Chapter Twenty-Two
Declan
It’s been a week since the day I spilled my guts to Jakob.
He’s prodded more and more, but I’m not ready for the rest of it.
He’s going to lose it when he finds out, and even though I’m finally well enough to go back to work, I’m not healed enough for that conversation.
I’ve been in my office fielding calls and emails all morning when Cormac pops his head in.
“Boss, there’s a Ms. Pavlov here to see you.” My spine stiffens and sweat breaks out across my forehead and the back of my neck.
Owen looks at me from the couches across the office with curiosity. “You need me to make myself scarce, Boss?”
My panicked eyes wheel to his. “No!” I clear my throat and try again, “No, I mean you’re fine. You can stay.”
Cormac watches me for another beat before nodding and walking out to get her.
My brothers have no idea she’s involved in what happened.
I told them I went to watch these fights that I’d heard about and was jumped.
Of course they all acted like I was dense.
Especially because Kieran almost died at a similar fighting ring years ago.
They seemed to buy it and haven’t questioned me on it since, thankfully.
Natasha strolls into my office like she owns it with her two goons trailing behind her. She takes one look at Owen and waves her hand at him in a dismissive gesture. “You can go.”
Owen stands up and crosses his arms, “No. I actually don’t think I will.”
Cormac stands by the door and quietly shuts it behind him before moving beside Owen and mimicking his stance.
She looks at me and raises a singular eyebrow, “You really want to do this with them here?”
Pushing down the pain, I make damn sure my tone comes off indifferent and bored. “You really want to do this with them here? I’d think carefully about your answer. You’d do best to remember who the fuck I am and what the fuck I’m capable of. You’re on my territory.”
“What a vicious bite from such a little pup. Answer your phone, Declan. I’d hate to have to make good on my promises.”
I shoot to my feet, “Get the hell off my streets, Bratva scum.” Malice drips from every single syllable.
“See you soon… Beast.” She smiles as she turns, and she and her goons leave just as quickly as they came.
She called me Beast. It was a direct threat to Jake. He’s the only one who has ever called me that. She’s letting me know she isn’t happy with her new position on my ‘blocked’ list. Too damn bad for her.
“You okay, Boss?” Owen asks with a hint of concern.
“I’m fine. I need the room to make a few phone calls. Let Novikov know I’ll be with him as soon as possible. It should only take a few minutes.”
They both nod and walk out the door, but as Cormac pulls the door shut, he stops and watches me for a second.
“I’ll always have your back, Boss. No matter what.” And then he’s gone and the door is shut.
Pulling my phone from my pocket, my brain is practically short circuiting.
Who do I call first? I’ve always called Rowan first for everything, but he doesn’t know what’s really going on right now.
Besides, my fingers twitch to call Jake.
I decide to shoot off a text to my brothers calling for a family meeting this evening before pressing Jake’s contact and bringing the phone to my ear.
“Hello?” His sleep filled voice filters down the line. I figured he was probably still asleep. He didn’t get in until later than usual this morning.
“Jake.” The tremor in my voice is clear. She fucking shook me. I just couldn’t let my men see that.
“What’s wrong?” He’s alert now as I hear the sheets rustle and him sitting up in bed.
“She was just here. She knows about us, and she’s pissed.”
“Fuck this, Dec. I’m done with her shit. I never thought I’d say this, but we need to tell your brothers.”
My free hand comes up to my head and rubs at my still tender temple. “I know. I know, I just texted them and called for a family meeting this evening. Do you want to come? There’s things you still don’t know. To be honest, I don’t think I can say them out loud more than once.”
“Yeah, okay. Do you want me to meet you at your house after work? I can come up to the office now if you need me to.”
“No, it’s fine. I have a few more meetings before I’m done for the day. I’ll just meet you at the house.”
“Yeah, okay. Call me if you need me?” He lets the question hang in the silence.
“Yeah, and I’ll text you. Go back to sleep, Chaos. I just needed to tell you.”
“Call me anytime you need to. Bye, Beast.”
“Bye, Chaos.” I smile as I hang up.
He and I need to talk tonight. I think I’m ready to take our relationship to the next level, and I think I’m ready to make sure he knows just how much I fucking love him.
* * *
Byrne Family Group Chat
Declan: Family meeting. I should be home at five-thirty. No kids.
Rowan: Got you. I’ll be here.
Clara: I’ll see if Liv can watch the kids.
Nix: Okay, but what do I do? My kid can’t exactly go anywhere?
Kieran: He obviously doesn’t mean the one still in utero, Brave Girl. We’ll be there.
Sully: Who’s the random number in here?
Lee: That’s my brother’s number.
Flynn: Um, why?
Mac: Don’t ask stupid questions, Flynn. We raised you better than that.
Flynn: I’m not. I’m just saying I thought this was a family group chat.
Jake: And wow, would you look at that? My sister is in here. Looks like I’m exactly where I’m supposed to be. *middle finger emoji* I’ll see you this evening, Declan.
* * *
Today’s been long, and although I never left the office, I’m drained from catching up with our guys as well as leaders of other families.
The bratva gave me the biggest headache though.
They’re demanding answers for this bloodshed on their streets, but I don’t even have answers for our own streets, much less theirs.
A cartel family just came into the city a few months ago and has been making a little noise, so before I left I made sure to set a meeting with their head for next week.
Pulling up to the estate, I almost forgot that I called this meeting and now have to go exhaust myself more by spilling my biggest secrets to my family.
I saw the texts earlier. Flynn’s an idiot, but he isn’t wrong.
We don’t let casuals into the group chat.
It was a deliberate move by me, but that’ll be addressed as well.
Finding everyone on the back patio isn’t surprising at all.
Everyone’s sitting around the glass table having casual conversations.
Well, I guess this is a better time than any to throw down where we stand.
Without second guessing myself, I walk over to Jake, who’s in the middle of a conversation with Kieran and Mac.
I take his chin with my fingers and tilt his head up, sealing my lips to his.
He instantly opens up to me and my tongue strokes over his.
I can feel his body melt as we both smile into the kiss.
It isn’t until I pull away that I hear the whistles and cheers of my obnoxious family.
“About damn time.” Kieran calls out.
“Jake’s in the family chat because he’s family. Understood?” I level a glare at each of my brothers, who all nod in acknowledgment.
Without another word, I take my seat next to him and grab his hand.
“Okay, so we need to talk about what happened the other week– what really happened.”
I spend the next forty minutes going through every detail aside from the biggest one. Once I’m done, the questions start all at once, but Rowan quickly throws his hand up silencing everyone else.
“Declan, that’s not all. Finish it.” The way he looks at me tells me he knows, but there’s no way he does. If he did, no one would be left standing.
Jake squeezes my hand three times, giving me the courage to keep going. Fuck, this is going to suck.
“Uh– yeah–so, I have to throw fights sometimes, like I said. When that happens, I’m knocked out in the end.” I let my sentence hang in the thick tension surrounding us all.
“Okay, and what happens then?” Sully asks with a hint of panic in his tone.
“I wake up either in her office or in the back alley. The location just depends, but every time I’m bound and her men stand above me.
Uh– they masturbate while standing over me.
She tells me that it’ll stop if I fuck her.
That isn’t true, though, because I’ve tried it a few times over the years just to get this shit to stop.
She stopped for about two months and then it started again.
It feels so stupid. I can physically take them without a problem, but I can’t because I’m bound, and she’ll seriously kill one or multiple of you guys.
She fucking shot at Jake. She isn’t playing. ”
The table is deathly quiet as everyone takes in this new information. Jake’s firm grasp on my hand never leaves.
A couple of minutes pass before Nix stands up and waddles over, “Can I please hug you Dec?”
Her asking for consent is almost my undoing, and all of a sudden I want nothing more than for her tiny arms to surround me.
I don’t trust my voice so I just nod. In the next second she envelops me in a tight hug and I damn near break.
It takes a few minutes before my eyes sweep the table and find all five of my brothers staring at me with murderous looks on their faces.
Rowan looks like he’s about to pop a blood vessel when he suddenly stands.
“All spouses, please excuse us.” He nods to all of us and on instinct I stand with them.
“Jake comes too.” I tell him, my tone brokering no room for negotiations.
“Declan.”
“Declan nothing. He just heard that for the first time too. I’m not just going to tell him that shit and then leave him here.” I slam my hand down on the table.
“Okay, fine. Let’s go then.” He turns on his heel and walks into the house.
I know where he’s going. Where we all seem to gravitate when shit hits the fan.
We all follow him down into the gym. Rowan nods towards the ring at the far end of the space.
Without words I nod and grab my sparring gloves.
No one else says a word as they watch us shed our shirts and put on our gloves.
We’re both in dress pants, and I’m sure we look ridiculous right now, but this isn’t about showing off or looking cool.
It’s why we don’t invite the wives down here.
It’s why he tried to make Jake stay back, but what he doesn’t realize is that Jake doesn’t make me want to show off.
He makes me want to cut myself open and lay my beating heart at his feet.
He makes me strive to be a better man day in and day out.
We’ve fought this for long enough, and I’m done fighting against him.
Why do that when we can do this shit together?
I know we need to talk about this, but right now I need to get in the ring with my brother and work through it.