Page 70 of Stay, Swear.

Pressing my lips to hers one more time before answering, my brain begins to calm, “How’s that?”

“Because they have the fiercest, most protective, and loving Papa Bear of all time. We’re all so lucky to have you and we’ll figure this all out together. You don’t do these things alone anymore, remember? It’s you and me. We’ll keep everyone else safe and loved.”

God I love this woman, just one conversation and two chaste kisses, and I’m already ready to put my mask firmly back in place and go handle business. But we can’t do that yet, we’re missing one thing before we can leave from this spot. “Safe, Promise?”

“Yeah, Roe. Safe, Promise.”

38

Chapter Thirty-Eight

Kieran

Did I wreck my bike? Did we get ambushed? Why do I feel like I’ve been in a head on collision? Everything feels foggy and heavy. I can hear noises but they sound underwater. I’m fighting to get back to the surface of consciousness, but it feels like something’s pulling me back under. I almost succumb to it when I hear a voice that I could pick out of every other voice in the world, because I’ve been hearing it for twenty-one years. I can’t make out what Mac is saying but the panic radiating through the cadence of his voice tells me he’s freaked out and needs me. Forcing myself to wake up despite the almost unbearable pain radiating through my chest, I blink my eyes open. No one’s realized yet. I see my brothers all standing around talking in hushed voices while Clara’s sitting on a chair near them with Rhett in her lap. Someone is sleeping in a chair beside me, their head laying ontop of my open palm. No, not someone, that’s Nix. It comes to me in barely there whispers. Her abusers, Ryan, her mom, my brothers. What the hell happened? It takes so much energy to stay awake, I just want to go back to bed, just for a little longer. As I’m about to do just that, Rhett’s soft voice floats through the room.

“Uncle Kie? Are you awake? You’re not going to go back to sleep, right?”

Well, that just broke my heart. I force myself to talk quietly past my extremely sore throat, “No, Bear. I’m awake.”

Every head in that room besides Nix’s snaps to me, before everyone starts talking at once, my eyes stay on her sleeping form as I let out a “Shh.” Everyone stops immediately.

“My head kills, and don’t you dare wake her up. She looks exhausted.”

Mac’s the first to speak up, “She hasn’t left your side since you were shot. She has a concussion and she’s been in that seat for five days.”

“Concussion?” I whisper-yell. “What are you talking about?”

Everyone looks at Rowan, who approaches the bed like he’s walking towards a wounded animal.

“Kie, what do you remember about what happened?”

What I want to say is ‘I don’t fucking know, why don’t you just tell me.’ but I don’t because he doesn’t deserve my wrath just because I’m in pain.

“I don’t know. Tell me what’s going on.”

My heart rate spikes on the monitor, the incessant beeping making my head hurt worse. I really have no idea what happened to her and that freaks me out more than anything.

“We went to get Ryan back from Nix’s sperm donor and his friend. They had her mom captive too. The friend pistolwhipped Nix, before he shot you in the chest. The bullet missed your heart by a centimeter. A centimeter, Kie.” The fear radiates through my big brother’s voice.

“I’m okay, but is she? Has anyone checked her out? Does she need a head scan?” The beeping gets closer together again.

“She was the first one back with Rowan once you were out of surgery, I’ve seen her leave that chair only a handful of times to go to the bathroom. She has a nasty concussion, Kie. Seriously, she should be in her own bed instead of in the chair beside yours.” Mac answers, a small bite to his voice, but I ignore it.

My Brave Girl stirs beside me. Gently pulling my hand from under her head and massaging her scalp I can feel the knot on the side of her head, and make a mental note to avoid it at all costs, and to insist she has a scan.

“Hey, Brave Girl.”

Her eyes spring open to meet mine, “Kie…” She blinks quickly as if making sure she’s actually awake. I was out for five days, not fifty. Why is everyone being so extra? I’ll be up and moving as soon as they pull these I.V’s. Taking a survey of my girl I notice that she has a deep bruise on her right temple.

“Can we have a moment alone?” I turn to my brothers, four of which nod and head for the door, but Mac stands there, his arms crossed, glaring. Everyone leaves with a promise to come back soon, except him.

“I’m not leaving.”

“Yes, you are. You can sit right outside the door if you need to but I need to talk to her in private.”

He huffs out an annoyed breath before turning on his heels and leaving the room. I turn my attention back to her. I’ll sort things out with him later but she takes priority.

“Come here, Mo Stóirín.” She climbs into bed and snuggles into my right side. My left having all sorts of leads and IV’s hooked up.

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