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“They took her back. Haven’t heard anything yet.”
“Slash said it was bad. Was it bad?”
I wasn’t someone who sugar-coated anything. That wasn’t how I was raised or the life I had lived in.
That said, my life had really never included many women before. Faced with an upset one, I found myself wanting to break the truth to her gently, if not outright lie.
“She was pretty busted up,” I told her. “But she was conscious. They’re probably running scans to check for concussion and broken bones.”
“Broken bones?” Nyx repeated, voice rising.
“Her nose and her shoulder almost for sure. The ribs, maybe. But they could just be bruised.”
“Oh, God. This is all my fault. I should have been there.”
“That’s not—“ Slash started, making her turn on her heel to face him, voice getting louder.
“I should have been there!”
“Nyx, love,” Sway said, voice softer, reaching out to touch her hip. “Come on and sit down with me,” he suggested, but started to guide her toward the chair without waiting for her to agree.
“I should text Cillian,” she said, patting her pockets for her phone.
“There’s nothing new to tell him yet,” Sway reasoned, reaching for her hand, and giving it a squeeze.
“Did she have any description?” Slash asked, stepping away from Nyx and Sway with me. “Her brothers are going to want blood.”
“I want blood,” I growled, hands clenching and unclenching at the idea of getting them around the fucker’s throat. “But no. She said he came up from behind. And, from the looks of it, started bashing her head against the wall. She was lucky to stay conscious at all. Doubt she would have been able to get a good look with all that going on.”
To that, Slash made a noncommittal sound.
“The Murphys’ll get someone to share some surveillance footage,” he said, shrugging.
“There was one thing. An earring in the alley. It didn’t look like something Dell would wear, so it might have come from him.”
“Cops have it?”
“Yeah.”
“They won’t figure out shit.”
“No, probably not,” I agreed.
“Broad fucking daylight,” he mumbled to himself. “That takes balls.”
And it wasn’t even a secluded area. Granted, the foot traffic was a little low given the time of day, but it wasn’t like no one was around.
Turning back, I saw Nyx pressing her face into Sway’s chest which barely managed to muffle the sounds of her cries.
“She gonna be okay?” I asked, figuring that Slash would know best out of all of us.
“She’s tough,” he said, but for some reason, refused to look in her direction.
“This area is bad luck for us,” Crow declared, coming in from parking the SUV. “Gotta all get our asses back to Shady Valley.”
I didn’t say it, but I wasn’t going any-fucking-where until I knew Dell was on her way back with her brothers too.
She’d be safe back in Shady Valley. And, what’s more, I could find ways to keep an eye on her too.
“She’s asking for you,” a nurse declared what felt like a lifetime later, coming up to me.
“Me?” I asked.
“You’re the one who brought her in, right?”
“Yes.”
“Then, yes, you. Follow me; I’ll show you to her room.”
As I passed, I could see the hurt look on Nyx’s face. That her best friend would choose me over her. Something that probably made another wave of guilt move through her.
“She probably doesn’t know you’re here,” I told her as I followed the nurse.
I’d seen her before the doctors got a chance to clean her up a little bit, so the state of her shouldn’t have shocked me.
That said, she looked worse.
A little time had allowed the bruises to start setting in. And the swelling had only seemed to get worse, not better.
I’d barely gotten a chance to speak to her before her brothers came charging in, though.
They all took on the roles I expected them to.
Cillian, the leader, the father figure, pushed aside any personal feelings and focused on Delaney.
Conor, always more comfortable with anger than any other feelings, lashed out.
Rian tried to lighten the mood.
And Sean was characteristically quiet, just taking everything in. Until he needed to step in to get Conor out of the room.
I followed not long after, finding myself surprised that he wasn’t waiting for me to start some shit.
Crow and Sway had headed back to the hotel, not wanting to leave all the guns and money unsupervised for too long.
And despite no one being around to judge them and whatever kind of arrangement they had going on, Nyx and Slash were sitting several chairs apart.
“She’s okay,” I assured Nyx as I walked back out, making her jump to her feet. “Waiting to hear back on her scans, but I think she’s going to be staying the night.”
“Sean was pushing Conor out of the hospital,” she said, voice tight.
“You know Conor,” I reasoned. “Cillian put his foot down about his outburst, told him to get out of the room, and the town, if he couldn’t control himself.”
