Aspen leaned back against the couch and crossed his thick, muscular arms. His jaw went tight.
“I should have listened.” Vail whimpered and lifted his head just enough that we could see him. His eyes were bloodshot, and wet trails of tears marked his flushed cheeks. “Why didn’t I listen? I’m such an idiot. I never see what’s right in front of me.”
“Shh, bug.” Cillian kissed him all over the face. “There’s nothing ye could’ve done.”
Vail shook his head and continued to let out wrenching sobs that shattered my soul into pieces. There was nothing we could do to change this. After a while, Aspen reached around Cillian to stroke Vail’s arm. We were all here, comforting a man that had somehow wormed his way into our home and hearts.
I didn’t know how long we sat there, but after a while it seemed Vail had fallen asleep as gentle snores replaced his quiet crying. His breathing smoothed out, and even though he whimpered every so often, he was peaceful. For now.
“What are we going to do?” I whispered, running a hand down Vail’s spine. “We can’t let them get away with this.”
“Who are they again?” Fallon asked from his spot on the floor.
“The Giordano family.” Cillian’s mouth curled into a snarl. “Fucking Italians.”
“Doesn’t the boss have an allegiance with the Italians?” Fallon frowned up at him. “We could go there now and fuck them all up.”
Cillian snorted. “That ego will get ye whacked, boyo.”
“They hit one of ours.” Fallon’s voice rose, and a glare from me had him quieting down again. “Vail is ours.”
I didn’t think he was Fallon’s, at least, not yet. I wondered about it, though, because Vail had a lot of attention to give, and it wasn’t hard to see the sexual tension between him and Fallon. Surprisingly there was no jealousy to be felt when it came to the men I lived with. We’d shared a lot over the years, even with someone green like Fallon. In a weird way, he was family, too.
“Aye, but there’s more than one Italian family, ye muppet. All the Italians in the world aren’t related. And the blokes that did it don’t know we’re involved,” Cillian said, glancing at Aspen, who nodded. “They have no idea who Vail is to us. I doubt they would’ve done it so blatantly if they did.”
“They’ll keep coming for him,” I said, kissing Vail’s shoulder. I couldn’t stop touching him and checking his face to make sure he was still sleeping. “Until he’s dead or they know he’s ours.”
“We can’t do that without Sloan’s permission,” Cillian grunted out with a glare. “If he doesn’t give us the word, there ain’t a thing we can do.”
“So, that’s it? We don’t do a damned thing?” Fallon’s eyes darkened and he pushed himself up to his knees, like he was getting ready for a fight.
“That’snotwhat I said.” Cillian’s narrowed gaze focused on him. “Why the bloody hell are ye here, Fallon? Ye’re supposed to be watching Reed.”
He shrugged. “Reed gave us the information we wanted.”
“What?” Cillian jerked forward before he seemed to remember he had Vail tucked close, making him settle back against the couch again. “Why didn’t ye call us? Feck, Fallon, ye need to use that big noggin’ of yers. Jesus.”
Fallon held up his palms toward him. “Calm your tits. Oisín was there.”
“Again? He was there earlier today, too,” Cillian grumbled.
“Yeah, that’s what I’m saying. He came back, and I don’t know, this Reed guy finally gave over the information, and Oisín didn’t do a damned thing. Just charmed him. I thoughtIwas supposed to be the flirt.” Fallon shrugged. “Then Oisín called the boss and told himwegot the info out of him.”
“Okay?” Confusion colored Cillian’s face as he glanced at me briefly, then back to Fallon. “What the fuck?”
“Right? Apparently the boss owes Oisín because he asked the boss for ‘that favor he owed him,’ and asked if he couldtakeReed.” Fallon kept his voice low, his stare switching from Vail to Cillian. “The boss went with it. I got word directly from him. Reed isn’t dying. Right now, he belongs to Oisín. Like an animal.”
“Christ almighty.” Cillian shook his head. “Fecking Oisín. There’s always some game in that big head of his.”
“Right now, that doesn’t matter,” I whispered, gut churning as I stared down at Vail. He whimpered again and dug himself deeper into Cillian’s arms, even though I didn’t think that was possible. “We need to figure out what we’re gonna do about Vail. We need to get a message to the Giordanos that if they mess with him, they mess with us.”
“He can’t hide forever,” Aspen finally said, his voice gruff in the otherwise quiet room. “They’ll come for him.”
“Then we’ll be ready, won’t we?” Cillian tightened his hold, and Vail sighed into him, his whimpering quieting again. “Feck if I’m goin’ to let these Italian bastards get him.”
“That’s a change of tune,” I teased and got a glare for my trouble.
“Right now, they don’t know where he is,” Cillian said as though I hadn’t spoken. “He needs sleep. Tomorrow’s not going to be any better. We’ll get him to bed, and there’ll be one of us with him—at all times. Got it?”
