Chapter 12
Shane
Red glowed like a bioluminescent creature in her seat, the silver thermal blanket draped around her shoulders like a shining stole, her eyes huge and shocked looking. It occurred to me that today was probably her very first taste of deadly violence, up close.
I had forgotten how startling that was to a newbie.
I couldn’t talk to Ethan or the others, in the dark and the noise, and that was a good thing, because I had fuck-all to say. I was frozen, fried. I felt numb and stupid, and not really here at all. I looked at my own brother as if he were a hologram.
Or maybe I was the hologram. I had made myself into one on purpose to keep Halliwell out of my head, and I didn’t know the way back.
I hadn’t left any trail of bread crumbs for myself.
I hadn’t allowed myself to hope for anything but death since before I had passed from Vincent’s and Nicole’s hands into Halliwell’s.
I’d gutted my own emotional wiring. Now I was looking at my brother as if I had never met him before. I knew I shared memories with him. I felt the space they took up inside my brain. But my access to them was cut off. I just couldn’t feel anything.
You sure felt plenty when you had Red gasping up against the bedroom wall.
That dry observation from my own mind just confused me even more.
Then again, a dick had an agenda all its own. Particularly a starved, neglected, long-suffering dick like mine, left to languish without even help from a friendly hand from time to time. Being constantly watched by the camera really squashed that impulse.
I didn’t know how to think about what happened with Red today, so I did what I’d been training my mind for months to do, and thought of nothing.
Ethan sat next to me. I peered through the gloom at the others.
Remy Drake had helped carry me to the helicopter.
Trey was in there, grinning at me. Shelby was piloting the helicopter, with a huge smile on his face.
All of them were old friends from our Army Rangers days.
I’d worked with them for years. They were part of that tight group of brothers in arms that we’d coined ‘the Unredeemables.’ Most of them worked for Ethan, on his security force, or as bodyguards.
Some of them had worked in my own security company, Ready Line.
I’d trusted them all with my life many times.
The Unredeemables had saved my sorry ass yet again.
Ethan had mobilized two helicopters, one to snatch Red’s little sister, and another to come to our rescue. He’d been poised to jump in any direction to help me, on a dime. After all this time.
For that kind of love and dedication, Ethan deserved a brother who wasn’t a hologram. A hollow man.
I thought about asking Ethan who the woman was who had called Red to talk to her sister, but didn’t have the strength. I’d find out soon enough.
We circled around the rocky hill where the complex we called the Mountain House was built, right on the crest of the hilltop like a medieval fortress. The top floor was lit up like a Christmas tree. The building itself looked excited for our arrival.
We touched down on the helipad my brother had insisted on building, even after Frey and I gave him no end of shit about it.
We’d teased him about being a pampered, capricious billionaire with a golden bathtub, the fleet of Ferraris, a yacht the size of the Titanic, a rocket ship to Mars.
All that was missing was a fluffy white Persian cat for him to stroke while he plotted his next moves.
Ethan had calmly ignored our ribbing and done whatever the fuck he pleased.
Which, as memory flooded back, was pretty much how he had been his whole life.
Stubborn bastard. Fucking genius. Sheltering hero.
Bossy, pain-in-the-ass big brother. The memories sparked an intense rush of emotion—and something inside me slammed a boot down on it, killing it dead before I could even figure out what it was.
As if the feeling itself was dangerous. As if it were safer to be numb.
Damn. My new emotional wiring was going to be problematic. I had wired myself up to survive hell on earth. Not… home.
My brother and Amos gripped my arms again and lifted me down, setting me reluctantly onto my fucked up feet.
They reached up for Red, but she’d already jumped out of her own accord.
“Where’s Reggie?” she yelled, her hair whipping wildly.
Ethan pointed down the stairs to the breezeway.
But we didn’t get that far. As soon as we came down the stairs, a tall blond woman came out onto the breezeway, holding a little girl’s hand.
The girl had curly red hair, and a thin, pale face with big, shadowed eyes.
She wore a pink sweat-suit that was too big for her, and a pair of knitted alligator slippers that came partway up her legs.
She’d probably come here barefoot, too. It did something to a person, having no shoes.
“Cass!” the girl yelled, pulling away from the blond woman.
“Oh, my God, Reggie. Baby.”
The two ran to each other, colliding. Red dropped to her knees, and they were sobbing, murmuring incoherently, rocking together. An undifferentiated mass of wild red hair. No emotional blocks there. Lucky them.
Remy turned to me with a quick, satisfied smile. “Some days, I love my job.”
Angela, our longtime friend/housekeeper/butler/general keeper hurried toward me and skidded to a stop, dismay on her round, rosy face. “Good Lord, Shane. What did they do to you? Can I hug you? Would I hurt you?”
I cleared my throat. “No,” I rasped. “Only if you didn’t.”
Angela grabbed me and hugged me carefully, as if I were made of blown glass. “You’re so thin,” she said, her voice tear-thickened. “It’s like you’re made of steel cables wrapped around bent rebar. You need some feeding up, young man!”
“Sounds good to me.” I hugged her back.
I saw Ethan’s face over Angela’s shoulder, and realized that I had not hugged him yet. Like I was afraid of the emotional charge. I’d been shocked too many times.
Speaking of emotional charges. I looked around. “Where’s Holly? And Frey? Aren’t they here?”
“They’re still in Spain, with Jed,” Angela said.
“But they’re in the airport already. The second they heard about this, they came running.
They couldn’t believe it was true. None of us could.
After all this time, having to swallow the idea that maybe we would never know what happened…
oh God, it’s been hard on everybody. We missed you so much. ” Her voice shook.
I patted her shaking back, my mind automatically seizing on a random piece of information that did not fit. “Jed? What the hell are they doing in Spain with Jed?”
Ethan let out a laugh. “You missed a few notable events, bro. Jed is Frey’s husband now. He’s our brother-in-law.”
My jaw sagged. “Her… he’s… the fuck?”
“Yup,” Ethan said. “They fell in love. Frey was sneaking around doing something she shouldn’t have been doing, trying to find you.
He kept her from getting killed. A few different times.
She returned the favor, and in the meantime, they fell in love.
So they’re married now. Go figure. But they seem really happy. So it’s all good.”
My mind had gone blank at that news. “How in the hell—”
“How about you boys save the catching up for after you’ve washed off the blood and gotten all stitched up and bandaged?” It was the blonde bombshell, striding briskly toward them. “Dr. Demiguel just arrived.”
“Who are you?” I asked.
She gave me a smile. “I’m Kat.” She gestured at my brother. “I saved his bacon, more than once. After that, he sort of grew on me. So I stuck around.”
“Huh? So you’re—”
“My fiancée,” Ethan said. “She saved Holly’s bacon, too, by the way. She was the one who took down Nicole.”
“Give credit where credit is due,” Kat said. “Freya helped, and so did you. And so did Holly, for that matter. Team effort. But dudes, please. Later for that. First, the doctor. I mean, look at the poor guy.”
I felt intensely self-conscious. “I know I look like shit, but I’m fine.”
“Oh, fuck off,” Ethan snarled. “Like hell you’re fine. I can barely tell it’s you.” He seized my arm. “Amos, let’s get this guy to the—”
“Do not push me or drag me,” I said, wrenching my arm away. “Ever.”
Silence fell. The violent edge in my voice had startled them, as if they didn’t know me anymore. Which was literally true. Fuck, I didn’t even know myself.
“Ah, okay,” Ethan said carefully. “Shane? Hello. It’s me. Not Halliwell.”
“I know. Sorry. But nobody tells me where to go or what to do. Ever again.”
Ethan cleared his throat. “I didn’t mean to push you around. It’s just a big brother thing. The bandages on your neck… was that from Vincent’s collar?”
“I wore the fucking thing the whole time they had me,” I said. “However long it’s been. I have no way of knowing.”
Ethan winced. “You will be glad to know that sick fuck is now safely dead. Frey did the honors personally. She shot him right through the heart.”
I blinked. “Frey? Really? She shoots now?”
“She’s a crack shot now. Jed taught her. So, will you formally give your official consent to accept Remy’s and my help down the breezeway, so we don’t have to clean up your bloody footprints after? Please?”
I forced out a shuddering breath, which swiftly devolved into a cough. “Fine,” I said. “But check out Red, too. She’s been through some wild stuff today.”
“First, you,” Red said sternly, looking at me over her little sister’s shoulder.
“We’ll cover everyone, in due time,” Angela fussed. “Come on inside, everyone. There’s dinner waiting. How long has it been since you all had a decent meal?”
I smiled at her, a sensation that almost cracked my jaw. “Since I saw you last.”
“Aww, you flatterer. We’ll get you fed up. Come on, honey. Everyone inside, where it’s warm. Look at you, no coat. I’m surprised you’re not dead from pneumonia.”