Nick
My eyes tracked her on the camera, remembering the way she’d clung to me in her sleep the night before. She smiled at a group of new arrivals—five men, all in suits.
The smile didn’t last.
As soon as she led them inside and pointed them toward the different areas, it dimmed. Flattened. Like it was something she put on and took off at will.
“Do you think we should’ve kept her at home a little longer?” I asked Rowan.
“I like having her here,” he replied, lifting his glass before taking a slow sip. “It means you two are around more often. Feels like the old days.”
She had taken a week off.
“We should celebrate,” Alec said. “We’ve got our fourth now.”
“I wanted our initials inked on her,” I added casually. “And some piercings.”
“Not the piercings,” Rowan said immediately. “I wouldn’t mind a tattoo, though.”
“Why not?” I asked.
“It takes too long to heal,” Alec said, finally dragging his gaze away from the screen. “And we’re not patient.”
“What he said,” Rowan added.
“She’d look good with some jewellery in her,” I said with a shrug. “Something permanent.”
“She would,” Rowan agreed, after a beat. “But that can wait.”
“How’s she supposed to feed the baby if her nipples are pierced?” Alec asked dryly.
I frowned, rubbing my chin.
“Wouldn’t the extra holes help with the flow?”
Alec snorted. Rowan laughed into his glass.
“We should ask Ella,” Rowan said. “She is the nurse.”
Alec laughed properly this time.
I didn’t bother mentioning that I could piss and store come just fine—with multiple piercings to my name.
They were still grinning.
I would be the butt of their joke for the rest of the evening.
“Whoa. What the fuck?” Rowan said, standing abruptly.
Alec was already moving toward the office door. My gaze snapped to the screen behind Rowan.
Ella lay on the floor, clutching her face.
I bolted after them, shoving past as I took the last flight of stairs two at a time. The man stood over her, shouting, one hand pressed to his nose. I tackled him, flipping him onto his back and landing hard on his chest.
I chuckled when I saw the blood pouring from his nose.
“Oh, this will be good,” I said, drawing my fist back.
I slammed it into his face.
Bone crunched beneath my knuckles.
It felt too good.
I pulled back and pummelled both sides of his face, over and over, until his jaw dislocated and his features began to swell. It became a beautiful, bloody mess—unrecognisable.
Gerard, our security manager, had already cleared the area.
“Take him to the basement for now, Gerard,” I said, wiping my hands on the man’s shirt. “And get rid of anyone who came with him.”
Rowan was barking orders. Alec had Ella seated on a chair, digging through a first-aid kit. I tilted her face gently, examining the bloom of a black eye forming beneath my fingers.
“What happened?”
“The fucking dickhead grabbed her arse. She punched him. He punched her back,” Alec said.
She was right-handed. I lifted her hand, checking her thumb and fingers carefully.
“Always keep your thumb out when you punch,” I murmured. “You did good—but next time, knee the balls. When they crouch, shove them over and stomp the head.”
She held onto my hand, tracing her fingers over the broken skin.
“Thanks for the murderous tips,” she whispered.
I swallowed when her finger traced the curve of my skull.
She hissed as Alec pressed the ice pack gently over her eye.
I was about to snap at him—but then I saw him wince.
“Sorry,” he muttered.
My eyes widened. I’d never heard him use that word as an apology before.
“Get her into the office. Use the lift,” Rowan said, his gaze sweeping over Ella as if cataloguing every possible injury. “I’m going to find out who the clown and his cronies were.”
“Alec, have you got her?” I asked, still wanting more blood.
“What do you think?”
I shook my head.
Such a cocky arsehole.
I watched as he wrapped an arm around her shoulders and steered her toward the lift.
“Come on, sweetheart,” he said lightly. “You can sit on my lap and let me kiss your boo-boo better.”
Ella giggled and nudged him.
Motherfucker.
?
?
?
His name was Matthew Barton—forty-two, a city wanker. Not important enough to be missed, but we had to let him go for now. He was missing a testicle and had three broken ribs. That was our insurance that he wouldn’t report us.
I didn’t think Rowan would be handy with a scalpel.
He was fixing his tie as he opened the office door.
Ella lay on top of Alec, resting the good side of her face against his chest.
“Why did we give him the fun job?” I grumbled.
“He was all over her like a filthy leech,” Rowan drawled.
“I can hear you dicks,” Alec said, smirking as he toyed with Ella’s hair.
Ella stared at my hands, but there was no fear in her eyes.
Her black eye was darkening.
My mother had worn bruises like that once.
I hated that Ella looked like her.
“Do you want me to clean your hands up?” she asked softly, though she still wasn’t looking at me.
Her fingers traced slow circles over Alec’s chest.
“Yeah,” I said. “My hands are killing me. Alec, why don’t you run along and grab a first-aid kit?”
Rowan chuckled.
“Yeah, Alec,” he added, already turning away to get a drink.
Ella was sitting up before Alec even moved.
“Could I get an infection, Ella?” I asked as I stepped closer.
“Let me take a look,” she said, and I sat beside her.
Alec shot me a glare.
“You’ll live, dickhead,” he muttered.
I held my hands out for Ella, and she slipped her fingers around them, holding them up as she inspected the broken skin.
My jaw clenched when I stared at the damage that bastard did to her.
It felt like failure all over again.
Only worse.
This time, I wasn’t a child, but a man.