Page 45 of Dublin Devil
A couple of weeks ago, I didn’t understand how a woman could make him so volatile and reckless.
Now, knowing that Piper’s in trouble, I get it.
Aiden reaches in to put pressure on my side and meets Tag’s gaze. “I’ve got him, T. Go get the doc. A gurney probably wouldn’t hurt either.”
I must’ve passed out for a bit because the next thing I know, I’m lying on a cold, steel table and I’m being blinded by overhead lights.
“Shit, he’s waking up. Sean, I need you to stay still. I’ve got my fingers in your side and I’m currently plugging a hole. Don’t move. Nancy, give him another dose of anesthesia and send him back to dreamland.”
I recognize Kelvin’s voice, although his tone is more agitated than usual.
“Nancy’s got the mask over your face. Deep breaths.”
I take a couple of deep breaths and the world melts away.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Piper
We arrive alive at what the twins called the compound and once Bryan parks the car, Brendan gets out and I have the space to roll away from where I’ve had my face plastered to the back seat for the last ten minutes.
“Easy, Piper.” Brendan jogs around to the other side of the car and helps me get out. “Sorry about the rough ride. It sounds like your family’s brute squad is out for blood today.”
It’s crazy to see my brothers and Da’s men through the eyes of the Quinn family.
They think we’re thugs bent on violence.
Isn’t that normal? Isn’t that what all crime families are like?
When I’m out of the car, Brendan takes a step back and I blink. We’re parked under a covered porch in front of a beautiful stone castle on a giant piece of rolling green land. “Wow. Where are we?”
“This is our house.” Bryan gestures for us to head toward the door. “Or, as we call it, the compound.”
I chuckle and follow him, Brendan walking behind me as we go. Surely that’s a coincidence and not them keeping me safe at their own home, right?
We step inside a grand entrance and I’m more confused than ever. “Why am I here?”
Brendan shrugs. “Tag said to bring you here, so here you are.”
We’re barely in the door when a woman with long, mahogany hair comes rushing down the stairs. “Thank goodness you’re here. Did you hear about Sean?”
The panic in her expression makes my stomach flip. It also makes me wonder if anyone at my house looked this worried when they heard about me getting beaten and being missing.
The little girl in me hopes so, but I doubt it.
“Madelaine, this is Piper McGuire, youngest of the McGuire clan.” Bryan gestures between the woman and me. “Piper, this is Madelaine, Tag’s better half.”
“By a long margin,” Brendan adds.
Madelaine playfully smacks Brendan’s arm. “I go by Laine, and you can ignore these two and their smart mouths. They adore their brother almost as much as I do. Come in. From what I’ve heard, you’ve had a rough three days.”
Is that all it’s been? Man, it feels like forever.
Laine’s gaze falls to the box tucked in my arm and a smile plays at the corners of her mouth. She says nothing, so I figure I’ll offer the explanation before the entire family thinks I have a strange fixation on rice.
Reaching in, I pull out my phone and show her. “It got dunked by my attackers and Sean said a couple of days in rice might dry it out.”
“Ah, well, it’ll likely also be dead. If you give it to Bryan, he can take it to the office and find you a charger.”