28. Duke #2
Adrenaline coursed through me as I shouldered my way through the growing crowd.
Through the chaos, it looked as though a shoving match had broken out between Kings and Sullivans.
While Matty screamed at Royal, Royal simply looked on, irate as he began rolling up his shirtsleeves, exposing the intricate designs of tattoos that covered him from his knuckles up.
Matty was a fucking idiot. Royal could lay him out flat with one punch if he wanted to, but he was young and a hothead.
“Hey!” My deep voice rumbled above the crowd. “The hell is going on?”
“Why don’t you ask your shithead family?” Royal tipped his chin in my cousin’s direction, which incited a fresh slew of colorful language from Matty.
I turned toward my idiot cousin. “Shut it.”
His nostrils flared, but his jaw clamped shut. The crowd pulsed behind us, disappointed to not see Matty and Royal tussle.
I held my arms out to my sides, palms up in hopes of proving to Royal I wasn’t looking to fight. “What’s going on?”
Anger rolled off Royal. “Matty and his friends thought it would be fucking hilarious to soap the storefront.”
I glanced over Royal’s shoulder, and sure enough someone had taken a bar of soap to the storefront window, obscuring the meticulous paint job.
I looked back to Royal and scoffed. “Come on. It’s a harmless prank. You can’t say we haven’t each done stupid shit.” I gestured toward Matty. “He was dumb enough to get caught. That’s on us.”
Royal pointed at my chest. “Get more creative, more stealthy, or grow the fuck up.”
I clenched my jaw as I stared at him, but nodded. He was right. The prank was pretty dumb and childish, and not all that creative—would definitely be a disappointment in Lee’s eyes, that was for damn sure.
Sensing the situation was defused, I turned my back to Royal, even though the crowd still egged their respective sides on, hoping for more of an argument. I stomped toward Matty, whose eyes were still wild.
I had put my hand against his chest to move him back a few steps when he sidestepped me, leaning down to pick something up off the planter box near the edge of the sidewalk. “How’s this for creative, asshole?”
Time slowed.
From the corner of my eye I didn’t register the brick in Matty’s hand until it was too late.
I could only turn and stare as his arm reared back.
The brick sailed in the air over Royal’s shoulder and nearly grazed his ear.
He flinched and ducked before it had the chance to land squarely against his temple.
Instead, the brick crashed directly into the King Tattoo storefront window. Glass shattered. Screaming rang out.
“The fuck!” Fury coursed through Royal’s voice as he charged forward, tackling Matty.
Wyatt and I had moved to pull him off our idiot cousin when I heard a scream. “Oh my god!”
My heart stopped. I knew that voice, though I had never heard it laced with such panic.
Sylvie.
Chunks of jagged glass spread across the sidewalk. Many of the storefronts downtown were relics in themselves and hadn’t been updated with anti-shatter glass.
The brick had created a hole in the window and bounced across the tattoo shop floor. A huge spider web pattern inched its way across the remaining glass.
Sylvie and MJ were crouched on the sidewalk beneath the window. I hadn’t even realized she was there but assumed the way news travels in this town, she and MJ had decided to come by when they heard something was happening.
MJ held Sylvie as Sylvie clutched her arm, from beneath her fingertips, her face pale and eyes wide.
“Oh shit, Sylvie,” MJ cried, alarmed.
My feet couldn’t get me there fast enough as I watched MJ rip off her heavy coat and immediately go into nurse mode.
Sylvie had been wearing a thin jacket. It was the only one that still fit her, and she’d refused to let me buy her a new one.
She called it pointless since she wouldn’t get much use out of it after the pregnancy.
When she fell, a sliver of glass had torn through the thin fabric and into her forearm.
MJ’s hand clamped above where Sylvie was bleeding.
I crowded her space. “How bad is it?”
“I don’t know. Bad enough. We ducked to get out of the way of the brick and Sylvie slipped.” I didn’t miss the fleeting flash of panic in MJ’s eyes before she tamped it down and got to work, wrapping the belt from her own coat around the upper part of Sylvie’s forearm.
Sylvie sank down on her heels, holding her arm out as though she didn’t want to get any of her own blood on her belly.
I had pulled up my phone to call 911 when Kate’s hand stopped me. “I already called. They’re on their way.”
Howling buzzed in my ears as I looked on, helpless. Royal moved to his sister’s side while Kate, Lark, and Wyatt worked to disperse the crowd. In our small town, it was only a matter of minutes before the EMTs arrived, my brother included.
Lee spared only a quick glance to the storefront window before taking over and rushing to Sylvie’s side. I sagged in relief that he immediately went to help her instead of holding her last name against her.
Unable to help, I did the one thing I knew I could do. I turned to my cousin and hauled him off his ass by his collar. “Stand the fuck up.”
“Duke, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to— I didn’t think that?—”
“Yeah, no shit, you didn’t think.” I pulled him closer to the window so he could see what he had done and also see that people had gotten hurt.
Not just people, my person.
“Come on, man, let me go. It was just a joke.”
“This isn’t a fucking joke.” I was unhinged, rage clawing at my throat.
Royal stepped up beside me. “She’s okay, not as bad as it looked. Lee’s getting her wrapped up.”
I kept staring down at my cousin but spoke to Royal. “Call the sheriff.”
“The cops? Are you kidding me?” Matty whined. “You know Amy King will have my ass if she has the opportunity to arrest me. Come on, man.” He pleaded to Royal. “You’re not gonna press charges, are you? It was an accident.”
I tightened my grip around his collar and hauled him against me. “I don’t give a shit if he’s pressing charges about the window. I’m pressing charges. Assault. I don’t give a fuck if you’re a Sullivan or not.”
That was it. The line. The moment where I knew .
Nothing and no one mattered more than her. I would choose Sylvie over all others, even a Sullivan.
Royal clamped a hand on my shoulder. “She’s asking for you.” My head whipped in his direction. “I’ll make sure he hangs around until Amy gets here. Go.”
I looked over his face and, with a nod, released Matty and walked to where my brother was putting the final touches on a bandage wrap on Sylvie’s forearm. Someone had draped a wool blanket over her shoulders, but she still shivered against the frigid February air.
Lee looked at her with a kindness I realized he reserved for all his patients. He was damn good at his job and loved what he did. Pride filled my chest for my little brother.
When Sylvie’s gaze lifted to mine, the tears that gathered on her lower lashes tipped over and streamed down her cheeks.
I brushed one away with my thumb as I crouched in front of her. “About gave me a heart attack, woman.”
Her gentle laugh was the balm my heart needed. “I don’t know what happened. I think the glass was already on the ground when I stumbled and just caught it at the right angle.”
“It’s not deep, just a superficial cut that got her in the right spot,” Lee assured me.
“Sometimes those bleed like the devil.” Lee gave a charming smile and winked at Sylvie.
My brother turned to me. “I’d still like her to go in, though.
Get checked out and make sure everything’s all good with the baby, since she took a tumble.
” He focused his attention back on Sylvie.
“Are you sore anywhere? Any cramping? Tender spots?” His hold on her elbow was gentle, and she shook her head. “Do you think you can stand?”
She nodded and allowed MJ and Lee to lift her to her feet. I stepped forward, and she melted into me. “What were you doing here?”
I held her in my arms and swayed slowly. “I should ask you the same thing.”
“Sloane texted that there was some drama going down at Royal’s shop.” She gestured with her head. “We were just over at the café having a slice of pie.”
“Playing hooky from the Bluebirds?” I asked, trying to help her think about anything other than my reckless cousin and what had gone down tonight.
“How do you know about that?”
I stifled a smirk, not wanting her to know about my scheming with MJ or my secret meeting with the Bluebirds. Not yet at least. “Just a guess.” I looked over Sylvie’s head at my brother. “Does she need to go by ambulance?”
He finished writing something on his clipboard and looked at me. “That would be up to her, but no. I think she’d be all right to head on in and get checked out.”
I glanced at her to see what she wanted to do, and she smiled at Lee. “Duke can take me.”
“Sounds good.” Lee clicked his pen. “Guess I’ll see if there are any other idiots who need medical attention.”
“Matty’s gonna need to get checked out for a concussion,” I offered.
Lee straightened, a curious look on his face as he glanced toward our little cousin just as I turned and punched Matty in the jaw, knocking him out cold.