Page 83 of Black Heart

“Sorry, lass,” one of the men said with a shrug as soon as she opened the door, “but there’s been a change of plans.”

* * *

“Ye’ll belucky if she doesn’t rip yer balls off for this, lad,” Shayne muttered, not looking particularly happy as all but one of the men materialized in the living room.

“Let’s get this bullshit over with,” Tristan said, ignoring him as he walked into the room.

He was beyond pissed with Shayne and planned on dealing with him later, but right now, he needed to figure out what he was dealing with so that he could end this bullshit. He pulled off his shirt and tossed it at the man standing guard by the door, noting that it didn’t go through his head. Instead, it hit him in the face before it dropped to the floor. He ignored the man’s vile curse and ran everything that he knew about Shayne through his head.

There was no doubt in his mind now that these men were the same as Shayne. He knew Shayne pretty well. At least, Tristan thought he did. There seemed to be a few things that he didn’t know about his oldest friend. In fact, six of those mysteries were currently in his house waiting to kill him.

It wasn’t happening. No fucking way. A year ago, he wouldn’t have cared what happened to him, but things were different now. Now, he had Marty in his life and they were having a baby. She was pretty pissed at him right now, but he was an asshole and used to pissing people off, so he knew that it was only a matter of time before she forgave him.

No, he definitely wasn’t worried about his wife forgiving him, but he was worried about her. He didn’t know what these men wanted from them, besides to kill him, apparently, and he wasn’t taking the chance that they had the same plans for his wife. The first chance he got, he was sending Marty away and Shayne, the betraying bastard, was going to keep her safe until he could come for her.

Money was going to be a major obstacle in getting Marty somewhere safe. He had a little over twenty grand left in the bank, the money that he’d planned on spending on their honeymoon, but he doubted that would last them very long, not with a baby on the way. They were going to have to be prepared to move at a moment’s notice and hope that these men didn’t have the same connection with him that Shayne did.

If they did…

Well, he’d worry about that later. Right now, he needed to get some answers and figure a way out of this without having to screw up their lives.

“We need to explain a few things before we-” Liam began, but Tristan was done playing these games. He was going to get his answers, and then, he was going to do whatever it took to send these bastards packing.

“And I need to know why my wife is suddenly caught up in this bullshit,” Tristan drawled in a bored tone, cutting the man off as a shot of stabbing pain surged through his shoulder while he did his best not to react.

It hurt, it really fucking hurt. Granted, not all of his arm and shoulder hurt. Some of it was numb like his fingertips, but the parts that hurt more than made up for it. He wasn’t one hundred percent sure, but he didn’t think that it hurt this much after he’d been shot. Not screaming in agony when his shoulder brushed up against the back of the couch when he sat down took some effort, but he managed it.

Christ, it was on fire.

He wasn’t about to let any of them know just how bad his arm was. It was something that could be used against him and right now, he needed every advantage that he could get. The only one of them that he had to worry about was Shayne. He’d never regretted this connection to him more than he did right now. If Shayne opened his big fucking mouth and let them know that he was at a disadvantage, they’d probably put more men on Marty, thinking that he wasn’t much of a threat.

“She’s always been involved, Tadgh,” Liam said quietly as he sat down in Shayne’s favorite chair.

“Bullshit,” Tristan snapped back, in too much pain to pretend to play along.

How in the fuck could something hurt this much?

“This was always the tricky part,” Shayne said on a sigh as he folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall.

“At least he always handles this part better than Declean,” the man standing guard at the double doors said with a chuckle.

“It’s a very emotional time for me, ye son of a bitch!” the man standing near the far left corner of the room, presumably Declean, yelled.

“Hey!” the man in the corner snapped just as every man in the room’s expression turned murderous.

“Watch yer fucking mouth!” Shayne snapped, shaking his head in disgust.

“Call Ma’ that again, lad, and ye’ll be able to taste yer balls in the back of yer throat,” Liam said with a glare.

“I didn’t mean it like that and ye know it!” Declean muttered defensively as he continued to pout in the corner, reminding him so much of Shayne at the moment and confirming his earlier suspicions.

“You’re all brothers,” Tristan said hollowly, the over-the-top pout confirming it. They all looked similar with their black hair, green eyes, large builds and similar mannerisms and expressions.

“Yes,” Liam said with an approving nod.

He felt a little lightheaded, a mixture of the pain and the fear that what Shayne said earlier was true. He wasn’t sure what that meant or how it was possible, but he needed to know. He needed to know for himself, for Marty and for their baby. Christ, a baby. What if their child was as fucked up as he was? His stomach twisted at the thought of his child going through the bullshit that he went through as a child.

Was never going to fucking happen.

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