Going For Gold (Providence Gold 4)

Still he continued, filling me in on every bad thing that had happened to him from his conception to now.

I watched him more than I listened, taking in how pale he looked, how greasy his hair looked, and how dirty his designer clothes were. He’d always been immaculate before, making sure he didn’t have a hair out of place, so I wondered where he’d been sleeping and living.

When his hand movements started to become more agitated and his twitching was becoming more of a full-on body jerk, I focused on his words. “Apparently I was too strung out to be a good doctor, but it was only a little pick me up.” He was as delusional as he was high, this guy was coked up to the gills. “Said I’d be a liability. If I went in above the mighty Doctor Retter, he’d…”

Just then there was a loud hammering at my front door that made both of us jump at the same time, and him drop the knife.

“Charlotte,” Levi roared, banging even louder on the door.

Spinning back to face me, Eric snarled, “Who’s that?”

“My neighbor,” I lied. “He’s super into protecting the community.”

On the next knock, another voice joined his. “Police, open up!” Madix called, almost making me groan. Why did he have to go with the police of all things?

“Police?” he hissed, taking a step toward me.

“I told you, my neighbor has a thing about protecting the community. He probably saw my light on and wondered if I was sick.”

As he went to grab me a loud bang filled the apartment, followed by what I assumed was parts of my door hitting the floor. It was cheaply made so it wouldn’t surprise me.

With a hissed, “This isn’t over,” Eric shot past me, and jumped out the window onto the fire escape, just as Levi, his brothers, and Madix ran into my bedroom.

I want to say I was brave, but I’d be lying. Bursting into tears, I winced every time a loud, hacking sob came out of me and tore my throat into more pieces.

I could still hear the men moving around me, some of them going out the window as well, but a pair of strong arms wrapped around me and pulled me into a firm chest. Maybe I should have been scared, but I recognized those arms and I knew they’d keep me safe.Chapter SevenLeviIt seemed like my family was always in hospital. No matter what we did, we always ended up back here. Maybe we should have family reunions in a hospital somewhere? Then again, we kind of did, so maybe I shouldn’t jinx it in case we spent Thanksgiving in the waiting room while one of my brothers had a ball removed from their big toe or something.

After we’d gotten here, the two deputies who’d turned up to the apartment had come to take our statements. Barron and Connor were both good guys and had gone to school with Archer, but I’d been close to losing my shit by the time we were done. How many times did we have to repeat what we knew?

They were going to speak to Charlotte tomorrow, but it looked like she’d just have to write hers out seeing as how she couldn’t talk thanks to the fuckhead.

There were currently three members of the PD out searching for Eric Retter, and if Lottie wasn’t lying in a hospital bed right now, I’d be out looking for him myself.

Everyone has a trigger, something that flicks a switch inside them and brings out a dark side. Abuse was mine – especially to women and kids. It’d started with Luna and had grown since then. Now with Charlotte, I wanted to gut the bastard.

To make matters worse, Parker was dealing with a patient who’d been the ‘victim’ of their car hitting a tree earlier - thanks to the help of the bottle of cheap whisky they’d found in his passenger seat - so we had a doctor I didn’t know treating Charlotte.

The guy had immediately pissed me off with his blasé attitude over what had happened to Lottie, and he was taking his time which was pissing me off even more. Did it really take thirty-five minutes to make a call? I could’ve given him my cell to save him thirty of those minutes.

And now we were waiting again, fucking awesome.

Pacing around the room while we waited for him to review the x-rays they’d taken of Charlotte’s neck as a precaution, I replayed what had happened tonight. I was a light sleeper, so when my phone had started ringing with Lottie’s tone, I’d woken up and answered it straight away. I’d known as soon as I heard the guy talking that she was in trouble and had contacted my brothers for backup. Madix was a former policeman but the guy still looked scary as hell, so we pulled him in with us. Probably just as well considering his feet were huge and had taken the door down with one kick.