AllFreeNovel
Share Us
I took the glass from Rory, my hand trembling slightly as I brought it to my lips. The whiskey burned a fiery trail down my throat, but I welcomed the warmth it spread through my body. It helped dull the edge of fear and adrenaline still coursingthrough my veins.
“Hey,” Rory’s voice was soft as he placed a hand on my shoulder. “You okay?”
I opened my eyes to find him watching me with concern. The gash on his forehead had stopped bleeding, but dried blood still caked his skin and matted his hair. He looked as shell-shocked as I felt.
“No,” I admitted, my voice barely above a whisper. “I don’t think I am.”
Rory pulled me into his arms, and I buried my face in his chest, inhaling his familiar scent of leather and cedarwood. For a moment, we just stood there, holding each other as the reality of our situation sank in.
“We need to clean you up,” I said finally, pulling back to examine his wound. “That cut looks nasty.”
We started down the hall to the bathroom but could hear Declan in the kitchen “...wasn’t supposed to go down like this,” he was saying, his voice tight with frustration. “I don’t care what you have to do, just clean it up... No, they’re here with me... Of course they don’t know a thing.”
Rory took hold of my hand and led me to the bathroom and closed the door. “Wonder what he’s up to.”
Instead of answering him, I rummagedthrough the medicine cabinet for supplies and caught sight of my reflection in the mirror. My face was pale, eyes wide and haunted. I barely recognized myself.
With gentle hands I pushed him to sit on the toilet and started to clean the cut on his forehead, applying antiseptic and a bandage. He winced slightly but remained still, his eyes never leaving my face. When I finished, he caught my wrist, pressing a soft kiss to my palm.
“Thank you,” he murmured.
My eyes found his and my breath caught in my throat. What I saw was a man with love in his eyes, and it was for me.
“I’m done,” I said barely above a whisper.
His brow furrowed. “Done what?”
I stepped back and waved a hand around the room. “This.”
Clearly, he was puzzled. “The bathroom?”
“No! This life, the house, all of it I don’t want to be Captain, and I hope you don’t either.”
“Kat, what are you talking about?”
Before I could answer there was a knock at the door.
I stalked over to the door and tore it open. “What?!”
It was Declan, and he was smiling at me. “It’s all been fixed.”
I stared at him in disbelief, my mind struggling to process his words. “What do you mean it’s all been fixed? What exactly was ‘fixed’?”
Declan’s smile widened as he stepped into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. The small space suddenly felt claustrophobic with the three of us crammed inside.
“The job,” he began, his eyes gleaming with an excitement I’d never seen before. “It wasn’t exactly what you thought it was.”
I felt Rory tense beside me, his hand instinctively reaching for my waist. I covered it with my own and squeezed it tightly, bracing myself for whatever bombshell Declan was about to drop.
“You see,” Declan continued, “the shipment wasn’t guns at all. It was supplies for a very special occasion.”
My heart raced as I tried to make sense of his words. “What kind of supplies? What occasion?”
Declan’s grin grew impossibly wider. “Supplies for a swearing-in ceremony. Not for one Captain, but two.”
The room seemed to tilt as his words sank in. I gripped the edge of the sink to steady myself, myknuckles turning white from the pressure.
“Two Captains?” Rory’s voice was barely above a whisper.
