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I can’t breathe, but Caine’s here. His arms around me keep me steady. Keep me standing. The irony of that isn’t lost on me.
“What happened?” Caine asks, seeing I’m in no condition to speak for myself.
“Right now, we’re exploring all our options,” detective McIntyre explains. “All we know is he was out riding his bike in the early hours of the morning with your brother and a few others. He was shot and killed on the road.”
The words hit like a slap to the face.
“Someone shot him?”
Detective McIntyre nods. “Yup.” I get the sense he doesn’t care for the Dullahans. “Any reason to suspect you’re in danger?”
I shake my head.
“Well,” detective Stone says clearing her throat. “we think it may be gang related and until the culprit or culprits are apprehended we’re placing you in protective custody, Miss Locksley.”
In an instant, I’m on my feet and using every inch of my 5 feet 8 inch height to tower over detective McIntyre.
“My father was not a criminal,” I hiss. “He was a good man, and a bike enthusiast. There’s no reason his death would be gang related and absolutely no reason I would be in danger.”
“Miss -”
“No,” I snap. “I’m not going anywhere.”
Caine pulls me back to him, wrapping his arms around me. Outwardly he’s calm, but there’s a flash of anger in his eyes that tells a different story. “Any further questions you have can go through our council.” He magically produces a business card that detective Stone takes from him. “Preferably before we sue your entire department for gross incompetence and negligence.”
The detectives start to protest, but Caine interrupts them as smoothly as if they hadn’t spoken at all.
“No? It’s not incompetence? Because I can’t think of another reason, you haven’t mentioned Liam’s connection to this. Whoever killed Billy likely meant to kill Liam as well, right? Now kindly get out of my home before I sue you for incompetenceandtrespassing.”
Sue — the magic word does its job. No law enforcement agency wants to deal with the headache of a lawsuit, and they leave in a hurry.
“Are you alright?” the deep rumbling cadences of Caine’s voice is soothing.
“No. We have to get to the hospital.”
???
While waiting for Liam to come out of surgery, I must die ten times over. Each time a code goes off or someone in scrubs nears us in the waiting room, my heart stops. My hands shake and I struggle for breath. I bounce my leg and feel more helpless than I’ve ever been in my life.
Caine stays next to me through it all. Only leaving to get me coffee or something to eat. Food that goes untouched. He doesn’t talk, but he holds my hand. And honestly? It feels good to know I’m not alone, which is weird in a whole other way.
Hours later, the men and old ladies from the Dullahan roll in. I’m pulled into hugs as they offer words of comfort. They swear vengeance, and promise I’m not alone. I’m one of them and the club will take care of me.
Hannah tries and fails to elbow Caine out of the way, which doesn’t surprise me. If she’d been a man, she would run the Dullahans. He shoots her one warning look, and that stops it in its tracks.
One of the most grizzled old men in the club named Stink glares at Caine, but he doesn’t say anything to provoke him.
“How are you holding up?” Hannah wraps her arm around my shoulder. She’s given up on trying to get past Caine, and is on my other side. “Anything you need, sweetie. We’re here.”
“I’m fine. Thanks for coming.”
“We’re sorry about Billy. He was a good man.”
“Yeah, he was,” I say. Dad was a hard man, but he taught me everything I needed to know to survive. He took me and Liam camping, made us laugh with silly jokes. Dropping his tough guy persona as soon as it was just us. Sat patiently with me for hours while I struggled through math lessons. God, I miss him so much. I don’t know how I’ll recover.
Caine squeezes my hand. I doubt he agrees with Hannah’s verdict, but I appreciate he doesn’t say anything.
However, he loses patience with the Dullahans in a matter of minutes. He sits down and glares at them. I’m not surprised. Someone in this room probably killed his cousin, but he doesn’t start anything. Doesn’t breathe a word of revenge or threat. Instead, all he seems concerned about is me. I think about standing in the same room as dad’s killer and having to act civilly — I couldn’t do it. I’d rip their heads off.
