Tiernan

I was still upset that Kynedi wouldn’t talk to me. Even hours later, I was up, pacing my house. Finally, I concluded that I had to see her tonight. I knew it was late, and she might be in bed, but I doubted it. She said she’d be up late working. Maybe it would be better this way. Cass would be in bed asleep. Grabbing my car keys, I went to the garage and got my Rover. As I approached the gates, they began to open, and one of the guards, Adam, came strolling up to the car. I lowered my window.

“Tiernan, where’s Milo?” he asked casually.

“In his bed, as far as I know.”

“Sir, you know that you should take someone with you when you leave. I can’t in good conscience let you go without someone with you. I’m sorry.”

“I’m not waiting all night for Milo to get here. I can take care of myself.”

“You don’t need to wait for Milo. I’ll go with you,” I heard from the guardhouse beside the gates. I looked past Adam to find Kendric coming toward us. He was one of the enforcers and not used for regular guard duty unless it was for Darragh.

“Kendric, there’s no need for you to go. I’ll be fine.”

“Tiernan, Darragh has ordered everyone to have guards. You know that. Either I go, or we call Darragh and ask him what he’d like us to do.”

He knew I’d never do that. For one, Dar would tell me to take someone. Two, he was in bed and likely balls deep in his wife, or they were asleep, and so was their son. He’d kill me if we woke up their toddler or interrupted him having sex with his wife.

“Get in the damn car,” I said through gritted teeth. Kendrick flashed me a smile as he rounded the car. Adam wisely went back to the guardhouse. As soon as Kendric’s ass hit the seat, I was out the gates. I didn’t give him time to buckle up or close the door.

“Whoa. What’s the hurry?”

“I need to go see someone.”

“Would it happen to be that fetching woman who was here on Saturday?”

“If you don’t want me to throw you out along the road, you’ll never refer to her as fetching or anything else that sounds remotely like you find her attractive,” I informed him.

He laughed. “Got it. But still, the way you’re acting, that’s where you’re going. Unless you have a booty call somewhere.”

“I’m not going to fuck some other woman! I’ve got to see mine. She’s driving me nuts and won’t talk to me. We’re settling that shit tonight,” I snarled.

“Good. It sounds like you’re in it for the long haul. Mind if I ask why she’s mad at you?”

Somehow, as I drove, he got the story out of me. We were pulling into the parking lot at her apartment building when he finished telling me not to let her doubt my feelings. He advised me to tell her I was attracted to her and wanted a relationship.

I’d barely gotten out of the car after telling him to stay when I heard my name yelled hysterically. Whipping around, I saw Cassius running toward me. He was in his pajamas and had a look of absolute terror on his face. I ran to him and crouched down. He flew into my arms.

“Cass, why are—” I didn’t finish my sentence because I heard a scream.

I instantly knew it was Kynedi. Kendric was beside me by then. I handed Cass to him without a word and ran for their place. I heard a man yelling. I busted through the door, and not seeing anyone, I went down a dark hallway, shouting her name. I heard sounds of a struggle coming from the last room. Barging through the door, I saw a man all in black, bleeding. He was on top of Kynedi. She had her eyes closed and wasn’t moving. His hands were around her neck. I went crazy. I charged to the bed and ripped him off her. I threw him on the floor, then rained blow after blow and kick after kick down on him. I didn’t stop until Kendric snapped me out of it.

“Check your woman. I’ll keep an eye on this filthy animal,” he snapped.

“Where’s Cass? He can’t be left alone,” I said as I stumbled to the bed. Bruises were already showing on her pale neck. He’d choked her. I lowered my head to see if she was still breathing. I almost wept when I felt her breath on my face.

“He’s with a neighbor, a Mrs. Lafferty. She came out to see what was the matter. She said she’d watch him, and he wasn’t afraid to go with her. Is she breathing?”

“She is. We need to get her to the hospital. I don’t know what he did to her.” Her top was torn. She still had shorts on, so I prayed that meant he hadn’t raped her. However, there was no way to know what else he may have done. I ran my hand down her face.

“Kynedi, open your eyes. Please, wake up. I’ve got to know if you’re alright,” I whispered to her.

I heard the sound of sirens. Someone had called the cops. A little too late for that, in my opinion. “Go handle them. If they don’t have an ambulance on the way, tell them to get one here ASAP, or I’ll take her to the hospital myself. Don’t let Cassius in here. He can’t see her like this,” I ordered.

“I’ll take care of it. You take care of your lady. I’m calling Darragh.”

I knew something this serious required him to update my cousin. Everyone knew that. I didn’t bother to argue. It wouldn’t do me any good. They had orders. I sat on the edge of the mattress and kept rubbing my hand along her face. There was a bruise on her cheek and a red mark on her temple. As I was straightening her top and arms, I noted she had blood under her nails.

“Kynedi, please, baby, you have to open your eyes, or I’m gonna lose my shit. I don’t want that. It’ll scare Cassius.”

The stomping of feet told me we were no longer alone. I didn’t bother to look toward the door.

“Sir, we need you to move back,” a man said cautiously.

“You need to take care of that piece of shit lying on the floor. He attacked her. I had to pull him off her. She’s unconscious and hurt. I’m not fucking leaving.”

“Sir, let us do our job,” another officer said.

I did look at them then. They moved back a step. “Call your chief, Martin Trembley. Tell him that Tiernan O’Sheeran wants him down at this address now. Tell him there’s been an attack and that my anamchara has been hurt. He’ll come.”

“We can’t get our chief out of bed for this,” the first one protested.

“I’m reaching into my pocket for my phone,” I told them.

I refused to argue with them. I’d do it myself. I took out my phone with them watching my every move. When I had it out, I found Martin’s name and hit send. I put it on speaker. When Martin answered, I made it quick and sweet.

“Tiernan, what’s wrong?”

“I’m at my anamchara’s apartment. I arrived to find her son running to me in the parking lot and her being attacked by a man in her bedroom. Her assailant is knocked out on the floor, and she’s unconscious. He choked her. Mind telling your men to stop telling me to leave her and have them take care of the filth, or I will.”

“Jesus Christ, put one of them on the phone.” I held it up.

“Uh, sir, this is Officer Petru,” one said nervously.

“Petru, leave that man alone. You’re not getting him to leave. Get her medical attention and remove the man who attacked her before Tiernan goes off and kills him. You’re lucky he didn’t already. I’ll be down there as soon as you give me the address.”

Officer Petru rattled off the address. I said a quick goodbye to Martin, and then I hung up. After that, they left me be and got busy handcuffing the unconscious guy. I was rubbing Kynedi’s wrists when she jerked slightly. I kept doing it. Her eyelids fluttered a few times, and then she finally opened them. They were clouded with pain and confusion. They widened when she saw me hovering over top of her.

“Tiernan, what are you doing here?” she asked hoarsely. The way she flinched as she spoke, I knew it hurt to talk.

“I was coming to see you. Stay still.”

“What happened? Where is that man?” she croaked. Again, she flinched when she spoke.

“ Mo chuisle , my pulse, don’t talk. We don’t want to make the damage worse. If you can, point to where it hurts. Help is on the way.”

She pointed to her head, face, ribs, and stomach. I noted panic entering her face. I knew she was thinking of Cassius.

Before she could ask, I told her, “Cassius is safe and unharmed. He’s downstairs with Mrs. Lafferty. I have one of our best men watching out for him. He’s safe. I don’t want him to see you this way, so I have Kendric keeping him away. We’ll get you to the hospital as soon as the ambulance arrives. One of my family members or I will be with Cass at all times. We’ll look out for him, so don’t worry about him.”

A loud groan had her gasping, and she shrank away. It was the bastard on the ground. Since he was unconscious, the cops had handcuffed him but let him lie there. I whipped my head around to stare at them. They stood there like they had no clue what to do. “Get his fucking ass out of here. She doesn’t need to see him,” I barked.

“Sir, we will, but first, we have to ask if she recognizes him,” Petru stated.

I was about to blast him when Martin came striding in. His men snapped to attention when they saw him. He wasn’t happy if his scowl was anything to go by.

“Get him on his feet. Tiernan, before you argue, Petru is right. At least let them see if she can identify him. I’m so sorry this happened to you, Ms…” he let it hang there.

“Her name is Kynedi Carmichael. Kynedi, this is Police Chief Martin Tremblay. He’s Miranda’s dad. Martin, the intruder choked her, and it hurts her to talk. Can we keep the questions to a minimum until the doctor checks her out and says it’s okay for her to talk?”

Her eyes widened when she heard Martin was Miranda’s dad, but she did give him a faint smile and a nod.

“Of course. Ms. Carmichael, I’m sorry we’re meeting this way rather than with the family. I’m going to have my men remove his head covering. Tell me if you know him or not. A simple head nod will do until you can talk or write.”

By then, the two officers had the intruder on his feet. He appeared out of it. Blood was still running down his side. I didn’t give a fuck if he bled to death or not, other than if he died, I wouldn’t have the pleasure of making him hurt for what he did to her. The other cop was the one to tug off the full hood he wore. They brought him closer, so the light someone turned on in the room fell across his face. The fucker was trying to appear tough by glowering at her. I kept a tight hold on her hand. She studied the man for almost a minute before she shook her head no.

“Are you positive?” Martin asked.

She nodded emphatically.

“Take him downtown. Book him for assault for now. After Ms. Carmichael gives her official statement, we’ll see what else we can add to this list of his charges,” Martin told his men.

“She stabbed me! I need medical attention,” the man shouted.

As he was shouting, two paramedics walked into the room. They hesitated when they saw her on the bed and the intruder standing there with blood on him. They started for him. I shut that down fast.

“She’s been choked out and can barely talk. That son of a bitch did it. Don’t you dare treat him and not her,” I snarled.

“Easy, Tiernan, one of them will check over Ms. Carmichael. We have to render aid to him even if we’d prefer not to,” Martin whispered.

My temper was about to get the best of me if they didn’t get him outta my sight. “Take him outside or wherever, just not in here.”

A shooing motion from Martin and his men and one of the paramedics left the bedroom with a complaining culprit in tow. The other paramedic came to the bed.

“Sir, if you’d move just a bit so I can examine her,” he said hesitantly.

He was giving me a nervous look, which made me guess that he knew who I was. I edged away to give him a foot more room. It should be plenty. I was settled in, sitting there, listening to everything said, and watching what was done. Martin had other ideas, though.

“Tiernan, I need to speak to you.”

“Martin, I can’t leave her.”

“I know, but you can come to the door with me. You’ll still be able to see her. Chuck is a great paramedic. He knows his stuff. He’ll be quick and won’t cause her more pain,” he assured me.

Reluctantly, I stood. “Kynedi, I’m not leaving the room. If you need me, wave.”

She nodded. I slowly walked over to Martin. “What do you need to know?”

“How did you come to be here? What did you see? Was there anyone else, or was her assailant alone?”

I told him how I came to be there and what happened. Some of it, I’d already relayed on the phone. By the time I was done, I heard the cavalry arrive. I heard Darragh’s voice at the front door.

“I suggest you let me pass. I’m here to check on my cousin and his woman. I know Martin Tremblay is here. Tell him Darragh and a few others want to come in,” Darragh said in his no-nonsense tone.

“I don’t care who you are. This is a crime scene. We can’t have people tromping all over it. You can wait outside,” some man told him.

I knew he had to be receiving Dar’s signature stare that made mere mortal men shake in their boots. Martin sighed and left me to handle it. I couldn’t hear what was said, but it wasn’t more than a minute before Darragh, Daid , Aidan, and Patrick were crowded at the bedroom door. They scanned the room and frowned harder when they saw Kynedi.

“What’s all of you doing down here? Kendric said he was calling you, Dar, but not the others. It’s being handled,” I informed them.

“We came to lend you whatever support you need. Are they taking her to the hospital?” Dar asked.

Chuck heard him and answered, “I would advise she go. They should run some tests to see if her throat is permanently injured. Plus, she has pain in a variety of places. Not sure if anything is broken or if it’s just heavily bruised.”

“Then you’ll want to go with her. We’ll take Cassius home with us. Where is he?” Daid asked me.

“Kendric has him downstairs with their neighbor, Mrs. Lafferty. She lives directly below here. He was shaken up. I haven’t had a chance to reassure him.” I felt torn between Kynedi and Cassius.

“Stay with her. Your daid and I will talk to Cass to see how he is. If he’s upset, we’ll let him see you before you go. Later, you can tell us what the hell happened here,” Patrick muttered.

“ Go raibh maith agat , Thank you. I know Cass needs reassurance, too, but I can’t seem to leave her. He wasn’t harmed, at least.”

“ Mol Dia , Praise God that he wasn’t. Do what you must. We’ll see you at the hospital unless Cassius needs you,” Aidan said before Daid , Aidan, and Patrick left. Darragh moved to stand next to me.

“Let’s get her taken care of, and then we’ll meet and see what’s to be done,” Dar whispered.

I knew he meant that the man who dared to break in and hurt her would be dealt with. The police may have him in custody, but no one was beyond the reach of the family or the Hounds. I slapped him on the shoulder and then got back to Kynedi.