Ryan (Mallick Brothers 2)

Seeing her down on that floor, everything within me begged me to run over to her, to slide my hands over her and make sure she wasn't hurt anywhere.

But I couldn't.

I owed Lo and Hailstorm more than just the money I would pay them for this. I owed them my respect and cooperation.

So I stayed where I was.

And I took comfort in the fact that she was fully dressed, not even a shoe kicked off, so the worst-case had definitely not happened. And aside from what looked to be bruises on her wrists and the redness in her eyes that hinted at tears, there seemed to be no injuries.

I could look her over as soon as the situation was handled.

Fact of the matter was, the situation was still somewhat volatile until Dom, Albert, and Ray Cleaver were neutralized.

The last thing I could have expected, though, was a goddamn mutiny.

Brother taking out brother.

It was fucking biblical in its simplicity.

One bullet to the head and none of us even had to get our hands dirty.

Lo and Jstorm each raised their guns, unsure of the situation, as Dusty screamed, her face twisted up in horror as she sat frozen, watching the bullet tear through Dom's skull, watching brain matter splatter everywhere, watching his dead body fall to the ground.

And, well, fuck the rules.

Fuck respect and gratitude.

She needed me and they would just have to fucking deal with that.

I rushed up behind her, clamping my hand over her eyes, wrapping my arm around her center, and dragging her backward, eyes focused on the man with the gun.

Bry twisted from his position, letting out a cry of pain and it was clear he had a busted rib or two, but he did it anyway, knocking into Ray's knees and sending him flying onto his back.

"Well, that's certainly not a loss for any of us," Lo said, calm as ever and I was left to wonder what kind of fucked up things she had overseen and been involved in in her career to make her so unflappable.

"I was looking for an opportunity to do that," Albert admitted, voice a little rough and, I guessed, killing your own brother would do that to a man. He held up his hands for a second, showing submission, then slowly lowered his gun to the ground, kicking it away.

"Not that we're not pleased as punch to not have to do it ourselves, but care to tell us why?"

"Ever know a real scumbag... Lo, was it?" he asked, sitting back down. "And not in passing. I mean know them. Break bread with them, share fucking holidays with them. And have to listen to that shit, listen to them brag about all the twisted shit they have done? The men they have tortured and killed? The women they have raped and ordered be raped? If you had even a clue what that was like, you would understand this."

"Sure, but why now?" Lo pressed and I was vaguely aware of Bry climbing on top of Ray and starting to beat the ever-loving shit out of him. Which, well, I couldn't fault him. I had beaten that man myself.

Jstorm moved from Lo's side and went to stand by the men to, I imagined, make sure she stopped Bry before he killed the man.

"I couldn't let him get his hands on her," Al said, waving a hand toward where I still had Dusty pulled against me, her body having completely collapsed against me, her chest jerking in such a way that she must have been crying, albeit silently. "It's bad fucking enough to know the bastard did that shit to women but not knowing of it at the time. It's a complete other to be ordered to bring a woman to be beaten and raped and killed."

"But you did bring her here," Lo specified, trying to understand.

"Once he had his little audience with her, I figured I could sneak her out and say she escaped. This place is only impenetrable from the front. The back of the building is loaded with windows and shit for the old classrooms."

"You could have let me run away," Dusty said, surprising me enough to drop my hand. Her voice had been loud, seeming to explode outward from her. And, so used to her speaking so quietly, to murmuring and whispering and tentatively speaking her opinion, it was shocking. "I got away. I was out and you dragged me back!"

"Sweetheart," Albert said, shaking his head. "There were four guys in that yard. They would have told Dom that I let you go."

"Alright," Lo interrupted. "So what now?" she asked, looking at Albert.

It was right about then too that Jstorm, with a string of profanities, tried to get Bry off of Ray. When he didn't respond to any of that, she lifted her heavy combat-booted foot and slammed it into his hips, knocking him off.