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“At this time of night? Six, tops,”
“Then why do I count eight, bro?” he replies as another two come out from inside.
“Six? Eight? Who gives a shit?”
“Fuck me, you are in the mood for some fun, aren’t you?” he chuckles to himself.
“Yep,” I nod as I start to jog across the road. One of them starts toward us, not quite sure yet why we’re here. He’s brought up to speed pretty fast as I punch him in the jaw with the brass knuckle and knock him out cold.
That rallies his colleagues into action and amidst some hollering and whistling, the remaining seven men come running toward us.
“Here we go,” Mikey flashes his eyebrows at me and we run toward them. I punch the biggest one in the stomach as he reaches me and he drops to his knees before I punch him in the face and his nose busts open. The rest of the men surround us, but Mikey and I have faced much tougher odds and much tougher men than these before, and we make short work of them in less than ten minutes. They lie on the ground around us, groaning and clutching their broken limbs and faces and I stare down at them.
It was a simple brawl. That was all I came for and it released some of the pent up tension I’ve been feeling these past few weeks. I look around for Mikey, who has one of the men on the floor. He straddles his chest and rains blows down on him. I watch for a few seconds and when he doesn’t show any signs of letting up, I jog over to him and put my hand on his shoulder. He doesn’t stop though. I’m not sure he even knows I’m standing right here.
The guy on the floor no longer has a face and is most definitely dead, but it doesn’t stop my younger brother from laying into him like he’s fighting for his life.
“Mikey. Come on, son. We need to get out of here.”
He turns and looks at me, blood spattered over his face and a look in his eyes that I haven’t seen for a very long time. I grab his arm and pull him up, just as one of the men from the floor stumbles over and looks at his dead coworker in horror. I grab him by the throat and squeeze. “You know who we are?” I snarl at him.
He nods, his eyes wide with fear.
“You tell anyone who or what you saw here tonight and I will hunt you and every single member of your family down. You understand me?”
“Yes, Mr. Ryan.”
“This is the end of it. Right here. Right now,” I snarl at him and he nods his agreement.
I drag Mikey to the car and we jump inside before I drive us away from the place as fast as the jeep will take us.
“I saw him, Shane,” Mikey says as he stares at me. “I was punching that guy but I saw his face.”
“Who?”
“Patrick Ryan,” he spits the name out as though it leaves a bitter taste in his mouth.
“You feel better?” I ask him.
“Yeah,” he nods.
“Good. And I doubt they’ll be giving any of our bouncers any more shit, so, mission accomplished.”
Mikey leans back in his seat and closes his eyes and I drive us back to our apartment.
Chapter
Thirty-Four
JESSIE
It’s our last night on the road as we’ll be home tomorrow evening and I such have a mixture of feelings about the whole thing. I’m excited to see Liam and Mikey. A little sad to end my time alone with Conor. And nervous as hell to see Shane. Despite what Conor tries to assure me, I don’t think our differences can be fixed with a simple conversation.
I walk across the parking lot toward the motel as Conor takes his bag from the trunk. The lot is almost empty except for a light blue pick-up a few yards away from me. I barely notice it, until the driver starts the engine and it sputters to life. Glancing over at it as the driver pulls out of his space and turns the vehicle, I get a glimpse of him. He looks directly at me and my legs nearly buckle beneath me. My blood freezes in my veins as time seems to stand still. I have seen those eyes before. I’m sure I have.
My body moves entirely on instinct. I turn and run in the opposite direction, straight into Conor’s arms. He places his hands on my shoulders as I struggle to run past him. Has he brought me here to hand me over, after all? Was Alexei telling the truth about the Ryan brothers?
My heart pounds in my chest. Blood thunders in my ears and tears run down my face. I have to get out of here. I try to wrench my arms from Conor’s grip so I can run, but he holds me tight to him. He is speaking but I can’t hear him because my senses are completely overloaded. My feet stumble on the asphalt and I’m falling. I can’t breathe. I gasp in a mouthful of air, but it doesn’t quite reach my lungs. I’m going to pass out. Right here. And he’s going to take me. The Wolf is going to take me away.
