Chapter 32

Keavy~

I wasn't sure how much time had passed, but I was suddenly jarred awake by a new face, though his eyes were ones that I'd recognized anywhere. The man staring into my face could only be Noah's brother because he had the same aqua-colored blue gaze that Noah did.

"Hey, lass," he said smoothly. "I'm Lochlan Murphy, and I'm going to be removing that bullet from your shoulder."

"Of course, you are," I muttered, doing my best to sit up.

"Oh, no," he quickly rushed out. "I need you to relax because this is going to hurt, even with the sedative."

I immediately started shaking my head. "I don't need or want a sedative. I have…there's too much to do."

Lochlan smirked, and there was no denying that the O'Brien/Murphy men were a sexy lot. "If you're referring to the two assholes that you killed, they're already taken care of."

"Yeah, no," I said. "That doesn't work for me."

"Why not, lass?"

At Declan's voice, I turned to see that he'd been sitting on the couch next to me the entire time, and I really must have been out of it not to notice. With my mouth dry, I could only imagine how much blood I'd lost over these past few hours, and I didn't even want to think about an infection setting in.

"Because if I'm ever going to go to prison for murder, it'll be because I fucked up," I informed him. "Not because I'd been stupid enough to trust that you guys know what you're doing.'

"Well, okay…" Lochlan drawled out. "Now I see what Noah was talking about."

"We know what we're doing, Keavy," Declan said as Lochlan began removing Noah's dressing. "How do you think we've managed to stay out of prison all these years."

"Protecting family is vastly different from protecting someone else," I pointed out.

"Well, considerin' da yer gonna be my feckin' wife soon, ye count as family," Declan snapped, and Lochlan hid his laugh under a cough.

"So that Noah can turn you into a widower? I think not," I snorted.

"I've already apologized for that, lass," Noah's voice echoed through the cabin.

When I turned towards the sound, I saw him sitting on the coffee table, grinning at me like a psychopath. "No, you didn't."

"My apologies, then," he said like an asshole.

"Lass, this is going to hurt," Lochlan said, ignoring his brother and cousin. "I need to sedate you."

"Numb the area," I ordered. "That's my compromise."

Like a chauvinistic sonofabitch, Lochlan looked over at Declan, then asked, "What do you want me to do?"

"If you say anything other than directing him to listen to me, then that marriage that you think is going to happen will definitely involve another bride," I warned him.

Noah barked out a laugh. "Yeah, you two are definitely meant for each other."

"I mean it, Declan," I went on. "Do not fucking sedate me. I will kill all five of you if you do."

"Tearney and Brody left already," Declan informed me, rather than instruct Lochlan. "It's just us."

"I don't care if there's three or thirty of you," I bit out. "Either you kill me, or else I take you all out."

"Jesus feckin' Christ, baby," Declan hissed. "Yer feckin' shot."

"Okay…okay," Lochlan chuckled. "I'll give you a local, but depending on how far in the bullet is, it still might hurt like hell."

"I don't care," I told him truthfully. "Just do it already."

Lochlan let out a huge sigh as he shook his head, but I didn't care if I was being difficult. I had enough problems without losing more time to a sedative. I had to find out what Declan had done with the two bodies, then make sure that nothing would come back to haunt me later. They didn't know these woods the way that I did, and I wasn't going to take any chances with sloppy work.

That also had me thinking of this Klive person. If he knew that his people had come here, then how long would he wait to come out here to look for them? Yeah, there was a chance that Klive didn't know that they'd chosen my cabin specifically, but that wasn't a risk that I could afford to take. The more I found out about Klive, the better. I needed to know what I was dealing with, and it was obvious that Declan knew who Klive was.

Doing my best to ignore Lochlan's ministrations, I kept my eyes on Declan. "Who's Klive?"

Before Declan could answer, Noah surprised me by saying, "You might as well tell her."

Declan let out an irritated sigh before saying, "Klive Simpson is a small-time…gang leader for lack of a better word. Supposedly, he's dealing in drugs and guns, and while he's not big enough to matter right now, it's a question of why he'd choose a state that's already occupied by three different organized crime outfits. Especially, Port Townsend where we all operate out of."

My breaths were choppy as Lochlan went to work on my shoulder, but I could still speak clearly. "How big is his gang?"

"He started with twenty, but with your little contribution to the cause, he's down three people," Declan answered honestly.

My mind started spinning with the information, and there was only one reason that a person behaved unreasonably. Business was a cold spreadsheet that only cared about the total sums. Money was a universal goal for almost every human walking the planet, and it was the only thing strong enough to make enemies work together. If the cause resulted in enough dollar signs, then people found a way to get along for the greater good. So, when someone did something that made absolutely no sense, there could be only one reason for that. In fact, our little reunion right now was proof of that.

"It's personal," I said.

Declan's head reared back a bit. "What's personal?"

I hissed when Lochlan began trying to dig out the bullet, but it was more from the pressure that he was applying than from actual pain, though there was still some of that. Granted, it could have been a lot worse, so I needn't complain.

"The reason that he's here," I answered. "The reason that he picked Port Townsend is personal."

"How do you figure?" Noah asked.

"Only something that evokes emotions can make a person act irrationally," I explained. "And starting a crime enterprise in a state that already has the Sartoris, Kotovs, and O'Briens is about as irrational as a person can get."

"She's got a point," Lochlan mumbled as he fished the spent bullet from my shoulder.

"We couldn't find any personal connections when we checked into him," Noah stated.

"Were you guys really looking for any?" I asked. "Or were you just looking for the basics since you didn't feel like he's a threat right now?"

"I'm going to make a call to Provenza," Noah announced, and it seemed weird to me that he would have Aurelio Provenza's personal phone number.

"Okay, I'm going to stitch this up now, lass," Lochlan informed me. "Then I'll give you something for the pain. You'll be hurting in the morning."

"I'm not worried about it," I replied, then realized just what he'd done for me. "Thank you all the same."

"You're welcome."

Once Lachlan gathered all his stuff and stepped away, Declan took his place. "How are you feeling, baby?"

"Tired," I answered honestly. "I'm fucking tired, Declan."

His blue eyes searched mine before saying, "Keavy, you can't stay here. If nothing else, you need to go back with us, so that the police don't suspect anything."

"This is my home, Declan."

"What about the apartment?"

"That's just where I live," I replied evenly.

"Baby-"

"Declan, I have to show you something," I said, interrupting him. Though I still didn't trust him, he wasn't going to leave me alone, so I had to show him why I couldn't leave the cabin abandoned completely. "Then you'll see why I can't just leave."

Just then, Noah walked back into the cabin, saying, "They're going to have Morocco look deeper into Klive Simpson to see if there's anything there."

"You're just in time," Declan drawled out as he stood up from the couch. "Keavy's about to show us something."

"Oh, this ought ta be good," Noah snorted.

"I'm not sure if I even want to know," Lochlan muttered, and he wasn't wrong.