Chapter Eighteen
Jakob
Two Hours Earlier
Itexted Declan about ten minutes ago, but he hasn’t answered.
Yeah, I’m checking every fifteen seconds, so sue me.
The bar isn’t overly crowded tonight, which is pretty on par for a Wednesday night.
I’m pouring a couple of beers for the men who just settled up on the far side of the bar when the door opens, drawing my attention.
It’s a weeknight, so it’s quiet enough that I can hear when people enter and exit Knipe.
Carrying the beers over to my customers, I watch as the youngest Byrne walks in right behind my sister’s biological sister.
Yeah, it’s a thing. Elle’s technically Lelonie’s sister, they share biological parents, but she’s a Fischer, full stop.
I don’t care what her DNA says and neither does anyone else in my family.
They never come in here, so I’m curious as they walk over to the front of the bar and find two empty seats.
I can hear Sully as I’m still walking over to the bar, “Hey, man. You seen Declan?”
“No, why would I have seen him?” I try to feign ignorance, but his expression tells me I’m not fooling him.
“Don’t do that, and I won’t call you out in your establishment for your bullshit.” He raises an eyebrow at me, and I have to work hard not to laugh at the way he looks so much like his big brother right now.
“Watch it, kid.” My expression is firm. “And no, I haven’t seen him since earlier this morning. Haven’t heard from him either.” My heart catches at that realization.
Sully’s must as well because he brings his wild eyes to mine. “I can’t get a hold of him, and neither can my brothers.”
“It’s probably fine, I’ll try to call him.”
As soon as I make a move to reach for my phone I hear the shot of a gun.
A millisecond later I feel the bullet whiz by my ear, and just a quarter of a second after that I drop to the ground and yell “get down!” As loudly as I can.
Chaos erupts all around me, and Elle lands on top of me from where Sullivan literally threw her over the bar.
We’re the most shielded back here, and a few other men throw their women over the edge as well.
Knipe services mainly tourists, but we also have a heavy presence of the criminal underworld as well, specifically the Germans.
So I have no doubt that more than a few guns are currently being drawn.
After what seems like forever but can’t be more than a minute or two, Sullivan pops his head over the top of the bar.
“Come on, Boo. We’ve gotta get out of here now.
Rowan’s waiting outside and he said we have thirty seconds before he blows this place up.
” He grabs Elle under her arms and lifts her over to his side of the bar with ease before looking back at me.
“Handle shit here, then meet us at the estate. They’ll let you in.
” We nod in agreement, and in the next moment they disappear out the side door.
The sound of sirens comes closer and closer until a couple of cops that work for my Papa walk in.
I’m slightly shaking as they walk over. Not because I’m scared of them, but because the adrenaline is starting to crash from what just happened.
Just hold it together until you get to Declan.
* * *
It takes almost an hour before I’m able to leave Knipe.
My Papa and brother showed up and helped me clear out and lock up while talking to the cops.
It took me longer than I would have liked to convince them I was fine, but I wanted to go home and crash.
I slide into the front seat of my truck and shoot off a text to Dieter letting him know where I’m really going.
Without wasting another minute I make my way to the Byrne estate.
The entire time calling Declan. His phone keeps ringing, but no answer.
I don’t stop calling until I’m standing in the living room of the Byrne estate surrounded by Declan’s entire family except for my sister and Mac.
“Has anyone gotten a hold of him?” I ask frantically as everyone watches me like I’m a caged animal.
Kieran holds up his hand as he pulls the phone from his ear and places it on speakerphone.
“Hello?” Declan’s groggy voice fills the room and I exhale in relief. He’s probably asleep at my house waiting on me.
“Declan! Fuck, man. Where are you? You have us all panicking, brother.” He thrusts his free hand through his hair, tugging on the strands as he goes.
“I’m uh– I’m–.” Why does he still sound like that? Is he drunk? “I dn’t know.” He slurs.
He groans in pain and my heart rate kicks up again.
“Declan? Where are you?” Kieran’s voice rises in panic as all of us move closer to the phone to hear him.
“Shhh, stop yell’n. You wake hm up.” He’s slurring so badly I can barely make out what he’s saying, but you can bet I heard that ‘you’ll wake him up’ loud and clear. My heart plummets. He’s with someone else.
Everyone turns their gaze to me, but I refuse to break right here, so I don’t take my eyes off the phone screen.
“Who, Dec?” Kieran asks skeptically.
“Chaos.”
I’m Chaos, and I’m right here. So what the hell is he talking about? I’m not waiting a second longer to find out. Snatching the phone out of Kieran’s hand, I bring it up to my mouth.
“Where are you, Beast?”
I wait, but nothing happens. His end of the line is silent until I hear the crack of his phone hitting something hard.
“Beast? Declan! Answer me?” I’m begging the silent line to answer, but I know he isn’t going to. The pit in my stomach is so deep it feels all consuming. The line cuts and I numbly hand the phone to Kieran.
“We’ve tried to call Mac, but he won’t answer.” Rowan tells whoever asked. I wasn’t paying attention. I can’t, not until I have my eyes on him.
Something pulls at my memory. It’s late. They won’t get in touch with Mac because he puts his phone on ‘do not disturb’ at night so nothing will wake Lelonie. But my calls ring through on her phone. Without another word, I call my little sister and pray someone answers.
On the third ring she picks up, “Jake?” She answers groggily.
“Kostbarkeit.” I answer on a shaky exhale.
“Jakob, what’s wrong?” Her voice is suddenly alert and I can practically picture her shooting straight up in bed.
The phone changes hands and the voice of my soon-to-be brother-in-law fills my ear, “Fischer, why the fuck are you calling us this late? Your sister had a rough day and needs to sleep.”
“My sister is perfectly healthy now, Mac. People have bad days all the time, but your brother’s having a real bad day because he’s fucking missing.”
“Which brother?” I hear him grab his own phone as his voice rises five octaves.
“Declan.” I choke out.
Less than ten seconds later my phone buzzes. “That’s his location, go. I’m bringing Lee to the estate and then I’ll meet you there. Don’t go alone, Jake. That’s a rough part of town.”
I cut the call and pull up the location. Yeah, that’s a shitty part of town alright. That’s exactly where she takes me to fight. “I know where he is. I don’t care who comes with me, but I’m leaving now. Someone needs to wait for Mac. He’s on the way.”
Clara and Phoenix huddle together on the love seat and watch as everyone else figures out what to do.
“I’ll go with Jake. Kieran, you follow behind us with Mac, and the twins will stay here with the women and kids.” Rowan’s voice cuts through the room. He walks over and kisses his wife before whispering something to her. I’m not a mind reader, but if I had to guess, he’s promising to be safe.
Each of the Byrne brothers has a weird declaration thing with their wives.
Rowan’s is safety, Kieran’s is not leaving, and Mac’s is to tell the truth.
I don’t know what Declan’s is. Maybe when he has a wife one day they’ll have something just between them.
The pang in my already aching heart rejects that idea as soon as I think it.
I don’t want him to have a ‘thing’ with anyone but me.
But what would our thing even be? Asking if we can have a truce when we want to kill each other?
That’s not some cutesy thing like the others have.
My mind races with thoughts of Declan and I the entire way to my own personal hell.
Rowan drives because I’m not in the head space to operate a vehicle right now.
We pull up to the front of the run down theater, and before Rowan can put the SUV in park, I’m on the move.
It’s a ghost town here, so when I burst through the doors and yell his name, it echoes loudly in the empty space.
“What the hell is this place?” Rowan asks from behind me, shock evident in his voice.
“That’s exactly what it is, Hell.” Frantically my eyes scan the empty room until they catch on the back exit.
I don’t voice or even fully think what my soul tells me is true; I just run.
Shoving open the bar on the exit door, it smacks the brick on the outside left wall with force.
His body slumped against the wall to my right catches my eye immediately.
The next moment I drop to my knees and start shaking him.
“Dec, it’s me, please open your eyes.” My eyes flood with tears as I watch his unconscious body lay limp against the wall. Rowan drops across from me and places two fingers at the side of his neck.
“Come on, little brother. Come on, where are you?” He moves his fingers slightly and shuts his eyes while letting out a shaky breath. “I’ve got it. He has a pulse.”
My hands go to his face and gently turn his head until my eyes catch on the blooming bruise half hidden by his hair.
Who the fuck touched you, baby? My eyes dart to his limp hand and notice that his knuckles are wrapped.
I sit beside him and gently move him until his head is in my lap and my fingers gently tangle in his hair.
“Wake up, Beast. It’s time to get up.” He groans but otherwise doesn’t make a move to wake up.
Tears freely fall down my face as I try to get him to wake up.
“Come on, baby. I need help making waffles. You gotta wake up and help me.” My voice catches when he squirms a little, then stops again.
“That’s it. You’re right there, open your eyes.” His body goes limp and he’s lifted off of me. I jump up to swing on whoever took him from me, but when I see it’s Rowan and Kieran, I force myself to stop. “Let him go.” I demand through gritted teeth.
Mac places his hand on my shoulder. “Stop. Let them carry him to the car. We need to get out of here.”
I’m in a daze when we all walk to Rowan’s SUV. Mac pushes me in until I sit in the seat, and they slide Declan in until he’s half laying, half sitting in the back seat with his head in my lap. As I sit here and run my hands over his head, I pray to whoever is up there that he’s going to be okay.