Page 13 of Sweet Vengeance
“Tell him Dean is on his way, okay? His name is Ollie. Tell him I’m coming.”
I shift uncomfortably, though I’m not sure why.
“What about the other guy?” he asks.
“There’s another guy?” Dean asks in unison with my, “Who the fuck was he with?”
I feel Rory’s stare on me, and Christ, for a moment, I’d forgotten he was even in the room with us.
Tiernan frowns at me as the guy continues talking through speakerphone. Just as I hear sirens in the background, he adds, “The ambulance is almost here. You probably should meet us at the hospital. I’ll give them his phone.”
“Okay, just…don’t fucking leave him,” Dean orders. Dean doesn’t have anyone in his life other than us—well, and Ollie, and it’s clear how much his friend means to him. Still, it tugs at a loose string inside making me unravel.
“Let’s go,” I say as soon as Dean ends the call, already heading for the door.
Everyone grabs their shit. We take Tiernan’s car, my cousin behind the wheel, Dean beside him.
“No one would do this because he’s close to us, right?” Rory asks, echoing my thoughts.
“No one knows he’s friends with Dean,” Tiernan replies. I hope he’s right, but what if he’s not?
“I just…who would want to hurt our little bunny?” Rory reaches over and places his hand on my thigh. I didn’t realize my leg was bouncing until he did that. Usually he’s the one who can’t stay still.
“We’ll find whoever did this and kill them,” Dean says.
“We’re not doing anything until we know what’s going on,” Tiernan counters.
“No,” I argue. “I’m with Dean. Fuck that. We’ll do it with or without you, T.”
In my periphery, I can see Rory looking at me, but I don’t turn to him, just find the rearview mirror because I knowTiernan’s gaze will find mine. He’s probably wondering why I care so much, and honestly, I am too. A lot of fucking people in my life have been hurt. I’ve seen and done a lot of shit, but I feel all twisted up inside, angry and dying for revenge over Ollie. I don’t get what’s different about him. Maybe because he’s Dean’s friend, because it’s clear he’s fuckinggoodand wants to do right by people. Last year, he was willing to go toe-to-toe with Tiernan because he worried he might be hurting Dean. Tiernan wasn’t, of course. He would burn the world to ash for Dean, but Ollie hadn’t known that at the time.
“What’s going on with you?” Tiernan asks, and it’s a good question. I’m not afraid of T, but I don’t normally stand up to him. “You’ve never hurt anyone innocent before?”
He knows the answer to that question, but it was never like this. Even without knowing exactly what went down, there’s no doubt in my mind Ollie was somehow only trying to do the right thing. “That’s different. Are you saying you’re gonna let someone hurt a person who should be under our protection?”
Maybe that’s not the right way to word it. Ollie doesn’t have a real attachment to us outside of being Dean’s friend, but that should be enough.
“No. I’m saying we’re not gonna fucking jump into something until we have all the details. It’s not smart, and when we do something that’s not smart, it’s how people I love get hurt. I like Ollie, but my concern is for the people in this car and Aislin.”
He’s right. As wild as Tiernan is, he’s levelheaded when need be. I usually am too. It’s more Dean or Rory we have to worry about going off half-cocked.
“Fine,” I reply because I don’t want to fight with him, but I will be finding out who hurt Ollie, and I will kill them all,whether Tiernan likes it or not.
The rest of the drive to the hospital is quiet, but Rory’s hand on my thigh never moves. I feel him looking at me every now and again.
I just… Hearing Ollie hurt like that made me feel twitchy, made my vision go cloudy and my muscles feel like they atrophied.
As soon as Tiernan parks in the hospital lot, all four of us jump out of the car and head straight for the emergency department. There’s probably about twenty filled chairs in the waiting room, a baby crying, someone snoring, all the sounds making my head buzz. The security guard in the corner—a balding guy with pale skin—stands up straighter when he sees us, like he can tell he needs to watch out for us because none of us will take no for an answer.
“We’re looking for Ollie Gibson,” Dean says to the white woman with her hair pulled back in a tight ponytail, sitting at the counter. “He was just brought in by ambulance.”
“Are you family?” she asks.
“Brother,” Dean says, in unison with my, “Boyfriend,” and Rory’s, “Cousin.”
Tiernan curses quietly because yeah, we could have planned that better.
“And who are you?” she asks Tiernan pointedly, obviously not falling for our lies.
