Blackness Within (2 page)

Aaron Kavanagh is strutting right up to these assholes, while Ryan Callaghan sneaks to the far side of the SUV.

The shooters are maybe five feet in front of me when Kav says, “Kellerman, put the baby in the SUV.” Kellerman goes rigid, but he reluctantly agrees, moving toward the back door of the idling SUV. The guy with his gun digging into his back follows closely.

This is it. Our chance.

As Kellerman opens the backdoor, all hell breaks loose.

Cal rips the door open from the other side of the SUV simultaneously as I land a single blow to the back of the guy’s head behind Thomas. His gun goes off and Thomas hits the ground. I continue to wail on the guy’s head even though he’s obviously unconscious. The guy behind Kellerman swings his gun on Kav and then back at Kellerman as he kicks a leg out knocking the gun wielder off balance. The SUV takes off at the same time and Kellerman topples out the door without Johnny in his arms. FUCK! Kellerman is on his back on the asphalt and sweeps the legs of the lone gunman as Kav sprints to get to the SUV. Cal is in there with Johnny. He’ll keep the baby safe.

The gunman that was on Kellerman turns his aim on Kav, as Kellerman climbs to his feet and chases after his son. I leave my first victim and launch at that motherfucker as he shoots a round at my best friend.

I sink my fist into the side of his face and scramble to kick the gun out of his reach when he drops it in shock. I climb on his chest and work him over. I drive my knuckles into his face, relishing the bones breaking beneath my force. As blood spatters my already stained shirt, I feel a calm take me over. The blackness within me loves to make people bleed. I pound and pummel until my arms begin to shake and then I hit this piece of shit harder.

He’s gurgling and choking on his own blood, no fight coming from him. I push harder as I hear gunshots ring out in the distance before the squeal of tires and the harsh scrape of metal on metal.

I halt my murderous rage, chest heaving, covered in blood and look up to see my cousin, Kieran, striding toward the crashed SUV, gun in hand. Relieved to see his haggard face, I turn to see Thomas drawing shallow breaths as sirens sound in the distance and hospital staff run toward us.

Kav exits the SUV with Johnny still sleeping in his arms before Kellerman tears him away and crushes his son to his chest. Kieran doesn’t stop to chat with them as he shoves his gun in the back of his jeans. His eyes are trained on my destruction and me.

“Nice work, Brian,” he congratulates with a broad smile.

“Thanks,” I heave out in a ragged breath.

“Shannon solid?” he asks about Kid’s safety and I feel a slice of panic pierce my gut.

Kid.

Kellerman runs up at the same time, thrusts Johnny into Kieran’s arms, rips the gun from his jeans and takes off toward the hospital. Kav hot on his heels.

I jump to my feet and find Cal stumbling out of the SUV. His eyes trained on the backs of Kav and Kellerman. He cradles his head and begins running toward the hospital. Kieran and I move in that direction as the hospital staff get to work on Thomas, who I overhear has a collapsed lung from a gunshot wound to the chest. That mountainous badass won’t be taken down by that.

I fly toward Kid’s room easily, as people are cowering in the corridors. I guess a six foot five man with a gun followed by a refrigerator-sized Kav clears a nice path.

As we’re running, I notice Cal is slow to keep up and a little wobbly as he moves. He’s still cradling his head. Concussion for sure. Kav bursts through the door and holds his hands out for the baby. Kieran passes off the sleeping bundle and Kav hightails it back toward Kid. I slow up a little to wait for Cal.

A few seconds later we fly into Kid’s room to find her smashing Johnny to her chest before she starts looking him over from head to toe. Nick Cooper, Kid’s friend from childhood, is barking at the cops holding guns at Kellerman. Cooper’s an agent with a clandestine agency who pulls rank over local police and he’s using that power.

I notice a bloody pool on the floor behind us and some people working on a man. Not just a man. Governor Grady from my home state of Illinois and the piece of shit responsible for most of the pain my sister has gone through in life.

Cooper shot him. I wish I’d been able to demolish him with my fists.

A tiny nurse leads us to a new room and we all settle in to hear what the fuck just happened. It’s an ugly fucked story, as they all seem to be at this point in our lives. I listen as Cooper plays a recording of Governor Grady spouting disgusting, hateful shit at Kid. Even though that bastard’s in surgery, I want to find him and beat his face in.

I tug my bloody shirt over my head and watch Kid cuddle Johnny while she settles her back against Kellerman’s chest. He’s cocooning his family in the hospital bed as best he can.

We go about rehashing all our sides of the story while Cooper does damage control. My attorney brain is working over every scenario we may run into, but I know Cooper has this shit under control.

I rest my elbows on my knees and drop my head to my chest, exhausted.

“Shannon,” a sweet voice filters in the room of men. “Would you like me to take a look at Johnny? Maybe call Doctor Smith to have a look?”

I bring my eyes up to find sex on a stick talking to Kid. She’s in scrubs, her platinum hair up in a ponytail, her grey eyes filled with concern and an ass…holy shit, what an ass. If I weren’t so emotionally taxed, I’d be all over her. Fighting always makes me horny.

“I won’t let him outta my sight,” Kid informs her nurse.

“How about you keep him right where he is and I just check him over. If I find anything, I’ll call the doctor and we’ll go from there.”

Kid nods and the hot nurse gets to work. She’s gentle as she looks over my nephew with care on her face. My eyes aren’t all that interested in her face though. It’s the curve from her back to her plump ass I’m staring at.

I lose interest in her as Cooper talks on the phone and Kieran and I go through next steps.

“Excuse me?” the nurse’s sweet voice interrupts us.

Kieran and I look up at her in tandem, but she’s only focused on me.

“Would you like me to take a look at your hands?” she asks, looking down at my tattered knuckles.

“Look away, sweetheart,” I croon with a wicked smile.

Her nose crinkles at me like I just cut the cheese before she kneels down in front of me and pulls my hands forward for closer inspection. This sexy woman on her knees, hovering near my crotch brings my dick to half-mast.

She pokes and prods gently, never looking up at me.

“You didn’t break anything. I’ll clean these up and get some bandages on you,” she mutters as she climbs to her feet and then walks out of the room.

“I gotta head out.” Kieran brings me back to the room and off the nurse’s swaying hips.

He slaps my naked back a few times before going to Kid and hugging her tightly. Then my cousin, the savior, walks out of the room with the same easy cocky swagger he always has.

A few minutes later, the nurse floats in, rolling a table with supplies on it. I rise and meet her at the back of the room. I stand next to her and rest my mangled mitts on the table as she gets to work. Her delicate fingers move across my skin like a ballet dancer traversing a stage, light and airy.

I draw a hiss through my teeth as her tit brushes my arm while she leans into me.

“Sorry,” she apologizes quickly, assuming she hurt me.

I don’t respond as she continues to work even more tenderly than before. I have a nice view down the front of her scrubs as she leans over me. I shift on my feet a little to relieve the pressure on my straining cock and Kav’s deep bass chuckle fills the room.

“Fuck off, Kav,” I scoff.

“I’d do more than that, man,” he says through a snort, looking over at the nurse.

I wouldn’t be giving this chick the time of day with everything that just happened, but she’s got me by the balls. Well, I’m also content for the first time in months with the knowledge that anyone who wants to harm my sister is dead, in prison or in surgery with the FBI waiting. I can relax, finally, and I’d like to do that buried in a platinum-haired nurse.

“There you go. Make sure you keep the bandages dry and change them often. You’ll probably have some scars, but I think you’ll heal nicely. You sure you don’t want me to get a doctor to take a look? Maybe some X-rays just to be sure?”

“I’m good…” I trail off realizing I don’t know her name. “What’s your name, sweetheart?”

“Natasha,” she huffs out, moving around the table.

“Wanna get a drink later, Natasha?” I purr near her ear.

She smiles at me with a grin that tells me she’ll go out with me around the time hell freezes over.

“No. Take care of your hands,” she says professionally and then leaves the room.

I stand there in shock until Kav announces, “Shot down!”

The room snickers at his joke. Even Kellerman and Kid get enjoyment from my dismissal. I have to say, that’s a first for me. Not being laughed at by my weird family, but being turned down by a woman. Huh?

I retake my seat near the edge of my sister’s bed and talk with the people I love more than anything in this world. I breathe deep cleansing breaths of relief and settle into our new reality of safety. All the while, thinking about a slope from a back to an ass.

Natasha.

O’Sullivan

April

One year, nine months ago

I’m familiar with torture. The horrifying excruciating pain-filled experiences I’ve had, have not prepared me for what I’m witnessing in this moment.

“You look like you’re gonna puke,” Kid taunts from her bed. Her auburn hair is sweaty, clinging to her porcelain skin that’s tinted with a bloom of flush at her cheeks. Her bright emerald eyes are focused in a way only she possesses. She’s a magnificent sight to behold. Shannon Kelly, my Kid, stole my heart as a seventeen-year-old girl and she never gave it back. I don’t want it back.

“I’m not gonna puke,” I scoff, shifting uncomfortably in my seat as I lie through my teeth. My palms are sweating, which is a rare enough occurrence; I know it’s only happened four other times in my thirty-three years of life. My heart is galloping along like the hooves of a Kentucky Derby competitor. My traitorous knee is bouncing with such force I’ve smashed my own balls enough times that I’ll probably never need condoms again. I think I’m going to puke.

“You do look like shit,” Kav grunts from the other side of the bed. He looks no better than I do. If his hair weren’t buzzed, it would look like a rat’s nest; he’s run his beefy mitt through it so many times. His broad linebacker shoulders are so tense they’re skirting his earlobes. And his usual cocky I-know-something-you-don’t grin is gone, replaced with a hard line, as his square jaw works tirelessly.

“It’s hard to compete with how pretty you look,” I snark back.

He flips me off with his free hand, the other fully occupied by Kid’s.

“Another one’s comin’,” Kellerman’s deep bass voice brings my attention to a heightened peak. Kid’s fiancé is so calm it’s pissing me off and making me love the dude that much more. His surfer-styled blond hair doesn’t have a strand out of place. His teal eyes are soft and kind, fully focused on Kid. At every moment, he’s attending to her needs before she utters a request. The man loves her like she deserves to be loved.

The contraction hits a breath later and Kid works through it. She’s a machine of physical and mental ability. This whole giving birth thing is harder on us than it is her. I can hear other women screaming and grunting in other rooms and rightly fucking so. Whoever decided this is how human beings enter the world was a sick son of a bitch. Kid’s not screaming or grunting though. She’s silent other than her breathing. Kellerman and Kav have her hands, while Cal and I each touch a leg.

This is what we do. We all need a hand on her to know she’s okay. It’s been this way since the first day we met her and it’s never stopped. If anything, it’s gotten more intense. A few years ago when Kellerman came into Kid’s life, I knew he was the one because he accepted the weird family that Kav, Cal, Kid and I have created.

“Doin’ good, Kid,” Cal’s voice soothes through the room. Ryan Callaghan doesn’t talk much, but when he does, he means every single syllable. At six and a half feet, Cal is a gentle giant. His bright blue eyes always twinkle like a fucking fairytale character and his dimples just add to the effect. Chicks dig it.

“Thanks, Cally,” Kid replies in a winded voice as the contraction ends.

Yeah, that’s right. We gave Kid her nickname because she was seventeen when we met her and she looked closer to twenty-five. She, in turn, gave us three Kid-ified nicknames: Kavy for Kav, Cally for Cal, and Sully for me. She didn’t know that I despised the nickname and would sooner knock someone the fuck out than hear it flow from their lips. But—as things always go with Kid—she uttered the name that had always caused me rage and it gave me peace. She gave me peace.

“How are we doin’?” Kid’s nurse, Natasha asks as she floats into the room. Her light blonde hair swept into a ponytail swishing from side to side as she moves. Pale grey eyes focused solely on Kid as she starts checking monitors and fluids.