Marcus has the first aid bag slung over his slim shoulder as he hastily takes each step until he reaches the top.
She scans the room and sees McCullen standing with his arms crossed over his broad chest next to a bed. Another man sits on the bed with hands pressed against yet another man’s torso. She can smell the stench of blood as they step closer to the trio. Thank God she didn’t have a weak stomach and the sight of blood doesn’t make her queasy.
“Here,” Marcus says to the guy sitting next to the bleeding man.
“I can’t move my hands. I need to keep on the pressure,” that man retorts.
She somehow manages to take the initiative and strides past Marcus to get to the first aid bag. She unzips it and immediately digs in for gauzes. She comes up with a handful but judging by the amount of blood that’s soaking through whatever is being held on the wound now, even these large gauzes aren’t going to help.
“We need clean towels,” she tells Marcus who nods and hurriedly climbs back down the stairs.
She looks at McCullen, figuring out that he must be the boss of these men.
“When Marcus comes back with the towels, we’re going to need to clean his wound with as much of this alcohol as possible before we put pressure back on,” she tells the man.
“Aye,” he replies with a nod.
He turns away from her and was on his phone so she focuses her attention on the man who’s sweating through his already blood-soaked shirt.
“Hey,” the man says between his panting. “You’re looking a lot better than the last time I saw you.”
His voice was deep and immediately familiar. And she knew right away who this man is.
“Brooks,” she says.
He nods at her and her thoughts go from zero to one hundred way too quickly.
Is this the result of him helping her? Did the Romanos do this to him? Oh God! Do they know where she is now?
“Unrelated,” Brooks mutters before his eyes flutter close.
She gasps in surprise. Is she really that easy to read?
“Don’t be surprised,” the man holding his hands to Brooks’s wound says. “He’s creepy like that. I’m Darren, by the way. McCullen is my boss,” he tells her with the jut of his chin towards McCullen, who is now on the phone and pacing.
“Wh-what happened to him?” she asks.
“Not my place to say,” Darren replies. “But the Kings should be here really soon. Feel free to ask them any questions you may have.”
Kings. As in plural. Does he mean all the Kings or just that there will be more than one? One in particular. Adam King. Will he be here too? Because whatever happened between them earlier in the day hasn’t even been settled yet.
By the time the doctor arrives, Brooks is unconscious and her arms are trembling and aching from the amount of time she’s been putting pressure on to stop his bleeding. From the glimpse she caught of the wound, it’s a pretty deep gash across his torso and a deep stab into his right side also. It looked bad. But she was determined to stay by his side. It’s the least she can do.
Chapter Sixteen
“Easy Stella,” he tells his sister-in-law, giving her an encouraging look to help calm her down.
She’s antsy as all hell. Understandably. Brooks is her right-hand man, her factotum right down to being a nanny to her son. Her most trusted. Sometimes he wonders if she trusts the man more than she trusts him and his brothers.
Surely not. Maybe so, though.
He’s sitting up front in the passenger seat while Derrick drives to McCullen’s safe house. Derrick and Stella just had a blow-up and he’d been caught in the middle. To be fair, they didn’t pull him in. He’d more or less stepped in so neither of the two blew things up even more than they had. He’s always played the mediator within the family and this time was no different.
“Our discussion isn’t over, Stellina,” Derrick grunts from the driver seat. His brother’s voice has softened up a bit since they left the estate though.
“I know,” Stella concedes.
At least those two are calm now.
He’s worried about her again. He’s worried about Ariana and how she might be handling this. Their earlier meeting had been rough on her, followed by her slight set back. And now, Brooks being dragged, bloodied and beaten, into the house by men she’s never met before must be a shock to her.
He should have fucking stayed with her. He shouldn’t have left her alone, on the bed, scared. He should have taken her and fucked the senses back into her like he’d wanted to since their kiss.
What the fuck is wrong with him and this woman?
But that’s all he’d been thinking about for most of his time away from her. Fucking her and healing her. His damsel in distress. His own tarnished angel. It’s fucking madness. Instead of asking Stella what the fuck happened to Brooks and how a man of his skillset slipped up so badly, he’s more worried about Ariana and how she’s holding up.
“Cael has his doctor there right now,” Stella says from the backseat. “Are you sure Heinz can’t be reached?” she asks.
“I tried calling him myself,” he responds. “He must be on another call or something. McCullen’s doctor should do his job just as well.”
“Derrick? Have you tried calling Heinz?” she asks her husband.
Derrick doesn’t even bother to answer her. His brother is pissed off enough that she’d gone on a rescue mission without him knowing AND when she needed help, Stella hadn’t called him. Well, when Brooks needed help. Anyhow, Stella hadn’t shown up for dinner which is odd enough and instead of Derrick’s phone ringing, it was his.
Stella remains silent as they pull into the driveway.
She doesn’t even wait for the car to come to a complete stop before she opens the car door and rushes to the front door of the house, leaving him and Derrick to stalk inside right behind her.
“Be careful up the flight of stairs,” Marcus tells them all.
Stella immediately heads in the direction of Marcus’s nod.
“How is she?” he asks Marcus now.
Derrick looks at him with curiosity. Yeah. He’d slipped and asked about Ariana first instead of asking about Brooks. Brooks who’s saved Jazzy’s life over and over again.
He’s tumbling and tumbling fast.
“She’s in her room right now,” Marcus answers. “She was up there, helping them out as best as she could before the doctor got here.”
“She did?” he asks incredulously.
Maybe the thought of her seeing blood had him assuming she’d be on her ass, passing out.
“She did,” Marcus proudly replies. “She’s getting stronger. She also knows that Brooks is the man who helped her. She was determined to repay him any way she can.”
He nods and heads to the bedroom without another word. He can hear Derrick and Marcus chattering even as he enters the bedroom and shuts the door behind him. When he turns around again, it’s only to meet round eyes filled with concern. Before he can open his mouth to say a word, he’s opening his arms to catch the beautiful creature launching herself into him.
His arms embrace the broken angel and her arms pull him into her well of darkness.