Page 52 of Redemption

“You’re needed downstairs.” When I don’t answer after a beat, Charlee tries again. “Please, Ax?” She never begs me like this unless something is seriously wrong. It can’t be Lily because Zane would have woken my ass up. That can mean only one thing.

“Shit.”

We jump out of bed and throw our clothes on as fast as we can. I just can’t catch a break.

In a matter of minutes, I’m leading Kelsey downstairs as I shove my gun in the waistband of my jeans, and walk into what appears to be a complete fucking shit show in the middle of our living room.

Charlee has her arms crossed over her chest, baby monitor in one hand, as she stands next to the doorway to the kitchen and watches my brothers.

Asher has some guy I’ve never seen before shoved up against a wall, while Zane is having a stand off of his own by the front door with someone else. Both of these fuckers are huge, but I have no clue who they are.

“You fecking hurt my brother and I’m going to gut you like a fecking fish.” The one in front of Zane threatens. His blue eyes burn into my brother ready to kill, but Zane doesn’t even flinch and why would he. He could knock him on his ass before he knew what hit him.

“What did I miss?” My head bounces from Zane to Asher waiting for an answer and I get one, but it’s the one shoved against the wall that gives it.

“My dad sent us.” He flashes me smug grin before shifting his gaze to Kelsey. Then it dawns on me just who I’m dealing with. The features are so similar I’m not sure how I missed it before.

Zane’s posture tenses at his words as my jaw clenches. As much as I don’t want them here, I need whatever they have.

“Ash, man. Let him talk.”

Asher slams him into the wall one more time and gets in his face. “Don’t ever come into my house uninvited and threaten my family again or I’ll send you back in pieces.” He glares at him another beat before he releases his grip and stalks over to Charlee. His hand cups the back of the head and cradles her against his chest.

Zane shoots me a cold look, but lucky for me it’s not directed at me. There’s no missing the dark circles under his eyes and that’s an issue Asher and I will tackle another day. I lift my chin his way and he moves back until he’s standing next to me, flanking Kelsey, while the other guy moves to stand next to his brother. We’re in another standoff of brothers against brothers.

“You have my word. I won’t.” The one Asher had against the wall dips his head at Asher and then glances my way and grins.

I cross my arms over my chest and stare him down. He’s a cocky bastard, I’ll give him that, but there’s only enough room for one of us in here and that’s me. “Now that you’ve all whipped your dicks out to see whose is bigger, would you like to tell me who the hell you are and what the fuck you’re doing here?”

“I’m Connor and that’s my brother Rory. Our dad sent us with a gift for you.” He holds out a piece of paper to me like it’s the winning lottery ticket.

“Is that right? And what makes him think that’ll I want any gift he has to offer me?”

His eyes still fixated on Kelsey as he speaks. If he wasn’t her relative I’d sucker punch him for it. “Trust me, lad. You’ll want this one.”

I take the piece of paper between my fingers and open it up to find an address. That’s it. No name or anything. “What the hell am I supposed to do with this?”

“I guess you’ll just have to come with us to find out.” Rory shrugs as he takes a long look around our living room.

“He’s not going anywhere without us.” Asher stands up taller and balls his hands into fists. “But we’re not leaving the girls here alone.”

“That’s what we thought you’d say.” Rory laughs as he opens the front door and in walk the twins from last night, both wearing all black from head to toe complete with matching black fedoras. The only difference is the one closest to the door has a red feather on the side of his. They might have different tats, but it’s too far for me to tell from where I’m standing.

“Howya.” The one that’s closest to the door tips his hat my way and flashes me a shit-eating grin.

“Who’s that fine thing?” The other twin that’s near me eyes Charlee causing Asher to growl.

“Bloody watch it, Keegan.” Connor smacks the one wearing the fedora with a red feather upside the head and shakes his head. I have to admit I almost feel bad for him having had that done to me plenty of times from my own brothers. I don’t know how they tell these little shits apart because they’re completely identical.

“You lads can have a go and we’ll stay here with your women.” Teegan steps further into the room and that’s when I finally see a difference between the two. It’s a slight one, but it’s enough to keep from mixing them up. He’s the most like Finn with his laid back watchful persona. That makes Keegan the wildcard.

“Like hell I’m leaving my girls here with you.” Asher’s jaw clenches so hard that I’m surprised he has any teeth left.

“I’m with my brother. It looks like y’all’s balls have barely dropped. No way am I trusting you to be able to protect them if something goes wrong.”

Keegan laughs in our faces, but it’s Teegan that surprises the shit out of me. It happens so fast that I don’t have time to realize what’s happened until a soft breeze whizzes across my cheek and a knife goes sailing past my head embedding into the wall behind me.

Teegan cocks his head to the side and lifts a dark eyebrow in my direction. “You were saying?”