21. Twenty
Twenty
Kayleigh
F uck him. How dare he show up and get rid of my date. What did he fucking expect? That I would happily jump into his arms? Knowing his twisted, fucked-up mind, probably. That shit isn’t happening. I storm toward my car, but my internal rant is cut short when I see Elizabeth Gordan, Andrew’s mother, standing out on the sidewalk with a gun at her side.
“You fucking bitch. What did you do to my baby?” she says, pointing the gun at me.
I immediately put my hands up. “I don’t know where Andrew is. I haven’t seen him in several months.”
“Don’t fucking lie to me. You probably had him killed. Just because you aren’t good enough to keep my son satisfied and he chose to find others who could, doesn’t mean you can use your gangster family to have my precious baby boy killed.”
“I promise you, I have no idea where Andrew is. I want nothing to do with him again after the way he abused me.”
“He would NEVER. He is a doctor; a doctor saves lives, they do not take them. And he would never abuse someone.” I watch in horror as her finger squeezes the trigger, and before I can react, I feel the heat of the bullet and it registers that I have been shot. When the pain starts, I look down and see blood spreading across the bottom of my shirt, so I clutch onto my stomach and fall to the ground.
“What have I done?” I hear Elizabeth say. I watch as Aiden comes out of nowhere and tackles her to the ground and restrains her.
“KAYLEIGH!” Erik is shoving people out of his way and runs to my side.
“E-Er-Erik,” I say as I start coughing up blood.
“Shh, seamrag bheag. Save your breath,” he tells me. All I want to do is tell him that I want him to be happy and I’m thankful for him saving me. But each breath becomes more and more painful.
“Th-ha-nk yo-u.”
“Kayleigh, please save your strength,” Erik begs me. I hate how much pain there is in his eyes. I reach up with one of my bloody hands and cup his face, showing him with my eyes how much he means to me.
“No, Kayleigh. Don’t you fucking dare look at me like you’re saying goodbye. You are not leaving me,” he says in a hoarse whisper. I try to hold on, but my eyes feel heavy. At least I can’t feel the pain anymore.
Erik
I ignore Aiden, who has the bitch restrained. “Kayleigh,” I yell, slapping her cheek, but she doesn’t open her eyes.
“Where is that fucking ambulance?” I scream. A man yells that it’s only a few minutes out. I push down harder on her stomach; I feel the warmth of her blood soaking around my hands.
“Please, Kayleigh. I need you,” I tell her. I feel nauseous seeing her blood on my hands. My hands are dirty with all the blood I have shed and it has never bothered me. But knowing my seamrag bheag is hanging onto her life scares the shit out of me.
I feel a hand on my shoulder and turn to see Aiden, Kayleigh’s brother, standing next to me. I go to ask where Elizabeth is but I see her in handcuffs being escorted in the back of a police car “They will be here in a minute. I’ve already called Daid(translate).”
“I will stay with her.”
“I’m her brother.”
“And I’m her future husband; do not get in my way. I don’t care if you are family, no one is going to get between me and her.”
“You better not be the reason she came home in tears and has been crying when she thinks no one is watching.”
“She ran away before we could talk, and I have been giving her time. Trust me, I already had a plan to bring her home, but we can talk about this later.” I turn my attention to the ambulance pulling in.
“Hurry the fuck up. She has been shot in the stomach and went unconscious a few minutes ago.”
“Okay, move aside so we can get her to the hospital.” I step away and watch as they put Kayleigh on a stretcher and strap her in place before loading her into the back of the ambulance.
“Who is riding along?”
“I am. I’m her fiancé.”
I hear Aiden growl something under his breath. No way the family rule bullshit is keeping me from my seamrag bheag. I jump in and sit on the side of the ambulance, grabbing Kayleigh’s hand. “Fight, seamrag bheag. I know you are a fighter; you have survived so much, and I know you can survive this.”
****
I jump out of the ambulance next to Kayleigh and hold onto her hand until I am pulled away from her when they wheel her into emergency surgery.
“Please, that is my fiancée.”
“And she is where she needs to be to get help, so you need to let us do our jobs. The sooner you let us get her back there, the sooner we can save her so you don’t lose her forever.”
I grab the doctor by the lapels of his coat. “If she doesn’t make it, you won’t be going home alive either.”
“FIANCéE’?” I look over to Peter who is charging at me. I let go of the doctor and see my bloody handprints are on his coat; good, it will serve as a reminder of what is at risk if he fucks up.
“Did you just say you are Kayleigh’s fiancé?”
“And if I did?”
“You are too old for her.”
“We are both consenting adults.” We are now standing inches from each other. I can see Peter wants a reason to swing at me, but he can do all he wants and it won’t make a difference.
“You took advantage of her when she was with you. You fucking saw exactly what that motherfucker did to her, and you used it to touch her.”
“Instead of accusing me of shit, why don’t you try asking me what happened between us?” I ask him in a calm voice.
“I don’t need to because you are not her fiancé and you will never see her again.”
Wrong fucking thing to say. I grab him and pull him close so we are basically nose to nose.
“No one, and I mean no one, will keep me from Kayleigh. She is my seamrag bheag, my Irish princess, one day my queen who will stand by my side and help me rule my kingdom. We will get married, grow old together as we watch our children and grandchildren grow.”
Grace steps up next to us. “This is not the time or place for this. Table it for now. Both of you need to be on different sides of the waiting room.”
I sit by myself on the far side of waiting room while the O’Sullivan men glare at me. They can glare at me all they want. Once Kayleigh is healed enough, I will be carrying her ass onto my plane and taking her home. She will be lucky if I let her out of my sight after this.