Page 68 of The Fighter

Devlin wasn’t done fucking with me. “I heard Amara has only gotten more beautiful. Maybe I’ll see if she can breed me another Walsh son.”

Con was at my side, stabbing the button to end the call while I dropped to my knees. White noise roared in my ears, barely audible over the drum beat of my pounding heart that had to be leaking blood all over my insides. There was no way the organwas still intact if I was in this much pain. No way. A horrible sound was happening in the gym, like nails on a chalkboard, and as pain registered in my throat, I realized the noise was coming from me.

Conrad

The sound coming from Tav was unworldly. Worse than his screaming during the fight. This was a howling, wounded sound that was like a fist around my heart.

Earlier, I should have woken him up. I regretted it now. I wanted him to sleep, knowing tonight was going to be long, but this… this was cruel. I placed hand on his back, right over the angel tattoo. “Tav, listen to me?—”

He surged up like the fighter he was, and in seconds, I was pinned on my back on the floor. His big body straddled mine, lips twisted into a horrible sneer that was more agony than anger. “Why did you let me believe?” He screamed in my face. “Why did you let me believe I could have this? That I could be happy? That I?—”

I planted my foot on the ground and rolled us, likely only able to do it because Tav wasn’t expecting it. I reversed our positions, straddling him with a hand at his throat while he thrashed beneath me, a little uncoordinated in his panic. “She’s. Safe,” I spoke an inch from his face, peering into those terror-filled two-toned eyes. “Her and Holden are safe. Here in this building in an apartment since three this afternoon, guarded by a dozen of my best men.”

His breath left him on a shudder, and his body went limp, arms and legs thudding on the rubber mats. “What?”

I loosened my grip on his throat and palmed his face. “I let you believe, because I’m capable of keeping you safe, as well as your family.”

Family. His lips mouthed the word, like it was foreign to him.

“I’m sorry I didn’t wake you when Nik called to tell me Devlin was up to something. I didn’t have time to explain to you, and I wanted you to sleep. That’s my fault. I didn’t realize Devlin would act so quickly.” He’d been tipped off by something, Nik had said. While Tav had been happily eating, Nik had told me Devlin had raided the motel room. Fortunately our man that we had stationed there fled in time.

For us, the priority was protecting Amara and Holden, and we’d snatched them quickly. Nik had told me Amara was far from passive and had to be drugged. Holden had fought until they’d been able to bribe him with candy. Neither of them had been hurt, but Nik assured me Amara was going to wake up raging.

Tav blinked at me, and one hand lifted to wrap around my forearm. “They’re… here?”

I leaned back on his thighs. “Tenth floor apartment. Stocked kitchen. Games for Holden. Amenities for Amara.”

“Wh-when?”

“Since this afternoon.”

He seemed a little shocky. His pupils were dilated, and his breathing was irregular. “You should have woken me up.”

I hung my head and slowly rose to my feet. He remained on the ground spread out like a starfish, staring at me. “I know. I’m sorry.” His gaze followed me as I grabbed a water from the small fridge and returned to his side. “Sit up for me.”

He did, and I helped him brace against the wall while I uncapped the water and held it to his lips to drink. I knew he was starting to come back to himself when he made a face, snatchedthe bottle out of my hand, and chugged half of it down. He swiped the back of his hand across his mouth. “Does she know?”

“She knows nothing.” I rubbed the back of my neck. “She, uh, she might still be asleep.”

His eyes narrowed. “Asleep?”

“She was unsurprisingly not willing to be taken into a dark SUV by six men she didn’t know.”

He tensed. “Did they hurt her?”

I winced. “Drugged her. For her own safety. She would have gotten hurt fighting them. But it had to be done. We couldn’t waste time and potentially let Devlin get her first.”

He cursed. “Holden?”

“My latest report was that he was putting together a LEGO set with Ben.”

Tav’s eyes closed, and his head dropped. “This is fucking surreal.”

“You know we have to tell her, right?”

He met my gaze, eyes alert now. Focused. “It’s my decision how much to tell her.”

“Tav—”