Page 109 of Beyond Rosy Irish Twilight

That seemed like the only way to get around the issue of going downstairs. “We won’t bring him up until she’s ready to see him. As for Ambrose…we need to end that fucker.”

Chase’s eyebrows rose in surprise. “You want to take him out? You realize that’ll bring a world of hurt down on us.”

“And it’s not now?” I asked. “Jade needs—”

“Jade isn’t the job,” Chase cut me off. “You’re forgetting why we’re here.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, not liking his tone. “I haven’t forgotten anything. But the moment Ambrose made her my wife, things changed. It’s my job to protect her.”

“And what are you going to say to Rafe?” He stood and paced the room. “Trust me, I’m not exactly upset with your choice, but have you considered how the fuck you’re going to move on without upsetting the balance of things?”

Patrick nodded. “The moment you pull that trigger, Ambrose’s men will come after you. After all of us. We don’t have the manpower to fight that kind of war.”

“Then we make sure no one knows we attacked in the first place.”

“And put the blame on who?” Chase asked. “Fuck, have you even thought this out?”

The truth was, I hadn’t. I only knew that I didn’t want to keep putting Jade in this position. I hated the nightmares, hated the look of terror in her eyes. She was strong, but she could only handle so much. And if anything happened to her, it would be on me.

“I’m not asking you to stick around for what’s coming. If you want to walk, I under—”

“What the fuck are you saying?” Chase snapped. “Have you lost your goddamn mind? Why the hell would we walk out on you?”

I was surprised by the anger in his voice. I was essentially choosing Jade over the job, and they had nothing to gain from that. “Um…because I’m essentially starting one hell of a war and then walking away?”

“I can deal with the goddamn war,” he snapped. “I’m not against you on this, but a little fucking warning! You can’t just drop that bomb on us. Hell, we’ve barely scraped the surface of the job we’re supposed to be doing. Not to mention that Rafe is a fucking psycho.”

Patrick nodded. “He’ll lose his goddamn mind. Probably threaten to kill us and Jade. Hell, I wouldn’t be surprised if he held a gun to Jade’s head until you agreed to continue. We’re looking at the wrath of the devil, plus Rafe.”

“The wrath of the devil?” I asked.

“Liberty,” he nodded.

“Right, so you’re out?”

He barked out a laugh. “Are you crazy? And miss the blowout? I’m in.”

I looked at the two of them with a slight smirk. “Then let’s start planning.”

* * *

I slipped into bed at the crack of dawn. I had no intention of falling asleep. I just wanted to see Jade and make sure she was okay. I was worried after everything she’d been through over the past few days. Part of me was glad I wasn’t around for the panic attack. The way Kate described it fucking terrified me. And that made me a shitty husband. You had to take the good with the bad, and I was hiding away so I didn’t have to see how much Jade was suffering.

After an hour of laying in bed with Jade hardly moving, I pressed my hand to her chest, just to check that everything was okay. She slept deeply, as if she hadn’t slept in days. When it was clear she wasn’t going to wake up anytime soon, I slipped from the bed and showered.

When she still didn’t wake up, I crawled into bed beside her and started peppering her with kisses. She’d slept for most of the day yesterday and all last night. She shouldn’t be sleeping this much.

“Baby,” I whispered, running my fingers through her hair.

She moaned slightly and rolled over, snuggling into my side.

“Are you okay?”

“Tired,” she mumbled.

“You slept all night.” I pressed my hand to her forehead, just to be sure she wasn’t coming down with anything. But her forehead was only slightly warm, and that was most likely from being cocooned in all the blankets.

She didn’t say anything, just took a deep breath and drifted back off to sleep. It made me a little uneasy that she was sleeping so much. But then again, she had those meds and after what she went through, she deserved to sleep if she was tired.

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