by Amanda Perry
Glancing up the stairs, I find Maverick, Allistar, Syn, and Marak meeting back up in the middle. The upstairs must be clear, no Parker up there. Shouting and a few grunts draw our attention to the left side of the first floor where Pop and Dad went. The six of us race down their way but before we can even take more than a few steps several gunshots sound through the building.
My heart stops. There’s a chance Dad or Pop used their firearms, but there’s also a chance one of the fuckers holding Parker used one of their own on my dads or even on Parker. As if the idea occurs to my brother and Maverick’s team at the same time it occurs to me, we all move at once, barreling down the hall toward my family.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
I’m ready to accept this will be where I die. The fact I helped all those girls is worth it to me, they’ll live good lives now, hopefully full ones. Curled up in a ball, protecting my head, I’m numb to the blows coming from Randolf and Track. Shouting in the distance vaguely registers, though I’m not sure who it’s coming from. It sounds like whoever shouts is in a tunnel. The blows stop suddenly, and I peek out from under my arms, trying to figure out what stopped them.
My vision turns fuzzy, but I can make out Jack and Collin fighting with Randolf and Track. They came for me! They found me, and they’re fighting for me. I want to cry, laugh, and hug them all at once. I want to tell them I love their sons, and I’m sorry it might hurt them. I don’t want to die without them knowing it. I want to thank them for showing me what parents are supposed to be like. I want to say and do all of these things, but all of my energy goes to keeping myself awake. Lopez draws his gun, but Collin knocks it out of his hand. The gun goes off, the bullet piercing the wall of the hallway. I gasp in relief when Dominic and Lochlan come running up to me moments later. Dominic kneels beside me, and Lochlan huddles close behind him.
Movement behind them draws my attention to Collin and Jack. I notice Lopez sneaking up on them, a second gun in his hand. I cry out for them, my voice way too soft, but they hear it. Collin realizes what’s happening before Jack. He pushes Jack away as Lopez pulls the trigger on his gun. Collin drops to the floor, and another gunshot sounds. Lochlan jerks to the side, and I know the bullet hit him. Collin, they killed Collin, and it’s my fault. He shot Lochlan. My Lochlan. Jack and Collin are the only men I ever considered father figures, and I got Collin killed. Watching him crumble on the floor and hearing Lochlan’s grunt of pain becomes too horrible; my brain won’t allow me to process what I see. Everything goes dark, and I welcome it this time.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
The beeping in my ear needs to stop. It hurts my head more by the second. The pounding pain already present makes me nauseous, and I simply want to go back to sleep. It’s quiet and peaceful when I sleep. I’m not sure where the beep comes from, but it doesn’t sound like the white and yellow alarm clock on my nightstand. It’s rhythmic and constant like an alarm, but not as urgent.
The more I come awake, the more pain I notice. Even my hair hurts, and I dig into my memory, trying to figure out what happened. Was there an accident? Did I get hit by a semi-truck then run over by a bus? Because I image it would feel like this. It takes a lot of effort to push past the fog in my head and will myself to wake up enough to remember why I hurt.
As soon as the memory of Lopez, Randolf, and Track comes back to me, the beeping speeds up. I remember it all in pieces. Track at the construction site. Lopez and Randolf beating me and using me as a punching bag for their anger. The girls in the other rooms and helping them get out. Getting caught by Track and Randolf. Jack and Collin coming to help. Dominic and Lochlan. Lopez with his gun. The gunshots which killed two of my family members ring out in my memory, and I flinch, whimpering at the pain the movement causes.
They’re gone, and it’s my fault. I got Collin and Lochlan killed. The beeping becomes relentless now, loud and fast in my ear. I don’t care that it causes me more pain; I can’t bring myself to care about anything but my family. What will my guys think of me now? I got their father and brother killed! It becomes too hard to breathe. I can’t pull enough air into my lungs, and it causes my panic to intensify.
“Parker?” Collin’s voice floats to my ears, and I startle at the sound. He’s dead; he can’t be talking to me unless I’m dead, too. Am I dead? No, I don’t think death hurts this badly. “Parker! You need to open your eyes for me, please.”
The demand in his voice causes my eyes to pop open, and I take in the sight of Collin. His hair is disheveled, his clothes are a wrinkled mess, and dark circles line the underside of his eyes, showing even through the black eye on the left side of his face. His lip is cut, and his arm rests in a sling. He looks terrible, but he’s alive. The knowledge causes me to sob hard.
“Shhh,” he whispers, tapping a few buttons on his phone then tossing it aside and smoothing my hair out of my face. “It’s okay, you’re okay, kiddo. Just take some deep breaths for me, your heart is racing too fast.”
My heart? The beep! It’s a heart monitor, I’m in a hospital. I should’ve guessed sooner, but my focus wouldn’t waiver from Collin and… “Lochlan!” I gasp, coughing when I realize how dry my throat is. “No, no, no!” I cry, shaking my head, ignoring Collin’s pleas to calm down. “I’m sorry I got you hurt. I got Lochlan killed. I’m so sorry. Lochlan, oh God.”
“Parker,” Collin whispers in my ear. “The doctor is going to have to give you something to calm you down. Just take some deep breaths, you’re okay. Everyone is fine, please just breathe.”
“Miss Parker, this will feel warm going in,” the doctor murmurs close to me. I open my eyes after realizing I’d closed them and find worried green ones gazing back at me as the doctor puts something in my IV. “Just rest, Parker. Deep breaths.”
My arm warms suddenly, and it spreads through my body, making my limbs heavy and eyes tired. They close on their own, and I’m drifting off to the sound of my own whimpering and quiet sobs. The only thing going through my mind as I drift is Lochlan and what I’m going to do without him. The others will never forgive me.
~
LOCHLAN
“Will someone fucking tell me what the hell is going on right goddamn now?” I shout at Pop and Dominic who keep me pinned in bed. “This is a big pile of horse shit, and you guys know it. I’m fine, lemme up!”
“Lochlan, lay back down right now!” Duncan comes into the room yelling at me. He seems upset, and my heart skips a beat.
I gulp and glance from him to the rest of my brothers and family, minus Dad. It’s his turn to be with Parker. “Duncan?” I groan, terrified he came to give us bad news.
The doctor was in here with me when a nurse came in telling him she needed him right away in Parker’s room. Duncan went with him, promising an update as soon as possible. He wasn’t gone long, and the whole time I fought my brothers and Pop to let me out of this stupid fucking hospital bed. Dad got shot, too, and they allowed him up. The fact he got shot in the shoulder and I got one in the side means he gets to be up and able to go to Parker while I’m stuck. Stupid fucking surgery and major organs.
“Breathe, Lochlan,” Duncan mutters, plopping into a chair in the corner, completely exhausted. We all are; we haven’t slept a ton since getting here. “She woke up. She’s okay as far as I can tell. I couldn’t ask her questions because she was having a panic attack. She thought she got you killed. The doctor had to give her a sedative to calm her down. Her heart was racing too fast. She kept saying, ‘Not my Lochlan, please not him’ as she drifted off. I don’t think she even knew she was saying it. She thinks you’re dead, but we weren’t able to explain you’re fine because she was too out of her mind.”
I sputter, not understanding him at first. Her Lochlan? She called me hers? No fucking way they heard her right. “Wait, she thought I was dead? She saw me get shot, didn’t she? Fuck!” I’m talking to myself more than Duncan at this point, but this big ass mess suddenly got worse. I don’t want her to be hurting herself over me, and it pisses
me off she panicked over it. “Fuck this, Pop. Move me to her room. I’ll share a room with her. If you bastards won’t let me out of this stupid ass bed, I’m sure as shit going to find a way to be with her. Call the doctor in here.”
Talen chuckles while pushing a hand down his face and shaking his head at me. “Bossy pants,” he mumbles, getting up with Duncan and helping him ready the bed to move me. They know how dead serious I am right now. Parker got scared for me; I need to be there for her. We all need to be there for her.
It takes no time at all for my brothers to get me to Parker’s room and all set up. The doctor didn’t put up a fuss at all, mentioning their need for more rooms anyway. Declan sits beside Parker, holding her hand. Dad sits on her other side, his good arm resting on her bed. He got a hit to the shoulder, but besides the sling and a minor incision to remove the bullet, he’s fine. Pop and Dominic took a few good punches, but we all gave better than we got. A bullet nicked my lung and the doc says that’s why they’re monitoring me closely even though the surgery to repair it when they brought me in was a success. I know I’m fucking fine, but Dominic decided to go big brother on me, even though he’s younger. He said he doesn’t want me to “overdo it”. Like I’d ever fucking overdo it. He’s being a shithead.
“Better, your highness?” Duncan asks, giving me an annoyed glance. He peeks over to Parker’s bed and perks up a bit. “Then again, this means we can keep an eye on you and Parker at the same time. This could be good.”
“I’m full of good ideas.” I growl. “Don’t you assholes know that by now?”
“You’re full of somethin’,” Austyn grumbles, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.
Pop barks out a laugh at Austyn’s joke, but quickly recovers. “Okay children, let’s allow my future daughter-in-law to get some quiet rest. That’s the whole reason we only had one person in here at a time to begin with. Lochlan, you need to rest also. You’re going to end up on high blood pressure medication at this rate. You two are both recovering from major surgery.”
Glaring at him, I flop back on the bed and my eyes go to Parker. She’s still pale, though not as bad as the last time I got to visit her. I’m allowed to walk to her room and back a few times per day, doctor’s orders. Parker got hurt far worse than me. She required surgery to control some internal bleeding and they needed to remove her spleen since it got too damaged. Until today, she hadn’t woken up, but the doc said it was simply her body’s way of healing and protecting itself.
It nearly broke me to see her when I woke up the first time. The guys brought me to visit her to shut me up and calm me down. She looked badly broken. Every part of her covered with bruises and cuts. Her poor wrists and ankles rubbed raw from the fucking rope they tied her with. Her ribs had been cracked, her left leg broken in two places. At first, they worried about the head trauma she’d received, but after some tests it seemed promising she’d make a full recovery. She only needed to wake up, which she did now.
I hate the idea of her panicking over me, but it got me wondering if she really does see me as hers. I know I see her as mine, but I figured I would always do it from a distance. I’m not nearly good enough for this perfect girl. Fuck, she’s too good for all of us. Instead of finding her way out of that hellhole, she saved over a dozen girls from being sold to whatever sick and twisted pervert decided they’d make a good pet. I never believed she’d care for me the way I care for her. I figured she’d pick one of my younger brothers. She’s incredibly young, and she doesn’t deserve someone with a job like mine. I’ll be Goddamned if I let her go now, though. If this ordeal taught me anything at all, it’s that shit happens no matter what kind of job a person has. Parker being taken had nothing to do with my line of work and everything to do with horrible circumstances.
Mom got Parker checked by one of the female doctors while she stayed in the room. Thank fuck she wasn’t hurt in such a way. The girl doc said everything looked okay, and she had no trauma there. A few of the other girls we got out of there weren’t as lucky. They’re going to need a lot of help to get their lives back and stop fearing every man who comes near them.
One of those girls is a little firecracker. She was terrified of us all, but she stood her ground when the guys tried to go around the other girls to help them. It took her a while to allow any guys into her hospital room. We don’t know a lot about her background or what happened to her, though. Maverick’s SWAT team took over watch on her. We aren’t sure why his team became invested in this one slip of a girl, but I’d bet money it’s the fire she has hidden under her fear. All we want for the girls is for them to get on their feet and find their place in life and in the families meant for them. The bureau will see to it. We aren’t too worried about it.
“How’s our girl?” Mom whispers, startling me. Half the guys fell asleep and the other half became lost in their own heads. The room stayed silent for hours making even her whisper seem loud.
Pop sits up straighter and nods a greeting to Mom, Maverick, and Greyson as they come into the room. “She woke up a few hours ago, though she was in a panic. The doctor gave her some medications to calm her down, so we’re just waiting for her to wake again.”
“Was she panicked over what happened?” Mom asks sympathetically. “Poor girl went through hell.”
“Actually,” Dad pipes up from his position beside Parker, “She panicked because she thought Lochlan was killed. She couldn’t calm down enough for us to explain he made it out fine. But she woke up, so that’s a good sign.”
“Mom,” I whisper, not wanting the guys to overhear our conversation. She comes over to me as Maverick catches the guys up on the status of the other girls. “I wanted to ask you something.”
“Oh, sweetie,” she sighs, patting my arm, “You know you can ask me anything. Stop stressing so much though, I want you resting and getting better and your fathers told me you’ve been going crazy.”
Shaking my head, I glance over to the sleeping girl in the bed next to mine. “I won’t live without her, Mom. Humiliation or not, I want to try this thing the guys suggested. I know I told the guys we could tell her about our idea, but shit sorta hit the fan, and we’re all kind of distracted. I need to be able to tell her, soon. I didn’t actually think she’d agree to it, so I didn’t put much hope into it until now.”
Mom giggles and shakes her head in exasperation. “For being so observant, you have a hard time seeing what’s right in front of you. I suppose we can all talk about this soon.”
“What do you—” A tiny gasp cuts me off mid-sentence and my head snaps in the direction of Parker. Her brow scrunches up in pain, and her eyes squeeze tight. She’s hurting, and I can’t handle it. I jump out of the bed, ignoring my brothers’ and parents’ hushed protests.
“Wake up, babe,” I whisper, sitting on the bed next to her. “I need to see those pretty eyes.”
“Loch—” She begins to whisper, cutting off with a whine. Tears fall from her closed eyes, and my heart shatters. “No, my Lochlan. I’m so sorry, I’m sorry.”
She continues to whimper, half asleep with tears leaking from her eyes. I can’t handle it, and I gently scoop her into my arms, rocking her back and forth. I don’t take her full weight, knowing it would be a stupid move on my part, for the both of us. Instead I lay her half on my lap and lean into her enabling me to hold her tightly.
“You’re breaking my heart, babe,” I whisper in her ear, choking back the tears wanting to come out. “Please wake up, I’m here. I’m alive, and I can’t stand seeing you like this. You need to open your eyes and look at me.”
She quiets down after a while, and for a minute, I assume she’s fallen back to sleep. Until she scares the absolute fuck out of me by shouting. “Lochlan! You’re alive!”
I jump and glare at her. “Fuck, babe.” I chuckle, hugging her close to me again. “Yeah, I’m alive. I’m fucking fine and so are you. Everyone is good.”
“I thought you…” She sobs out, her eyes shining with di
sbelief. “You’re okay?”
I nod, opening my mouth to tell her I’m completely fine and she better stop crying or I’m going to be pissed. I don’t get to say anything, though. Instead her lips touch mine, and I’m completely lost. She kisses me hard and deep then continues to press smaller kisses to my lips, cheeks, forehead, and all over my face. I’m shocked as shit she kissed me, and I have no time to react to her before she pulls back, smiling softly at me. “You’re okay,” she whispers, wrapping her arms around me. She repeats herself over and over again. “You’re here, you’re okay.”
“Babe,” I sigh, wrapping my arms around her again, “I’m not going anywhere.”
“I got some good bruises!” Dominic grumbles. “Where’s my kiss?”
I grin at him, as do our other brothers and parents. But our grins fade when Parker tenses in my arms and gasps. “Oh god, what did I do?”
“Parker?” Duncan steps forward, kneeling beside us. “What’s wrong, love?”
“Please don’t hate me,” she cries, her tears beginning all over again. “I can’t help it, I tried. I tried not to love you all, I swear I did. I know how horrible it makes me, I’m sorry. I’m really sorry. I can’t stop myself, though. My heart won’t listen to logic, please don’t hate me.”
She begs me and my brothers with her eyes and her words to understand and not run from her.
“This is a horrible time to talk, but it seems to be necessary.” Dad sighs, rubbing his forehead as Mom practically jumps for joy. “Are you okay to have a chat with us, Parker?” Collin asks.
Maverick quietly slips from the room without a word and I’m grateful. This conversation is personal.
Parker sniffles and her body shakes with nerves. She gives a brave nod, and I fall for her a little bit more. I kiss her forehead and smile widely at her. “Deep breaths, babe. I think this talk will be a good surprise for you.”