Page 59 of Beyond Rosy Irish Twilight

I rolled over and pain rippled through me. I hissed in a breath and took a moment to let the pain subside. I hurt everywhere, but the fog in my head was the worst part. I couldn’t remember where I was or how I got here. I slowly blinked open my eyes and then snapped them shut at the bright light filling the room. I was at the new house. I remembered that now.

My hand shot across the bed, searching for Jade, but she was gone. I shot up in bed, barely feeling the pain as I limped to the door. My sweats hung low on my hips, and I didn’t bother grabbing a shirt as I headed for the stairs. The idea of walking the whole way down, and knowing how much it would fucking hurt was too much. I eyed the banister, then climbed on, grimacing at how it pressed on my stitches.

I tried not to think about it as I started sliding down to the end. Crawling off was much more difficult, and I nearly fell when I swung my leg over and wobbled before righting myself. I turned to go in search of Jade, only to find Lock staring at me with his arms crossed over his chest.

“Going somewhere?”

“Jade’s gone.”

“And you thought it would be better to slide down the banister than take the fucking stairs?”

I jutted my chin out in anger. “Did you fucking hear what I said?”

“Relax, lover boy. Patrick is with her outside.”

“He’s…” I glanced toward the back of the house, then started making my way over. I stared out the window where she was lounging in the sun. Even with her sunglasses over her eyes, I could tell she was sleeping. “How long have they been out there?”

“Hours. Edu is keeping an eye on the back yard. I wasn’t about to leave that up to your guys.”

I wasn’t even sure how many guys I had left. My plan to take over the organization and take out Ambrose was quickly falling apart. My team was too injured to do much of anything right now. “And Chase?”

“He got in about an hour ago. I sedated him and shoved him in a room. He wasn’t too happy about it, but those were my conditions for him leaving the hospital.”

I slowly looked over at him, my eyebrow raised in question. “Your conditions?”

He rolled his eyes at me. “I didn’t want you guys thinking you were down and out. There were whispers you were dead, and with all fucking three of you injured, I had to make sure they didn’t try and force a takeover. They’re still getting orders, but they’re taking them from me as you.”

“So, they all think I’m alive, but hiding out in my house?”

He shook his head slowly. “Patrick said there’s one guy—Adam—”

“He’s in Canada,” I cut in. “He’s supposed to be running operations there.”

“And he is. But he knows about the ambush. I’ve been in contact with him. He’s been doing everything to make it appear things are still running smoothly here. Word travels fast, and the men think you’re in here plotting revenge for their fallen comrades.”

I sighed heavily. “None of this is going as I planned.”

He snorted. “When does it ever?”

“How many men am I down?”

“Too fucking many. I put Brock and Scottie on training the men on a rotation schedule. They’ve got guts, but they can’t shoot for shit.”

“They’re in the fucking weapons trade,” I huffed. “You’d think they’d know how to shoot a fucking gun.”

“Don’t be too hard on them. They know to pull the trigger.”

I slowly looked at him and a grin split his lips. “Are you making jokes?”

His brow furrowed. “No good?”

“Just never heard a joke leave your mouth before.”

“You just don’t know me,” he huffed in irritation. “Don’t let the badass vibes fool you. I’ve got jokes.”

“You’ve got a fucking ponytail. That doesn’t make you a hipster.”

“You know, I could shove you over with my pinky and land you in the hospital for an additional week,” he threatened.

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