordered me to find his girl.” Matteo’s glare swings to me. “He didn’t say anything about who jumped him. Just made me promise to find his girl.”
“That doesn’t explain how you got here—how you found us.” Wolf folds his arms across his chest, head tilted to the side.
“I called him,” Maddie says from next to me. She steps forward, so she’s standing next to Matteo and looks at Wolf. “When you went into the building, I thought you were going to die. And I was scared. For you. For me. For everything. I didn’t know what to do.” She looks at me. “So I called him.”
Sully: An Irish Mafia Romance (The Brotherhood Book 3) Page 3
