11. Blakely
The clock tickspast 11 p.m., and I am sitting in Caleb’s office alongside Em, savouring a glass of whisky while he relishes in his cigar’s aroma. As I glance around, I catch a glimpse of his first-in-command standing in the corner.
I look at Caleb, and I can’t help but feel the heaviness of his request, wondering what could be so important to summon us at such an ungodly hour. Although I didn’t have any set plans for tonight, per se, watching The Deathly Hallows Part Two with a buttery bowl of freshly popped popcorn was the perfect way to spend my evening.
Why part two, though? Because it’s the best one out of all the Harry Potter movies. There’s no way to convince me otherwise.
“So. What was so important that it couldn’t wait until tomorrow?” I ask.
He draws deeply on his cigar, exhaling a cloud of smoke before responding, “After reaching out to some of The Twelve, it’s becoming clear that the Snakes are not operating solo.”
“What did they tell you?” I know they are not working alone. They don’t have the resources to set up such an operation. Now the question is: Who is foolish enough to get into bed with the Snakes?
“I’m not sure yet. They were afraid of saying too much, so they were very ambiguous and chose their words carefully.” Cowards. “I’m waiting for Aidan and his team to return, so I’ll hopefully know a bit more.” A loud ‘bang’ is heard in the house at the same time as his last word leaves his lips.
“What was that?” asks Em, looking at us wide-eyed. We’re all moving at the same time, Cal and Fusco, with guns in their hands. Chaos and destruction await us as we enter the main room, with the sickening smell of blood filling our nostrils. My eyes scan the people in the room, searching for any sign of Aidan and Scott, but they are nowhere to be found. No, no, no.
“What happened?” I ask, rushing towards them. “Where are my brother and Aidan?”
“H-Hello P-Princess.” Tim’s muffled voice makes me gasp as he lies down on the table in the middle of Caleb’s living room.
“Fuck. What happened?” My voice is reaching a crescendo, and I can feel myself almost shouting. I feel Em’s presence next to me as she quietly assesses the scene.
Aidan’s team looks at Caleb, probably waiting for him to give his approval for them to speak. I don’t have the patience for that right now.
“Look at me. I asked you a question. What the fuck happened? And where are my brother and Aidan?” My heart is pounding so hard that I can feel it in my chest and in my fingertips. “I need compresses, towels, and alcohol. NOW.” I think they understand my frustration and the steadily increasing stress.
Finally, one of them speaks.
“We were on a mission when Tim got shot.”
Yeah, I gathered that. Someone hands me the towels and compresses I asked for, but there is no alcohol in sight.
“I couldn’t find any alcohol,” he says.
“Are you fucking joking? The place is full of alcohol. Grab me a bottle of whisky or the strongest alcohol you can get your hands on.” He nods and disappears from my sight. I shift my gaze to Tim. “I thought we made it clear that getting shot wasn’t part of the plan.”
He attempts to chuckle, but a sudden pain causes him to grimace. That’s when the door opens and I see Scott come in. The tension in my body dissipates, replaced by a deep sense of relief.
“Blake? Why are you here?” As he looks at me, his eyes drop to my hands, now stained with blood. He seems drained of all energy, with a pallor to his skin. My eyes roam over the surroundings, trying to spot Aidan’s familiar silhouette, but he’s nowhere in sight. A sudden surge of emotion causes my heart to skip a beat.
“I’m here.” I hear Aidan’s voice, and a wave of relief washes over me. “Tink, your hands.”
“Not my blood.” I pivot towards Tim and lean in to look closely at his wound. “This is going to hurt like a bitch, but I need you to bite on this, okay?” I carefully roll up a towel and place it between his clenched teeth. “I need my phone. I can stop the bleeding, but I can’t do anything more.”
I feel a sharp pain in my head, and my vision blurs for a moment. I don’t want Bailey here, but I’m not trained like she is. Understanding my needs, Emilie dials Bai’s number without me prompting her. The sound of a phone ringing fills the room, and after a few moments, she picks up.
“Blake, everything okay?” She always seems to pick up on my emotions, no matter how far apart we are.
“Bai, I need you to come to Caleb Preston’s mansion.” Scott gasps loudly, causing me to shoot him a disapproving glare. “Tim has been shot. I can use pressure to try to slow the bleeding, but the bullet is lodged too deeply in his shoulder for me to remove.” I hear muffled sounds in the background, which tells me she went into a quiet place.
“Okay, okay. How deep is it? Can you see an exit wound?”
I give Tim an apologetic look and request the guys to elevate him slightly.
“No, the bullet is still inside.”
The sound of her cursing rings in my ears. “I’m assuming you have alcohol and towels with you? So, keep putting constant pressure on it until I get there. I’ll be there in 10.” And with that, she hangs up.
I spent years helping her prepare for her exams so she knows I have a solid foundation. As I pour the alcohol into the wound, Tim screams in pain and tries to move, which makes the task difficult.
“I need you to keep him steady,” I say to no one in particular.
I apply pressure to his wound with the towel, feeling the warmth of his blood seeping through the fabric. Aidan’s glare is so intense that I can practically feel the heat emanating from it on my back. I’ll fight with him later. As the main door creaks open, Bailey emerges, clad in her scrubs, after what feels like an eternity. I know she had to leave her shift at the hospital to come here, and I’m grateful for it since I’m not a prodigy doctor like she is.
“What happened?” she asks. Maybe she’ll get more information out of them than I did.
“We were on a mission when he got shot. He lost consciousness in the car. He got shot about an hour ago,” Aidan says, running his fingers through his messy hair. Bai, Em, and I turn to face him at the same time.
“An hour? And you just brought him here now?” Bailey shouts.
Fuck, they were in Linlithgow, that is why it took them that long to get back. She swiftly moves towards me, taking my place without a word.
“He passed out five minutes ago,” I inform her. She nods in silence, her eyes fixed on the wound.
“You did a good job. I’ll need some space to work on him. You can stay, but I need everyone else out of here.”
“I’ll leave you alone so you can focus, but I’ll have them leave a couple guys in here so you aren’t alone if he wakes up. He is a hell of a beast, and you won’t be able to contain him by yourself if he wakes up in pain.”
Aidan instinctively requests two guys to stay with them before I ask.
I can feel the stickiness of blood all over my clothes. My eyes catch sight of my brother in the distance, and I dash towards him, feeling an immense sense of relief as I finally wrap my arms around him.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” I can’t stop touching his face.
“I’m good. There were more guards than we expected.”
The tension in the room is palpable as Em prepares to let him have it. Good. Maybe he will learn not to put himself in danger unprepared. I pivot towards Aidan and deliver a swift blow to his stomach. Caught off guard by the sudden impact, he doubles over in pain and clutches his abdomen.
“What the hell were you thinking? You all could have died.” I can’t stop shouting at him. My hands are shaking uncontrollably. You don’t go un-fucking-prepared. He swiftly blocks my next punch and pulls me into a protective embrace.
“We’re good,” he whispers in my hair.
“No, you’re not. Tim could have died. He was shot. You are not good.” I feel like I’m suffocating, my breaths coming in short, shallow gasps.
“Tim will be fine. We are fine. I am fine.”
It’s as if he can read my emotions without even trying. As his grip tightens, I notice the roughness of his calloused hands and his body’s warm, comforting scent. It’s a mix of sweat and blood, but his heart is beating. It is beating.
I hate the guy. Why am I trembling at the thought of him getting shot instead of Tim? Because you don’t really hate him. Damn you, heart. I can feel his breath on the nape of my neck, and the way he holds me so close sends shivers through my body. The sudden interruption of my phone brings me back to reality. As I pull away from him, I hear him groan in disappointment. My hands are covered in Tim’s blood. I need to go wash it off. I fish out my phone from my pocket and walk a few steps away to take the call.
“Cailean? What the hell happened?” I ask him.
“Several vans came out of nowhere. It was not the Snakes.”
I’m confused, “Who, then?”
“Sounded like they were Italian by their language.”
I pinch the bridge of my nose, trying to alleviate the pressure building behind my eyes.
“The mafia?” I try to think who could possibly be involved, but my mind floods with potential suspects.
“Probably. But there are many families. I cannot be sure.”
“What about the audio for the video?” I ask, lowering my voice and scanning the area for any eavesdroppers.
“Still stuck.”
“Send it over. I’ll see why you can’t breach their code.” I catch Aidan and Scott staring at me intently with curious expressions. But they are not the only ones. Cal’s right hand is also looking at me.
“Got it, boss. And, boss?”
“Aye?”
“How is Tim?” The sound of his voice gives away his concern.
“He’ll live. And Cailean? Can you do something for me? Can you check into Caleb’s right hand?”
“Do you suspect him?” he asks. I can hear the sound of his keyboard through the line.
“Not sure yet, but something is bothering me, and I can’t put my finger on it,” I say, my attention still divided among my surroundings.
“Got it. What is his name?” He pauses.
“Matteo Fusco.”
“Very Italian name.”
“Very. Keep me updated. I need to wash the blood off me. Tim’s blood.” I answer his silent question.
“Got it, boss. Stay safe.” As soon as we exchanged our final words, I ended the call. I quickly peek at my phone to see what time it is. Almost midnight. This is going to be a hell of a night.
“Blakely?” The sound of my name on Aidan’s lips is tinged with weariness, a clear indication of his exhaustion.
“Hm hm.”
His green eyes meet mine, and I feel my heart skip a beat.
“Come with me.” He takes me by the arm without a word and gently pushes me towards the bathroom. He guides me silently to the edge of the bath for me to sit and places his hands on my knees. I’m out of energy, and I don’t have it in me to fight with him tonight. With a wet cloth in hand, he carefully begins to wash away the drying blood from my hands. He repeats the process several times, the sound of his heavy breathing filling the air, before finally lifting his gaze to me.
“Are you alright?” There’s a softness to his voice as he asks the question.
“Aye, why wouldn’t I be?”
“Because you”ve just tended to a gunshot wound on Tim. Blood was everywhere. That is not something you were supposed to see.” I look at him, trying to understand why he is being so sweet.
“I am okay. I’m not afraid of a tiny bit of blood.” I try to minimise the scene that happened earlier. That is true. Blood doesn’t make me feel uneasy. Am I used to it? Not exactly. But more would need to happen for me to be afraid.
He sighs and kisses my knuckles once he is done. I don’t know what to do with this version of him. The arsehole one, no problem. But the sweet Aidan disarms me.
“Ade?” My voice is almost a murmur. Something passes in his eyes. Surprise?
“It’s been a while since I heard you call me that. It’s usually Aidan or arsehole.” I shake my head and smirk at his comment.
“Where were you tonight? What happened?”
Although I have some information, I need to verify the accuracy of what happened. His body language tells me he’s unsure of what to say. I can sense his hesitation and assume he’s weighing the pros and cons of sharing some information with me. My intuition tells me that I’ll only receive the partial truth.
“Something happened, and we had no choice but to be there. I cannot tell you exactly what. Yet.” Yet? Interesting. “But shit went south, and shots were fired. There were more guards than we expected. Or at least, more came out of nowhere. That’s how Tim was shot.” He finishes with a long exhale of air.
Okay, so he did tell me more than half of it, which is surprising. I nod because there is not much I can say. Aidan’s eyes are fixed on me, lost in thought, as he weighs his options. I can feel the warmth of his hands on mine, resting on my knees.
“I—.” Just as he begins to speak, my brother’s voice cuts through the air, interrupting him.
“Guys. Tim is awake.” We share a brief, knowing glance before he reaches out to help me stand.
I don’t know what to do with what happened tonight. Why is he being so sweet? I take a deep breath as I walk out of the bathroom. I guess it’s time to surrender and wave the white flag. For now.
“Hey, big guy,” I say quietly to Tim as I sink into the chair in the corner of the room. The guys moved him into the guest room, and based on what Bai told me, it seems he will be there for several weeks. And he’s not happy about it. “How are you feeling?” His naked torso bores numerous cuts, and a strap extends from his shoulder to his waist to bear the weight. Bailey didn’t ask any questions as she removed the bullet that was in plain sight. I know she will have some, but I cannot offer her any more information than she already has since I am unsure about it myself.
“Like I took a bullet to the shoulder.” I chuckle.
“I thought we agreed you weren’t going to get shot,” I say with a serious look on my face.
“I tried. We eliminated most of the guys, but then more vans came. It wasn’t the Snakes,” he says, his voice sounding raspy and tired. “They were speaking in Italian.” I nod, giving him a sip of water that was on the table.
The room is cosy. Dark but cosy. A luxurious king-size bed takes centre stage in the bedroom, flanked by two sturdy oak wood side tables. The high window is adorned with elegant, dark, velvety curtains that hang gracefully from the ceiling. The modern TV is seamlessly integrated into the wall, blending in with the sleek design of the room. I sink deeper into the chair.
“I know. I’m looking into it.” Fatigue washes over me like a wave as I let out a deep sigh. “I dispatched my team to verify the safety of the girls. They may have seen their faces.” He glances at me, perplexed. “Don’t give me that look. You know as well as I do that they might be more willing to speak and feel less threatened around women than men.”
“Your team is mostly composed of women.” He chuckles. “Except for Cailean and a few other guys.”
I can’t help but notice the twinkle in his eyes when he says Cailean’s name.
“What can I say? Superiority is always better.” I smirk at him. “I think we proved we are smart and capable of defending ourselves. And others,” I add.
“Yeah, yeah.” He lets out a deep yawn, his eyes heavy with sleep.
“Okay, you. That’s my cue to leave. Get some rest. I’ll check on you tomorrow,” I say, feeling the softness of his hair as I kiss him on the top of his head. “Bailey left some medicine for you on the bedside table and left you with a buzzer in case you require anything. This place is full of people, so don’t hesitate.” I already know what he’s about to say when I see him open his mouth. ”And no, you can’t go back to your own place,” I cut him off. “We need to monitor you, and this place is as safe as a palace.”
“Fine.” He pouts like a kid. He’s cute when he is grumpy. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”
“Can’t make promises I can’t keep,” I speak over my shoulder, halfway out of the room, my voice trailing off as I turn to leave.