From this angle, I couldn’t see our visitor, but I heard them fine.
“There’s been another bombing.” The enforcer kept her voice low. “This one on Carlyle Street.”
“Two in one day.” He sounded exhausted to my ears but hid it well. “Was anyone hurt?”
“One bystander has burns down his right arm from shielding his face from the blast, but he’s already with Burdock. He’ll recover fully with minimal scarring. No one else was in the area.”
“How long ago did it happen?”
“Twenty minutes. We’ve locked down the scene. We’re just waiting on you and Liam.”
“We’ll be right there.” He shut the door and returned to the living room. “I take it you heard that?”
Unsure who he meant, we all nodded, even Goldie, which didn’t improve Rían’s mood.
“Would you mind watching Goldie tonight?” Rían crouched in front of me, his fingers curling in my hair. “I would ask you to join us, but you need to rest.”
“I don’t mind.” His trust left my heart thumping. “We still have those movies, after all.”
“I’ll keep them safe,” Sloane promised him, her upside-down expression earnest.
“I know you will.” Rían brushed his lips over mine then withdrew. “Can you stand, Liam?”
Grunts and groans poured out of him as he maneuvered onto his feet, but his posture screamed pain.
“Take one of my ibuprofen 800s before you go,” I urged him. “You need it more than I do.”
“God bless you.” He gimped into the kitchen. “Have I ever told you you’re my third favorite coz?”
“You only have three, so…” I rolled my eyes. “That’s not saying much.”
“You’re still top three.” He winked at me. “That’s not a bad start.”
Something told me I would never bump Goldie or Rían from their spots, but I didn’t feel too bad about it when Liam never stood a chance of knocking Sloane out of her top rank either.
As soon as Rían and Liam gathered their things and left, Sloane and Goldie called Twister a draw and climbed onto the couch with me. We settled in under a blanket, scrounged up the leftover snacks, and got down to the important business of watching a dog win the World Series for his team while finding a home with a family who saw him as more than just a mascot for a popular baseball team.
All in all, not a bad end to a stressful day.
I only wished that Rían had been here to share it with us.
A tickling sensation shot my eyes open to find I had dozed off on the couch with the girls.
Goldie was asleep on my shoulder, her hair stuck to my lips, which were sticky from eating s’mores. I must have passed out in a sugar-induced coma to be this gummy. Sloane, chocolate smeared across her cheeks and chin, had stretched out, shoved her cold feet behind my back, and mashed her face into one of the cushions. That was going to be fun to scrub out of the fabric.
A jolt ran through me when I noticed Rían slumped in a chair across from us. The way he sat with his chin on his fist convinced me he had been watching us and conked out before deciding what to do. Liam was nowhere in sight. He must either still be at the scene or had gone home to rest.
As if my sharp intake of breath had awakened him, Rían jerked in the chair, yawned, and blinked at me.
Careful not to jostle Goldie too much, I laid her out next to Sloane and gestured for Rían to meet me in the kitchen. I noticed the time, almost noon, and decided I would cook a late breakfast and let the smell rouse the others.
As I flipped through the recipe book, Rían joined me. “When did you get in?”
“About an hour ago.” He dropped into a chair at the table. “Another bomb went off around midnight.”
“Did anyone get hurt?”
“Two women were crossing the street and got thrown from the blast. They were lucky to escape with road rash and bruising.”
