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My words made him still before he could touch me. Understanding showed through his guarded expression.
His hand fisted before he dropped it to his side. “I’m sorry you had to do it alone.”
Of all the things I’d expected from him, he said something that I’d never considered. It left me too stunned to respond.
Dean, Asher, and Rourke slid inside from behind him, guns drawn. They took in the situation, from me and Brenna to Nicoli and Dario behind us.
Rourke whistled as he looked me over. “Looks like we missed the party.”
I glanced back at Jamie. He wasn’t staring at me anymore, but at what I held. His gaze jumped back up to meet mine with heavy emotions I couldn’t stand to see swirling in his eyes. “Is thathisbaby?”
I didn’t need to answer, yet I still did. “Yes.”
He moved closer, his expression schooled once again. I felt the strong urge to back away. Not for me, but for the baby. That sense of threat I felt from Jamie and the nearly consuming need to protect shocked me. As his hand came up, I found myself holding my breath. He pulled the blue blanket that obstructed his view away from the baby’s face. He stared down at him, unblinkingly, unmoving. Jamie had lost what I had lost. Did he feel the same hatred as I had when looking at the baby? Would he seek his vengeance through this child?
“Why do you have him?” he asked in a low voice.
I didn’t know how to answer that. Nor would I until I figured it out myself. I looked to Asher and Rourke. “The apartment down the hall is going to need a cleanup.”
“I can take care of that,” Nicoli said before Rourke and Asher could respond.
Jamie’s shoulders tensed up as he looked behind me at Nicoli.
“Thank you for the offer, Nicky, but it’s best to clean this mess ourselves,” I said over my shoulder.
“Then we’ll leave you to it,” Nicoli said and headed for the door.
Dario came to stand next to Brenna and held out her Beretta M9 that he had knocked out of her hand when they’d…sort of fought. Brenna eyed the gun, then him, before taking it. He gave her a small smile and followed his don.
After Nicoli and Dario left, Asher and Rourke headed down the hall toward the apartment. Jamie and Dean stayed with Brenna and me. Dean holstered his gun as he eyed Brenna’s arm that was still wrapped around my lower back with his signature grumpy frown. He walked over to my other side and went to put a hand on my back above Brenna’s arm. I tensed up, bracing for pain.
Before he could touch me, Brenna smacked his hand. He gave her a glare that clearly screamed,What the fuck?She shook her head slightly. Dean craned his head to look at my back. His eyes widened before they flicked to mine.
“Not here,” Brenna snapped at him before pointedly glancing at Jamie.
Jamie noticed and his face hardened. “You should have told us you knew where she was.”
Brenna didn’t cower under Jamie’s harsh gaze. Instead, she looked bored. “I don’t answer to you.”
The muscle in his jaw twitched.
“Do you need to see that he’s dead?” I asked, taking Jamie’s attention off Brenna.
He glanced down the hall and I could see that he did. I would have, too.
“Go. Get whatever closure you can from it. We’ll meet you downstairs.”
Jamie looked torn but gave in to the need. “I’ll just be a minute,” he said and headed for the apartment.
I waited until Jamie disappeared inside before whispering to Brenna and Dean, “Time to go.”
“We’re on the second floor. We’ll move quicker if Dean carries you,” Brenna said, already on board with my unvoiced plan.
I turned to Dean. Without having to be asked, my grumpy best friend scooped me up. The feel of his arm around my back as he lifted me bridal-style forced from me a pain-filled, guttural noise. Dean stilled at the sound. I wrapped my free arm around his neck and buried my face in his shoulder, trying to will away the pain and the urge to throw up. “Go,” I forced out through clenched teeth. Dean and Brenna rushed through the exit, which led to stairs that took us to the ground floor.
“Jameson is going to be pissed when he realizes you manipulated him,” Brenna commented as we made our way out of the building.
I would’ve felt bad, but I had zero fucks left to give.
