Chapter 26
Don’t put your fingers anywhere you wouldn’t put your cock.
— Dima to Shasha
SHASHA
I was enjoying myself immensely.
Sure, I fucking hated that she was in the room with those three fuckers, but I liked the outcome.
I liked that I’d been able to finagle it so that the two of them were being fired.
I liked that they were getting a dose of reality.
I liked that they were sweating.
I liked that they were about to face a lot of fucking hardships.
Because this was just the beginning.
My next step was to make it to where they couldn’t find a job in DFW. Then, when that was exhausted, they couldn’t find anything in Texas.
Because I had Lev make them both unemployable.
They would have a laundry list of issues follow them wherever they went.
I was watching the show, and knew the moment that Rupert stood up that there was about to be trouble.
I stood up, too, almost as if I fully expected to stop what was about to happen.
But the chair went flying anyway.
Right at Brecken.
One second she was in her chair, eating a celery stick, and the next the chair hit her directly in the face.
It was chaos after that.
Multiple people surrounded Brecken on the ground, and a few went to Rupert to detain him.
Luckily Gabriel showed that he wasn’t completely stupid because he was one of the ones that helped detain Rupert.
But that sneer on his face was enough to sit with me for the rest of my life.
As if he was happy that it’d happened.
I was running out of my office one second and on the phone with Cayden in the next.
“Where are you?” I asked.
I was fifteen minutes from the school, and that was if traffic cooperated.
“Waiting for douchebag to get out of his meeting, why?” he asked.
“Something happened,” I said. “Brecken’s ex just threw a chair at her, hit her right in the face. She went down.”
I passed my sisters in the hallway as I sprinted past, and they were screaming questions at me, but I didn’t stay. I did scream at them as I left, though.
“Go to my office. Keep me updated on everything that happens on that computer screen!” I yelled.
“What’s he look like?” Cayden asked.
I explained as I slid into my car and sped out of my driveway.
The gate was luckily opened way before I got there, and I was accelerating down the road seconds after that.
“If I see him come out not in handcuffs, I’ll handle it,” he said.
“I don’t want him in handcuffs,” I snarled.
“He’s getting them,” Cayden mused. “Lots of police activity already.”
Fuck.
“Fuck,” I repeated my thoughts. “Just make sure that he doesn’t drive off by himself.”
“I will,” Cayden said. “Maybe we’ll get lucky and they’ll leave together.”
“Maybe we will.” I hung up.
My phone rang a few seconds after hanging up with Cayden, and I answered it on the car’s Bluetooth.
“They’re doing CPR on her.”
Nastya.
My stomach sank.
I’d expected her to be hurt. No one could take a chair to the face and not be.
But CPR?
“They tried to do the Heimlich on her for a few seconds right when we got here, then they put her onto her back and started CPR,” Milena said.
“Fuck.”
For the next fifteen minutes I listened as my sisters told me exactly what happened.
The first two moments there was CPR being done by the superintendent.
The next three there were medics who continued the CPR.
The next ten minutes were nothing because she’d been taken from the room.
My phone rang as I took the final turn that would take me to the school.
“They’re taking her to the hospital,” Cayden said. “Ambulance just left.”
“I…” The ambulance passed me with lights and sirens, and I cut off eight people as I made a U-turn from the far-right lane.
I sped up and hauled ass right along with the ambulance.
Since I was following so closely, no one got in my way, and I arrived and parked illegally seconds after the ambulance.
Running toward where they were unloading her from the back of the ambulance, I was one hundred percent surprised to find them moving a lot more slowly than I expected.
The reason for that was evident seconds later when I got close enough to see her eyes open.
Well, one of them.
The left one was fully swollen shut.
Her face was covered in blood.
But she was awake and alive.
Fuck.
I placed my hand over my heart as I came up to her side, my hand grabbing for hers.
She turned her face on the gurney and croaked. “’mkay.”
She was okay.
Well, that I didn’t believe.
“What’s going on?” I asked the medic that was closest to me.
“She had a piece of celery lodged in her windpipe. As soon as we were able to dislodge it we got her breathing again. At first we were worried about oxygen deprivation, but she’s answering all questions coherently. The chair to the face is what we’re worried about now,” he answered.
The next several minutes were spent with doctors and nurses working to clean her face up well enough to see it.
She had several X-rays done, and it was determined that her left cheekbone had been shattered.
“What does that mean?” I asked.
She squeezed my hand tighter in thanks.
“It means that we wait and see pretty much. The bone will repair itself, but there’s really nothing we can do for it at this moment in time. We need to see how it repairs, and then we might address any other issues later if they affect appearances,” Dr. Murchen replied.
I looked down at Brecken to see the dismay clearly written all over her face.
“We’ll wait and see,” I said. “You won’t have to worry.”
I watched a tear slip down her cheek.
That anger only rose.
The doctor left seconds later at the same time my phone rang.
I looked down to see Cayden’s name on the screen.
“Cayden,” I said.
“Answer,” she urged.
I did, placing it to my ear since we were in the middle of the emergency room.
“Your girl have brothers?” Cayden asked.
“Yes,” I answered, studying my girl.
“They’re taking care of the business you asked me to.” Cayden laughed. “Very, very well.”
I felt an instant surge of excitement.
“Make sure they don’t get in trouble,” I encouraged.
“Oh, they are playing it very smart,” he said. “They picked him up from the station, pretending to be the lawyer.”
“How do you know they pretended to be the lawyer?” I wondered.
“They bailed him out of jail using the lawyer’s name. Dressed fully as the lawyer. One of them even shaved his beard for the occasion. Looks just like him, to be honest. I’m comparing notes to the dude in my seat, and they could definitely pass as twins in their suits.”
“Fuck.” I laughed.
“Cops let him get bailed out and sent him on his way. Not even the ex questioned it until he got in the car with the other three.” He laughed again.
Smiling, I said, “Let me know if you need anything.”
“I won’t.” He hung up.
Just as the phone hit the inside of my pocket, the doors were thrown open wide, and JJ and McCoy were there.
“Oh my god!” they both cried at once.
I backed off and let them have their space, but Brecken refused to let go of my hand, so it made their hugging and coddling slightly difficult.
Only after I was sure that she was okay did I give Ryler his second call of the day and say, “You need any help?”
“No.” He sounded amused. “Got this figured out just fine.”
“Don’t do anything stupid,” I suggested. “Let a professional handle cleanup.”
He paused for a few long seconds and said, “I’ll tell you the address once we’ve had our fun.”
Then he hung up, leaving me to listen to the three women talk.
Well, JJ and McCoy talked.
Brecken added in a few short words here and there when she could.
Hours passed like that as she was finally moved up to her room.
And when she was passed out from painkillers, and I got the call for a cleanup, I left her in the good hands of her sisters and did just that.
I found him exactly where they said he’d be left.
Naked.
Bloodied.
And missing a penis.
There was a note stapled to his chest that said, “Your turn.”
I smiled and had my turn.
Hours later, after cleaning up after myself, I walked back into the hospital fully expecting the sisters to be there.
I found the brothers as well.
They were all gathered around her, speaking quietly.
I found her sleeping soundly when my phone rang.
“Detective incoming.”
Lev.
“Thanks,” I said as I hung up and pocketed my phone.
I stayed where I was, ass to the side of Brecken’s bed, when he showed in the doorway.
His eyes took in the room, then the woman at my side.
He studied her for a long second, then turned to me. “A second?”
I got up and headed out to the hall and was unsurprised to find the room following me.
He looked at the group, then at me.
“You know where Mr. Tomlinson is?” he asked.
“No, but if he’s smart, he’ll stay wherever the fuck he’s hiding,” I snapped. “If I saw him right now, I’d kill him.”
He nodded. “You see him, you call me.”
I nearly laughed.
He knew damn well I wouldn’t call him if I saw him.
I’d handle him.
Well…again.
“Sure thing,” I lied.
“You’re not gonna call me, are you?” Haze asked.
“Nope,” I said.
“Guess I hope that I find him before you do, then.” He sighed.
Then he was gone.
Cayden called in the next second, forgoing any conversations, and I placed the phone to my ear.
“Got your drop off. We’re headed to the ports.”
Then Cayden was gone, leaving me with a smile.
Cayden would handle the trash.
Or the fish would.
Not sure which.
I knew one thing, though.
I didn’t fucking care, as long as the motherfucker didn’t show up again.
“He’s quick, isn’t he?” Tibbs asked.
I looked to the youngest brother and said, “Haze is someone that’s been dogging my heels since I got here. He’s fast, all right. And smart. Don’t go anywhere near him if you can help it.”
“I’ll see what I can do.” Tibbs smiled. “So, how was your dinner?”
I grinned at him and said, “I’m still hungry for some reason.”