Page 43 of Declan

“Autumn—”

“I’m fine. Let’s roll.”

“I need to look at your arm.”

“It’s nothing. He barely got the tip in before I took him down.”

A very angry growl ricocheted around the room and slammed into my chest.

“What in the motherfucking hell happened?”

“Where’s Brooks?” I asked, not wanting to answer.

“At the bottom of the stairs.”

“Did you find Madeleine?”

“No.”

My heart rate picked up, which only intensified the pain in my throat and arm.

“Then why are we standing around like a bunch of idiots instead of looking for her?”

“Autumn,” Declan growled again.

“Don’t. If I was one of your men you wouldn’t be acting like an asshole asking questions. You’d tell him to suck it up and move his ass. So don’t treat me any differently. I’m fucking fine. Let’s find this bitch so we can go home.”

And with that, Declan turned on his booted feet and tromped away. Kyle followed but Max hung back and waited for me to stop swaying.

“You’re tough, you know that?”

“No. I’m fucking stupid. I didn’t clear my right side and got my throat sliced because of it.”

“We don’t have ten eyes. There’s only—”

“Would you have made that mistake?”

Max’s silence was my answer.

No, he wouldn’t have fucked up. He would’ve cleared his space before he moved forward.

“The mistakes we live through only serve to make us better.”

“Right.”

“Come on, tough girl, let’s go play hide and seek. Bitch is in the house.”

He clapped me on my good arm and I bit back a cry of pain.

“Shit, sorry.”

A few deep breaths later, I was moving out of the room mentally wincing. No, I was doing more than wincing, I was bawling like a baby on the inside with each pain-filled step I took.

If this was what these guys called an easy day I was A-okay with the way I did things. Quick, quiet, and painless. Well, for me they were painless.

Declan’s job sucked.

Chapter 16