The Mercenary and the Mortician (The Silent Hollow #1)

67. Cal Walker

I was so fucking comfy. Maybe the comfiest I had ever been in my life.

Where the fuck was I? Everything was all soft and squishy and warm…

Wait.

I wasn’t supposed to be feeling soft and squishy and warm.

I was supposed to be in my shitty bed at Apex.

My eyes shot open, and I had a horrifying, disoriented moment. I didn’t know where I was, and waking up somewhere unexpected was rarely a good thing when you’re a mercenary.

Shooting up in bed - well, I tried to shoot up. I wasn’t very successful. A sudden blinding pain exploded through my side like someone was stabbing me with a white-hot poker. I let out a sharp, surprised bark of pain.

“Whathaaafuckkk…” I hissed, leaning back into the softest pillows I had ever touched. Squinting and looking around the room, I quickly realized that I was in Ryan’s room.

Fuck.

Bad.

Bad, bad, bad, bad!

The man himself was, thankfully, nowhere to be seen.

Perfect.

I would just get up, put on some pants—since a quick check under the sheets told me I was currently going commando—and get the fuck out of here before he came back.

Taking a deep breath to test how badly I was injured, I tried to sit up again, this time using my elbows instead of the muscles in my abdomen.

Flashes of memory from the night before were coming back to me now.

I remembered the three dudes killing McGreggor. They had said something about us protecting a child sex trafficker… which… was twice now that I suspected Damian was involved in something shady like that. Unfortunately, before I’d had time to process that little piece of information, the night had gone to shit.

I remembered getting shot.

Vaguely, I remembered Vox busting in to save my sorry ass, but after that, everything went pretty dark.

I had zero recollection of how I’d ended up back at Fairview and in Ryan’s bed.

The wound in my side was bandaged, and I could feel the familiar pull of stitches as I did my best to wiggle my way out of bed. There was also a bandage over the brand Damian had given me, though the dressings looked like they needed to be changed…

I could get to that once I got back to Apex. I needed to confront Damian about the child trafficking once and for all.

As much as I was pissed off about the possibility that Damian might have been involved in child trafficking this whole fucking time… there was an even more urgent reason that I needed to leave.

I needed to get the fuck out of here before Damian realized where I was and took it out on Ryan.

Painfully slowly, I pushed the sheets down and worked toward swinging my legs over the edge of the bed. After an excruciating push that had me literally biting down on my tongue to keep from gasping in pain, my feet touched the ground.

I grinned.

Success.

“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”

Shit.

Busted.

I glanced over at the door to find the most handsome, perfect, gorgeous, sexy ginger snap standing in a soft T-shirt and blue jeans by the door to his room.

He was freshly showered and shaved, and he was holding a tray with what looked like pancakes and tea. There was even a tiny vase with a single lily balanced in the corner.

“Uhmm…” I stumbled over my words, somehow unable to complete a sentence.

Fuck, he was so good-looking.

He had his little grumpy scowl on his face. The one that made a crease between his perfect eyebrows. I just wanted to smooth it out with my thumb and then annoy him until it came back.

“You’re on strict bed rest, buddy. Lay back down.”

Buddy?! Who the fuck was he calling buddy?

I snorted and forced myself to give him a glare. It wasn’t my best work. I was finding it almost impossible to find that dead place I needed to get to if I was going to successfully push him away.

Remembering how broken and sad he had looked when I told him I didn’t want him anymore, I just couldn’t do it. The guilt that welled in my chest at the thought was unbearable.

Maybe I should just be straight up with him.

“Ginger snap…”

His lip twitched up at his nickname, and he stalked into the room, putting the tray of food on the end table next to me. When he looked down at my fully exposed and naked body, I almost made a joke about him checking me out, but it quickly became apparent that wasn’t where his mind was. He crouched down and immediately checked the bandages on my side and chest, frowning to himself. I shivered as he passed the most gentle touches over my bare skin. He glanced up to meet my gaze, that little crease still perched stubbornly between his brows.

I caved and reached forward, cupping his face with my hand and using my thumb to smooth it away.

His ‘stern boi’ look softened, and he touched a hand to my chin, causing me to swallow.

“How are you feeling, angel? Are you experiencing any discomfort in your abdomen? Any intense pain?”

He called me angel again…

Why did he keep calling me that?

“No…” I whispered, swallowing once more.

I was in pain, but it was more of a dull, constant throb. The kind of pain that faded into the background if I stayed still enough.

“Do you need to go to the bathroom? Is that why you’re trying to get up? I can help you walk if you need a hand. We can also get a wheelchair for you if you think that would be easier. It might give you more autonomy while you’re healing.”

I snorted, disgusted with the idea of him seeing me wheel around in a chair like some sort of invalid.

“I don’t need a fucking wheelchair,” I snapped, and his mouth twitched again.

“Well, okay. Do you need to go to the bathroom?”

I scowled. “No.”

“Then what are you doing trying to get out of bed, Callum?”

Dropping my gaze, I tongued my lip ring.

I had to tell him that I needed to leave. Why was it so hard?

When it became apparent I wasn’t going to be able to answer him, he sighed.

“I see. So you were trying to leave?” he said, reading my mind.

He stood up and crossed his arms over his chest, giving me that stern look of his again.

“Yeah. I have to.”

It was his turn to snort. “You’re not going anywhere, Callum. Get back in bed.”

I narrowed my eyes on him, a low growl building in my chest.

“Have you forgotten who’s in charge here?”

He rolled his eyes, and before I could react, the sassy bitch reached forward and poked me in the side, right in my fucking bullet wound.

“AH! Whaddafack!” I barked, jerking away from him. His eyes sparkled with amusement, and he snatched up my ankles, spinning my legs back into bed and pulling the covers up over me while I twitched in pain.

“Lie down, you fucking drama queen.” He sighed and snatched up the tray of food, sliding it onto my lap. “Don’t move, or you’ll spill the tea.”

I glared at him, stilling beneath the tray so I wouldn’t make a mess.

“Ryan. I have to go. If Damian finds out I’m here, he’ll hurt you. He’ll hurt Iris and Theo, too.”

Ryan didn’t seem concerned at all. He fluffed my pillows behind me and pulled open the drawer at the end table, fussing around with what looked like a roll of gauze and surgical tape.

“Eat your pancakes, then we’re going to need to clean and re-dress your wounds. Do you need anything for the pain? Dr. Callahan left me some T3s that you can take if you think you need them. It’s also almost time for your antibiotic.”

“Aren’t you listening? Damian will kill you, Ryan! He’ll kill your whole family! I can’t be the one responsible for that. I could never live with myself. I need to get out of here before he figures out where I am.”

Finally, Ryan stopped fussing and turned to face me, giving me a hard look.

“Damian already knows you’re here. Vox texted him.”

“Wh-what?” I felt the blood drain from my face.

No, no, no, no… this couldn’t be happening.

Ryan sighed and sat on the edge of the bed. He reached over and cupped my face gently, brushing his thumb over my lips.

“I want you to quit Apex,” he said, and I fucking laughed out loud.

“No one quits Apex, Ryan.”

He pursed his lips and shrugged. “Then I guess you’ll be the first.”

“I can’t. Baby, he will kill you. Do you not fucking understand what I’m saying?”

“He can try,” Ryan said with the stubborn innocence of someone who had no fucking idea how bad of a man Damian was.

“You don’t know what you’re talking about, Ryan.”

He shrugged. “Maybe not, but Vox seems to think it’s possible, and I’m fairly certain he knows what he’s doing when it comes to this kind of stuff.”

“He has conditional hits out on my sisters!” I protested, and Ryan nodded.

“Yeah. He had quite a few of those. Vox thinks he found most of them. He’s countered the offers. He also released a notice on one of your dark web board thingies letting the bad guys know that we’ll match and beat anything Damian promises to eliminate any future contracts he may try to slip by.”

“ What!?” I exclaimed, my mouth literally falling open. If that was true, how was this fucking house not already on fire? Damian would be fucking livid!

Ryan smirked as if he was reading my mind. “Vox has Fairview pretty locked down. I don’t think anyone can even get up the street without him knowing about it.”

I was gaping at Ryan, barely managing to process what he was telling me.

“Listen. At the end of the day, it has to be your choice to quit, Callum. I can’t make that choice for you. But I’m going to be straight up here. I want you to quit. Consequences be damned. You deserve better than the horrible things that piece of shit has forced you to endure.” His gaze fell to the bandage on my chest, and shame swirled in my gut when I realized he probably knew I had been branded.

“It’s not my decision to make, Ryan,” I whispered, my eyes suddenly burning with tears. “I can’t make a decision like that and put all your lives at risk.”

He nodded. “We thought you might say something like that. So we’ve decided to make it easy for you.”

There was a soft knock on the door, and I glanced up to find Naomi, Cass, Theo, Iris, and Vox all crowded in the frame.

Ryan turned and beamed at them.

“Can we come in?” Naomi asked softly, and I tucked my blanket up higher, not wanting to accidentally flash my little sister.

“Yeah. Please. Come in, all of you. I think Cal needs to hear this directly from you guys, or his stubborn ass isn’t going to get it.”

I scoffed, but Ryan just smirked at me.

Everyone filed into the room, and the way they were all staring at me like they were worried about me was making my chest tight. Even grumpy-ass Theo looked concerned.

“Did you tell him we want him to quit?” Naomi asked, coming up to the side of the bed and dropping a kiss on the side of my head.

Ryan nodded but sighed. “Yeah. But he’s worried about what will happen if he does. He’s scared Damian will kill us to punish him.”

“He will!” I exclaimed, crossing my arms over my chest, ignoring the sting of my brand. Vox scoffed and rolled his eyes, shaking his head as if echoing Ryan’s earlier sentiment.

He can fucking try.

I met my friend’s silver eyes and found him smirking at me. There was a challenge there. The same sparkling challenge that we’ve used on each other since we were kids.

Come on, Cal. Don’t be a pussy. Let’s fuck shit up together. Like old times.

I could literally hear his thoughts as if he had spoken them out loud.

“We all want you to quit, Cal,” Naomi said. “Damian can suck it.”

“Gnomes… if something were to happen to you because of me…” I swallowed, but Cass stepped forward, her mouth in a firm line.

“Cal. Enough. We will all protect Naomi together.”

“I don’t want that responsibility to fall on you, Cass,” I whispered, and she rolled her eyes.

“ Please. Sometimes, I think you’ve convinced yourself that you actually killed our mom.”

Anxiety spiked through my chest at the brazen way she just admitted that out loud. I glanced nervously at Ryan, who looked just as shocked as I expected.

“He didn’t?” he asked.

Cass chuckled. “Nope. That was all me. I slit that bitch’s throat and never lost a wink of sleep over it. Cal lied to try and keep me out of trouble. He was so covered in blood that no one believed me when I told them I did it.”

Cass turned back to look at me. “Stop acting like it’s your job to keep us all safe, Callum. It’s our job to protect each other . And if I need to slit that twat waffle’s throat to keep him from hurting you, then so be it. You’re done with Apex. We’ll deal with what comes together.”

“Damn, princess,” Theo murmured from where she was leaning against the bedpost, her hands jammed in her pockets. “That’s hot.”

Cass’s lip twitched, and if I didn’t know any better, I would say her cheeks turned a little pink.

I eyed Theo critically. “What about you? You can’t be thrilled that I just busted into your brother’s life and put all of you in danger like this.”

Theo looked at me, her lips pursing in thought for a moment before she glanced back at Iris. Iris gave her daughter a gentle smile, and Theo sighed before cutting me another piercing glare.

“You’re Ryan’s person, which means you’re family now. We don’t turn our backs on family.”

My throat completely closed up, and the burning in my eyes came to a head. A hot tear slid down my cheek without my permission, but it didn’t get far.

Ryan cupped my face in his hands and gently kissed the wetness away.

Right in front of fucking everyone.

“See, angel? You’re not alone. We’re all in this together. Stay here with us. Tell Damian you’re done, and let me take care of you.”

I blinked at this amazing man who, barely a month ago, had been screaming at me to get out of his life. He was now telling me he was willing to risk that life so I could stay here with him.

“Let’s give them some privacy,” Iris whispered, and everyone filed out of the room, leaving me alone with my ginger snap.

He grinned at me and made a waving motion with his hand.

“Scootch over; your breakfast is getting cold. If you don’t dig in soon, I’m going to have to spoon-feed you.”

I choked on a laugh but did as he said and carefully slid over to make room for him while doing my best not to topple anything over on the tray.

“You’re being pretty bossy. When I’m all healed up, I’m going to have to fuck you back into submission. You know that, right?”

Ryan’s eyes glittered with a sort of heated amusement, and he grinned at me.

“You have no idea how much I’m looking forward to that.” He hummed, and my cock twitched between my legs at the huskiness in his voice.

“Better eat and get your strength up so you can teach me a lesson.” He winked, and I couldn’t help the low rumble that rolled through my chest.

“Careful, ginger snap. You keep saying shit like that, and I’m gonna end up ripping a stitch.”

He laughed and leaned forward, kissing me gently on the lips.

“Eat your breakfast, you psycho,” he murmured against me, and I sighed into his mouth.

As terrified as I was that this was a horrible mistake that was going to blow up in my face, I wasn’t strong enough to fight it anymore.

For the first time since that day in the precinct at ten years old, I allowed myself to share the load.

I let Ryan convince me that we were all going to be okay, and I leaned into the safety his promises offered me.

Maybe, just this one time, it was okay for me to be selfish.

Just this once…