AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘You know who I am, don’t you?’ Cam said. ‘Killing me would me a death sentence.’
‘The McGowans would pay good money to see you dead.’
I lifted the extinguisher from the wall silently as the guy stood up, keeping his gun trained on Cam as he tried to fasten his trousers with the other hand. Cam’s eyes flicked to me for no more than a breath before he slowly raised his hands as if surrendering.
‘Listen, kid. You’ll be dead if you pull that trigger. You know that, right?’
‘I’ll be gone before your body’s cold.’
I stepped closer, my clammy hands slippery against the metal of the extinguisher as I cursed my heels, wishing they were something quieter. Fear gripped my stomach with each step closer. What if he turned the gun on me?
The door to the bathroom opened with a lurch as two young women stumbled in together, giggling. They paled as they took in the scene, from the bloody-nosed gun toting man to Cam to me with my torn dress and extinguisher.
One let out a scream while the other backed back out as fast as her heels could carry her. The gun clicked as it was trained back on Cam. I seized my moment and hefted the extinguisher as best I could, sending it careening into the man’s skull just before he pulled the trigger.
The bullet hit a mirror, sending glass flying outward as the loud bang reverberated through the tiled room. I dropped the extinguisher as the man toppled over to the right, his head hitting the edge of the sink with a deafening crack. The door thumped closed behind the women as they ran to safety.
Then he was still.
A sob tore from my throat as Cam kicked the gun away from the man before pulling me into his arms and holding me close. ‘Fuck Maeve, are you okay?’
I muffled my sniffles against his chest as the adrenaline left me, feeling all the pain and fear of the past twenty minutes. The terror had sobered me up a little, but my head still swam and my knees felt weak. Cam pulled off his jacket and wrapped it around me, his body heat feeling like a safety blanket.
‘Did I kill him?’
‘No, he’s still breathing.’ I watched as he picked up the discarded gun and pointed it at the man’s head. I closed my eyes as he ended my attacker, the bang sounding different as it thumped into flesh instead of glass. My eyes remained screwed shut as the gun dropped to the floor. Then Cam wrapped me in his arms.
‘I’m so sorry,’ I mumbled into his neck. ‘I shouldn’t have been drinking so much.’
Cam pulled back and tilted my face up toward him. ‘Look at me, Maeve. None of this is your fault. You are allowed to get drunk, and you are allowed to be out in a dress, and not a single thing you could have done would have excused his behaviour. There isn’t an excuse for what he was doing.’
Blood pooled around the man, and it made my stomach heave all over again. ‘If I hadn’t been here, he wouldn’t be dead.’
‘If you hadn’t been here, some girl might have been dead. Who’s to say he’d stop at forcing himself on someone?’
The door thrust open as Mac and Ewen bust into the room, guns in hand.
‘What the fuck? Maeve?’ Ewen said.
They took in the scene before lowering their guns when they saw neither of us was armed.
‘Is that Russell?’ Mac said, walking over and glancing down at the corpse. ‘Ah shit. You come in here and kill one of my men? Are you trying to get me to kill you?’
Cam didn’t look the slightest flustered. He should have. He was on enemy territory with one of their men dead at their feet. They could shoot him and claim it was an attack. My mouth dried as I looked from my brothers to Cam.
‘He tried to rape me.’
‘Russell? He’s a bit of a dick, but he’s no rapist.’
With a sigh, I loosened my coat, showing them the ripped edges at the top of my dress, making sure not to let the front flap downward. ‘Are you telling me I imagined him on top of me, trying to get his fucking dick inside of me? If Cam hadn’t come in, it would have been me you found in here on the floor, beaten and raped. By one of your own men. He knew who I was, and he did it, anyway.’
Mac paled as he noticed Russell’s still undone fly.
‘I don’t know what kind of place you are running, but if a woman getting followed into the bathroom by an abuser is standard practice, I think you need to take a long look at yourselves.’
I grimaced as Cam said it, knowing I was going to end up revealing that his father was doing worse, selling people into trafficking rings.
‘She was supposed to be safe here,’ Cam said, taking me by the hand, my cheeks flaming at the look my brothers gave me as he entwined his fingers in mine. ‘Clean up this mess, we’re leaving.’
