"Shite!"
"You'll never have to worry about her being in love with you because I'm certain that just ended. And I'm guessing you should start looking for a new barmaid to manage this place because it will be a miracle if she comes back to work for you."
"Son of a bitch!" He gets up and moves toward the door. "I have to talk to her."
"I'm not sure now's the right time." He didn't see the hurt in her eyes.
He's panicked. "I have to do something to fix this."
He's not grasping the severity of the situation. "Leith. I'm not sure there's a fix for this."
"I have to try."
I'm going to make him admit he loves her. "You said she's an unworthy whore. Why go after her? It's no skin off your back if she's gone for good."
"Because I lied, okay? Everything I said about her was rubbish."
"Then why did you say them?"
He doesn't reply.
"Tell me."
"Because I love the fuck out of her." He drops his head. "But she has cut me to the bone deeper than you can imagine. Both of you."
It's time for this to end. He must figure out what he wants. If it isn't Lorna, he needs to let her go. "What do you want, Leith?"
"I don't know."
"You do know but you're fighting it."
He says nothing.
"You can love her or hate her but not both. Your decision. Which is it going to be?"
"God knows I don't want to but I can't help myself from loving her."
"Then go after her and tell her how you feel."
Leith grabs his coat from his desk and dashes out the door.
I return to the triad table to wait on Noah. Greer comes by and places a Johnnie Walker in front of me. "How are Bleu and the baby?"
I can't stop the corner of my mouth from tugging upward concerning our well-kept secret. I can't wait to make the announcement about the twins at my swearing-in. "Mom and baby are doing well. She's been a little nauseated but otherwise … " I stop midsentence when I hear a shot fired outside the pub.
I grab Greer's arm and pull. "Get down."
I rush toward the door and scan the front of the building, Beretta in hand. I see no one.
"Sin! Sin!" It's a high-pitched, panicked female voice. Lorna's.
Four of my brothers and I exit the pub. "Cover me."
I dart around the corner of the building and find Leith lying face down on the ground, Lorna sprawled under him. Blood is pooling on the cobblestones beneath them.
"Are you shot?"
"No, but Leith is!"
I roll him off Lorna and look for his wound, seeing it in his shoulder. Maybe a second in his arm. There's too much blood to be certain but neither appear life threatening. "Not too impressive, mate. Jamie can fix this in a snap."
Bystanders are on the street staring at us. "We need to get him out of here before someone calls the authorities."
I phone Sterling to pick us up while one of my men calls Jamie. "Tell him to meet us at my place."
We move Leith into the back seat of my car.
Lorna climbs in with Leith, placing his head in her lap. "I'm coming with you. No argument."
"I'm so sorry, Lorna," Leith says.
"Don't talk."
"But I need you to know that I didn't mean any of those things I said to Sin."
"Shut up. You've been shot. Now isn't the time to discuss what you did or didn't mean." Good for her. She isn't going to let him off the hook because he's taken a bullet or two. I hope she gives him hell.
"What happened?" I ask.
"An Order member grabbed me from behind and tried to shove me into the back of a car. Leith came out and saw what was happening. They struggled and he shot Leith.
This is another cowardly attack. They aren't going to quit until they're made to stop.
The Order is in complete chaos. That's good yet also bad for us. At least with Torrence in charge, they were typically predictable. That means we can probably expect more of these random attacks as a show to prove they've not been weakened by their leader's death.
Jamie's waiting in the drive when we arrive at my flat. "Let me have a look before we move him."
Jamie takes out bandage scissors and cuts Leith's shirt down the center. "Dammit. You know this is my favorite Johnny Cash T-shirt."
"Aye. I know."
Jamie inspects his wound. "Doesn't look serious but I can't tell if there's an exit wound without turning him. Take him to the guest room."
We're passing through the front door when Bleu meets us in the foyer. "What in the world is going on?"
"Leith was shot."
"Boss. There's a woman in your guest room."
Ellison rushes into the foyer. She's pointing in the direction of her room. "Jamie and two other men just put Leith on my bed. He's been shot!"
"Jamie's going to treat him here."
Ellison's mouth gapes. "Physicians treat gunshot wounds in a medical facility. They don't make house calls for trauma like that."
I look at Bleu. "I don't think we have any choice but to tell her now."
"No."
"Tell me what!"
The three of us go silent, Bleu and I looking at one another. She's making eyes at me. I shrug and mimic her expression. "I don't know what that means."
"Well, somebody needs to tell me what the hell is going on around here."
We have no choice. "Is it going to be you or me?" Sin asks.
Kyle comes into the foyer. "Sorry to interrupt, boss. Jamie told me to get help for Lorna. She's passed out."
Great. This night couldn't be more perfect.
We go to the guest room and find Lorna out cold in the arms of Blare. "I caught her as she was going down."
Jamie doesn't look up from working on Leith's wound. "She'll be fine. Move her to the couch in the office."
Ellison moves to look over Jamie's shoulder. "The skin has an abrasion collar around the entrance wound so he was shot from a distance with a small caliber handgun."
"Very good assessment."
Jamie holds out a pair of latex gloves for Ellison. "Help me roll him over so I can look for an exit wound."
Leith groans loudly when they flip him onto his side.
Ellison points at Leith's back. "There it is. Slit-like and marginally larger than the entrance. That's good. It means the bullet didn't hit anything to slow down its momentum. Those can be some nasty injuries to treat."
"How do you know so much about trauma?"
"I worked in the ER in a town with a ridiculously high crime rate. We saw at least one of these every night." Ellison holds out her hand. "I'll clean and dress this while he's on his side. No need to roll him again since it seems to be causing him quite a bit of discomfort."
Leith chuckles, followed by a loud groan. "It's a little more than discomfort, lass."
I'm back to being pissed at Leith now that I know he'll be all right. "Discomfort is the least of what you deserve."
"Please don't let her leave without seeing me. I have to talk to her." His voice is desperate. Good.
"We'll see."
I'm in no mood to offer him comfort by promising I'll have her come to him. Let him worry she'll slip away.
Jamie and Ellison work as a team to quickly dress Leith's wounds. "You know the drill. Antibiotics for prophylaxis and let me know immediately if you run fever. We don't need another case of sepsis."
"Another?" Ellison asks.
"Aye. Sin nearly died from a bad case a few months ago."
Ellison stalks toward the door. "Bleu. I need to see you. In private."
This isn't going to be easy for Bonny. "Want me to be with you?"
She nods. "Please. I can't do this by myself."
We follow Ellison into our bedroom and shut the door. "Somebody better start talking."
I cross my arms and lean against the wall. "She's your sister. The floor is all yours."
Chapter Eleven
Bleu Breckenridge
I've had more than a month to prepare myself for how I'll tell Ellison about my life within The Fellowship. I'm not a damn bit closer to finding the words than I was five weeks ago when she unexpectedly appeared in my hospital room. "You should probably sit since there is no short version to this story. It goes back almost nineteen years."
She retreats into the corner chair. "You're scaring me."
She should be frightened.
"When I woke in the hospital after my mother's murder, I was afraid. I knew the man who killed her would find out I didn't die and possibly come back for me. So my seven-year-old mind decided I should pretend to remember nothing about that night's events. I thought he might spare my life if he believed I couldn't identify him. I was a child who'd undergone a traumatic experience so no one pushed me to remember anything."
Ellison looks pained. "Oh God, Bleu. You remember that?"
"Every terrifying second."
"And you bottled it, never telling anyone."
Here we go. "I spent my entire childhood fixating on how I would make my mother's killer pay for what he'd done to us. When I turned twelve, I was ready to begin learning how to make that happen."
"I don't understand." Of course she doesn't. No normal person could fathom what I'm about to tell her.