Page 55 of The Boss
My wife smartasses right back, “You don’t say.”
“Doc’s coming. Go to the blue room,” Shae says when I pause in the foyer.
“Not his room?” Sheila questions her mother, sounding frantic.
“No, no stairs, go to the blue room,” Shae replies, also frantic. It’s not unheard of that I bring an injured man back here but it’s not a regular occurrence. It’s never been a Quinn before. She takes in all the blood and scurries away to get more help.
“What Imeant,” Luna starts.
“Luna. Not now,” I bark. My tone shuts everyone up.
“Sorry,” she says, sounding genuine.
I get Collin into the bed in the blue room, the closest clean room to the front door, I’m guessing. Damn it. He looks so small right now.
“What the hell was that?” Mac asks behind me as he helps with his younger brother’s feet. It’s a question he has muttered at least twice already since we were ambushed. He’s in shock.Doesn’t matter how normal mafia life is, it’s different when it’s your own brother.
I would know.
“Not a damn street gang,” I reply absently as I start to rip open Collin’s shirt.
“Here!” Sheila hands me some scissors to cut the rest of it off.
“Doc’s here,” Shae says, rolling in an IV drip and a cart of medical equipment we keep on hand for exactly this reason.
“What have we got?” My long-time medic, Seamus, asks as he comes in, hands already in his gloves.
“Shot to the shoulder,” I answer.
“He’s lost a fuckton of blood, though,” Luna says. She’s not frantic. She’s calm, watching the Doctor as he works.
Seamus asks questions and Mac answers as we all stand by and wait. When the scalpel comes out, Mac turns to the handful of people at the edge of the room, anyone who isn’t me, him, the doc or Shae and Sheila—who have both done some EMT training for times like this—and shouts, “You lot, out!”
In my peripheral vision I see my men file out, then notice Luna, obeying Mac as well. I look up and catch the sight of her ponytail swish out of the doorway, shocked she actually listened to him. To anyone.
“Mac,” I say, putting a firm grip on my second’s shoulder. “We’ve got him. He’ll be okay.”
My cousin and best friend doesn’t reply, he just watches. I do too. My grandad paid to put Seamus through medical school and every other expense he’s ever had in his life, and I’m grateful for it. He’s not some sketchy nurse practitioner who does house calls for drug lords. He’s an actual surgeon and he’s part of our clan. Lives on the property. Currently prying open my cousin’s skin.
“Let’s give the doc some room,” I say to Mac. We’ve been staring for a while now as the Doc has gotten out more tools.Shae has suctioned out blood, blood, and more blood. Mac looks pretty green.
We do see a lot of wounds, guts and filth in this life. But it’s usually the other guy, not a member of our clan and never a Quinn. I tear my eyes away from Collin’s pale face.
“Come on, Cormac. We’re going.”
“K,” he says.
I lead him out into the hall and pull the door closed behind us. I harden my voice and order my second, “Go shower now.”
“K,” he repeats, even weaker this time. I watch him go deeper into the house to the back staircase that will lead to his quarters. Once he’s out of sight, I breathe in and out.
He’ll be fine.
It’s not like me.
Like… he’ll be fine.
I shake myself and head back to the front of the house. I’ll need to step up security and tell the men to—
