Chapter 25

I feel like I've been run over and then tossed into a blender. I know it's because I got my ass kicked, but damn, it's been a while since I've been this beat up. I can't even open my eyes yet; my body hurts so much. It's like I'm fighting to reach the surface, and every breath I take is like I'm fighting for my life. I knew I was injured but I didn't think it was this bad. It takes me a couple of tries but I finally manage to open my eyes slowly and groan when the light hits my eyes.

"Oh my God! STEEL!" I hear Illeana shout from beside me in a panic. I can't even form the words telling her to keep it down before I see her face blocking out all of the light around me. I definitely need to remind her to not shout when she is talking to someone who just woke up after being unconscious and probably has at least one head injury, if not more. "You're awake!"

"Shhh," I mutter, raising my right arm to my forehead to rub my head. "Mind helping me sit up?" I could probably do it on my own if I really tried, but it'll be easier if she just helps me for now until I can get my bearings.

"I don't know if that's a good idea," she hesitates, biting her lip. "I stitched up your side, but it's not perfect, and who knows what other damage there still is."

"It's fine, Illeana," I grunt, trying to push myself up. My side where I was stabbed is absolutely throbbing. "Can you get me some pain meds?"

I watch her hesitate, debating between stopping me from moving or helping me before she finally makes a decision. Reaching out, she helps me sit up slowly, mindful of my wounds, and when she's positive, I'm not going to fall over or anything, she rises to her feet to grab a glass of water and the pain pills I asked for. I'd prefer something stronger, but she shakes out two ibuprofen from the bottle. Groaning, I shake my head. "More," I mumble, holding out my hand for the bottle.

"But the bottle says two is the serving dose for adults," she squeaks as she hands me the bottle.

"Princess," I sigh, trying not to take my pain out on her. "I just killed who knows how many men, got in multiple fistfights, and was stabbed. Then you stitched me up. Two pain pills are not even going to touch the pain I am feeling. It won't kill me to take more." My teeth grind together as I try to push back the pain. "How long was I out?" I need to know how much longer I need to stay conscious before help gets here. I don't want the girls unprotected, not like I'm going to be able to do much, but I can shoot if I have to.

"You've been unconscious for almost twenty minutes. Knox said someone called 'The Brotherhood', I think it was, were on their way, and he wasn't far behind them." Her eyes shift between watching me and checking the door as she talks. I can tell she's terrified but is putting on a brave face as best as she can.

"Hopefully they will be here soon." Tossing five pills into my mouth, I follow it with some water and swallow. I really wish we had something strong, but this is going to have to work tonight. I'll need to mention to Knox to put some better medications in our med kit. "What else did Knox say?" I need to know everything so I can make a plan.

"He had me collect all the weapons and put them in a pile in the office, said you would take care of the rest or tell the others what to do. I, umm, did leave the grenade-looking things behind. I was afraid to touch those. Oh, and he told Grace to wait in the safe room." She looks down at her hands as she twists them in front of her like she's nervous.

"Okay, help me up," I instruct holding out my hand for her to help me. "Show me who has grenades and I'll deal with them , we also need to check the bodies for any forms of communication devices or anything that could identify them. While we do that, we can move the bodies into a pile to make clean-up easier."

"STEEL!" Illeana shouts. "You can't be moving around that much," she scolds, placing her hands on her hips as she glares at me. "I refuse to let you injure yourself further, after I just stitched you up. I don't think I could handle it."

"It's fine, Illeana. This needs to be done. I just may need you to help me a little. Now, let's go and get this done." I don't wait for her to start helping; I grasp the edge of the table and begin to use it as leverage. When she sees I’m not backing down, she leans down to reach her arm around me and wraps one of my arms around her neck so I could have her help to stand. Together, she leads me to the closest man to us and points to the two flash bangs on his waist. "Okay, what I want you to do is grab both of those and carefully slide them out of the belt. You need to be careful to avoid pulling the pin or jostling it too much."

"You want me to touch them?" she gasps, looking at me with wide eyes. "There is no way I can do that. Nope, not happening."

"Well, if you don't, then I risk tearing the stitches. Is that what you want?" It's a low blow, I know that, but it gets her moving as she helps me lean against the wall to maintain my balance. If she is going to be with me, then she can't be afraid of these things, and I want her to be comfortable around all things. I don't expect her to use them ever, but she can't be afraid of them either. Also, it really is easier for her to do this and then I don't need to aggravate my wound anymore than I need to, she’s right on that point. Just wait until I tell her she is going to be the one dragging these men's bodies. Oh yeah, she definitely won't be happy with me then.

"That's mean, Steel," she glares at me as she begins to kneel on the ground. I watch her carefully follow my instructions and take each flashbang out of the belt one by one. When she has them in hand, she rises slowly and looks at me. "Where should I put these?"

"Sit them on the dining room table. We will just create a pile of them there. Once we get all those, we will pull all the bodies into the living room." I wait to see if she's going to react but all she does is roll her eyes and head to the dining room table before coming back to my side and pauses.

"Next?" she snarks, placing herself in the perfect position for me to wrap my arm around her shoulders. I'm starting to think she's enjoying being a smart-ass while I'm injured. I think I'm going to need to remember this and punish her for it once I'm feeling better.

"Do you need me to go with you to every body or do you think you know what to do now?" I mean I'll hobble my way around if needed, but I would prefer not to. If anything I'd rather just start getting the bodies into the living room.

"Hmm," she snorts. "Fine, just don't fall over. Please." She gives me a pointed look before turning away and heading to the stairs.

I watch her go and wait until she makes it to the top before I lean down to the body in front of me. "Ah hell, this is a terrible idea." Just from the small movement, I can feel my side yelling at me. Grabbing the male's ankle with my right hand, I straighten, spinning his body, and begin dragging it into the center of the living room. Dropping his leg with a thud, I use the arm of the couch to help me kneel down and begin to dig through his pockets, trying to find a cell phone and his wallet. "Bingo," I smirk to myself, feeling a phone in his right cargo pocket. I toss it on the coffee table and begin digging in his ass pocket to try to find a wallet. I doubt these guys would be stupid enough to leave it on them, but hey, you never know.

"What are you doing!" Illeana shouts as she gets halfway down the stairs where she can now see me. "I told you to stand still. Not drag a damn body to the living room!"

"You know, Princess, you're doing a lot of yelling at me. Remember who's in charge here," I smirk, watching her eyes flash with lust before she buries it again. "You have no idea the things I'm capable of and have done. Trust me, this is but a scratch." I wait to see if she gets the joke but it goes right over her head as she glares at me.

"Monty Python and the Holy Grail?" I ask exasperated. She just shakes her head at me while she continues down the stairs and goes to place another grenade on the table. "Wow, we are clearly going to need to improve your movies. It's a classic."

As she moves down the hallway toward the office, I head up the stairs or try to. Maybe I should have had her push the body down the stairs toward me instead of trying to walk up them, but I'm too damn stubborn to let this stop me. Going slowly and using the handrail, I take one step at a time to get up to the body I took out. My side is screaming in pain when I do. I don't bother to get all the way to the top, instead dropping to my knees three stairs before the top of and I lean forward, grabbing the male's wrist and pulling him toward me. I check over all his pockets as well and come up empty. Damn, I was hoping that he'd have something. Rising to my feet I move to the side of the stairs and grab his wrist once more, yanking real hard and throw him down the stairs.

Work harder, not smarter, right?

Illeana is standing at the bottom of the stairs as I begin to make my way back down. She's still staring at me as she stands over the man's dead body. I can tell she is itching to make a comment but thinks twice about it. She grabs the male's ankle like I had the first time and pulls him from the bottom of the stairs where he lands in the living room, leaving him right beside the other one. By the time I make it to the bottom of the stairs, she's already pulling one of the other bodies into the room as well and laying him next to the others in a row.

"I could have done that," I state, watching her work. No lie, it's kind of hot seeing her help me with this. The princess crown is long gone and she's getting her hands dirty. I wish it wasn't in this way but it shows she has some backbone and can get shit done when she needs to. I appreciate that and it makes me like her even more.

She snorts and rolls her eyes before kneeling to the ground and digging through the pockets. Quickly, she finds another cell phone and hands it to me as she rises from the floor. "I'll go check the guys outside as well."

"No," I almost shout, reaching out to grasp her wrist to stop her. "Leave them. I don't want you out of my sight."

"Okay, well, there's another body in the office. Let me go drag him out here." I nod and watch her leave. Walking to the coffee table, I toss the second cell phone down and then head to the armchair. I really need to sit down. I shouldn't have done the stairs because I was already starting to feel dizzy, but I refused to tell Illeana and have her panic more.

Looking at the men, I try to memorize their faces and anything about them that would stand out. We need some sort of lead. There's no way that we can all keep going like this without an answer. Eventually, someone is going to get even further than these guys and hurt Illeana or Grace. I can't have that happen. Both those girls are important to me and don't deserve the mess their father dragged them into. I will figure this out and make those girls safe, even if it very well kills me.