Page 64 of One Love

“Who hurt you, sweetheart?” I’m barely controlling my anger at the sight, but I’m holding myself together for her sake.

Hallie lowers her eyes to the floor before bringing that back up to meet mine. “Grandma hit me when I said I’d rather marry a lump of shit than her friend’s grandson. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have cursed but I was so angry, and that Petey is just so ol—“

“Don’t ever apologize for protecting yourself. Okay? You stay with these guys. I’ll be right back.” I grip her head between my palms and lean forward to place a tender kiss against her forehead before leaving the room.

With a calm reserved only for death, I walk down the stairs breathing in through my nose and out through my mouth. Palming my gun, I check the silencer is in place and step into the kitchen. Blood covers the floor from Mr. Gallagher’s death, and it’s mixed with piss that looks to have come from Mrs. Gallagher—Mary.

My eyes do a slow, dangerous sweep across the room to meet Mary’s, a snarl curling my top lip. “I thought about letting you live, but you laid a hand on my daughter and tried to marry her off to the fucking mob. You sealed your own fate, Mary Gallagher.” I don’t move my eyes from hers as I address my crew next. “Tab, step back.” I lift my arm and, without hesitation, I give her the same wound as her dead husband, shooting the cunt in the throat before she has a chance to defend herself or even stand from her stool.

A lightness fills my body and I can finally breathe again as I run back up the stairs to get my girl. My head has been whirring at a thousand miles a minute since Shoo and Tab burst into the capo meeting. I haven’t thought straight, my usual cool, calm, and collected planning went to shit, but the people in this room and downstairs in the kitchen—not including the now-tied-up ones, of course—have really come through for me. In a way I never expected.

The parallels of storming into this house and storming into Murphy’s house begin to fill my mind. Scared isn’t an emotion I’d usually associate with myself, but I’ve been tested almost to my limits again and again. Losing Murphy broke something inside me, having my daughter ripped from my arms broke a little more, and I’m barely hanging on by a thread. Somehow, Dmitry has wormed his way in, and no matter how much I try to keep him at arm’s length, he keeps pushing forward. I don’t know if I can let another person get so close, because I simply can’t handle it when they’re gone.

With the life I’ve lived, I’m not sure I’m deserving of this kind of peace, of the happiness that being around him brings.

He squeezes Hallie and me closer to him, and even though it scares the shit out of me, for now, I allow myself to relax.

We’re safe.

Chapter Twenty-One

D

First off, this plane is dope. Much better than Z’s friend of a friend. My opinion may or may not be based on the fact that there’s an actual bedroom in the back with a change of clothes that, thankfully, fits me. The whole ripped shirt and bruises all over my body isn’t a good look. The black eye is definitely too much; like the scar wasn’t enough?

Despite the battered body and swollen eye, I’m feeling like a proud monkey as I’m getting roasted by Jordyn’s daughter. Like, full-on story time and I’m Tom, the cat who can’t get shit right, and J is obviously Jerry, the mouse who smirks fifty times per episode because she knows what the fuck she’s doing.

“So, I scream because Grandpa has thrown me in the bedroom and told me to stay there and be quiet.” She turns to her mom, eyes wild with that unmistakable gleam of exhausted excitement. “He took my phone!” Because that’s the epitome of wrongness in a teen’s mind. “The only thing I could do was read the required chapters for English class on Monday.” She looks at me and raises a brow in challenge. “Do you likeThe Red Badge of Courage?”

Now, this question feels like a trap. No doubt about it, she’s testing me, and if I fail, my dream of being an amazing step-dad will go to shit. J leans back in her seat, a smirk firmly planted on her lips, while Marco chuckles as he sips from his glass—whiskey I’m betting. Still, I decide the best course of action is honesty because this kid is too smart to manipulate.

“Well, let’s see…I like the character arc, the way Henry’s view of war changes from this romantic notion to the reality of what wearing the red badge really means.”

“Yeah, I guess, but I still think he’s like this naïve puppy dog looking for pats on the head…just because.” She shrugs, her eyes rolling just enough to remind me that she’s thirteen. There’s so much of her mother in her it’s scary. Then, like that little aside didn’t happen, she goes right back to her story…about me.

“Anyway, I’m sitting there reading the part about Jim getting hurt when there’s a tap on my bedroom window and this guy’s looking at me like a creeper.” Her thumb is pointed at me but her big hazel eyes are fixed on her mother, incredulous.

“Yeah, it’s his thing. He’s got stalker tendencies. You get used to it.” J winks at me and I lick my lips, reveling in the fact that my girl is a badass in and out of the bedroom but also, she’s going to be an amazing mother. I can’t wait to learn it all with her.

“I’m about to scream again. I mean, who does that?” Hallie’s looking at me again like I should be answering what is clearly a rhetorical question. So I shrug, because yeah…I’d do anything for these two.

“Apparently,hedoes.“ Marco quips, laughter breaking out all around me, and that’s when I realize everyone on the plane is listening to her story. Well, everyone except Ronan and trussed-up guy sitting next to him. They’re both passed out from one-too-many blows to the face.

“And his scar was scary. I thought he was there to kill me but…” Her eyes go soft, a little sheen gathering at the cornerswhen she whispers, “He looked at me like he wanted to protect me. He looked like Dad when he crawled…” Her voice cracks and she’s immediately engulfed in J’s arms as she murmurs something only her daughter can hear.

Minutes later, J’s question reignites the story’s plot line.

“So you let him in, Kid? Do I need to teach you about self-preservation?” Chuckles ring out but I’m too caught up in her version of what happened to care.

“Yeah, I walked over to the window—“

“With a letter opener,” I interrupt, proud that she armed herself, and raise a brow at J for emphasis. J grins, her chin lifting with pride because that’s her girl. Damn right.

“Well, duh, I wasn’t about to let a strange man into my room empty handed. That’s amateur even for me. So, anyway, when I open the window, this guy starts whispering about my mom and the Reapers and that he’s here to save me. And I’m all… ‘You’re here alone?’ and he’s all ‘Yeah, your mom’s on her way’ and just when I think it’s all going to work out, he falls—FALLS—through the window, landing with a big oldthumpon the floor.“ She turns to me with a grin because I know where this is going, obviously. “That’s when two of the big dudes burst into my room and find us there crouching on the floor. They have guns and D here, has a knife pointed at them while he’s pushing me behind him.” I won’t ever admit it to anyone but I was scared shitless. Not for myself, but the mere idea of putting Hallie in more danger than necessary and causing J any pain was physically intolerable.

“Ah, excuse me…can we skip to the part where I sliced him a new ear?” The guy took one look at my knife and scoffed. When he approached, I didn’t think, I jumped up and stabbed him, taking half his ear with me. My only saving grace as the guy howled with pain and probably dreamt of the hundred different ways he could kill me, was the strict order from Ronan to keepHallie safe. That didn’t keep him from beating the shit out of me while his buddy tied up Hallie then came back and held me down. Ball sacks. Both of them.

“Oh shite! That’s why the little cunt was already bleedin’!” Devon calls out, whistling. “There might be hope for ya yet, Geek Boy.” Nah, I don’t think so.

---