Page 54 of Seizing Control: Part One

The crestfallen expression on Slash’s face when Zeke makes his declaration causes my eyes to brim over. Tears stream down my cheeks as I look between the two hard men who still refuse to back down.

With a sharp incline of his head, Slash says, “Always... I’ll look after her like she’s mine ’cause she belongs to us both.”

This time, it’s Zeke’s face that fills with despondency.

The need for peace between them floods me.

Swiping at my damp cheeks, I work to gather my wits as they stare each other down. Before I can decide what to do, Joseph approaches from the opposite direction and takes hold of Zeke’s bicep. “That’s enough chit chat. We need to get you settled in your new home before nightfall.”

Despair fills me.

A single shot echoes around the bar.

My heart seizes, skipping a beat as Zeke pitches forward with Joseph at his side.

Panic engulfs me, then I inhale with sweet relief as I see the gaping wound in the middle of the evil man’s back. As suddenly as it began, my reprieve ends when I track the direction that the bullet came from, I gasp at the sight of Hades gripping his rifle tight as he nods his head with satisfaction. It seems an impossible feat for the frail, dying man to have pulled off, using a heavy weapon to murder the minister for police in a room teeming with officers, yet he’s done it.

Damon “Hades” Miles has rid the world of a monster.

And all it has cost him is the rest of his life.

While chaos descends, I stand untouched amid the fracas. Zealous as ever, Slash acts as my bodyguard while Zeke is tackled to the ground. His father is next, violently beaten, zip-tied, and dragged outside by outraged police officers. My cousin leads the Shamrocks to war, wreaking havoc on the interlopers with fists and chairs. I see Cub and Wyatt chase after my father and the few Shamrocks who remain loyal to him when they slip out of the exit. Wheels squeal. Harleys rumble to life. Sirens blast. Threats are shouted. Carnage abounds.

On autopilot, I exchange words with Zeke—promises, apologies, vows, affirmations—as he waits, zip-tied, face down on the hard concrete, for the cops to return to drag him away as well. Next to us, paramedics work on Joseph’s prone form. It’s a futile exercise, as the crater in his upper back clearly attests. Sick as it may be, I find peace in the death of Alex’s father death, despite my sorrow at Zeke’s impending loss.

“I’m so sorry Hades felt he needed to do that.”

“It was his choice.” He peers up at me from the floor, resolve hardening in his eyes after he scans my face. “He knew what he was doin’.”

A shudder runs the length of my spine when I spot a trio of armoured officers heading our way. Our time together is almost over. My voice cracks as I tell him, “I love you.”

“Good. ’Cause I love you more than you’ll ever know, metukà shelì.”

When I see him cut a look in Slash’s direction, a command to remove me from the scene easily discernible in his expression, I fall to my knees next to him. My surface level understanding of the deal he’s struck with his best friend cannot be left unchallenged.

“This marriage you’ve cooked up with Slash isn’t real,” I murmur. “It’s just a way to escape Hugh. I’ll do it to protect the Shamrocks. But it means nothing… I only want to marry you.”

The words catch in my throat.

I’m lying, and we both know it.

Still, Zeke gives me more grace than I deserve, playing into my delusions with his response, “I know, metukà shelì. Me and you, we’re forever.”

Leaning closer, I kiss him hard. My eyes burn with the need to cry again, but I refuse to make things worse for my first love. We hurriedly take our fill of each other, tasting the other’s sorrow. Throughout our frantic kiss, I do my best to breathe him in. His cologne. His shampoo. Just Zeke as a whole. I absorb as much as I can of his essence, fighting to remain connected to him when the cops pull him away.

On unsteady legs, I follow them.

Zeke glares at someone over my shoulder.

It doesn’t take a genius to know who he’s fixed his attention on.

Slash.

Even in these murky waters, the big man is the only person Zeke trusts to keep me safe.

Mustering every ounce of courage I possess, I straighten my shoulders, jut my chin, and declare, “You don’t get to tell me that we’re forever, then not come back to me, Ezekiel Miles.”

“I wouldn’t dare,” Zeke calls to me as he’s dragged toward the exit.

---