Chapter 29
“Fine,” Tristan said, looking away from her as he stood up, “but leave my wife out of it.”
Did he really think that she was going to be able to sit here while he found out why their house was being overrun by ghosts? As she climbed off the bed and pushed him out of her way, she had to wonder if he really knew her at all.
For the past month she’d been battling with fatigue and fears that she was going insane. She deserved some answers and she was going to get them. She grabbed one of Tristan’s tee shirts and a pair of her panties out of the bureau.
“This involves her as well, lad,” Liam, she thought his name was, said as she headed for the bathroom to change.
“Keep her out of it,” Tristan bit out, sounding pissed, the kind of pissed that usually sent everyone in the room running for cover, but it didn’t phase her one bit. To be honest, she was kind of hoping that he kept on pissing her off so that when she kicked his ass, and there was no doubt in her mind right now that she would in fact be kicking his ass, it would be justified.
“I’m going,” she said, pausing in front of the large man blocking the bathroom.
Something in her expression must have given away the testicle mutilation thoughts racing through her mind, because he took one look at her before swallowing nervously and jumping out of her way. That was probably for the best, she thought, as she started to close the door behind her. She wanted to save her energy for the ass kicking that Tristan most definitely had coming.
“No, you’re not,” Tristan said tightly from behind her, but she was done listening to him.
Whatever this was that she’d gone through over the last month, Tristan was definitely in the middle of it. Since she doubted that he was going to willingly give her the answers that she wanted that meant that she was going to have to deal with these men. One way or another, she would finally have all of her questions answered and then she’d deal with Tristan.
She dropped the sheet and quickly pulled on the shirt and panties. After catching a glimpse of herself in the mirror, she ran a brush through her hair and pulled it back into a ponytail. Once that was done, she headed for the door, determined to get this over with.
“Sorry, lass,” one of the men said with a shrug as soon as she opened the door, “but, there’s been a change of plans.”
*-*-*-*
“Ye’ll be lucky if she doesn’t rip yer balls off for this, lad,” Shayne muttered, not looking particularly happy as all but one of the men materialized in the living room.
“Let’s get this bullshit over with,” Tristan said, ignoring him as he walked into the room.
He was beyond pissed with Shayne and planned on dealing with him later, but right now he needed to figure out what he was dealing with so that he could end this bullshit. He pulled off his shirt and tossed it at the man standing guard by the door, noting that it didn’t go through his head. Instead, it hit him in the face before it dropped to the floor. He ignored the man’s vile curse and ran everything that he knew about Shayne through his head.
There was no doubt in his mind now that these men were the same as Shayne. He knew Shayne pretty well. At least he thought he did. There seemed to be a few things that he didn’t know about his oldest friend. In fact, six of those mysteries were currently in his house waiting to kill him.
It wasn’t happening. No f**king way. A year ago, he might not have cared what happened to him, but things were different now. Now he had Marty in his life and they were expecting a baby. She was pretty pissed at him right now, but he was an ass**le and used to pissing people off so he knew that it was only a matter of time and groveling before she forgave him.
No, he definitely wasn’t worried about his wife forgiving him, but he was worried about her. He didn’t know what these men wanted from them, besides killing him apparently, and he wasn’t taking the chance that they had the same plans for his wife. The first chance he got, he was sending Marty away and Shayne, the betraying bastard, was going to keep her safe until he could come for her.
Money was going to be a major obstacle in getting Marty somewhere safe. He had a little over twenty grand left in the bank, the money that he’d planned on spending on their honeymoon, but he doubted that would last them very long, not with a baby on the way. They were going to have to be prepared to move at a moment’s notice and hope that these men didn’t have the same connection with him that Shayne had. If they did…..
Well, he’d worry about that later. Right now he needed to get some answers and figure a way out of this without having to screw up their lives.
“We need to explain a few things before we-“ Liam began, but Tristan was done playing these games. He was going to get his answers and then he was going to do whatever it took to send these bastards packing.
“And I need to know why my wife is suddenly caught up in this bullshit,” he said in a bored tone, cutting the man off as a shot of stabbing pain went through his shoulder while he did his best not to react.
It hurt, it really f**king hurt. Granted, not all of his arm and shoulder hurt. Some of it was numb like the tips of his fingers, but the parts that hurt more than made up for it. He wasn’t one hundred percent sure, but he didn’t think that it had hurt this much after he’d been shot. Not screaming in agony when his shoulder brushed up against the back of the couch when he sat down took some effort, but he managed it.
He wasn’t about to let any of them know just how bad his arm was. It was something that could be used against him and right now he needed every advantage that he could get. The only one of them that he had to worry about was Shayne. He’d never regretted his connection to the man more than he did right now. If Shayne opened his big f**king mouth and let them know that he was at a disadvantage, they’d probably put more men on Marty, thinking that he wasn’t much of a threat. That’s exactly what he would have done if Marty hadn’t been pregnant.
“She’s always been involved, Tadgh,” Liam said quietly as he sat down in Shayne’s favorite chair.
“Bullshit,” Tristan snapped back, in too much pain to pretend to play along.
How in the f**k could something hurt this much?
“This was always the tricky part,” Shayne said on a sigh as he folded his arms over his chest and leaned back against the wall.
“At least he always handles this part better than Declean does,” the man standing guard at the double doors said with a chuckle.