Page 80 of Never Say Never

I'd buy them a pony as long as they listened to me. I hung up, checking my phone to see where York was.

"Fuck."

He was already parked in the garage with his shiny new rental. I dodged oncoming traffic as I crossed the street. The receptionist that was normally in the lobby was nowhere to be seen. She would have been the first witness I got rid of as well. People could be paid off, but the dead never testified.

I dialed York, holding the phone to my ear. I hit the elevator button, jamming my finger against it, hoping it made it come down faster. The ringing in my ears made bile burn the back of my throat as elevator doors opened. Two men stood there. I didn’t have to be told they didn’t live there. The moment I found out where York lived, I made sure to check out every single person who lived in his building.

Not an ounce of hesitation to spare, I attacked. I punched one of them in the face, cartilage giving way under my fists. I drove my elbow in the other. Both of them went down, and I made quick work of knocking them out. There was little time to spend on them. I hit the floor York stayed on and hoped I got there before anyone else.

"Fucking asshole." Air sawed in and out of my lungs, burning with each breath. The only thing that kept me from getting distracted and going on a killing spree was the thought of the girls and York getting hurt. I wouldn't let it happen. Ever.

York's voicemail came after the last ring, making me curse more. I hung up and quickly called again, hoping he would answer. On the fourth ring, I was about to hang up and say fuck it.

"Hello."

"Fuck, York! There are intrud?—"

There was a crash and audible grunt. Fuck, fuck. I glared at the slow as fuck elevator. The ding didn’t come fast enough. I bounced on the balls of my feet as the doors slid open. York's door was wide open, something he'd never do. The sound of a fight hit my ears, and I was in the penthouse in seconds. I grabbed the first thing I found. The golf club wasn't my favorite weapon of choice, but anything would suffice.

My breathing steadied as I crept inside. A grunt followed by fists colliding with skin came from the direction of the living room. I wanted to check on the girls but I trusted that they'd listen to me. I moved around the corner, spotting York fighting off two guys. His gun was across the room and one of the assailants had a knife. He swung it at York, catching his clothes, and narrowly missing his flesh.

I saw red. How dare they come in here and try and take what was mine? I moved swiftly across the room, no longer caring if I gave myself away. I hoped they saw me and focused their attention my way. Drawing the golf club back as far as I could, I swung it forward. The thin metal cut through the wind with a whistle sound before slamming into the back of one of the intruder’s knees. He buckled and crashed to the ground. His knife slid across the floor.

The movie the girls put on started with a musical. It was at full blast, a song about chocolate or something blaring into my ears as I followed him down. He scrambled for the weapon, his fingers wrapping around it once more. I was right there with him. His knife pointed at me, and I grabbed hold of his hand, shoving it back toward him. He shook his head, his eyes going wide as I slowly forced the blade into his flesh. The sounds of fighting continued behind me as York fought with the other guy. I'd seen York fight a few times and knew he could more than handle himself. However, I didn’t want to leave him on his own for too long. He was still recovering from that gunshot wound.

Flesh gave way to the steel of the blade as I used all of my body weight to slam it the rest of the way. I was up with the golf club in seconds. For good measure, I swung the club again smacking the heavy piece at the end against the idiot's face. Blood and teeth flew out onto the floor. The familiarity of it all rolled over me. The corners of my mouth pulled up in a grin that was more instinctive than purposeful.

"Paul," York grunted.

I ran over to him just as the remaining guy headbutted York. He wheeled backwards, stunned as he fell to the ground. He grunted, favoring his injured arm. Blinking away the daze and breathing heavily, he tried to get back up.

"Vitale scum," one of them spat at me. “Now you’re helping the feds? Should have known.”

I didn't have time to think about him blowing my cover. I swung the club again and again. The thin metal caved, bending at an odd angle as I beat him to death with it. Every inch of me was on fire, muscles that hadn't been exerted in a while throbbed. The body twitched, but he wasn't moving anytime soon. Or ever again. I looked around, only to find York staring at me as if I had two heads.

Little flakes of blood clung to his brown skin. His eyes were slightly wild, and he never looked better. My cock took the most inappropriate moment to get hard.

"York." I dragged myself to my feet, and moved forward, ready to have my boss back in my arms. I needed to check him over but every step I moved forward, he took a few back.

"Who are you?" York asked. Fear, disgust, anger, all of them flashed over York’s face.

He knows.

I shook my head and instead of focusing on the hurt this was causing me, I looked around the room. They'd sent two guys this time. Next, it was going to be more, if there weren’t more coming already. York was lucky I'd been watching him and the girls so closely. If I hadn't, the night would have been very different.

"Paul," York growled. His fists balled up at his sides. “Who the fuck are you?

He was focused on the wrong thing. Two men tried to come in and kill him and the girls. If I hadn't been here, York would be no more. I refused to live in such a world. If he had a hang up about me killing them, then he’d have to get over it for now. Ending someone's life was easy for me.

"York, I need you to listen to me," I started calmly.

He shook his head, stubborn as always. "Answer me. Who are you?"

"We don't have time for this. The girls are in your room, we have to get out of here. This was them not taking you seriously. This didn't work, they will just keep coming."

He stared at me as if he was seeing me for the first time. My boss dashed for his phone. I groaned as I tackled him down, feeling like shit that I had to hurt his arm even further. York elbowed me in the chest, no doubt leaving a fat ass bruise behind. I snatched the phone out of his hands before he did something stupid. Like get me arrested. I couldn’t kill the people trying to kill him if I was locked away.

"York, please," I panted. I got off of him and took a few steps back.