Page 82 of Owning Emma

Chapter 41

ROMAN

“That sure asfuck wasn’t fun,” I panted, as I pulled my body up from the floor, trying to not slip in the blood coating the cement. Turned out, there were tons of these bastards stowed everywhere and somehow I’d missed every single one of them.

But Shaw and Troy, nope. They found every one of those bastards lurking on the outside and when Shaw came in, hands in the air in surrender, he was all too prepared for what was going to go down. He knew that they had more than had filed in to watch the show I was allowing Krank to put on while buying some extra time.

I knew Shaw had a plan and there was no doubt in my mind that a rescue mission was underway, it was only a matter of time. I just wished that fucking clock moved a little faster. I groaned, my body radiating with pain as I moved. “I knew you would come.”

Shaw leaned against the table, blood spattered his shirt but he was otherwise unharmed. Fuck, for a moment there, it was a fucking close one. If Troy hadn’t been willing to back him up, I don’t know how this would have fucking turned out. I swallowed hard then let a breath out slowly. Trying not to let on how rattled I was, how for the first time in my life, a scuffle of ours had affected me. Had incited fear I had been unwilling to entertain over the last few months.

“You okay?” His eyes were fixed on me, accessing the damage, and I had the urge to grab his shaggy hair and thread my fingers through it, to kiss him harder than I’d ever kissed anyone in my entire life. But Emma. I needed to know where she was. I had seen Eric sneak in and I knew, well . . . I hoped I knew she was safe.

“Emma?” The gruff word left my lips before I could stop it.

“She’s fine, Eric sent her to Troy.” He leaned his back against the same counter my palms were leaning on, half holding me up. “I asked you if you were okay.”

“Sore, but I’ll live.” I looked at him, our eyes locking and fuck, I didn’t care where we were or that people were watching, I needed to touch him. I needed to know for myself that he was unharmed. My fingers reached up to his cheek, wiping the blood away. It wasn’t his, at least I didn’t think so, but I still hated that it distracted from his beauty.

I almost laughed at that. Shaw. Beauty. So often I had let myself be blind to it, but now that I accepted it, his perfection was something I couldn’t ignore. His head tilted into my touch, his skin warm against my palm.

Eric cleared his throat. “Um, Krank is tied up. It appears everyone else is gone.”

“That’s a fucking shame,” Troy said from the doorway. “I wanted to have more fun.”

The lucky bastards should be thankful they passed away, Troy was a fucking psychopath. Something was unsettling about how the fun loving guy could torture a body. “Maybe next time.”

“Eh, well.” He shrugged. “Clean-up crew is on the way. I don’t think anyone was close enough to us to hear the silencer on my gun, and things seemed pretty muffled on the outside. But just in case, you should probably make yourselves scarce.” He pushed Emma forward. “Oh, and I brought you something.”

Her face paled as she looked around and for a second, I thought she was about to vomit. Instead she swallowed hard and tilted her head up, looking like a fucking regal princess as she asked, “Is this over? The threats, I mean?”

I looked down at Jack’s lifeless body by my foot, nudging it a little with no response. “Yeah. You’re safe now.”

For the rest of her life, that was one thing I could promise. She would never have to worry or fear another damn thing, not with Shaw and I around. If she still wanted us around at all. That thought sent a painful jolt through my body. There was no way we could survive without her now that we had felt her love.

Shaw stepped forward slowly, taking a step at a time until she was in his arms, and I was jealous. So fucking jealous that he got to her before I did, but I knew he needed it more. He needed the reassurance. He deserved that much, and I only hoped that he took her away from this mess soon.

Troy walked over to me, a smirk always plastered on his damn face. Did he not see the death around him? “Are you not effected at all by this?”

He looked around, then down at his shoes now coated in the blood he just walked through, and scrunched up his nose. “Meh, I’ve dealt with worse. Besides, I feel like it’s been ages since I’ve had any action.”

And I thought fatherhood would chill him out a little bit. I sighed, not really knowing where to start. “Look, I appreciate you being here.”

“No problem.” He clapped me on the back. “Shit was bound to go down at some point. I’m just glad it was when I was here.”

Shit. Me too. “I guess this means things are going back to normal.”

He watched Shaw carry Emma out the door. “Between you two beasts and Royal, I doubt things are ever going to be back to our normal again.”

I watched the empty open door. He was most definitely right about that. “Times are changing, I suppose. All for the good.”

He laughed. “That just depends on which side of the line you’re on.” He paused and licked his lips as a guy walked in, a plastic suit covering his body and equipment in hand. “Look, keep the men as long as you deem necessary. We don’t need them right now. I’ve got to go play Santa.”

Shit, I forgot he had a little girl at home and a long drive ahead of him. Would it be weird to reach into the case and fill a box with cookies for her or something? His gaze followed mine and he laughed. “I’ll pass this time around, but next visit I expect double.”

“Done.”

He stepped over Jack’s body like it was a minor inconvenience and not a life that was just snuffed out and turned back to me before he even got to the door, “Oh, and Roman? Don’t fuck this up between you three.”

Ha. I never planned on it.

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