Page 47 of Dublin Devil

“I think I might explode.” I pat my belly as Laine and I head up the stairs.

Laine laughs. “When I first arrived here last month, I had the same problem. Cora’s food is beyond addictive.”

“Last month? Oh, I thought…you seem so at home here. I thought you and Tag might’ve been together for a long while.”

“Nope. It’s just very easy to feel at home here. The Quinn boys are special. They accepted me into their home and I’m hoping that your time here will give you a different perspective than one you might’ve been raised with being isolated by your family.”

It already has.

We arrive at a bedroom in the same wing as my room and my heart stops beating when I see Sean lying in the bed, bandaged and pale, with Tag and his brothers hovering over him.

“Sean, what happened?” Without meaning to, I rush forward, my eyes glassing up so badly I can’t see Sean behind the wall of tears.

He raises his hand as I rush over to sit on the side of the bed. “I’m okay.”

“I’m so sorry. This is because of me, isn’t it? You got hurt because you helped me.”

“No,” Sean says.

“Yes,” Tag snaps.

Sean gives his older brother a dirty look and Tag shrugs. “It’s the fucking truth. If you hadn’t taken home yet another wounded stray, Ryan and Gravely wouldn’t have come gunning for us on the north side.”

“She’s not a wounded stray.” The scowl Sean throws at his brother murderous. “Piper is an innocent woman who was hurt by mafia business as much as or more than a hundred citizens we’ve protected. Your only hang up is her last name, but that doesn’t change the situation.”

“Doesn’t it?”

“No. It doesn’t. And if that’s the way you’re planning on treating her, we’ll fucking leave right now.” Sean flips the sheets back and starts to get out of the bed.

All of his brothers curse and jump forward at once.

“Simmer down, killer.” Brendan leans in and prevents Sean from getting up. “No one’s going anywhere.”

Finn nods at the end of the bed. “Doc Kelvin said no movement today, Sean. He wants you lying perfectly still until the stitches heal.”

I stare at the wide swath of white gauze bound around his middle and wonder how bad the damage is. Usually, staring at his chest is hot and sexy because of all the ink. That’s not the case now. “I’m so sorry.”

Sean waves a weak hand in the air. “It’s nothing to worry about and you have nothing to apologize for.”

Tag frowns and takes off the long-sleeved shirt he’s wearing. His arms and torso are stained with blood, and Laine gasps. “Dammit, Tag. You said you weren’t hurt.”

“I’m not. This is his blood. I used my shirt to pack the wound and because the blade was stuck into his side hilt-deep, we had to leave it there until we got him to the clinic. He’s playing it off as nothing, but if I hadn’t gotten there when I did, Sean would be the one dead.”

The image of a knife sticking into his side to the hilt is sickening. That’s really deep. I’m trying to push the visual of that out of my mind when Tag’s words register completely. “The one dead? Did Billy Gravely do this? Is Billy dead?”

My mind spins with what that might mean for me and for my brothers. Da makes the calls, but Billy is the one who executes the horrors.

If Billy’s dead, I would be safer, but my brothers wouldn’t be.

It takes a moment for me to realize that everyone in the room has gone quiet and all eyes are on me. “What? Why are all of you staring at me?”

Sean squeezes my hand again and offers me a sad smile. “Do you remember when I told you we have a protection order out on all McGuires…that everyone in our organization knows not to draw first blood on your family?”

I swallow, but my mouth remains dry. “Of course. It blows my mind. My father would never give you guys the same consideration.”

“No, he wouldn’t,” Tag snaps.

Sean flashes his brother a look, and my anxiety ratchets up a couple of notches. “Sean? Tell me what happened, please. All of it. The truth.”

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