One Last Rainy Day: The Legacy of a Prince(34)
One long look at her profile as she stepped into my room to leave it on my desk, silenced every bit of the roar inside my head and chest and had me losing focus. I thanked her by slamming the door in her face. Sean reads my lingering silence as an admission that sends his wheels turning in the wrong direction and jacking his jaws. “You in need of another field session to work some of that aggression out, Major Malfunction?”
“Cute. Will you be using all your girlfriend’s quips against me now that you’re strung out?”
“Yep, this is a case of full-on penis envy,” he taunts.
“Sure it’s not you who’s envious?” I playfully slap his face. “Because I think we both know who she was dreaming about.”
With that, he pounces, managing to dodge my first light fist, landing his own sucker punch before racing into the hall. I lunge for him as he swings and narrowly misses me before leaping onto the stairs. When he’s halfway down, I tackle him at the landing, and we both slam into the drywall, hearing it crack.
“Get your fucking dick beaters off me,” Sean groans, gaining his bearings before throwing a blind fist behind him, catching me in the throat and momentarily stunning me. My hoarse threat reaches him as he pushes off the wall giving chase. “You better run.”
Sean bursts out of the townhouse with me hot on his heels and comes to a dead stop a few feet out. He curses before glancing back over his shoulder at me when I see Tyler’s expression—and whom he’s waiting with.
“It is lonely when you’re among people, too.”—Le Petit Prince, Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
Ginger sits passenger in Tyler’s truck where he stands next to his open door, holding an ice pack to her cheek, her lower lip caked with dried blood.
Fury clouds my vision as I stalk toward her and pinch her chin between my fingers, slowly turning her face to survey the damage.
“I’m sorry, Dom. I didn’t know where else to go. He’s on a rampage, and Toby,” a sob bursts from her as Sean speaks up from behind me.
“Dom, listen to me. You can’t go off. Now is not the time.”
He steps up next to me, his instructions for Ginger. “Ginger, I hate fucking saying this, but you’ll have to go the legal route.”
“Jeffrey’s cousin is a Triple Falls cop,” she discloses softly. “I’ve already tried.”
“Fuck,” Sean exhales, snapping his Zippo closed.
Tyler gently tucks her back inside his truck. “Give us a few minutes, sweetheart. Okay?”
Ginger’s eyes remain glued to mine through the glass after he shuts the door.
Tyler ushers me away from her as we huddle in the yard, my pulse thrumming in my ears.
Sean audibly exhales a plume of smoke. “Can’t we just wake up and eat our Wheaties like normal folk?”
“Not what we signed up for,” Tyler answers, eyes on me for a decision.
Sean waves him off, looking between us. “Yeah, yeah. What’s the plan?”
Tyler picks up where Sean left off, his words for me. “Dom, she’s going to have to go through legal channels to get him out. There’s no other way.”
“There’s a way,” I clip, pressing back against the rage threatening to overtake me as I sift through possibilities.
Dread covers both their expressions as Tyler presses me. “What are you thinking?”
“Get her to Layla, and don’t let her go home.” Tyler nods and, without another word, walks back to his truck before backing out.
Ginger’s eyes stay glued to mine as Sean speaks up beside me. “I can see a thousand scenarios going through that fucking head of yours.” He exhales more smoke as I stalk toward my Camaro. Sean opens my passenger door, opting to stick with me until he knows it’s safe to leave me to my own devices, dread in his tone. “Wonder which one will cost me less skin.”
Splintering the front door open instead of a polite knock, my birds flood in from behind me. Scanning the space, I’m met with the sight of Jeffrey’s friends scattered throughout Ginger’s living room and kitchen in different states of a fucking high. One with Toby’s baby bottle tipped up, drinking from the nipple.
Cloaked from head to boots in black, my inked brothers begin to pluck away Jefferey’s tribe one by one. Russell drags one kicking and screaming through the front door just as I zero in on the motherfucker and his wide eyes. In a flash, I’m gripping him by the neck and his jeans, lifting him chest level before dropping him onto the littered coffee table—which shatters beneath him. In seconds, the apartment is cleared, and the only remaining screams are those of the baby down the hall, echoing his mothers. I lift Jeffrey by the collar to see him conscious with only a few cuts—which won’t do.
His eyes widen when he realizes who is staring back at him through the ski mask. His scream cut off with my first blow. Knowing time is of the essence, I rain down on him as many times as I can, feeling his flesh give way to my knuckles to make sure he’s unrecognizable until Tyler rips me away.
“That’s enough, brother,” he urges before dragging Jeffrey’s unconscious body through the door. Marie follows, begging Tyler to release him—a fucking lost cause. Pulling my gloves from my pocket, I slide them on and dial the number with my burner phone while making my way toward the baby’s room.