“Where’s Gideon?”
“Just go to bed, Penn,” Danny ordered.
Right. Because they were filling me with “everything is okay” vibes.
“I think I’ll go check on him.” I made it a few steps before my wrist was grabbed, and Alex was in front of me.
“He’s resting.”
“Okay, I won’t disturb him. I’ll just take a peek.”
He didn’t release me, and I realized that it wasn’tsomethingthat was wrong; it wassomeone. I yanked my hand loose, swiftly moved to Gideon’s bedroom, and opened the door without knocking.
He was lying in bed, his shirt off, covered in bandages. One side of his face was slightly swollen. A man, a doctor—judging by the stethoscope—was wrapping Gideon’s hand. Rita and Dean were on the other side of the bed.
“What happened?”
Gideon was out cold, so Dean answered. “He was at a club and when they left, one of his SUVs exploded. Gideon lost two guys, and he was propelled backward against the side of the building.”
“Lorcan.”
“Likely.” Dean had his arm around Rita. “He’ll be okay. He’s just banged up.”
“I’ve given him some pain meds; he’ll be out for a few hours.” The doctor rose and stuffed gauze into his bag. “When he wakes, light food, a lot of fluids, and keep up with his pain meds. Nothing taxing for a few days—a week, preferably.”
“Thank you, Doctor.” Rita walked him out, mumbling questions about care, but I couldn’t focus on her. Lorcan had tried to kill Gideon tonight. Two more men had died. This was insane.
Dean’s gaze on his brother was filled with worry and fear, presumably for what was to come of all this. I didn’t compute fear, obviously, but I understood what the worry was about. This situation was worthy of many emotions.
“Who were the men?” I asked Dean.
“Barry and Lync, I don’t think you’ve met them. They are who Gideon refers to as his street men. They were at the club when Gideon arrived. The three of them were leaving while Alex and Danny stayed behind to make sure they weren’t being followed. I guess the misstep was not realizing that while they were inside, and Gideon was having his meeting, someone was rigging one of the SUVs.”
“Was he meeting Lorcan?”
Dean lifted a shoulder. “I think, maybe, I don’t know.”
“Right, you’re not in the business.”
“I only know what went down from Alex and Danny.”
Gently, I sat on the side of the bed and watched Gideon’s chest rise and fall. “I can stay.”
Dean looked at me. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah. When Tenny got sick, I didn’t leave her side. I guess you could say I’m good at this part.”
His smile was small. “Okay, I’m keeping the twins away from him for now. If they see Gideon like this without him being able to explain to them what happened, they’ll likely be very upset.”
The clock read three thirty now. “They’ll sleep for a while, still. They won’t just come into his room, right?”
“No.” He gently brushed a piece of hair from Gideon’s forehead. “Text me if you need anything.”
“Okay.”
After he left, I moved to the other side of the king-sized bed and lay facing him, watching for any inkling he was waking or in pain. I wasn’t even a little bit tired. I rested my hand on the unbandaged one.
“This will be over soon, Gid. Hang in there and when you wake, we’ll figure it all out.”
