The Aftermath (The Hurricane, #2)(55)

“The great Hurricane O’Connell f*cking apologizing,” Liam said with a chuckle.

“Yeah, well,” I grumbled, “don’t get f*cking used to it. I ain’t wrong often.”

The mood became more serious, the farther into Wales we drove. The rain poured heavily on the road ahead of us and reflected my mood. As I watched one lonely drop of water roll down the window, I thought about the rivers my girl cried as she told me what had happened. Already I knew how badly I’d f*cked up, just walking out on her like that. I’d been thinking of my own anger instead of her pain. I hoped she’d forgive me. I hoped that this would bring her some peace. I hoped for a million things when it came to Em. Only time would tell whether I got any of them.





Chapter 20



We pulled up outside a tidy, well-looked-after semidetached house on a quiet street. Immediately I knew Liam had been here before. Not once along the way had he checked the address or asked for directions.

“I’ll knock on the door. He’ll answer it. I’ll kick the shit out of him,” I told them.

“How do you know he’ll answer it?” Tommy asked.

“Because the guy’s a f*cking control freak,” Kieran answered for me. “I’d be very f*cking surprised if he lets his missus take a piss without asking for permission.” A car was in the drive, and the lights were on but the rain beat down too heavy for me to see much of anything inside the house. None of the guys pushed me or said anything to me when I just sat there watching that house that was so normal-looking and average on the outside. But knowing what had happened inside was the reason Em relived the rape in her dreams over and over, knowing that it was the reason she flinched whenever new people moved too quickly around her, only loosened the rein I had over my temper.

I pictured everything I’d overheard from her nightmare about the rape, and I remembered, with aching heartbreaking clarity, how I felt when he took her and how tiny, beaten, and broken she looked unconscious and bloodied in that hospital bed.

What the f*ck was I still doing sitting in this truck? This ended now. I climbed out and slammed the door before any of the guys had chance to move.

Running across the street, I pounded on the front door, and when Frank opened it with a cocky smirk, I pulled my shoulder back and punched him square in the face. Like the spineless sack of shit that he was, he collapsed to the floor unconscious. I’d knocked him out with one punch, and it felt f*cking amazing. He’d collapsed in the doorway but I was nowhere near done. Hell, this wasn’t even the end of round one.

I could have picked him up easily but I didn’t want to touch him any more than was necessary to cause him some serious pain. So I grabbed him by the back of the collar and pulled him through the corridor. When I reached the living room, I dropped him, letting his head hit the carpeted floor with an audible thud. As I turned to head back to the front door, it closed gently and in walked Kieran. Sitting himself down on the sofa, he waited for my cue.

“Tommy and Liam?” I asked him.

“Keeping watch,” he murmured. Frank started to come around, and I willed it so I could knock him out again. I wanted to keep doing it until his head was so f*cked up he didn’t even know his own name. When he came to, the f*cker had the audacity to look up at me and laugh.

“This is priceless,” he joked. “After this, you’ll be looking at a stretch behind bars, and as far as Emily is concerned, I’ll make you feel like a distant memory.”

“You don’t get to f*cking say her name. Not to me. Not ever,” I warned him, giving him a swift kick to the ribs, which made him wheeze and cough. “What’s wrong, old man?” I barked at him. “Not so much fun when you’re on the other end of the boot, is it?”

“Fuck you,” he wheezed, dragging himself up onto the seat. I let him but only because it put his face at fist height.

“Fuck me?” I shouted at him. “One punch and a kick to the gut is my way of slow dancing up to the arse kicking I’m about to deliver. When I’m f*cking finished with you, your own mother won’t even recognize your f*ck-ugly face.” The f*cker smiled at me, and without hesitation, I punched him in the face again. Blood streamed from his nose and a cut at the corner of his eye, and he spat more blood onto the floor, not caring that it was his own f*cking carpet he was messing up.

“What made you think you had the right to go anywhere near her?” I asked, punching him again.

“You don’t touch her, you don’t even think about her, or I will f*cking end you!”

“Do you know what she sees in you? Absolutely nothing. I gave her a lesson she didn’t like, and she ran straight into the arms of the first boy she came across. You knew, from the minute you saw her, she was out of your league, and you’ve done nothing but try and drag her down to your level ever since.”

I hit him in the ribs, winding him enough to shut him up. I hit him for being right. I never was good enough for Sunshine, and maybe I was on borrowed time, but he was wrong about her not seeing anything in me. Her love for me was imprinted in every single cell of my body. I’d give anything to keep her safe and happy. I’d leave this life knowing what it feels like to belong to another person. To belong to her.

“What is this sick, f*cking obsession you have with her?” Kieran asked, finally breaking his silence.