35
Chapter Thirty-Five
Declan
Fuck, my face hurts. I blink my eyes open slowly and gingerly test out my extremities. Everything hurts, but nothing seems broken. There’s a persistent ringing in my ears and I can’t hear anything else aside from that. I’m trying to look around at what I know is absolute carnage, but someone’s in my face snapping their fingers. Slowly, so fucking slowly, Sully’s face comes into focus, followed by Rowan’s. Their mouths are moving a million miles an hour, but the ringing is still all I’m hearing. I painfully bring my arm up until my hand touches my ear, and when I pull it away, I see the crimson liquid. Fuck, please don’t let me be deaf. I didn’t appreciate the last time I heard Jake tell me ‘I love you.’ enough.
Rowan must see the panic because he lifts his hands. Hisson is deaf and uses a cochlear implant to hear, but he didn’t always have them. We’re all fluent in American Sign Language and I don’t think I’ve ever been more thankful for that.
“Can you hear anything?”Rowan signs, his face a mask of indifference, but I know better. He’s just as worried as I am.
I shake my head to the best of my ability and see him bite back a curse.
“Medics are here. Let them check you out. Don’t be a pain in the ass.”
Nodding, I lift my hands slowly.“Is Jake with them now? Is he okay?”
Rowan’s brow furrows and my stomach drops out from under me.“We found you here alone. Was Jakob with you?”
I nod and push myself up to a sitting position despite every part of my body screaming at me to stop.
“Stop. Lay back and let them look at you.”
“Would you lay back if it was Clara?”I shoot back at him. The adrenaline now zipping through my veins pushes the pain to the back corner of my mind even as my head swims.
He nods in understanding and yells something I can’t hear, but the next thing I know, Sullivan is helping me stand and then walk to the SUV. There’s a singular medic trailing behind with his arms full of supplies. I look at Roe with a raised eyebrow.
“He’s coming with us so you can get checked out and look for your man at the same time.”Rowan explains.
I nod my gratitude and don’t fight them anymore. I let Sully put me in the SUV. I even let the medic check me out while the vehicle races down the streets toward the office. Rowan wouldn’t bring a random person to the estate, medic or not. I can see him making calls and barking out orders at whoever ison the other line, but I’m still unable to hear him. The ringing, thankfully, is quieting, and I can hear a hum of their voices, but nothing I can make out or place. By the time we pull up to the office my hearing is back, and the medic is wrapping up a nasty cut on my calf.
“I’m good. I can hear, I’ve been wrapped up, and my head doesn’t hurt.”Much.“I’ll run in the office and change clothes, then I’m going to find my husband.”
Sully turns in his seat, a look of shock crossing his features. “You got married without us? What the fuck, Declan!”
“No, I didn’t. But let me make one thing clear: as soon as I have him safe in my arms again, I will be calling a fucking judge to come to the house and making that man my husband.”
The SUV pulls up to a stop in front of the building so when I step out, my feet meet the sidewalk. I know I’m running off of pure adrenaline and desperation to get him back, but still my feet propel me forward and into my office. Extra clothes stay in my en suite. One casual outfit and one business. I’m not even going to lie right now, my body fucking aches so I throw on the gray sweatpants, black hoodie, and black baseball hat. Sliding my feet into the Nike pandas that I keep in here, I waste no time tossing my tattered clothes and getting out of there.
The first thing I notice when the SUV pulls from the curb is that the medic is gone. Rowan probably got him a cab and sent him back to the station. I didn’t need him. I can take care of my own injuries, and knowing that guy got to help me out, then safely go on his way has jealousy and envy brewing deep in my spirit. What I wouldn’t fucking give to do his job and go home every night to my husband, who runs his own business, without spending more days than not taking overshifts for the employees who call out.
* * *
It’s been fifteen hours since we got back to the estate. Our entire organization, as well as the Germans, is looking for Jake. We’ve checked every inch of this fucking city and the next three, but we keep coming up with nothing. Even Kieran has been hitting the streets and bashing heads. Which says a lot because he’s supposed to be taking time to make sure Nix stays healthy and Lorcan gets home as soon as possible. I questioned him about it, but all he said was that he’ll never forget who stood guard for his son while he grieved the hand the universe gave him that day.
I’m practically breathing down Mac’s neck in his office while everyone else is doing their own jobs. No one will give me a job though, so I pace between offices and hope someone tells me what to do. I’m used to being the boss, only second to Rowan. However, now I’m a pacing and lost mess. I can’t concentrate long enough to be helpful, and Rowan said I’m too furious to set loose with Kie. Something about being a ‘risk factor’. Anyway, so here I am, pacing.
“Declan, sit beside me or go pace behind someone else.” His hand reaches out absentmindedly, grabbing a bottle of water and taking a sip before setting it back down.
There was a time just a few years ago when that would have been a glass of whiskey over a bottle of water. He’s broken so many cycles, and I’m so proud of him. Nevertheless, his tells are still his tells, and reaching for a drink when he’s stressed is one of them. Without argument I sit beside him and watch the methodical way his fingers fly over the keys while his eyesscan the screen at an alarming rate. I swear he’s half computer, half man.
I’m watching him scan through CCTV footage from yesterday when my phone starts ringing on Mac’s desk. He glares at me for breaking his concentration, but as we both look at the number on the screen, we still.
Unregistered.
He gestures for me to answer on speaker and I do without a word.
“Hello?” My voice is gravelly from disuse.
