Page 83 of Declan

“He’s gonna fuck you up,” I retort. “That’s what I mean.”

He laughs as he steps closer to me, his hand swinging out, and then fire explodes in my cheek, and my head jerks to the side. I probably shouldn’t be, but I’m shocked that he hit me, and I blink a few times before slowly turning back to face him. and then I laugh, hysteria licking the edges of my frayed sanity. “You’re going to regret that.”

He frowns and opens his mouth as if he’s going to say something else, but then he stops and looks around. “What the fuck is that noise?”

The other two men surrounding me also look around, and I pause and hold my breath, listening intently.

At first, I don’t hear anything, but then there it is, an odd vibration, faint yet dangerous, and relief floods me as I recognize that guttural sound. I choke back a relieved sigh, inhaling sharply through my nose and out my mouth as a commotion breaks out somewhere behind me.

Then I smile, excitement flowing through me as I say, “Boys, meet my husband, Declan Hughes.”

The man who hit me looks at me like I’m crazy, but then, suddenly, the noise they were questioning hits a crescendo, and I crane my head around, seeing a madman emerge from the shadows, barreling toward the man who struck me.

I turn my attention to the men surrounding me, and the man directly in front of me freezes for a moment, then reaches behind him and pulls a gun from the waistband of his pants. I manage to get my feet under me, scoot the chair forward with one leg, and then kick out with the other, catching him in the balls. He hunches over, his gun hand dropping, and he’s still that way as Declan crashes into him, taking him to the ground.

More footfalls are coming from the same direction Declan just ran in from, and I look over and see the familiar faces of his brother and his friends. I look back at Declan, who’s on top of the same man, likely beating him to death, but no one seems overly concerned as they take off after the people who decided they were better off running.

“Issa,” Jessica’s voice draws my attention away from the fighting men, and I smile as I reply, “Oh, you’re a sight for sore eyes.”

She rushes over and makes quick work of releasing my hands and then helps me up, and soon, Declan and his friends walk over, looking grim but no worse for wear.

Declan wipes his hands on a handkerchief that Tony hands him, and then he stops in front of me, scanning me up and down as he asks, “You okay, doll face?”

I nod, my hands gripping his suit coat as I stare at his face, so happy to see him I can’t get any words out. He scans me up and down again and then focuses on my face, his eyes searching mine as he asks, “What is it?”

Suddenly overwhelmed with emotion, I choke out, “I knew you’d come.”

He smiles, his hands coming up to cup my cheeks as he leans down and says, “Always. I’ll always come for you.”

He presses his lips against mine softly, but I go up on my toes, my arms wrapping around his back as I kiss him hard. He reciprocates, kissing me more firmly, one hand moving around to grip the back of my head and the other sliding down my spine, coming to a rest at the small of my back.

“Jesus fucking Christ,” Matt sputters. “I can’t get away from your PDA-loving asses.”

There’s a bunch of muttering, and then Jessica says, “Is this a common theme for you people?”

“Which part?”

“I was referring to the PDA, but I get what you mean.”

“Yes. It’s constant.”

Declan and I ease back from each other, but then he hugs me close as his brother walks over and says, “We gotta figure out what we wanna do with these assholes. It didn’t take very much persuading to get them to tell us their boss and some of his friends will be here soon.”

“I’m sure they’re gonna want some kind of confirmation that it’s safe before they come in,” Matt says. “I’m not sure how we’re going to fake that, but we could give it a try.”

“Can’t you just make one of them do it?” I ask.

They all look at each other uncomfortably, and finally, Declan replies, “I think they’re all dead, darlin’. That tends to happen after the enemy gives you what you want.”

“I guess you kind of jumped the gun, then, didn’t you?” Jessica says snippily.

The boys look a little sheepish, but then they all shrug, and a voice from behind me says, “I can help you with that.”

All four men jump to attention, and Tony is halfway to the new arrival as I’m yelling, “Wait. Wait.”

Tony doesn’t slow his pace, but when he gets to the guy, he only grabs him by his shoulder, then turns to look at me as he asks, “Why?”

“He tried to help me. In the car.”

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