by Jessie Lane
I brought my rifle up, looking through the night vision scope to try for a better view of our suspects.
Two of them were out of sight behind the buildings. However, the other two I could make out vague details of. One of the men had a dark tan complexion, while the second man had a much darker mahogany skin tone. Both men were armed, one with an assault rifle and the other with a semi-automatic handgun. It was a safe assumption that the two unseen men would be armed similarly. I relayed this info then continued to wait for Jaxon’s signal.
Ten minutes later, Jaxon questioned, “Everyone in proximity?” Affirmatives were given, and then Jaxon ordered, “Engage.”
I left my hiding spot and ran forwards, hunched to make myself smaller and less noticeable, towards a fork lift parked halfway between where I’d been and the building. Movement to my left caught my eye, and I spotted Lucas closing in with Jaxon right behind him.
Using the fork lift as cover, I raised my rifle, sighted the subject with the assault rifle, and then took him out seconds before the rest of my team converged on the building.
I saw the second guard's body hit the ground right after the guard I’d taken out dropped. That’s when we started to take on fire from the semi-submersible. The boat started slow movement backwards while a fifth man used an automatic rifle, lying down, spreading cover fire to temporarily cut off my chances of moving closer. I returned fire towards the sub, but none of my shots landed on the target.
I could see Logan, Wyatt, and Declan closing in fast without utilizing any cover on the two men left in the building. Jaxon, Arturo, Chase, Lucas, and Bobby gradually closed in as they moved in by shuffling from one crate to the next for cover. There were no other possibilities for me to take cover between the fork lift and the building. That meant I needed to take out the shooter on the sub to advance.
The bastard kept ducking my shots, though, popping in and out of his hatch like some kind of human groundhog. Frustration was mounting, and I shot off another string of rounds at the sub’s gunman when I saw movement from the front of our targeted buildings.
Both of our suspects were making a run for the sub. Fuck.
I wasn’t the only one to see it, either. Wyatt and Logan started running towards the building with Declan on their heels. The three of them were firing their rifles as they ran at the subjects, so they didn’t see the figure from the sub pop out of the hatch and throw something in their direction.
I did, though.
I was out from behind the fork lift, running towards my brother and screaming a warning, when the world ignited in front of me. The small building they were running past exploded, the force of it throwing Declan backwards. Time stood still as I watched my little brother’s body flying through the air. It only seemed to start again when his body landed so violently it bounced, rolled twice, then skidded until finally coming to a stop. Wyatt and Logan were somewhere in the flames, and the sound of a tortured man screaming echoed in the air.
The semi-submersible could no longer be seen beyond the flames, but that didn’t matter. Whoever it had been was lost to us now. What mattered was getting my brother and the others to safety.
I ran up to where Declan lay on the ground, motionless. The sight caused my stomach to pitch and my heart to stop in my chest. My little brother was covered in cuts, his clothes shredded and smoking.
Dropping to my knees beside him, I checked for a pulse at his neck, gently probing the skin without pushing too hard. I didn’t know if he’d broken anything; therefore, I couldn’t take the chance of moving him. I started to panic when I didn’t feel the tell-tale thump of a pulse, but someone upstairs must have decided to cut me a break because, a few seconds later, it thumped against my fingertips.
The muscles in my chest unlocked, and I could finally heave a sigh of relief.
“Dec,” I called. He didn’t respond. “Dec!” I yelled this time, hoping he would hear me and come around. Still no response.
The sound of boots pounding up in my direction grabbed my attention. I spun on my knees and drew my weapon up, ready to defend my unconscious brother if I had to. Instead, I found Ice, Hammer, and two other men in Regulators’ cuts coming towards us.
Ice ran to me while the other three headed in the direction the rest of my team had disappeared to, in search of both Logan and Wyatt.
“He alive?” Ice asked.
“Yeah,” I rasped. “But he’s unconscious. He caught the brunt of the blast, and I’m not sure if he broke anything.”
Ice was already on his cell phone, calling an ambulance.
Looking over to where the screams were coming from, I watched as Jaxon and Bobby pulled a burning body by its hands from a pile of rubble. The body wasn’t moving, so I knew it couldn’t be Wyatt since he kept screaming for help. While the two men smothered the flames on Logan, hope rose that he would be all right. I watched as Jaxon knelt down and reached out to check for a pulse. My hope died when Jaxon’s head shook and Bobby’s head dropped in defeat.
Unable to take the sight anymore, I turned back to my brother. There wasn’t much I could do for Declan, and the feeling of helplessness washed over me. We’d just lost Logan and possibly Wyatt, too. I couldn’t lose my brother. There was no way God would be so cruel as to give me back Kara yet take my brother.
I started praying.
And those prayers felt really fucking grim when I realized Wyatt was no longer screaming.
Chapter
20
Kara
I don’t know what I’d been dreaming about, but I instinctively knew it was a good dream. It was the kind you woke up from with a smile on your face. Too bad my smile died a quick death due to the hard, angry banging on the door. No one wanted to hear that sort of knock in the middle of the night. It was the sort of thing that always came with bad news.
God, I hoped I was wrong about that bad news.
Scurrying out of bed only my camisole tank and panties on, I ran to the door and opened it to see Ice. Then I felt my stomach drop to the floor.
I threw open the door wider and braced myself for the bad news.
I should have braced better. The look on his face said it all. This was bad, worse than bad. Whatever had happened, Ice was worried it would crush me.
“What happened?” I whimpered.
“Get dressed, Kara.” He put a hand to my belly, pushed me backwards, and then closed the door behind him once he was in the room.
“What happened, Ice?” I cried.
He gently grabbed my face with his hands, cupping my cheeks and snaring my gaze with his eyes. “Brace yourself,” he murmured. Another whimper escaped me.
“There was an explosion where Riley and Declan were working,” he finally gave me.
My knees buckled, and the only thing holding my body up was Ice’s hands on my waist as he caught me. My chest constricted painfully, and all the air in the room disappeared.
“You need to keep it together and hear me out.” He shook me a little to get my attention, making me look back up into his face. “Your man is fine; his brother is not. They’re at Dade County Hospital now.”
Finding the strength to stand on my own two feet again, I tried to push away from him.
“You have to take me there. I need to be there for Riley.” Ice wouldn’t let me out of his grip, though, and I started to panic and struggle. “I have to go, Ice!” I screamed in his face. “Riley needs me!”
“Listen.” He shook me again when I continued to struggle. “Fuck! Listen, Kara!”
I stopped at his roar.
“When we get to the hospital, all there is to know is that it was a freak accident caused by a propane tank. Do you understand me?” His hands dug in deeper into my shoulders as he asked the question, causing me to wince in pain. “You go, be there for your man. What you do not do is ask any fucking questions. Tell me you get what I’m saying.”
I nodded my head furiously until Ice moved his hands back up to my face to cradle it in his palms again. H
is thumbs swiped my cheeks, and I realized belatedly it was to wipe my tears away.
“Good. Now go get dressed.”
I spun on my heel, raced around the room, and managed to get dressed in under two minutes. My Riley needed me. And I needed to be there for him.
~~~
Ice had barely brought his bike to a stop when I was off and running for the Emergency Room entrance where I ignored the staff’s shouts. I maneuvered my way around slow patients and burst into the waiting room, frantically scanning for him. It wasn’t hard to find him, though, and my heart started to break when I did.
He was hunched over in his chair, elbows planted on his legs, and head in his hands. Even in his all black clothing, I could see he was covered from head to toe with smudges of soot. Positioned around him, some sitting and others propped against the walls, were six men I didn’t know yet, who were also dressed in black and covered in soot. Every single one of them looked in my direction when I came into the room, but Riley didn’t move.
Oh, man. Oh, God. Oh, no. Please, please don’t tell me Declan is gone!
Shuffling forward on lead feet, I dropped to my knees in front of Riley, tentatively reaching my hands out to settle over his own. His head jerked up at the contact, his face looking broken, lost, and a little confused as he looked at me. He stared at me that way for so long I started to wonder if he didn’t want me there.
The thought had barely crossed my mind when he reached out, grabbed me in his hands, and snatched me into his body until I was sitting across his lap. His arms were crushing me against his body, but I didn’t care. Nothing could keep me from being in my husband’s arms right now, because that was exactly where I needed to be.
And there was now no doubt in my mind that Riley was, for all intents and purposes, my husband and no longer my ex. Perhaps he had never been my ex-husband, because something told me that, when two souls were meant to be together, nothing could cleave them apart. It was exactly why, as my husband braced his forehead against my temple, his body still yet his tears dropping to land on my neck and shoulder, I gave him exactly what I knew he needed at the moment.
Me.
He could hold me, crush me, sob on my shoulder, and whatever else he needed to do to get him through this. I would stay right here with him to see him through.
Running my left hand through his hair because my right arm and hand were trapped between our bodies, I did my best to give him my strength.
Turning my face so our foreheads were now touching, I whispered, “Do you know how he is yet?”
He shook his head.
Petting the side of his face with slow, soothing strokes, I whispered again, “It’s going to be okay, baby. Declan’s too ornery to leave us.”
Riley barked a rough laugh and squeezed me a little harder. “I hope you’re right, babe.”
We sat just like that—me nestled in Riley’s embrace, unmoving—for three hours before soft footfalls and a tired voice brought us news.
“Family of Declan Sullivan?” the short doctor with salt white hair asked.
“Me! I’m his brother.” Riley was on his feet in a nanosecond, dragging me until we stood side by side in front of the doctor. It took me a moment to realize the doctor wasn’t looking at me and Riley, though. He was looking from side to side at the area behind us.
Turning my head, I saw those six, ominous, dangerous looking men that had been sitting with my husband in the waiting room, standing in a wall of bodies behind us.
Stuttering a little, the doctor said nervously, “Perhaps we should step into a private room, Mr. Sullivan.”
Riley was shaking his head before the doctor even finished. “Just say what you’ve got to say, Doc. These are his other brothers, and anything you’ve got to say can be said in front of them.” His chest started rising and falling faster in anticipation, not quite hyperventilating, although I didn’t think it was far from it, as he waited for the little, old man to speak.
The doctor’s eyebrows shot up to his hairline in surprise. I couldn’t say that I blamed him, since it was fairly obvious from appearances that none of those men were related to either Declan or Riley. However, my husband wouldn’t say something like that unless he meant it. As a result, when the doctor continued to hesitate, I reached forward with my hand and gently gripped the doctor’s forearm in a plea.
“We’re all family here, Doctor…?”
“Jennings.”
“Like I was saying, we’re all family here, Doctor Jennings. Please, how is Declan?”
The old man hesitated again and then sighed. “Mr. Sullivan has a concussion, three broken ribs, and a spinal fracture.”
There were audible sighs of relief all around me. I squeezed Riley’s hand with my own as happy tears filled my eyes, and I turned my head to check on him. His face looked vulnerable yet reassured, and his body lost its rigidity and melted into my side.
“The good news is that we see no injury or swelling to the brain, and all of his numerous cuts are only surface wounds. He’s a very lucky young man after being caught in that blast. Obviously, he’ll be hospitalized for a while. We need to make sure he’s going to come around and then start the process of getting his spine and ribs healing. I won’t lie to you. He’ll be here for a while, and he’s going to need extensive physical therapy when he gets out, but at least he’s alive. Does anyone have any questions for me?”
I looked over to Riley and saw one of the men behind him slap a hand down on Riley’s shoulder and give what looked like a celebratory squeeze as Riley asked, “Can we see him?”
Doctor Jennings nodded. “I’ll have a nurse come and escort you back in about thirty minutes or so. They were still getting him settled in the ICU when I came to talk to you. Only two visitors at a time, though.” With that, the little, old doctor left, but that was okay. He’d given us news to be celebrated, and from the back slaps and one-armed man hugs going around the room, I’d say that was what these men were doing in their own way.
Turning into Riley’s body, I wrapped my arms around his waist and smiled up into his happy face. “See? Told you Declan was too ornery to leave us.”
He laughed, the sound heartbreakingly beautiful in its joy and overwhelming relief. “Yeah, babe, thank God you were right. Looks like I’ll be crashing with you for a while before I head back home. Hope you don’t mind.”
“Of course not, silly.”
He pulled me closer and then murmured, “Guess we need to talk about what happens when I head back to Virginia after Dec’s better.”
Immediately I retorted, “No, we don’t.”
Riley’s face fell and he questioned, “We don’t?”
I shook my head fervently. “Nope. Nothing to talk about. I go where you go, honey.”
He slammed his lips down on mine and kissed me until I was lightheaded and breathless. When he finally pulled away, we were both panting for air.
“Have I told you yet how much I love you, Mrs. Sullivan?”
Giving him a saucy grin, I asked, “Is that your way of asking me to marry you again, Mr. Sullivan?”
“Hell no, woman! I’m not asking you to marry me; I’m telling you to.”
Giving him a disbelieving look, I shot back, “Don’t you think you should tell me you love me before you tell me I’m marrying you?”
The smile that spread across his face was something I’d remember for the rest of my days.
“I love you, Mrs. Sullivan. Always have and always will.”
Leaning forward, I gently kissed his lips then reciprocated with, “And I love you, Mr. Sullivan. You’ll always be my first and last love.”
“Damn straight,” he growled back, causing me to giggle. “Guess we need to find a studio in Virginia for my insanely talented photographer.”
Nodding, I added, “Guess so.”
A wicked look came over his face, and then he asked, “Think we could talk Declan into doing some of those risky boudoir photos of yours when he’s all healed up? It would
be good blackmail material for down the road.”
I couldn’t help the loud laugh that escaped me. “Even if we could, do you really want me to see your brother naked?”
“Never mind.”
“Yeah… that’s what I thought.”
A masculine chuckle sounded, and Riley and I both looked over to see the eyes of all six men watching us. They all had some level of amusement or happiness in their expressions; however, there was also a sadness I couldn’t quite explain. I had to fight the urge to give them all some hugs and comfort.
Riley turned so we faced them, wrapped an arm around my shoulders, and then announced, “Guys, let me introduce you to my wife, Kara.”
Epilogue
Lucas
A week later…
After Midnight was packed to the rafters with people. Ever vigilant, even on my time off, my eyes scanned the customers mingling with the girls working the floor while I sat at a table in the VIP section with fellow teammate Chase Anderson. After losing both Wyatt and Logan in the blast, it was probably going to be a long while before I let my guard down again.
This wasn’t a time for mourning lost team members, though. This was a time for celebration. Knowing both Wyatt and Logan, they wouldn’t want us to wallow after their passing. No, my battle brothers would want me to get a lap dance or some shit from one of the girls strutting their ass around my table, asking me if I needed anything. However, there would be no lap dances for me tonight. We were waiting for the private party room in the back of the club to finish being decorated for Kara’s going away party.
Riley hated leaving his brother in the hospital, especially now that Declan was finally awake, but the younger Sullivan was adamant. He didn’t want Riley to miss his soon-to-be again wife’s party. Riley tried to convince Declan they could bring the party to his hospital room, complete with strippers who might sponge bathe him, but Declan’s face morphed to grim determination as he shook his head no.
The refusal shocked all of us. Good time Declan said no to hot women and the promise of a sponge bath. Had he hit his head harder than we thought in the blast? I was sure Riley hadn’t noticed it because of his ongoing concern for his brother’s medical problems, although it wasn’t lost on me that something was on Declan Sullivan’s mind.