Chapter 43

Tag

Pregnant. Just over a month ago, I was lost in the mire of grief for my father and now I'm going to be a father myself.

A baby Quinn.

With my arm across the back of Laine's shoulders and her pulled tight to my side, my world is more perfect than it's ever been.

Now I need to get her home and get her naked.

We're almost back to my truck when I hold out the key fob and unlock the doors. Escorting her to her side, I open the passenger door and give her a quick kiss before helping her up into her seat. "In you go my loves. Buckle up."

She grins and pats her belly. "Daddy's such a romantic."

I lean in and kiss her belly. "Only with your mam."

The hair on the back of my neck stands on end as my survival instincts kick in. Someone is watching us. Straightening, I see five guys rushing for us.

I toss the keys into Laine's lap and step back to close her in. "Lock the doors, luv. Now!"

The mechanical clunk of the locks clicking into place eases my nerves a bit, but I don't like the look of this gang coming at us. "We don't want any trouble, lads. We're on our way home. You don't need to do this."

"You're a long way out of the streets of Dublin, Quinn," the lead man shouts. "And we'll decide what we need to do. This is Campbell territory, after all."

I shrug. "We saw the signs for the festival and stopped in for some fudge. No other reason. I have no beef with the Campbells, and if you call your boss, he'll tell you as much."

"What if we have a beef with you?" shouts one of them.

I hold up my hands. "Then you should realize what happens when a bunch of jumpy chihuahuas snap at the heels of a rottweiler. You don't want to start something with me and mine, lads. Just let me get in my truck and we'll be on our way."

One of the dim-witted thugs glances around and then laughs. "Did you come here without protection?"

I meet his gaze. "Again. Why would I need protection? We just came for the street festival and are now taking our leave."

In my peripheral vision, I see that Laine is hopping over the console and sliding into the driver's seat.

Smart girl.

I don't want to be seen as running away, but I also don't need any more trouble with rival families than I already have.

Me against half a dozen young lads trained and powered by Gareth Campbell isn't something I'll be able to walk away from unscathed.

With Laine on the opposite side of the truck, all I need to do is get inside so she can drive us out of here. There's no chance of that. They've got me penned against the front quarter panel and are pushing closer by the minute.

"Don't do this, lads. Seriously."

"Well, would you look at that? The mighty Tag Quinn, shaking in his boots."

"Wanting to avoid a fight differs greatly from being afraid of one," I correct. "I simply want to end a lovely day without bloodshed."

"Not going to happen."

When they lunge forward, I dive toward the front of the truck and, as I roll, I grab my blade out of my boot. I come up swinging and slash the first man across the neck.

There's a moment of shocked hesitation and then a bloody battle ensues. There are just too many of them. I get a few more good jabs in, but soon enough, they've got my arms pinned and I'm thrown to the ground.

With my knees and arms up to protect myself, I get the brunt of the fists, kicks, and brass-knuckled punches. Thankfully, my knife went under the truck otherwise, I'm sure I'd be bleeding out much larger holes.

Unable to move, I endure the beating and barely register when someone curses.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

"Back the fuck away from him—Now!"

There's a scuffle around the truck and then Laine grabs my shirt. "Up and in, Mr. Quinn. Seems we're not welcome here."

She helps me to my feet and I take in the scramble of bodies both on the ground and staggering just beyond reach. I take the gun from her and level my sights on the ones still standing. "It didn't have to go this way, lads. This is on you."

We both get in and I lock the doors as she kicks up gravel and we make tracks.

"Are you okay?" I ask.

She snorts. "You're the one who just got a shit-kicking. I'm just the one who found the Glock in the glove compartment. Yes, I'm okay. Well, other than not knowing how to drive on this side of the road."

I chuckle. "You'll manage. You're an independent force, remember?"

Lying on my back and staring up at the roof of the truck, I can tell we're driving fast and that's about it.

"Shit, Tag. I don't know where we live. Where am I going?"

I point at the nav console. "Just hit home."

She does and then she hits the call button to connect with my phone. It rings twice and then the line picks up. "Hey, brother. What's?—"

"Sean, it's Laine. There was trouble and Tag's hurt. I'm coming home as fast as I can, but we'll need Doc Kelvin."

"How bad is he?"

The worried chatter between Laine and my brother fades into nothingness and the next thing I'm aware of is Sean and Brendan hauling my broken ass out of the truck.

"Who the fuck did this?" Brendan snaps.

"Is Doc Kelvin here?" Laine asks.

"He's two minutes out," Sean says. "We'll get him inside and cleaned up so Doc can see the damage."

"Where were you when this happened?" Sean asks. "Who are we dealing with?"

"I don't know," Laine says. "We stopped in a little town on the way home from Rose's new place. There was a street festival and as we were leaving, a bunch of men recognized Tag and jumped him."

"We need a name, Laine." Sean was being too snappish with her, and I didn't like it.

"Campbells," I grunted out.

Laine glances up from where she's wiping me down with a damp cloth. "It happened so fast. I couldn't get them away from Tag and they were so brutal…"

"How did you get away?" Brendan asks.

"I took the gun from the glove compartment and started shooting."

There's a collective round of cursing but she did nothing wrong. She saved my ass.

"How many did you shoot?" Sean asks.

"Uh…three, I think. I just shot into the cluster of them until they backed away far enough for me to get Tag into the truck."

"Well, this is fun for a Saturday night," Doc Kelvin says, staring down at me. "All right. Let's get you something for the pain, and see what we're dealing with."