Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
CHRISTIAN
“How many people have told you not to do it and run?”
I smirk sipping my drink as I watch everyone talking and enjoying themselves.
“Everyone has said it at least once,” I reply, turning to Logan. “How many people have asked you if you actually like sharing your woman with other men?”
He rolls his eyes, places his empty glass on the bar, and tells the server what he wants.
“Everyone has asked at least once, nosey fuckers.”
“Every man wants relationships with multiple women, but it takes a real, confident man to share one woman with multiple men.” I have had every man and his dog ask me if I’m sure I want to share my woman with my brothers. When I tell them I have no doubts, they joke about none of us being able to satisfy Jasmine on our own. The first couple of times, I defended our family with violence and threats, but as Jason pointed out one night. No one will ever understand it until they have experienced it themselves.
“I’m going to have that printed on a T-shirt,” Logan says, causing me to laugh into my drink.
“I’ll take four.” I look around again to see all three of my brothers laughing with friends in different areas of the club. They look so at ease, and not just because they are half-cut. They have always been great at things like this, being around people for reasons other than business. But it’s a privilege I didn’t have growing up. From age fifteen, every time I was out of the ring or not being forced through rigorous training, thanks to Tommy, I was in business meetings or learning about the workings of the underworld. I was never allowed to just go out and interact with people on a social basis. Besides the occasional drinking session with Travis or Terry, usually, while our fathers talked business or were out somewhere, I never got the whole social life experience. But I made sure my brothers did; I pushed them to experience as much of life as possible. I didn’t want them to turn out like me.
“How’s Chelsea and Luna doing? Is everything going okay with the pregnancy?” I don’t miss the sheer pride on Logan's face as he thinks of his new partner and the little girl he has adopted as his own.
“They are both doing great. Luna is really looking forward to the wedding. She has been practising walking down the aisle nonstop. It was sweet of Jaz to ask her to be the flower girl.”
“Jasmine has a soft spot for that little girl. I think she enjoys spending time with her more than anyone else.” A few times, Jasmine has watched Luna for her parents. Luna wants to attend Jasmine's dance school, so they’ve been having little lessons together. It’s adorable to watch the way they interact with each other. Luna has become a family member and refers to Jason as Uncle Jason.
“Someone doesn’t look happy,” Logan declares, nodding towards the other side of the room. I turn to look when I see Sean arguing with someone and Maximus charging in to stand with his brother.
“What the fuck?” I curse, jumping to my feet and heading over to where the argument is breaking out. I spot Terry, who frowns when he sees me. I nod towards Sean and see the realisation on his face.
“We have a breech,” I point out as he joins me. We are only a handful of metres from the twins when the guy Sean is arguing with throws a punch. Sean blocks it and quickly restrains him, pulling a gun from the back of his trousers.
As Sean took that guy down, two try to jump Maximus.
“Fuck,” Terry and I curse together as we throw ourselves into the fight.
Suddenly, all hell breaks loose, and about twenty people pile into the area, all gunning for a fight. At first, I assume they are defending us, but when I see who they are, I realise not a single one of them was on the invite list.
“Layton, there’s been a breech!” Terry shouts as his second grabs a guy and throws him to another security team member to remove.
“You don’t fucking say!” Layton shouts back as he rugby tackles someone heading towards Sean, who has his back turned.
“Get the O’Reillys out of here!” Layton shouts before being punched hard in the face.
“Christian!”
Instinct has me ducking whilst spinning on my heels to find a guy standing behind me with a knife in his hand. Grabbing his wrist as I come up, I use to momentum to twist his arm, causing the knife to drop from his hand. Before it hits the floor, I grab it and thrust it into his gut. The blood sprays across my hand and wrist as I pull the knife from the wound, wanting to cause him as much pain as possible.
“Christian!” I look up as Jason punches a guy and takes out his legs by kicking him behind the knee.
“I want every fucker cuffed and in the arena!” I shout over the ruckus. Then I realise our security and friends have surrounded us and are doing all they can to protect us.
“Get in the office now!” Terry shouts as someone kicks him in the ribs. I can tell from the sheer pain on his face that at least one of them is broken.
“What the fuck is going on?” Jason shouts as a member of thesecurity forces him and me into a corner and stands in front of us. I see two other security members ushering the twins towards us. Both look furious and ready to kill someone.
“Get in the office and stay there!” Terry snaps, pointing to the door.
“I’m not hiding!” Jason shouts as Terry turns to stare at him.
“No, you are making sure you don’t look like shit when you see Jaz!” I’ll give it to him. He knows that the only way to get my brothers or me to do anything we don’t want to is by pointing out that Jasmine would disapprove.
“I want them all in the arena!” I shout, knowing he wouldn’t have heard me before.
“Already on it!” he yells back before grabbing someone off one of our guests and throwing him towards Layton, who has just finished knocking someone else out.
There must be at least twenty security members here, each one fighting someone. I see Logan disarming someone and holding a gun to their head before passing them over to a member of security.
“Fuck this.”
I push past the security trying to block me in, jump on a table and fire my gun three times into the air before holding it in front of me, ready to take out any fucker who tries anything. I don’t have to look to see my brothers standing with me. All four of us, back-to-back like it’s always been.
“The next fucker to move is getting a bullet to the head!” I yell as the sound dies down around us. Someone lifts their gun and aims it at me, but I take them out without a second thought. “Anyone else want to fucking try it?” Everyone freezes, and I take in the scene before me.
There are people lying on the floor; at first glance, most look alive, bar a few. Alasdair McIntire is on the other side of the floor, and I can see he has at least four security guards around him. This wasn’t his fight; he could have left, and I wouldn’t have blamed him. Instead, he stayed, and I can see he’s been involved.
“Fucking arsehole!”
I spin just in time to see Calvin tackling someone to the ground, a gun skidding towards Drew, who kicks it out of everyone’s way whilst pointing his own one at the guy Calvin has just tackled.
“You need to fucking pay O’Reilly!” the guy yells. He lifts his head and looks straight at me. “You really thought you could kill Taylor, Flint and Hudson and get away with it!” he looks to Jason, then the twins, whose backs are to him as they watch those behind me. “You all need taking down. You need to realise you’re not fucking invincible, you piece of-” he gets cut off as Calvin hits him hard with his gun, knocking him out. Other people start shouting and trying to fight back again, but they’ve lost and know it. Some people managed to escape before they could be restrained, leaving about fifteen being held by security and friends as someone rushes around handing out zip-ties to use for cuffs.
Logan and Drew start dragging off the unconscious ones as Layton shouts for everyone to get the rest to the arena. My eyes fall on Terry, leaning against a wall, his hand on his side, looking like he’s just gone twelve rounds in the ring and lost every one.
“Get in the office,” I order, walking to the door and unlocking it with the code.
“I’m fine,” he argues, but I just give him a look. I see Layton talking to two guests a few feet away.
“Layton!” He turns to my voice and rushes towards me. “I’m taking Terry to the office to get him cleaned up. I want everyone down in the arena—invited and uninvited guests. I want a count of injured, names and who stuck up for us. I will message you when we are leaving the office. Make sure no one comes in unless cleared with me first.”
As I’ve come to expect from Terry’s second, he nods once with a firm, “Yes, sir.” Before turning to Terry. “Get your ass cleaned and checked out, old man, I have everything under control.”
“Fucking arsehole, forgets he’s the rookie,” Terry mutters under his breath before following me and my brothers into the staff area. I can see Jason looking around before following and know he will be looking for Calvin. Once again, it seems his old guard has saved his life.
“We will find him before heading to the ring,” Sean says as he stands waiting for his brother. Jason nods before following and letting the door close behind him. As I turn from watching him, I see Terry struggling to walk. Stepping beside him, I place my arm around his waist and let him lean on me a little. At first, he tries to resist, but I shake my head.
“No one can see. Just accept help for once in your life, you stubborn arsehole.” Terry stares at me angrily for a moment before his head drops slightly, and I feel him relaxing into me the best he can.
The five of us walk in silence until we get to our office. Maximus unlocks the door, and we all enter. I lead Terry to the desk and get him to sit in the chair, as it’s higher than the sofa. Once I can see he’s settled, I turn and look around the room, needing to check each of my brothers is okay.
Maximus heads straight for the bar and pours five drinks. Whilst he’s busy, I walk over to where Jason’s with Sean, who is holding a napkin to his eyebrow.
“Let me see.” Sean looks at me for a second before lowering the cloth. He has a split eyebrow, but nothing worse than he’s had in the ring. “Jason, can you grab a first-aid box? We may need a second just for Terry.”
“Yeah, I’ll sort it,” he replies. Before he can walk away, I grab his arm and force him to look at me.
“Are you okay?” I ask, giving him a warning with my eyes about lying. Jason nods before looking me in the eye.
“You?”
“Nothing a strong drink won’t fix,” I reply, forcing a smile. Jason watches me momentarily before nodding again and walking over to the cabinet where we always keep a fully loaded first-aid kit.
I turn back to Sean and signal for him to sit on the sofa. Maximus heads over and places three glasses on the coffee table beside the seat before helping Sean out of his shirt. I hadn’t realised it was ripped until Maximus held it up.
“Were you stabbed?” I ask as Maximus lifts Sean's arm and checks out a wound.
“It’s only a scratch; you got lucky,” Maximus says, lowering his arm back down.
“I was lucky Mykela was there to knock the guy over before he could do some real damage,” Sean sighs. It seems there’s another personal guard who I need to thank. I work in silence as I go through the box Jason brings over and set up everything I need to clean the wound.
“Want to tell me what happened?” I ask, wetting some gauze. Sean sighs as he takes a sip of the drink Maximus hands over.
“I have no idea. One minute, I’m laughing with a few friends; the next, Flint's son is standing in front of me, shouting that I killed his dad. I haven’t seen him in years it took me a second to realise who he was.” Sean hisses as I dab the wound. I apologise under my breath but don’t stop, knowing it will only make the pain worse.
“I want to know how he got in,” Jason asks behind me.
“I will find out,” Terry answers from the desk. Looking over at my oldest friend, I can see how much he is struggling.
“If Sean needs stitches, I want you to do them,” I whisper to Jason, nodding to Terry. He looks at the guy and nods, knowing I want to take care of him myself.
“So there was no warning; he just jumped you?” Jason asks Sean, who nods.
“Logan noticed before I did. We were at the bar. I was already heading to Sean when I saw the first punch being thrown,” I explain. “All hell broke out from there.”
“Do we even know how many there were?” Maximus asks. “As well as why they chose tonight? How did they even know about it? We have kept it quiet for a reason.”
I shrug, not knowing how to answer. We have hundreds if not thousands of contacts in both lines of work, but we agreed to keep anything wedding-related under lock and key. The only people invited to anything, such as the wedding or parties, are people we have known for years and trust to keep their mouths shut if they see anything they shouldn’t. That doesn’t mean I won't have to put a warning out tonight. That's why I have asked everyone to be put in the arena; I have no intention of repeating myself.
“I will get to the bottom of it. As for how they got in, I have no idea. They must have had inside help because security was tight, and I trust our guys as well as Calvin’s,” Jason says behind me, sighing. I nod in agreement.
“Did everyone put all the names of those invited on the list?” I ask, sitting back on my heels and checking Sean’s wound. Thankfully, it doesn’t need stitches; butterfly strips should do. I hear all my brothers confirm before getting up from the floor.
“Strips are all he will need. Can you sort that?” I ask Jason, who nods and takes my place. I mutter a thanks before grabbing the kit and heading over to Terry.
I look at him, almost asleep in my chair, and for a moment, I consider calling an ambulance.
“I swear to God, O’Reilly, if you make a fuss, I will kick your ass.” He doesn’t even bother to open his eyes as he scolds me.
“Please, you struggle to take me on a good day. You have no fucking chance right now,” I smirk. “Let’s get you out of that jacket.” From the effort it takes, I know there is no denying Terry needs X-rays. He has at least fractured his collarbone and ribs. I don’t think there is a part of him that isn’t injured.
“I thought you were meant to be good at your job?” I mock, trying to keep the atmosphere light.
“I’m fucking brilliant at my job. You’re not injured or dead, are you? I’m meant to protect you, not myself.”
“Good point,” I laugh as Terry smiles, and the split on his lip bleeds again. “You know you will need to go in, though, don’t you.” Terry rolls his eyes and instantly flinches. I don’t think there is an area of his face that isn’t bruised.
“I’m fine; it's all superficial,” he tries to argue, but I know one way to ensure he stops.
“Do I need to call Jasmine?” Terry freezes and stares at me for a second before looking defeated. “I thought as much,” I laugh. I love how threatening him with Jasmine makes him listen each time.
“You know the staff are more scared of her than you, right?” he chuckles before regretting it. I laugh out loud, nodding.
“Don’t tell her, but so am I. That woman is a force to be reckoned with, and I couldn’t be prouder.”
“I will second that,” Maximus calls.
“Third,” Sean adds.
“Fourth!” Jason laughs as he continues to tidy up Sean's wound.
“She is going to be so mad when she sees the state of us all,” Maximus points out. I shake my head and point to the wardrobe. We keep one in every location we own to ensure we can change if we need to. Each contains at least one suit for each of us.
“She won’t know. We can shower and get changed before heading home.” I look at Sean and nod at his face. “We will say a small fight broke out, but that’s expected at these kinds of events.” The others look at each other before Jason answers.
“Don’t you think we should tell her something more than that? She deserves to know the truth.”
“No,” I interrupt. “That’s all she needs to know. I don’t want her worrying that this was more than it was. We will deal with those who were here tonight and make sure the world is reminded why they shouldn’t fuck with us.” I turn my attention back to cleaning Terry.
“Christian, I know you mean well, and fuck, I want to keep her as much in the dark as possible too, but she is about to become our wife and deserves to know everything about us. The good, the bad and the downright ugly,” Sean points out. I turn and look at my brothers, who are all watching me.
“And she will, just not yet. She is dealing with so much already. It’s only been five days since she had a full breakdown after therapy, and the last thing she needs is us bringing this shit home. Let’s get through the wedding and ensure she is stronger. I don’t want shit like this taking away what a magical time this should be for her.” I look at each of them and see deep down that they know I’m right. “She has never had what we are trying to give her with this wedding. I want it to be perfect for her, and I will do whatever it takes for that to happen.” I watch them momentarily, waiting for them to continue questioning me, but they don’t. “Thank you.”
Turning my attention back to the job at hand, I clean Terry up whilst making a plan with the others on how we are going to deal with people waiting for us in the arena.