Deklan

“You are going to fucking take me to him right fucking now!”

Brian’s eyes go wide, and he wipes the palms of his hands on his jeans. He stares at me with his mouth hanging open, and I can see the debate going on in his head. I take a step forward and point my finger at his nose.

“You are going to take me to the hospital right this fucking second, or I’m going to tell Deklan you made a pass at me.”

“I…I didn’t! I would never!”

“But I’ll tell him you did. Who do you think he’ll believe?”

Brian licks his lips, and his shoulders fall slightly.

“Do we have an understanding?” I ask.

“Yes, ma’am.”

Chapter 14

The smell of bleach burns my nose as I pace outside the large double doors leading to the operating room. Brian stands off to one side, muttering to himself about how much trouble he’s going to be in with Deklan and refusing to give me any details about what happened.

“Mrs. Kearney?”

I flip my head toward the sound of the doctor’s voice and head straight over to her.

“I’m Dr. Henry, your husband’s surgeon.”

“I’m Kera,” I tell her. “How is he?”

“He’s going to be fine,” she says. “It’s a serious injury but not life-threatening.”

“What happened?”

Dr. Henry narrows her eyes at Brian and then glances back to me. She takes a long breath.

“Your husband was stabbed with a six-inch serrated knife, the kind that’s pretty popular with the gangs in the area. Luckily, there isn’t any major organ damage, but the knife nicked his lower intestine. It was a small cut, but we had to take care of it or there would be a risk of the contents of his bowels leaking into his body cavity. That can be very dangerous, but we got to it in time.”

A tear tries to escape my eyelashes, but I quickly wipe it away.

“When can I see him?”

“He should be in recovery in just a few minutes,” the doctor tells me. “I’ll have a nurse come get you as soon as he wakes up.”

She gives me a reassuring pat on the arm before she walks through the double doors and out of sight. I turn back to Brian with a glare.

“Stitches, huh?”

Brian shrugs and tries to smile. I consider punching him in the face.

“It’s not like he was shot or anything,” Brian says.

“You are not making me feel better.”

“Sorry, Mrs. K.”

I sit down on an uncomfortable plastic chair and cross my arms over my chest. Brian sits beside me and leans over with his elbows on his knees.

“If it makes you feel any better,” he says, “the guy that did it is in a freezer in the basement of this place.”

“It doesn’t.” I speak the words casually enough, but a cold knot forms in my stomach. Brian hasn’t actually said that Deklan killed his attacker, and I don’t want to ask. “Who was he?”