Page 42 of Four Fiances & I

“I know. But this was something I needed to do.”

“Okay,” I answer, knowing there is no point fighting over it. “If you are sure it’s over, then nothing else needs to be said on the matter.” I walk over to my brother and cup the back of his head whilst leaning my forehead against his. “But stop thinking you are the only one who can take people on. If they threaten one of us, they threaten all of us, and we deal with them as a family. It’s the one thing that we all stand by. What have you always told us?”

“You hurt one O’Reilly, you hurt us all,” he replies as his eyes close.

“So take your own advice and let us help you.”

He nods in agreement, but I can’t help thinking he’s only saying it because he’s been caught. But there’s nothing more I can do. The ball is in his court now, and I can only wait to see if he will start including us or keep playing on his own.

“Come on. Let’s get you a clean shirt, then you can see Jazzy. She will be glad you are home,” I tell him, hoping it will put him in a slightly better mood.

As I follow him out, I can’t help but wonder if things are as over as he says they are or if I should be worried. One thing I do know for sure is that no one will stand a chance against us. Now I know I need to be on the lookout for trouble; I will be, and God help anyone who attacks my family because it will be the last thing they ever do.

ChapterFifteen

JASON

Walking down the stairs, I try to push down the constant worry that’s been consuming me the last five days since Jasmine's breakdown. The first twenty-four hours were rough to witness.

As soon as Christian walked into her room, she started crying again until she fell asleep in his arms. I have never seen him look as grief-stricken with guilt; if he needed any confirmation of how much he fucked up, that did it.

Jasmine's therapy was Monday evening, and none of us left her side until she was ready to leave the room Wednesday morning. She hardly spoke and cried silently into her teddy or in the arms of whoever was holding her at the time. When she slept, it wasn’t peaceful; the nightmares she had woke us all as she thrashed and screamed in her sleep until she woke herself up. Even though we managed to get her to drink plenty of fluids, she couldn’t stomach food, so Mrs Brown made her all her favourite snacks and meals in small portions. The four of us cancelled all meetings and training to give her our undivided attention.

We all woke up on Wednesday morning and found Jasmine writing in a journal on her vanity table. She told us she was okay and wanted to carry on as best she could, and she has. If you were to see her now, you wouldn’t think anything was wrong. She’s smiling, laughing, and acting like everything is fine. But now and again, she starts staring into space, lost in her thoughts. Her nightmares have increased, and she’s back to having them nightly. As much as we all want to ask her what’s happening, we are giving her the time and space she requested. I’m surprised by Christian as he hasn’t tried to get out of her what's going on. But I think he knows better than to push any of our buttons right now.

Something tells me that Jasmine is not telling us anything because she worries about Christian and how stressed he has been. I believe her when she says she needs time to work everything out before telling us, but I also think she’s protecting him. She is sleeping in my room more than anyone else’s. Christian has also noticed and seems to be taking it a little personally, but what does he expect? He wasn’t here when she needed him the most; I was. He has stayed close since the whole ordeal, which could mean everything is taken care of, as he said.

On Thursday afternoon, when Mrs Brown and Jasmine took the puppy out for a walk, Maximus charged into Christian’s office and had it out with him. It wasn’t pretty, and for a moment, Sean and I were worried it would come to blows, but they managed to clear the air a little, at least. When Jasmine is around, you would not know they had fallen out. Over the last day or two, they have been civil and hopefully, tonight, they will be able to put their differences behind them.

Tonight is our stag party. We wanted to cancel it and spend the time with Jasmine, but she insisted we carry on as usual. Apparently, she and the girls will use the time to organise a few more things for the wedding and her hen party. It feels wrong to go out when she has been so troubled, but if it's what she wants, then that’s what will happen.

I walk into the sitting room, tugging at my shirt cuff and checking that the cufflink is positioned correctly. I’m not surprised the twins are already in here with a drink in their hands and dressed in trousers and shirts as they laugh together.

“Here you go, Jason,” Sean grins, holding a glass for me.

“Thanks,” I say, taking it. “You ready for this?” I ask, smiling at them.

“Hell yeah, going to be a great night,” Maximus laughs, knocking me with his shoulder. “It’s not every day you get to share your stag do with your brothers.”

He’s not wrong. Before Jasmine, I figured if I ever got married, I would have the three of them there as support, not as fellow grooms.

When I think about how I thought my life would go before our amazing, beautiful fiancée danced her way into our hearts, I can say getting married was the furthest thing on my mind. I was content to follow my brother's orders and help him build and protect the empire we have developed through a lot of blood, sweat and tears, and those haven’t always been our own. Sure, I loved to fight and had fun when I did, but I realised the business side of things was a better fit for me and started to concentrate on that.

But now, things are different; our lives have changed and will continue to do so as our family grows. It’s made me wonder if all the stress is still worth it. What if we took what we built, kept the legal stuff and stepped away from the weapons and illegal shit. Would it make Jasmine and our future children safer than they would be if things continue as they are? I can’t decide, so I haven’t said anything to Christian about my thought process yet. I need to work out an easy, safe route out of this life, if there is one.

“Everything organised at the club for tonight?” Sean asks, bringing me back from my busy thoughts.

“Yeah, security has been given a list of people invited. Calvin and the guys are guests, but they have loaned us a few of their people to help out our security. Personally, I think our lot will be enough, but Christian was adamant we needed more.”

He’s still on edge, even though he says everything is fine. I know him as well as I know myself, and I can tell when he hasn’t slept well or is overthinking everything. It’s embedded in him to analyse everything and to prepare for the worst. But sometimes, I wish he would just stop and enjoy the moment. But I don’t think it will be possible until he knows what to do to help Jasmine. It’s hitting him hard being unable to fix this for her.

“Yeah, well, you know what he’s like. He needs to relax now and again,” Sean sighs.

“Well, hopefully, he can relax a bit tonight and enjoy himself,” I smile as I hear giggling from the corridor outside the room.

Jasmine rushes in, looking happy in her leggings and one of Sean's old hoodies. Verity, Danielle King and Abigail Young walk in behind her, smiling.

“Why are you all still here? I thought you were leaving at eight?”

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