Page 24 of Revived (Lucky Ones #1)

Chapter sixteen

Sullivan Byrne

“ M ac tracked my phone and came to get me. By the time he got there, I had passed out from the pain. He called Declan, and between the two of them they took care of my injuries the best they could. We hid it from everyone except the three of us. I didn’t hear from my stalker again until the other week. ”

Brooks raises his brow, “And you’re talking about Mac and Declan… Byrne?” His eyes widen and come to me like he’s putting pieces together.

Fuck.

“No?” Elle cuts in with the best act I’ve ever seen. She looks at me with confusion covering her features. “ You have brothers named Mac and Declan?”

I shake my head, fighting as hard as I can not to smile, “You know I don’t, baby girl.”

She looks back at River, “Mac and Declan are best friends from where we grew up. We all had ‘find my friends’ back then, and that’s how he found me.”

Her act of innocence, mixed with what anyone else would call genuine confusion, almost has me clapping my hands with how impressed I am.

Only then, I remember that my brother’s kept this from me for years, and my temper flares up again.

I’m hurt that Elle didn’t tell me, but I’m not mad at her.

I get it completely. We’re talking about this once everyone leaves, but I understand why she’s kept it quiet.

Brooks asks her some follow up questions and then tells her it’s probably best if she doesn’t stay here until they get everything figured out.

Fine by me, she’s coming to my house anyway.

I’m supposed to be on shift until the morning, but thankfully a Lieutenant from another shift came in, so I’m off until my next shift starts in a couple of days.

After everyone aside from me, her, my brother, and X leaves, I scoop her up in my arms and carry her bridal style to my house.

I’d expect her to fight me on carrying her or make some smartass retort, but to my surprise, not only does she say nothing, she buries her face in my shoulder and holds on like I’ll disappear in thin air if she lets me go.

With X and Flynn flanking me, we go inside and make sure to lock everything.

Flynn and X search the house, just to be extra cautious, but come up empty.

Good, the little fucker would be stupid as fuck to try to break into my house.

I get Elle comfortable on the couch and pull her legs into my lap. She’ll come with me to bed later, but right now her adrenaline is crashing and mine is pumping through my veins. I make idle conversation with X and Flynn until it’s clear Elle’s in a deep sleep.

“I’m calling Mac. I can’t go to sleep tonight without confronting one or both of them.” I eye them both. “You’re free to stay for the conversation, but I’m not holding back.”

“I’m staying. I miss watching you guys go at it with the older four. That shit was more entertaining than those movies Elle used to make us watch.” X smirks and rubs his hands together.

“I’m obviously staying, but before you blow up on them, I’d just like to remind you that she’s knocked out right beside you.” Flynn chimes in .

“Yeah, thanks for stating the obvious.” I have to fight hard not to roll my eyes.

“No, idiot. I mean you need to be quiet, or you’ll wake her up.”

He makes a valid point. I would have yelled and it would have woken her up.

Then she’d be pissed at me for going off on him and for waking her up.

My hands continue to methodically massage her calves as she sleeps semi peacefully.

She’s moving a little bit, but I think she’s just trying to get comfortable in this position.

Her mouth is parted slightly, and the most adorably quiet snore passes her lips every once and a while.

Dammit, I’m so in love with her that my chest hurts and my eyes water if I look at her too long.

Someone could have easily taken her from me tonight.

Whoever this guy is will be taken care of, because I’ll gladly take my last breath if it means she gets to live a long and peaceful life.

Even as I think of that possibility, I piss myself off.

I would die for her, but that’s not what we both want or need.

No, we need to slay anyone who stands in our way so we can live long peaceful lives, fucking on every surface of our house, and making as many babies as she’ll give me.

Then when we’re old, we’ll still fuck on every surface we can find.

We’ll be those dirty old people in the nursing home, and I’m not even sorry about it.

Only then we’ll love on as many grand babies as our football team of kids gives us.

“Okay, you’re right. I’ll keep my cool, and if I start to yell, you have my permission to take my phone out of my hand.

” I wait for Flynn and X to both agree with the plan before I dial Mac’s number.

It’s almost ten at night, but he’ll answer.

He always does. As the phone continues to ring, I get a little nervous that maybe I’m wrong.

Just as I’m about to disconnect and try Declan, he answers. “Sul?” His voice is laced with skepticism .

“Yeah, it’s me. You got a minute?” I ask while putting the phone on speaker and getting comfortable. My free hand never leaves Elle’s calf.

“Yeah, sure. Everything okay?” I hear a door close on his end, which means he just left his wife in bed for this. That means he’s about to be extra feisty in this conversation. Mac loathes leaving his wife’s side unless absolutely necessary. Not that I can blame him after what they’ve been through.

“No, actually. It’s not. The stalker came to Elle’s house tonight while she was there with her gymnastics friends.”

“What?” Disbelief is clear in his deep voice.

“You heard me, Mac. It was him.” I’m barely keeping a lid on my fury, but one look at Flynn reminds me to keep it together.

“Sully, it can’t be him. I fixed that problem forever ago.”

“Yeah, about that. Let’s talk about how you found her in the woods with Declan and never thought to fucking tell me.” My voice rises slightly, but Elle doesn’t budge.

“Sullivan. I took care of the issue, and you didn’t need to see what I saw that night. No one needs to see the woman they love like that.”

“Obviously you didn’t take care of the issue if he was banging on her goddamn door tonight.” I bite out.

“I’ll handle it, but you’ve got me fucked up if you think you’re going to talk to me like that.

I’ll help Elle over and over because she’s family, but I don’t owe you her story.

Trust me, Sul. Demanding answers from others when she won’t give them willingly is a sure fire way to fuck up whatever you got going on.

” He answers calmly. He’s refusing to get riled up.

“And if it was Lee?” I question, indignation ringing clear just half a second before I watch Flynn smack himself in the forehead and shake his head .

“It was, you idiot. Did you forget all the secrets we had in the beginning? I’m getting off here. Talk to your girl. She’ll tell you what she’s ready to tell you. Let her know that I’m working overtime to get this handled.” He kills the call before I can respond.

I feel like a jackass. I’ll call him tomorrow and apologize. He’s right, I’m not entitled to shit. It’s just so frustrating that he’s the one who always knows shit first. Seriously, he’s known for knowing everyone's secrets before their spouse does. He’s annoying as fuck like that.

“Well, that went swimmingly.” X puts on his best British accent.

Flynn laughs before sobering, “No, but seriously, that was the least productive conversation that I’ve ever witnessed. No way you two are that bad at communication.”

“Both of you, fuck off. I’m taking her to bed. Anyone have any issues with that?” I raise my brow in challenge.

“Nope.” Flynn pops the P. “But I’m crashing here tonight. Stronger in numbers and all that jazz.” He waves his hand dismissively.

“Yeah, that’s cool. You know where your room is.”

I scoop Elle up and cradle her against my chest like she’s made of the most fragile glass.

Careful not to wake her, I tip my chin up at X.

“You too.” I whisper. I’m not stupid, she’s practically his sister.

He isn’t going anywhere either. My house has four bedrooms. Mine, Flynn’s and two spares.

Yeah, I’m well aware how ridiculous it is that he has his own room here when he lives twenty feet away, but I don’t care. I have one at his house too.

It takes me no time to get her moved to the bed before I shed my station clothes and slide up behind her, making sure to carefully tuck her safely into my arms. When I saw the text, I immediately called my chief and let him know there was an emergency and I had to go.

Thankfully Chief Patton is as understanding as he is broody.

It also helps that I’ve never called out of a shift and am extremely reliable.

So, if I need to leave in the middle of my shift, you know it’s serious.

My shift was over in the morning anyway so they just needed someone to come in and cover those last couple of hours.

I’ll need to be back at the station in just over fifty-eight hours from now, and I’m going to use every one of them to be so far up in Elle’s business she’s going to want to hurt me.

Too bad I like it when she’s feisty or she may just scare me off.

***

I may have underestimated exactly how feisty she was going to be. I’ve been Elle’s shadow for a little over a full day now, and I’m pretty sure if she had claws, she’d claw my eyes out.

“You can’t follow me to the gym tomorrow, I draw the line after today.” She glares at me with her hands on her hips and a look that would make a normal man wither on the spot. Too bad for her, it just makes me smile because she’s so fucking cute.

“Nothing bad happened today. You know, if I was a lesser man, I might actually get offended.” I mock pout at her, which annoys her even more and causes her to roll her eyes.

“Nothing bad happened?” She yells in exasperation.

“Okay, so a few women hit on me, but I turned them all down. You should be flattered people think your boyfriend is hot.”

“Flattered? I should be flattered that these women want to take you in the gym locker room and fuck your brains out?” She’s stressed about everything going on, which is reasonable. When she’s stressed, she lashes out like this.

I smirk while moving closer and grabbing her hips before gently tugging her into my arms. Taking my thumb and forefinger, I grasp her chin and tilt her head up.

Leaning down, my lips press to hers. After a few seconds, I feel the tension melt from her body as she sinks into my embrace.

Pulling back, I can’t help my smile as she lifts up on her toes to try to kiss me again.

When she realizes I’m pulling back on purpose, she opens her eyes and glares at me.

“Your lips and my lips have a meeting right now, and you’re messing that up.” She continues with her mad expression.

“And they’ll have that meeting, but baby girl, the only person who I want to– as you so eloquently put it– ‘ fuck my brains out’ was practicing her bar routine. I couldn’t tell you a single thing about those girls. I was too busy being mesmerized by you.”

Her entire face lights up as she smiles up at me. “You mean that, Monster?”

“I mean every word I say to you, Boo.” Before she can respond, I kiss her like her lungs hold the only oxygen left in this world.