Page 38 of Murder & Mayhem (Bloody Desires #9)

DOMINIC

B ones crunched under the brass wrapped around my knuckles as I took my agitation out on O’Malley. His face had been ruined before Flame and I had even gotten started on it, but now it was beyond repair. He was hanging on by a thread, and I wasn’t nearly done with him.

I’d kept my word and called Flame. I’d done it right after I’d left the hospital so I didn’t change my mind. He’d arrived around dawn the following day, and we had been in here for hours, only taking a break when Gideon dragged me out to eat and drink some water.

When I’d contacted Flame, I’d pretty much demanded my turn with O’Malley too, and thankfully he hadn’t given me a hard time about it. “As long as I can feel his pulse stop beating under my fingers, I don’t give a fuck who gets him there.”

I stood, chest heaving, staring at O’Malley.

He was naked, though I was regretting that because I was sick of staring at his flabby ass.

His once good eye lay on the tarp under my feet, and in its place was a cauterized socket.

I didn’t want him to bleed out, of course.

At some point, one of us must’ve removed his tongue and a couple fingers too, but I didn’t even remember that.

He still had his dick, but that was because I was waiting.

The grand finale and all that. O’Malley’s chest rattled with each breath. He wasn’t gonna last much longer.

“Fuck!” I kicked O’Malley’s leg with my steel-toed boot hard enough that I heard bone crack, but the fucker was unconscious again. Pathetic.

“I’m bored,” Flame groaned. He was sitting in a plastic folding chair, eating fucking Oreos and flicking through his phone. I rolled my eyes. How was I always surrounded by the most unhinged and unbothered motherfuckers? “Can we end this already? I’d rather not be here all day.”

“You’re more than welcome to leave.”

He popped a cookie in his mouth whole. “Nope.” Crumbs fell down his chin. Fucking gross.

As much as I didn’t want to admit it, Flame was right. It was time to end this.

I pulled the bloody knuckles off and tossed them to the side, grabbing a knife from the tray that we had set up.

I paused when I saw what I’d picked up. Jamie’s switchblade.

It had fallen during the chaos, and Gideon had given it to me at the hospital after it had been found on the ground during cleanup.

“Wait.”

Flame sighed heavily, banging his head against the wall. “What now?”

“It’s not my decision to make.”

His eyes narrowed. “Whose is it then?”

“Jamie’s.”

Flame grinned, and he was fucking lucky I didn’t smash his face in, too, especially after he wiggled his eyebrows at me. “Figures it was a pretty thing that got your panties in a twist. ”

I dropped Jamie’s blade onto the tray and picked up the one next to it. Before the fucker finished laughing, the knife left my hand and embedded in the wall inches away from his face.

Flame raised his arms in surrender, barely flinching.

“Easy there. I ain’t touching the boy. I gave you my word, and I don’t break my promises.

Besides, I’m smart enough to know who to mess with and who to leave the fuck alone, and anyone with connections to Il Fortunato falls in the second category. ”

I grumbled under my breath but trusted him enough to dig my phone out of my pocket and pull up my thread with Jamie.

The last message was the one I’d sent him this morning, when we’d taken a break from O’Malley. All it said was I hope you’re feeling better, sweetheart. I was left on read.

Still, I knew he was looking, so I typed.

Me :

We’re tying up loose ends. Do you want to see?

I hoped he understood what I meant.

They’d ended up keeping Jamie another day, but he and Bailey had been discharged from the hospital earlier this morning.

I knew this not because Jamie had told me, but Ari, who was keeping abreast of all the moving pieces in this shit show.

He was also how I’d found out that Jamie had no signs of lasting damage and he hadn’t vomited or passed out in over twelve hours, which was why they’d allowed him to go home.

He had been coherent, no slurring or confusion.

He had a really bad headache and light sensitivity that they’d given him painkillers for.

Ari had told me that Skye had picked them up and brought them to one of Luca’s safe houses.

I couldn’t easily go check on Jamie and make sure he was okay since it wasn’t one of ours.

It made my skin crawl. Logically, I knew they were perfectly safe and being protected by Luca’s men, but ugh. I hated it.

Three dots showed up on my screen. Then disappeared. Then?—

Beautiful :

Pirate pervert?

Me :

Yeah. It’s time to end it. Do you want to be here for it?

The next pause was so long, I thought he was going to ignore me again.

Eventually, Jamie started typing. I could feel Flame’s eyes on me, but I ignored him. He could wait, or he could leave. I didn’t give a fuck either way.

The text came in.

Beautiful :

Yeah. I wanna see.

My hands shook as I typed my response. His answer shouldn’t matter that much to me, but it did.

Me :

I can pick you up?

Beautiful :

No, that’s okay. Brooks is here. He’ll drop me off. I’ll be there in 20 minutes.

Brooks was there? Why the fuck was Brooks there? Didn’t he have enough fucking boyfriends? It’s Luca’s safe house, so of course he has his guys there, the logical part of my brain told me, but logic could fuck off.

“Boy problems?” Flame snarked.

“Give me a good reason why I don’t just kill you now?”

“Because you know it would leave a power vacuum in the Wraiths and whoever was left standing wouldn’t give a fuck about my arrangement to leave the Sullivan boys alone?”

The fucker was right. Didn’t mean I had to like it. “I’m waiting for Jamie upstairs. Don’t kill O’Malley.”

Flame gave me a thumbs-up and went back to playing on his phone.

I stomped up the stairs and into the main space.

Gideon was there, because of course he fucking was.

So was Ari. His gear was spread out on the long table as he focused on his computer.

Gideon was sprawled out on a chair, his iPad in one hand and a gyro in the other.

Both Gid and I had ended up taking the week off work for a death in the family.

And because Ari was a genius, if either of our jobs looked into it, it would be legitimate.

I was dreading going back. I had a feeling that compartmentalizing my two lives wouldn’t be as easy as it had been.

“Is it done?” Gideon asked, surprisingly serious.

“No. Jamie’s coming.”

Thankfully, both of my brothers stayed quiet.

They’d already said their pieces yesterday.

Jamie’s still processing his trauma. Give him space.

He’ll come around if it’s meant to be. That last one had been Gideon, who watched way too much of the fucking Hallmark channel apparently.

Now, they let me be as I sunk into the chair next to Gid.

He eyed me skeptically. “Let’s hope that’s stain resistant to blood. ” I gave him the finger.

I watched Jamie’s little dot on my phone that showed he was moving. It hadn’t been my proudest moment, but I had turned on his location sharing and had set myself up as one of the people with access. I’d wanted to stick a tracker on him, but Ari had convinced me it was a little too much.

It got closer and closer at a pace much faster than expected. Was Brooks going 100 mph? Didn’t he realize Jamie was injured ?

“I’m going to spank the brat myself if Jamie gets sick.”

I climbed to my feet, pacing and trying not to rip my hair out.

This was why Jamie should have come back with me.

I would’ve taken care of him, and he would’ve already been with me so I wouldn’t be worried about Brooks’s reckless driving.

He should be resting, not . . . coming to watch me murder a guy because I asked him to?

Ugh. Guilt then became my overwhelming emotion, and all I could do was continue to stare at my phone until the dot finally stopped moving.

They were here. I headed to the door. The place was small.

It was used only to hold assets and targets temporarily, so the living area was really more of a lounge.

There was a tiny bathroom, and then a loft space to sleep, and that was it.

It meant I got to the door quickly, but Gideon stopped me before I threw it open.

“Maybe don’t open the door looking like Dexter after a kill? I got it.”

I stepped back, suddenly conscious that I was covered in blood.

I went to the window to watch as Gideon met them on the porch.

Was Jamie a little wobbly when he got out of the car?

At least he was wearing sunglasses. And it was overcast today, so the ride shouldn’t have exacerbated his condition.

Hopefully. I tried not to overanalyze every movement.

He was stiff and a little unsteady. I was grinding my teeth so hard that my jaw ached, but I managed to keep it together. Fuck, I was really losing it.

Brooks climbed out of the driver’s seat but he didn’t go far.

He leaned over the hood and waved, saying something to Gid and Jamie with a bratty grin on his face.

Jamie responded, and Brooks nodded. Brooks’s gaze then fell on me creeping from the window.

With a small salute and another grin, he slipped back into the car.

Seconds later, the door closed and then he was driving off.

Gideon guided Jamie inside, and I spun to face him.

Jamie’s lips twitched. “Were you watching from the window?” He had pulled his sunglasses off, and the bruises looked even more vivid today.

“Maybe. Gid wouldn’t let me go outside.”

His eyes ran up and down my body. “Probably a good call.”

I took a step forward, not sure what I should do.

Jamie hugged himself, chewing on his lips. He finally looked up, tears filling those pretty eyes, and I snapped.