“Are we going?” Fallon asked, already halfway out the door. His blond hair was a flyaway mess and his shirt was partly tucked in, but he was too bloody adorable for his own good.
“Aye, let’s go.” I gave our prisoner a final glance—he was halfway to being unconscious again—before I raced after Fallon, dressing as I went. We took the stairs as fast as we could, and I made sure to lock the door behind us before we got into the SUV. With a growl, I started the vehicle and took off.
Like normal in the city, the traffic was complete shite this morning, but it wasn’t as bad as it could’ve been, since it was almost ten thirty, which meant we got through faster than we would’ve if we’d left only a half hour earlier. By the time we were on the highway, Fallon was half asleep. I didn’t wake him, keeping the radio off so he could doze in quiet. He deserved to rest because today was going to be another long one.
I tapped the steering wheel, concern for Vail eating away at me. Why had Conall let him return home? Feck. I gritted my teeth and took a deep breath, calming myself. He was in the panic room. A damned bomb wouldn’t destroy that fortified room. He was fine until we got there.
Hopefully.
My gaze slowly slid back to Fallon and I took in his soft face, relaxed in sleep. I hadn’t expected our first time to be at Mount Pleasure, nor had I wanted it to be so rough, but after the night we’d had, I couldn’t wait any longer. I’dneededto be with him, inside of him. This was different from the other times we’d been together because the new emotions that crackled between us added an intensity I both craved and embraced. Sex was more than a quick roll in the hay to me, it was passionate and had meaning.
And Fallon was giving in a way I wasn’t sure the others truly appreciated.
Before Vail had come along, I’d dated a baseball player who’d shattered my heart to pieces. When Cillian had asked, I’d brushed it off as Nate wanting to top me, but that explanation was far from the truth. He’d chosen his sport over our relationship. He’d made it clear that he never wanted to come out as a gay man, and I’d walked away. If I’d told Cillian the truth, he would’ve laughed, called me abuck eejit, and told me to grow a set of balls. I wasn’t him. Sex was more enjoyable with feelings involved.
Fallon woke as I turned into the driveway, and he shot up in the seat, eyes still bleary. I pulled the SUV to a stop and turned off the ignition, and we both got out as fast as we could. I was on Fallon’s side of the vehicle almost immediately, and we walked to the front of the house. He held his breath while I unlocked the door.
Everything was quiet as we entered, and I checked my phone. The app to the panic room had been added to my iPhone before Cillian left for Miami in case we needed it, and I was glad we had. I checked the video footage and was relieved to see Vail pacing around in there in a pair of black trousers, slippers, and a T-shirt that belonged to Cillian, which was adorable on him because it was too big. Tapping the button that let me talk to him, I smiled at the camera.
“Angel, we’re home. Ye can come out.”
Fallon and I walked to the trap door in the pantry that led to the panic room. Vail could’ve come up the regular set of basement stairs, but he found this route more fun, and I expected him to climb up this way. We opened the hatch in time to see Vail approaching, eyes wide. The moment he saw us, he gasped and climbed up. With a squeak of relief, he threw himself at me in a hug.
I grabbed him, winding my arms around him tightly as he buried his face against the crook of my neck. Fallon curled around both of us, laying his cheek on Vail’s head.
“I was so worried. What happened? Is everyone okay? Why did you have me go down there? Was there someone near the house? Why didn’t you come home last night? Why did Irving say you were here?” Vail burst into a stream of questions, firing them one after another to the point that he’d said so many things there was no answering him. All I could do was hold him tighter. I didn’t want to scare him with too much information.
“Angel, we need to get ye back to Conall’s house, and I want ye to stay there with Conall and Lor, okay? Stick close to them at all times. No wandering about outside alone. And don’t come home again unless we come get ye.”
“Rowen, please. Tell me what happened. No one will tell me. It’s driving me crazy!” His begging broke my heart, and when we’d first met, I would’ve cracked, worse than an egg dropped from a skyscraper, but I’d been through too much lately between him being kidnapped by that cop and Fallon being in the hospital more than once.
I shook my head.
“We can’t,” Fallon whispered, laying a kiss on Vail’s cheek. “But you need to trust us. We want to keep you safe.”
“What about you two? What about Cillian and Aspen?” His wide brown eyes jumped from me to Fallon and back again. “I deserve to know!”
“No, ye don’t, angel.” I winced when he turned an accusing stare on me. “I’m sorry, love, but ye’re not a Company man. We can’t tell ye anything until we know it’s safe. Right now, yer protection is important because if we’re worrying about ye, we won’t be able to do our jobs.” I pulled back and cupped his face. He pouted those beautiful rosy lips in my direction, but I had no doubt he was truly angry. “For us, do what we ask. We love ye. Let us take ye to Conall’s and stay there until we come get ye.”
He sucked his bottom lip into his mouth, and while he didn’t look happy, he nodded. He wrapped his arms around himself. The too-big shirt slid off his shoulder, and I fixed it for him. “Okay.”
“Thank ye.” I kissed him. “When we can share more, ye’ll be the first to know.”
While dropping Vail off with Conall, we learned the reason Conall had let him return home was a bit silly. He’d thought we were there because that tool Irving told him we were. Irving had assumed we were going to kill the Cartel man straightaway and be done in a jiffy. End of story. I’d be having a few words with theeejitfor talking bullshite when he had no idea what was going on. So, Conall hadn’t known we were at Mount Pleasure, torturing a prisoner.
“If I’d known you weren’t home and Irving didn’t have all the facts, I wouldn’t have let Vail go back,” Conall insisted. “Vail was really stuck on getting that book. You know how he can be sometimes.” He didn’t appear like the strong man we were used to seeing. Hard lines of worry and exhaustion creased his face, and he didn’t have the energy to give us a smile. He absently plucked at his collar while shifting from foot to foot. Fallon stared at Conall with sadness. They’d become good friends over the time they’d been spending together.
“How’s Fionn?” I asked.
Conall winced and his face paled. “Not good. They have him in the ICU.” He stepped closer. “Sloan isn’t handling it well. He came home to check on me and grab a couple of things, but he wasn’t here for long.” His voice didn’t carry beyond us, pitched low on purpose. “He won’t say it, but he’s worried. Angry. He has a graze wound on his side, but he says he’s fine. It won’t stop the cops from arresting him.” Conall tugged at his collar furiously. “I shouldn’t be telling you this.”
“You should,” Fallon whispered, inching closer to him and grabbing his hands. “We’re your friends, Conall. We’ve got your back, no matter what.”
I grunted in agreement, and it earned us a small, relieved smile in response.
After that tense conversation, we left Vail in Conall’s capable hands and went back to the city. Fallon and I barely talked on the way to Mount Pleasure. It wasn’t until we reached the outskirts that he finally sighed.
“This is fucked, Rowen. Conall’s a mess, and I don’t want to imagine the boss.” He slammed the back of his head against the seat. “I want to kill that bastard Thiago. I had him in my sights. I fucking froze.”
