How? How do I help her when just the thought of it makes me feel like I’m breaking inside?
“I’ll take care of it,” I mutter, pacing now that I’m calmer and starting to plan again. “Pop, how’s that transfer going?”
“The nurse will be here shortly to start readying Paulie, and the ambulance will be here to transport her home. Ma already had the room set up—”
“She’s with me,” I growl, stopping to look them both in the eye. “She’s my woman, she sleeps in my bed.”
“But, Jared, think of the stairs and—”
“I’ll carry her anywhere she wants to go. After the doctor clears her from bed rest. I’m not letting anything else take her from me again, not even your concern, Ma. Paulie and I have a lot to work out and we’ll be doing it from my wing of the house. In private.”
Ma throws her hands up and shakes her head and Pop starts chuckling.
“You boys are just like your father. Thank the good Lord I have some daughters now to cut through the stubbornness.”
That sets Wyatt laughing and I join in when Ellie elbows him and scowls deeply. The women my brothers have married are all stubborn and hotheaded. Not to mention my own mother and her temper and penchant for meddling.
“Oh, that reminds me, Jared. I got this perfect little ten-carat—”
“I’ll buy my own engagement ring, Ma!”
Christ. She’s given each of the women a ring before my brothers could, and it would chap my ass if Paulie got one before I could get to the city to pick out the perfect one.
Trace, Clari, and Ellie already wear their own “Ma” rings with more pride than they wear the rings they got from their men. Females.
“Jared—”
“Pop, take your wife home, would ya?” I say, grinning when the old man starts pulling her out with a chuckle and a slap to her rear.
“Settle down, Judy baby. You want to give someone a ring…”
“Oh, George! Behave yourself.” She titters and I almost die when my dad grabs her ass and gives it a squeeze.
“That’s not what you said this morning, darlin’.”
“Oh Christ,” Wyatt mutters, rolling his eyes as he claps my back and starts pulling Ellie away despite her protests. “I’ll see you at home.”
When I’m alone with Paulie again and I feel calm enough not to lose it for the hundredth time today, I approach the bed and lower myself into the chair beside it, taking her hand and placing a tender kiss on the fragile skin and bones cradled in my own.
I still have so much to do, including tracking down my brother Roman and ensuring that Lynn is still locked up tight, but right now I’m exactly where I want to be. I feel nothing but contentment when Cupcake squeezes my hand in her sleep and lets out a sigh.
Whoever it was, whoever did this to her, will suffer when I find them. They’d all better hope one of my brothers is there to save them, because if not, people are going to die.
I’ll admit that some of my rage is because I feel guilty for not having been there to prevent or stop this shit from happening, but the bottom line is that she was messed with and they all need to suffer for that.
I’ll start with her bastard parents first.
“Yo, what’s up?” Jace answers on the first ring, and I hear a feminine groan and what sounds like kissing noises echoing through the line.
“Are you having sex?”
Another moan reaches my ears and I grimace at the thought of Jace answering the phone while—
“No. You think I want anyone hearing my baby like that? I’m giving Trace a foot rub, perv,” he says and I hear another moan and some very unladylike cursing when he moves away. “Be right back, baby. What’s up, bro?”
I keep my voice low and my eyes on Cupcake for any movement, though I doubt she’ll wake up anytime today after what the doc put in her veins.
“I want you to get Case up here. The Hayeses are in on this thing up to their eyeballs, and I want a man watching them twenty-four seven till Paulie is back on her feet.”
What I don’t tell him is that I have every intention of beating the truth about Paulie’s reaction to Frank right out of them, or that they’ll be lucky to survive if I so much as hear that he’s laid a hand on her all these years.
A low whistle reaches me and I roll my eyes, knowing what his heat is before he even says it.
“Bro, Miah still has Case looking for Grimes. He’s not going to be very happy—”
“I don’t care. Grimes, if he isn’t already dead, is the least of our worries right now. The Hayeses are involved in this and I don’t want them running around, free to do whatever they want. They were here, and if I saw what I think I saw in Tanya’s eyes, they’ll try to make a play for my girl.”