“It’s okay.” Kellan smoothed his hand along my back, helping to ease some of the tension tightening my chest. “Just breathe.”
I pulled in a deep breath and closed my eyes, letting my three men hold me and comfort me.
“The second one I took out had zip ties. I thought they were trying to take me, not—”
“They went past all our rooms to get to Merrick’s.” Kellan ran his fingers through my hair, helping to ease the ache as I pulled in another deep breath. “Angelo probably realized that there were only two of us at the church and put two and two together. He most likely wanted to take out Merrick while he was recuperating, and capturing you would just be an added bonus.”
My stomach twisted at the thought that those men could’ve checked the other rooms. They could’ve done anything to the men I loved or our friends before I’d found them.
Merrick growled but didn’t argue as he tipped my chin up to meet his gaze. “This is Angelo we’re dealing with now, not Tommaso. He’ll take you alive if he can, but he won’t sacrifice more men than he needs to do so.”
I leaned into Kellan, and Spade eased the knife from my grip and sheathed it before taking my hand in his.
“We need someone on guard at night now.” Kellan rubbed my good shoulder, draining the remaining tension from me as myadrenaline faded and exhaustion quickly took its place. “They obviously figured out where we live. Maybe we should move to a different place, even temporarily.”
“I’m not running from them,” Merrick growled.
“Agreed.” Spade’s tone was far too chipper, so I could tell where his mind had gone. But his bloodlust had to take a backseat to our safety.
“We’ll talk about it in the morning.” I slid my gun back into its holster. “I won’t stay here if it’s going to put us at more risk. There has to be somewhere else we can go. Plus, we’ll have to think of a place to hide the town, because if last night was any indication, they’re going after anyone they don’t have in their pocket.”
Merrick’s jaw ticked like he wanted to argue, but he finally relented, his head dipping in a jerky nod. “I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you safe.”
Spade seemed to deflate at that; some of those shadows I helped to tame last night flickered back to life in his stormy violet eyes. “You’re right,” he said, glancing at the bodies lying lifeless throughout the hallway. “I guess we need to clean this mess up. Good thing it’s not carpet.”
I cringed. “Right. There’s no way we’d get all this blood and brain matter out of it. We’d probably have to buy a carpet cleaner, and even then it would never look the same.”
“Yeah, we wouldn’t get the deposit back if we tried to rent one.” Spade grinned.
“Seriously?” Exasperation laced Kellan’s tone. “The hallway is filled with dead bodies of the people who just tried to kill us while we slept, and the two of you are concerned with carpet cleaning?”
“I mean, we’re not concerned.” Spade shrugged.
“Exactly because we don’t have carpet … it’s like he wasn’t even listening.” I covered my mouth and leaned toward Spade ina mock whisper that I fully knew Kellan would hear and tried my best to keep the smile off my face.
“You’re a troublemaker, little devil.” Merrick scooped me off my feet with his good arm.
“Merrick, put me down! You’re not supposed to be carrying anything, let alone a human being.” I wiggled, trying to get out of his grasp, but he just threw me onto the bed.
“You don’t have to worry about body removal; that’s what we have a cleanup crew for.”
“We don’t even know if the rest of the house is safe yet,” I said and rolled off the bed.
They were being ridiculous now, but if anyone could get my mind off my near-death experience, it was my guys.
I ducked and weaved past Merrick’s grasping hands and staggered into the hallway just as Sebastian made his way to the top of the stairs.
“The rest of the house is clear,” Sebastian said just as the echo of the door slamming shut rang through the hall. “There were two keeping watch outside, but we took care of them.”
“Great.” Merrick sighed. “More bodies. This cleaning fee is going to be through the roof.”
“Well, at least no shots went through the roof, because I’m sure that’d be a bitch to get repaired.” I smiled at Spade, my partner in crime.
“Yup, they’d probably talk you into getting the entire roof reshingled, especially with this old house.” Spade grinned as Merrick’s eye twitched.
“Are they okay?” Sebastian dragged a hand through his sleep-rumpled hair.
“They’re fine.” Kellan sighed, but I didn’t miss the way his lips quivered. We were funny, and he knew it. “Let’s call in a crew before these two start on any more home remodeling humor.”
