Chapter 11 ~ Bait & Switch

Cullen POV

“Fuckin’ planes.”

I rubbed the back of my neck and cracked my back as Swan laughed silently, thinking she was hidin’ that shit from me but I still caught the shoulder bobbin’ out of the corner of my eye, as we walked out to go pick up Shitty Shitty from the parking garage.

I’d actually forgotten we were coming home to that monstrosity throughout the whole, I almost fucked up quite royally and most assuredly beyond all recognition with the one woman who understands and accepts my ass for the sorry son of a bitch that I am, fiasco out in Seattle but I wasn’t about to make any snide remarks about said piece of shit.

Er, Monstrosity.

Did I say ‘piece of shit’?

Yet, anyway.

But I digress.

I’d gotten a text from Rose, after we landed, confirming that Eleanor was ready and that was most definitely gonna be our first stop before headin’ downtown to meet Emmett at Muldoon’s personal circle of fuckery to get the full scoopage on what in the hell was up, exactly, with Seth.

He wouldn’t talk about it over the phone and refused to expand on just exactly what the fuck he was talking about when he’d called to tell me something was up with my very own turmoil magnet except that his parents had contacted him when they couldn’t find me and were a tad more than a little concerned about his behavior and slash or whereabouts within the past couple of days.

Like I needed another person to start having to keep track of.

Am I right?

I mean, seriously, any stress that giving Swan a good long fucking might have relieved back on the West Coast?

Out the goddamn window faster than I could say, ready for round  two, as soon as my brother had called.

Remind me to thank him for that shit, later, by the way.

Or deck him.

One of those.

It wasn’t like I couldn’t come home and find out what was goin’ on with the kid, though.

‘Cause whether I liked it or not, I was at least partially responsible for his ass.

The only good news, currently, was that the chip I’d felt poking out of Blondy’s top when she was groping my ass at the gambling hall, and consequently, lifted off of her before she’d taken off and I high tailed it, showed a fuck ton of information for Swan and I to filter through about women who were “participating” in the wonderful world of Aro Volturi.

Unfortunately, that apparently wasn’t gonna happen any time soon.

Regardless…I had a new…or, semi-new vehicle to go retrieve before I could let anything else start ruining the day.

I was a positive mojo motherfucker when I wanted to be.

What can I say?

And in truth, Eleanor was…above and beyond what I’d even expected outta Rose but she clearly had taken a liking to the piece of machinery I’d entrusted her to.

Otherwise, my car would not have resembled something right off of the back lot of MGM, or, whoever it was that ended up fronting the money for the latest and greatest James Bond movie.

Seriously.

“Rose, I don’t even know what to fucking say, this is…way more work than I paid you for.” 

I couldn’t take my eyes off of the platinum colored beauty she’d re-painted as she pished me.

Yes, fucking pished.

And Swan got a nice chuckle out of it.

What the fuck was up with women and pishing, anyway?

Then she said, as she shrugged me off and winked at Swan, “I had a bunch of scrap laying out that I didn’t know what to do with…” then she grabbed a towel and cleaned her hands off before picking the baby up.  “And Lilly liked helping, didn’t you?” 

She rubbed noses with my niece and Swan joined on their giggle fest just as a quick flash of her flew in front of my eyes, holding our own kid…rubbing noses and giggling like an idiot.

It kinda fucking confused me, to be honest.

Left me with something somewhere in between scared shitless and amused.

Which was weird.

I also apparently had a stupid ass look on my face because Swan suddenly quit with the giggling and gave me one of her, uh oh, Cullen’s gonna have an aneurism looks.

“You okay?” she asked me and I blew it off as fast as it had arrived, tellin’ her, “Yeah, let’s get movin’ and find out just exactly what the fuck is going on with Seth.”

Rose gave us both a look like she knew something was up but Emmett doesn’t exactly bring his work home so I was pretty sure she wasn’t gonna have much to add to the cryptic shit he’d dished out the night before.

I convinced Swan to leave Shitty Shitty at the garage after we said our goodbyes and then we took my new ride over to catch up with my brother.

And man oh fucking man, can I just say…

There is nothing like sliding into a newly renovated piece of mastery and inserting the keys to that fuckery for the first time while crankin’ up some highly appropriate tunage in the process.

And also that, Rose. Is. A. God. Damn. Genius.

I had turbo boosters, mag wheels, a spit shine…not literally…and not to mention, fucking auto detect air which…I for one cannot live without.

How she rigged that fuckery, I had no goddamn idea.

And really, didn’t give a shit, either.

She extended the trunk and added some adaptor plugs for laptop connection and I swear to fucking god, if I didn’t think Emmett…or Swan would kick my ass for it, I’d have kissed the motherfuck out of that woman for hookin’ me up like that.

Just sayin’.

“You’re such a kid sometimes,” Swan teased me and I winked back at her ass as I enjoyed every moment of the virgin drive and I ignored her ass because number one, she was right but more importantly, number two, she was right.

I was a kid.

Which, ironically, was just one of the many reasons why I shouldn’t have any.

The ride to Emmett’s precinct was unexpectedly detoured when he called and asked me to meet him at a crime scene involving a certain multi-millionaire’s high security mansion that Swan and I had both become a tad bit familiar with as of late.

Which gave yours truly a sinking fucking feeling in the pit of my stomach but I decided to forego that fuckery of a feeling and figured I’d let the worry come when it really needed to because Hell, we’d had enough pain and fucking suffering for one weekend, what was a little more gonna do.

Right?

So, the remainder of our car ride was filled with Swan fucking with all the high end knobs and shit in the car…and me swatting at Swan, fucking with all the high end knobs and shit.

Add some banter and a little bit of sexual innuendo and things were back to normal for us, it felt like.

Thank fucking God.

Or, whoever.

I started noticing exactly when we got close to our desitination because that was about the same time things started getting quieter in the car and then once we arrived, the party was officially over and the two of us literally, sat in the car for a few minutes in complete silence, not really wanting to get out and find out what we were about to fucking find out.

Like it or not.

“There’s just no such fucking thing as a happy ending, is there?” I finally mumbled as I leaned forward and onto the steering wheel, wishing I had some kinda fucking rewind button for my life or some shit so I could go back to that fateful fucking day, when Dad was trying to talk me into being something dapper, like a Doctor or something.

I blew out some air, knowing fully fucking well how that woulda turned out, and opened up the car door to go see who’d died.

‘Cause I was pretty sure we weren’t there to see whose goddamn birthday it was.

Know what I’m sayin’?

“Wanna grab some Dick’s after this?” I asked Swan. More so to distract my own mind from spinning outta control, than anything else but believe it or not, she laughed.

A little bit.

Actually, I think it mighta been nervous laughter, considering how she was around dead bodies and all.

Still though, the sound of Swan’s laugh was enough to put a spark of light into the dark shit that was taking up way too much fucking room in my brain at that point.

I was pretty sure we were about to walk up on a dead as a doornail, Mendez which immediately had me wondering if his daughter was already dead as well…

And man oh man, did I wish I’d been right.

For a second or two, that is.

Because it wasn’t Mendez that was dead but he may as well have been as he sat next to where the chalk outline of his wife’s body lay.

And I didn’t like thinking about why it was her, instead of him.

Emmett met us on about half way down the driveway as we slowed a little, trying to figure the fuck out what the reasons could have been behind it.

“Don’t even…” I started and I saw Swan put a hand over her mouth to keep from crying or somethin’ but I didn’t have my own wits about me to try and console anyone at that point.

All that ran through my head for some crazy reason, was, how good Mrs. Elaezer’s fucking pie had been not….what?  Three nights ago?

As she begged me to find her daughter and bring her home safe.

Jesus.

“I knew it was a bad idea to get up, today.”

“Dude…tell me about it,” Emmett jibed and Swan just…stood there, staring at the body within the outline.

I ran a hand through my hair and asked him, “So…what the fuck?”

“He found her a little while ago.  Said he didn’t wanna talk to anyone but you.  Something about…client, private eye privileges or something…it’s bullshit,” he laughed. “…but…I figured you’d wanna get in on it, since…you know…”

“Yeah.”

He looked over his shoulder, quickly, then back to me.  “Muldoon doesn’t know you were called, yet.”

Great.

“Eeet ess my fault,” Mendez piped in after sneaking up on us, through a cracked voice and tears in his eyes and for a second or two, I didn’t hate the guy ‘cause right then, he was just some unfortunate fuck who’d lost the wife that he apparently loved.

Flashbacks of the City’s piece of shit Mayor flashed through my mind and his…loss of a wife…but this seemed a little different to me.

Mendez actually appeared to be mourning for this woman.

Then I felt an eyebrow inch up, of its own accord.

He could just be a really good actor.

Swan locked eyes with me and I wondered if she was thinking the same thing.

“Mr. Mendez,” she said to him, trying to detract attention away from our silent conversation.  “I’m so…so sorry.”

The look on her face said a lot and I wondered absently how women could do that shit when they barely knew a guy.

She gave him a hug and he, surprisingly, held on tight as she did it.

And I guessed, women musta been good for something in his world, after all.

“We should…” I pointed over her shoulder at the crowd hanging around about ten feet from the body.  “Get some…info if we can, before…you know.”

She nodded and after I asked him a few more quick questions to feel him out, we left him with Emmett who continued a short conversation with Mendez through his sobs, which, was probably gonna be an uncomfortable, fucking pain in the ass conversation but as far as I was concerned, he deserved that shit.

We were able to at least get Mendez’s thoughts on who was responsible, which was a plus.

I guess.

I mean, you know, other than the possibility of it being him.

He managed to explain how he was fairly certain that he knew it was Aro that had done it.  He’d been confronted, so to speak, a few days before about the whereabouts of his daughter and the crease in my forehead deepened, the more this guy talked.

Swear to God.

As we walked over to the body, I thought out loud to get Swan’s take on the whole thing.

“So the guy who kidnapped his daughter, called to ask him where his daughter was?”

“Not exactly in line with something Aro would do, is it?”

“It doesn’t make any fucking sense.”

Somethin’ was up.

And not that I wasn’t putting it passed Aro to do some fucked up shit like that, just to fuck with Mendez, the Spidy senses on the back of my neck were telling me, it was somethin’ else.

There wasn’t anything spectacular about this body, I noticed as I looked down at it.

Actually, it looked like whoever had done it, had put her out of her misery, pretty quickly.

“Come home from an errand, maybe?”

I looked into the car she was next to.  There were bags in the back, but not groceries…she probably had a servant or some shit like that to do the piddly chores.

“Mani-Pedi,” I said and Swan’s face was fucking priceless when she looked up at me.

I couldn’t help but smile.

Sue me.

“Hey, I know a little bit about what you women like to do on your days out,” I told her, then nodded to what I’d already caught a glimpse of.

“Man,” she said. “She really likes her fingernail polishes.

“No shit.”

I noticed somethin’ odd about her clothes, then, and asked a random cop, passing by, “Hey, anyone search the body yet?”

He shook his head and headed off to do his meaningless crime scene bullshit and I knelt down next to the dead woman, using my pen to push her shirt to the side a little more than it already was.

“What in the world are you doing?” Swan asked and I looked around to make sure no one was looking before I pulled the piece of paper out of the top of her bra that was sticking out.

“What’s…”

I unfolded it and read the note before taking a good look at the picture that was inside of it.

“Back off?” Swan repeated what was written and then I showed her the photo.

“Oh my god.”

“We need to find Seth.”

It was his picture and how someone…fucking James…had gotten a hold of it, I didn’t know but suddenly, the Clearwaters concerns about their son were pushed to the top of my list of shit to take care of’s for the goddamn day.

“Jesus mother of….” I grabbed at the back of my hair, near the neck.  “Fuck!”  I kicked at the air and then punched the motherfucker right behind it.

Muldoon heard me and shot me a look and I half wondered if he had something to do with this shit because why  the fuck else would he keep incriminating photos of yours truly over my head instead of using them to put me out of commission?

Right?

Swan grabbed for me but missed as I stalked over to our fine city’s yahoo of a Lieutenant.

“Cullen, good to…” he started but I cut his ass off, pushing him away from his gooneys and told him, “If I fucking find out you have anything to do with this missing goddamn kid…I swear to FUCK I will end you.”

“Really,” was all he said, pulling out of my grip and straightening his uniform.

He looked around us to make sure no one was going to interrupt our conversation, namely Swan, and then said to me, “Try this, Cullen, you find Aro Voturi, save this girl, and I won’t out you as a murderer of not only a top ranking city’s finest, but a cop with a clean record and longevity on the force.”

My already sky rocketing heart rate sped up as I realized what he was saying.

And I was…confused.

“You want me to find Aro and...”

“Put him away,” he said, then leaned in for you know, dramatic fucking effect and shit.  “For good.”

I scowled as he stood back up straight and said, blankly, “I don’t get it.”

“Well, Mr. Cullen, I’m sure you’ll put it all together in due time, you’re a smart man.”

He started to leave me standing there but I wasn’t done.

Not by a long goddamn shot.

“Hold the fuck up, Muldoon.  You owe me some answers.”

He laughed when he turned around.  “I don’t owe you shit, Cullen.  What I owe you is a jail cell, with a rotted out toilet and sewer water…however,”  he fucked with his jacket. “I’m willing to put our differences aside, provided you pull this off, and if you don’t…” he smiled.  “Well, I’m sure we can find you that jail cell, if we need to.”

“What’s your motivation, here, Muldoon…Volturi got somethin’ on you?”

Wouldn’t be surprised at that shit.

He laughed again and told me, “Clock’s ticking, Cullen, you might want to get started.”

“Absolutely, Muldoon,” I said to him.  “But here’s a better idea,” and I said the next part nice and distinct like, so he wouldn’t miss a word.

“Why don’t you, take those photos you have?  And shove ‘em up your…”

“Watch your mouth, Cullen.  I can end your career, and lifeline, in a heartbeat.”

He made a pointed glare over my shoulder at Swan who was standing off at an uncomfortable distance for her, I’m sure but she was trying to give me a minute.

He was also getting angry, though.

Which meant my mood was improving exponentially.

“Yeah, good idea,” I goaded him as he started walkin’ away again, ‘cause, you know, a dick’s gotta do, what a dick’s gotta do. “Why don’t you go, run along and report me to the FB I. Don’t.  Give.  A. Motherfuck?”

He grinned, like he was holding something back.

Rage, maybe, or hell, for all I knew, maybe he wanted to shoot me only, that’d be giving himself away a little too easily.

It made much more sense for him to send me after Aro.

He was probably hoping I’d fuck up and get myself killed.

But good luck with that.

“You’re not fooling me, Cullen,” he egged me on.  “I know, deep down under that smart ass façade you put up, that you know I’m right, and that you’re only option is put Aro down like a good boy, and then pray to God I don’t turn your ass in, anyway.”

When he was done that time, he trotted off to his troops, laughing as some bullshit fucking asshole inside joke they were telling and never looked back.

Excellent.

Of all the assholes to have somethin’ on me.

I mean seriously, it couldn’t be Jane?  Or…fuck, I’d take James, at that point.

I sat down onto the brick half wall surrounding Mendez’s flower beds that the Mrs. had no doubt, taken care of and would most likely fucking die soon, sucked in some air and held it for a minute or so before letting it out.

Also just as Swan found me and sat down, putting a hand on my thigh.

I guess I shoulda been grateful he didn’t instruct me to fucking kill myself.

Right?

Although, weighing my options…

“We should probably get going, Edward…if Seth is…”

Shit.

I mean seriously, would kill a guy to give me a goddamn minute?

One motherfucking minute to just…I dunno, think?

“Right,” I said, standing up and Emmett asked if we needed anything before we took off. 

“Seth’s in trouble,” was all I really had time to tell him as I rushed back to the car with Swan and then told him I’d call him when I locked in on where the little shit was and would probably need some kinda back up.

A quick call to Jasper to ask him to tap into AT&T to get a jump on Seth’s cell phone signals and we had a good idea where he was.

Swan called the Clearwaters on our way there and I called Emmett to tell him where to meet us because James had to know, there was just no goddamn way that I was backing off of this case.

Which meant he could have already killed the kid, for all I knew.

I mean shit, he’d killed Mendez’s wife and what the fuck did she have to do with any of this fuckery?

Innocent bystander.

When we got to the park that the Jazzman had picked up the last of Seth’s cell pings, I could see the crowd of people scuffling, back toward the back of the soccer fields and I sped up to a) get there as fast as I fucking could, despite the fact that it would tear the grass up and I’d be fined for that shit and b) to see just exactly how fast Eleanor could go in sixty seconds.

It was fucking fast, my friends.

I skid to a halt when I was as close as I could get without causing serious property damage and I jumped out before she was even in park, listening to Swan tell me to try and calm down before killing anyone but fuck me standing if I was about to let that boy go down like this after all the major fucking goddamn bullshit he’d already been through.

A gang surrounded him and I could hear ‘em screaming, egging each other on.

Hell there was even laughter and Seth’s tiny voice was in the middle of that mess, probably calling out for help from the, what, ten?  Twelve, maybe, dickweeds that were beating the shit out of him, probably?

I whistled to get their attention before pulling the first piece of shit off of the pile and threw him to the ground.

“What the fuck, dude?” he screamed but I wasn’t listening.

In fact I was already pulling the Colt outta my jeans when I pulled dick twat number two off of the pile and that’s when they all seemed to stop.

Fucking finally, and spread out, to see who’d shown up to bust the party.

And yeah, okay, probably in part because they heard the sirens getting closer, too.

“Sorry to fucking disappoint your asses, but this shit isn’t happening.  Not today,” I said, as Swan approached.

Her own gun pulled, but not pointed at anyone and I wonder why in the hell she wasn’t shooting ass holes when I noticed….

They were…kids?

And when I scanned the crowd for James, he was nowhere.

Of course.

“What the…?”

“Um…Cullen?”  Swan hesitantly said, as she noticed the same thing I did.

That was when I saw him.

“Seth?” I half laughed at…fuck, I don’t even know what but suddenly I felt like I was on an episode of punked or some shit.

“Edward?”

He looked at me like I was just some crazy, wacked out adult, who’d crashed a secret party and embarrassed the living shit out of him.

Which…I may very well have done…I wasn’t sure.

Yet.

“What in the…What’s wrong with you, man?”

“You were…”  getting the shit beat out you….

Wasn’t he?

What the fuck.

“Where’s your….”

I was breathing…way too fucking hard to think straight and I eyeballed the guys with him. 

One of them, I recognized.

Paul.

The guy who owned the junk yard Seth had taken me to.

But the rest of them….

Questionable at best.

Murderers at worst.

But then…Seth didn’t seem like he was in any kinda trouble….

Actuallly…he seemed like…

“What’s going on here, exactly?”

“Ummm….craps?”  Paul kinda did this question, statement thing, you know, like all the smart ass kids like to do these days?  Like I was a fucking idiot for making such a big deal about a bunch of motherfuckers throwing a pair of dice around on the ground.

And the hand with my Colt in it found the top of my head and I shut my eyes tight because motherfuck if I wasn’t about to look like the biggest goddamn idiot on the planet right about then.

“What the hell is going on here, Cullen.”

Annnnd my brother brought the fucking Lieutenant of his police squad with him.

Nice.

Seriously, I don’t know that in the hell that guy was thinking half the time.

“Muldoon…long time no…” I waved a hand, giving up ‘cause, let’s face it, I was definitely the idiot this time.

Turned out, Seth had been sneakin’ out to play craps with these guys and had won some, and lost some but the main point was…he wasn’t even remotely in any kinda danger.

“I gotta hand it to ya, bro…you have taken your paranoia to a whole new level,” Emmett teased but fuck, I wasn’t exactly in the mood for that shit when this case was becoming more and more like a vaudeville act than anything else by the goddamn day.

After Seth gave a statement to Muldoon and a dirty look…or seven….to me, he left with his gang of unruly little fucks and I avoided contact with the good Lieutenant all together.

Sometimes, it’s just best to not say shit when you’re credibility is cracking at the seams.

Ya get my drift?

Swan and I drove pretty much in complete silence.

Probably because she knew there really wasn’t much to say about the fuckery of the day we’d just had.

We said our hellos to Pup and I let him out while Swan was inside, unpacking.  I also couldn’t help but have a heart to heart with the guy.

“This shit is not going well, Pup.”

He tilted his head at me as he took a shit and I scowled a little, givin’ him some privacy.

“Sorry.”

When he was done, scooped his pile up and tossed it, then sat down on the step to the patio, then proceed to scratch him behind the ears, causing him to put his head on my lap. 

“I’m missing something.”

A satisfied growl told me, he didn’t really give a fuck about my problems, I just needed to keep scratching.

“Maybe,” I said to him, thinking about how I hadn’t seen dad in a while and maybe I should go pay him a visit and just, you know, give him a head’s up about all the bullshit that was goin’ on so he’d be sure to be careful.

And tell ma to be careful.

I didn’t worry too much about Alice, she had Jasper, but my parents…well, it wasn’t like they were trained CSI agents or anything.

“You want me to come with?”  Swan asked as I grabbed the keys to go out again.

“Nah, I’ll be home soon, just…” I sighed. “Wait up for me?”

And she smiled, inching up onto her tippy toes and kissing me while she slid a hand around my neck.

It was one of those kisses.

You know, that said somethin’ along the lines of, I know everyone else thinks you’re full of shit right now but I love you anyway?

The heat in her lips made me wanna stay and continue to make things up to her after being such a dick back in Seattle, but…you know what they say…

Safety first.

So, I left, and headed over to the hospital, where I knew I’d find Carlisle on his second or third shift for the week.

The guy never stops working.

The front desk nurse hated me, which, pretty much everyone did, but this bitch was like Cleopatra and Medusa all rolled into one evil ass receptionist type candy striper.

Scary.

“It’s kinda fucking important, if it’s all the same to you,” I told her after she asked me for ID even though she knew that I knew she fucking knew who I was.

Bitch.

She picked up the phone to call his office and ask if he’d like to see me and I ignored her ass, making my way back to his office.

“Dad…”

He was sitting at his desk just like every other day that I remembered visiting him there.

Same concerned look on his face for all his patients.

Same look of thoughtfulness over how to cure the world of cancer.

I grinned at his ass, hell, I couldn’t help it.

“Ginny isn’t very happy with you,” he said, not looking up yet and I scratch at the back of my head out of habit.

“Yeah well, Ginny can kiss my…”

Then…he looked up…and over the rim of his glasses.

“Sorry,” I smiled.  “I need to talk to you, there’s…shit goin’ on and I don’t think you and ma are safe, if ya know what I mean.”

My dad and I had never had what you might call a bonded relationship, like he seemed to have had with Emmett, but lately, we’d been…working on it.

He got up and put his pen down, then set his glasses on top of all his paperwork and said, “Walk with me, I have an appointment coming in, soon, and I want to meet him out in the lobby so he doesn’t have to do all that nasty paperwork, first.”

And that was dad…always trying to make shit easier for the sick and destitute.

After I filled him in on what had just gone down with the sticky note on the fridge while Bella had been home, and the car bombing and the…fucking note about Seth on a dead woman’s bosom, he breathed out and said, “Holy shit.”

Yeah…my goddamn thoughts, exactly.

“I don’t know what the fuck I’m doing.”

“Yes you do.”

Huh?

“Son, you’ve spent most of your life fighting what everyone else thought you should be doing,” he started and I barked out a sarcastic laugh at his ass.

He took it well, though.

“I know, I know, including me…but my point is, this isn’t the time to start questioning yourself.”

Again I say, huh?

“Yeah, but, dad…this whole Seth thing today was…”

Completely fucked.

“Seth is a child, Edward…he’ll get over it…and so will all of the other people who are actually important.”

Like Em, he meant.

“Yeah…”

I agreed with him, but I wasn’t exactly a hundred percent sure I actually agreed with him.

“Go home, son…take a day, hell, take two, just…find your center again, it’s there, you just…need to stop letting all of the outside commotions that are going on, affect the thought processes that are going on, on the inside.”

He smiled that…dad smile he’d been smiling lately and I still wasn’t quite used to these talks or anything but I grinned back at the motherfucker.

Half way surprised that the shit he said actually made some sense.

“Things have a way of working themselves out, Edward…especially with you, they always do.”

 “Thanks,” I told him, which was not one the easier words to ever come out of my mouth and then we both got up and he grabbed my shoulder and squeezed, and then headed down the hall to meet the appointment that had perfect fucking timing.

I watched him go, amused at the amount of energy the guy showed even after working twelve straight hours.

My dad had all the confidence I’d never paid attention to before as he waved and winked at half the people he passed, shook hands with the rest and as he approached his patient, they began to walk with each other back to his office.

Just as they were about to round the corner, patient guy looked back over his shoulder and I thought maybe he had a kid or something with him that he was lookin’ for.

But then, he made eye contact.

With me.

And smiled.

The grin I sported on my own face started to fade as I watched the ass hat reach into his coat for a…

Fucking gun.

“Shit…”

I ran as dad stopped, realizing his appointment wasn’t with him anymore and he turned just as fuck head pointed the silencer ridden gun was pointed down at his gut and I couldn’t fucking believe no one in that goddamn busy as fuck lobby didn’t see what was about to happen right in front of their fucking faces.

“Dad!” I reached out as the gun went off and fucking hell the dick twat just walked away.

I turned to the nurse at the counter I’d checked in with who’d given me so much shit and yelled at her, “Get a goddamn doctor!”  then I ran the rest of the way to dad, trying to catch him before he fell and his eyes.

His fucking eyes were looking at me like I’d done it.

And let’s face it, folks, I pretty much had.

Right?

I mean, if I wasn’t such a fucking smart ass, pushing people’s buttons and daring them to make a fucking wrong ass move, they wouldn’t have gone after someone in my family.

“Dad,” I said to him and I couldn’t breathe.

I couldn’t catch my fucking breath if my life had depended on it as he grabbed my jacket and tried to hold on, trying to say something but I told him to save it.

It’d seen this shit too many times.

Just…not like this.

The blood was…fuck…the blood was all over him. 

All over me.

And then I was pushed out of the way as people started to get a goddamn clue and got to him to put his body on a gurney and whisk him away.

I was stunned for a minute, raking the bloodied hand over my face, before shit kicked in and I looked toward where fuck twat gun wielder had taken off to and I sprinted for the exits before anyone could stop me.

Outside, I looked around and there were just too many people moving in too many directions for me to tell who he was or which way he’d gone.

Then I felt a wave of panic as I tried to decide whether I should get back inside to see how dad was or rush home and make sure Swan wasn’t next on this guys list.

It wasn’t James but I was willing to fucking bet he was on that ass hat’s payroll.

I went with option three and called Swan while I went back into the OR and waited outside the double doors to find out if my dad was gonna live or die.

And then added another detail to my mental list of things to take out of James’s fucking body when I finally caught up with him.