“Where is he? Is he okay? Is he coming back? Why hasn’t he called? He said he’d be back for my dialysis, then just never showed up.” My voice rises in panic as I fire off questions to him.
“Woah, hey, he’s fine. I have him and Dec on an errand that’ll take a few days, but he can’t have his phone or any electronics.” Rowan softens his voice. “I can get a message to him if you want.”
My panic makes way for white hot anger, “Yeah, tell him to stay a couple of days longer. He lied to me, so when he comes home, he can go to the big house. We promised the truth, and he lied to me.”
“Lee, no. He didn’t. He didn’t know where he was going this morning. Just that I needed his help. Don’t be mad at him because he’s following orders.”
“Tell him what I said, Rowan. I’m going home when I get out of here, and I need space.” I don’t wait for him to answerbefore I hang up on him. He immediately calls back, but I hit the ignore button and lay it down on the table beside me.
Turning to face the opposite side of the room, I hear the moment that Flynn walks back in, then the moment he calls Rowan back, because I can hear him shouting from the other end of the phone. He tells Flynn to put me back on, but he can’t because I’m ‘sleeping’. I can’t help but mentally high five myself for hanging up on the most feared mob boss in the country. Fuck the Byrne men. I’m going to stay with Jake while I figure out what I’m going to do next.
32
Chapter Thirty-Two
Mac
This has been the most draining three days that I’ve had in months. I had to call Davis a couple of times because the cravings were making my hands shake again. I figured it’d be rough once Rowan told us what we’d be doing. I don’t typically get my hands dirty, but when Rowan told me he had Leo in a safe house a few states away, I made an exception. Torturing a man until the brink of death and then bringing him back just to do it again will mentally fuck with you no matter how many times you’ve done it in the past. Even Kieran has a hard time with it, and it’s his ‘eighty hours a week’ job.
But I’m home now, and I know Lee’s pissed. No one has said anything, but I still know. She’s fiery, and I just feel in my soul that I’m about to get my ass handed to me. She refused to go to the big house and instead opted for Jake’s house just a fewdoors down from our own. Dec and I walk up the front steps to the front door, and it swings open before I get a chance to knock. The next thing I know, I’m being hauled up against the post of the porch with a strong forearm pressed into my windpipe. I can get out of this easily, but the pure fire in her big brother’s eyes stops me. I deserve this.
“What thefuck, Byrne? We had a deal.” He seethes.
“It was business. Your Da is in our world, youknowI didn’t have a choice.” I try to keep my voice strong with his weight pressed into my throat.
Declan grabs Jakob by the arm and pushes him back. “That’s enough. I get you want to do the ‘big brother’ thing, but never forget that’smybaby brother, and we both know you could never take me.” How he doesn’t punch Dec in his smug face is beyond me.
“You haven’t had to sit here and watch her cry every waking moment for three goddamn days. You lied to her. Now you better fucking grovel your punk ass heart out.”
I’m done listening to him. I push past him and shove my way into his house. The whirl of the dialysis machine guides me into his spare room, and I come to a screeching halt at the door frame. Lee looks like she’s lost every bit of fifteen pounds in the past three days. Her lips are dry and cracked, and her skin looks dull. Her face looks splotchy, and her eyes are swollen. Dammit, I’m a fuck up.
Moving over to the bed, I strip my shirt and jeans as I go. Climbing in bed with her in only my boxers, I snuggle up to her and take her into my arms, careful not to jostle her arm too much.
“Quill?” Lee asks, half asleep.
“Yeah, baby it’s me. Go back to sleep, we’ll talk later, okay?”I kiss her furrowed brow, her eyes still remaining closed.
“I’m so mad at you, but I’ve barely slept since you’ve been gone, and I don’t feel too good.” She murmurs quietly.
“Go to sleep. I’ll be right here.” I kiss the top of her head and hold her close as she drifts back off. I’m sucking up every ounce of love she’ll give me while she doesn’t feel well and is extra snuggly, because I know once she gets the wind back under her, she’s coming for my neck.
I want to sleep. I really wish I could, but I can’t stop watching her. I spent the past three days torturing one of the men who sold her from under her Da’s nose. All I wanted was to be right here. So I can’t sleep, because if I do, I won’t get to soak all of this up. Her warm breath fans across my chest, and in her sleep she snuggles closer. I could die right now and I’d be the happiest man in the world.
Hours later, after Tory has unhooked her from the machine, Lee begins to stir in my arms. “Hey, my Smart Girl. How are you feeling?” She relaxes into me for only a second before her eyes pop open, and she gives me a glare that could rival my own.
Shit. She scares me.
I flash her the grin that always disarms her, but this time she reaches up and flicks me in the eyebrow. “Lose the grin, Macaroni and Cheese.”
“Ouch! Also, don’t call me that.” I rub my eyebrow and mock pout at her.
“You lied to me, you’ll be fine.” The fire in her eyes makes my cock twitch.
Down, boy, not now.
“I’m so sorry. But I swear I didn’t lie. When I told you I’d be back before dialysis, I really thought I would be. I didn’tknow that I had to do something that would take days for Roe until I got there and they took my electronics. I am so sorry, baby.” I take her hand and gently kiss her knuckles. I’ll kiss the fucking ground she walks on if she just stops looking at me like that.
“Why couldn’t you have your electronics?” She questions, still pissed.
