Total pages in book: 90
Estimated words: 90919 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 90919 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
After a quick shower, I brushed my teeth—and my hair, for once—and headed downstairs. Noel was in the kitchen in a big fluffy bathrobe, her elbows resting on the counter as she stared at the brewing coffee pot.
“Hey,” she croaked.
“Hey,” I greeted distractedly as I strode toward my boots.
“You’re leaving this early on a Saturday?” she asked in surprise.
“Got somethin’ to do.”
“Tell Myla I said hi,” she called in amusement as I hurried out the door.
It wasn’t until I’d climbed on my bike that I remembered that I’d turned off my phone the night before. Stupid. So fucking stupid. As soon as I turned it back on notification after notification came through.
When it finally stopped chiming, there were eleven missed calls from my siblings. Seven voicemails. Forty-seven text messages.
All thoughts of Myla disappeared in an instant, and the entire world stopped spinning as I stared. I didn’t know what to look at first.
The decision was made for me when the phone started to ring, my sister Saoirse’s face popping up on the screen.
“Sersh,” I answered, staring at the garage door. The paint was peeling in the corner. I should fix it.
“Cian,” she whispered, her voice ragged.
“What’s going on?” Not Sean. Not Aoife. Not Aisling. Not Ronan. Not Aunt Ashley. Not Rich—
“It’s Richie. He’s in the hospital. They’re not sure—” Her voice broke. “They’re not sure if he’s going to make it.”
“What the fuck happened?” I barked, my own voice sounding strange in my ears.
“He was shot.”
“Shot? What do you mean, shot? Where the fuck would Richie get shot? He’s a fuckin’ plumber.”
“It’s all a mess,” Saoirse murmured, it sounded like she was moving. “He went to pick up Aisling because she’d called drunk and was freaked out, and I don’t know what happened. No one knows what happened. No one can find her, Cian.”
“Aisling’s missing?” My ears began to ring. What the fuck was going on?
“She might not even know what happened,” Saoirse said, her voice almost soothing as she tried and failed to reassure me. “We don’t know where Richie was picking her up, so we have no idea if that’s where it happened or not. We don’t even know if he found her before it happened. We don’t know anything.”
“Where are you?”
“Me and Aunt Ashley drove out on Thursday, thank God. So, I’m at the hospital with Aoife and Ronan. Richie’s entire family is on some cruise in Europe. It’s a freaking mess, we haven’t even been able to get a hold of them.”
“Where’s Sean?”
“He’s back at the house with Aunt Ashley. Thank God we were here, Cian. Aoife lost her shit when Richie didn’t come right back.” She lowered her voice. “She was standing on the porch waiting for them when the police showed up. It was like she knew.”
“I’m on my way,” I said, pulling my keys out of my pocket. “Tell Mam I’m on my way.”
“Good.” Saoirse sniffled. “He’s in surgery, Cian. They said it’s really bad. Drive careful…but hurry, okay?”
“I will.”
“Love you.”
“Love you, too, sweetheart. Go back to Aoife, yeah? Text me if you get any news.”
“I will.”
I wasn’t sure how long I sat there after Saoirse hung up. I was closer to my siblings than most. After our dad died and our mother went off the rails, we’d had to stick together. When my mom died the day before my fourteenth birthday, my sister Aoife had already been raising us for four years. I’d started calling her Mam at some point because that’s what she was. She’d been just a kid when she took over the responsibility of keeping us alive and together—and she’d never asked for thanks or appreciation or any of that shit.
Richie had been there supporting her—and, by extension, the rest of us—almost the entire time. He’d moved in after our mother died, committing himself to my sister and taking the four of us kids on when he was only twenty-two years old. He’d taught me how to drive. How to throw a punch so I didn’t break my fingers. Slipped me cash when I didn’t fail any classes in high school. Bought me my first box of condoms. Ripped me a new asshole when I stayed out all night and worried Aoife. I couldn’t imagine a world that he wasn’t in.
Shaking myself out of my stupor, I made another call.
“Yeah?”
“Hey, I gotta go home. Not sure when I’ll be back.”
“What’s goin’ on?”
“Family emergency. My brother-in-law’s in the hospital. Not sure if he’ll make it.”
“Fuck. Sorry to hear that. You want to bring a couple of the boys with you?”
“I got it.”
“You sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“All right, keep us posted, yeah?”
“Will do.”
I was on the road less than a minute later. I knew the route so well that I could’ve done it in my sleep, which was a good thing because I was completely out of it. I stopped for gas halfway there at the same station I always did. Grabbed a burrito and water while I was there because I knew I needed it. Got a text from Saoirse that Richie was out of surgery, but there was no change in his status.