Suits and Scars

Chapter Forty-Four: Injury

Declan's Point of View

It had been a month since the Murphys tried to kidnap Teeny and we hadn't heard anything from the Irish. The speakeasies that were run by the Murphys had started to disappear one after another and we weren't asked for a single thing in return. It was suspicious but Matt didn't want to start anything by asking questions.

We had one incident at the shipping yard that Louis made us deal with. It shouldn't have been a big deal, a normal shipment of ecstasy from Jamaica. But our lives were going too well and when we went to search the container Matt found a little girl behind a false wall at the back. When he forced his way through we found five kids in total and two adult women. The second they stumbled out, the Dacostas, a family from Jamaica that we rarely saw and didn't have many problems with, tried to scramble away from us.

Bringing drugs in was one thing, especially since we got a cut of whatever we brought through our yard, but we were not about to start helping human traffickers. The Docasta's enforcer, Tion, was the closest when Matt pulled his gun out. It had been so long since I had seen Matt act like a vindictive boss. Watching him pull that trigger looked almost therapeutic for him. He had been so tightly wound trying to protect Taylor and it looked like he let it all go with the bullet as it flew through the air.

Noone reacted until Tion fell to the ground after his brain matter sprayed across the concrete in front of him. The head of the Decostas, Keyon, was the first to pull a gun on their side aiming it at Chris who ducted behind a container with his gun held down at his side. Matt ushered the captives back into the unit they came out of so they would be safe from the chaos that was about to start. He stayed hidden behind the one open door while I took cover behind a forklift.

The good thing about owning the shipping yard was having our own guys there but there weren't very many near us and we didn't know if the Dacostas had any backup hidden for themselves that we didn't notice earlier. The downside of it being at our shipping yard was that we weren't prepared for a shootout and only had our pistols with us.

We were obviously trained for shit like this but I for one wasn't ready to actually have to play it out right now. I allowed myself one thought about Taylor, reminding myself she was with Madison and Lorette at their home which meant a lot of guards. She was safe and now I had to make sure I made it back to her. The last month had been bliss. We all went to work together. Taylor had a guard on her door for the whole day and the door she shared with Chris was left open. We didn't have secrets from her and she was allowed in on any meeting we had. We all had lunch together every day and went home together.

Home life was the best part of all of it. We all took turns making dinner or ordering in. But the best part was Taylor taking turns with us every night. The first week she would pick one of us to stay in her room and let us basically have our way with her. It was nice to finally be able to be with her like a real couple. Fucking her slowly and confessing all of my feelings for her was better than any time I got to be rough with her. Granted I didn't have sex with her every time I was lucky enough to get picked. We spent a lot of our time talking about what we were going to do once we had dealt with Ronan. I couldn't let any of that change.

"Declan!" Matt yelled, pulling me from my thoughts, "Put your dick away and help us the fuck out!"

I nodded at him and looked to see who was going to be my easiest target. Tion was already dead, laying in the middle of all the gunfire. Keyon would have been an excellent shot to take but I only had a headshot and Matt was going to have questions. That left Ferric, but I couldn't find him right away. I did a sweep of all the hiding spots he could have been but I was too late.

There was a tightness in my shoulder and it slowly started to burn as if someone poked me with a branding stick. I looked over at Matt to see if he knew what was going on but when we made eye contact his face filled with panic.

"What?" I shouted to him.

In a blink of an eye, his face went from oh shit to pissed off. His focus went back to the remaining Dacostas and he unloaded his gun. I lifted my arms to help finish this thing and felt my shirt fill with a warm liquid. I looked down to see my grey oxford soaked in blood. I did a quick assessment of my body. My shoulder was my only injury and since it was my right shoulder I wasn't worried about it having hit any organs. I was breathing fine, my heart wasn't racing, and I could still move my arm just fine. When I looked over to where Matt had been standing I realized I felt a little dizzy and let myself slump to the ground.

I closed my eyes and tried to think of Taylor. She was going to be so pissed that I got hurt out here. The one thing she told us every time we had to go handle something for The Family was we better come back in the same condition she sent us out. Aside from a couple of black eyes or busted hands, we had done just that, but a bullet hole was not something she would forgive.

"Hang on man." Matt's voice hit my ears a second before his hands squeezed either side of my shoulder.

I pressed my head against the forklift, "Fucking hell, Matt."

"Can you get up and walk to the car? Chris is already waiting for us."

I opened my eyes to look at him and smirked, "How else would I fucking get there?"

"You may be all muscle but I can still carry your sorry ass." he chuckled while helping me to my feet.

"Not without Teeny around." I joked, "Speaking of which, she is going to be so mad at me."

He sighed as we walked to the waiting car, "The only way she can be mad is if you survive. I'm going to take you to Dr. Rinaldi and let him decide if you're going to the hospital, but if you black out on our way there..."

"Take me to Rinaldi even if I'm unconscious by the time we get there. I would rather him do anything than the hospital. I don't know who those people work for and I know who Rinaldi does."

The entire drive I tried to focus on Teeny. I had to remind myself that if I could stay awake then I would get to see her. I could hear Chris and Matt talking to each other but couldn't make out the words. It was as if someone had stuffed cotton balls in my ears and then ran water over my head. I lay in the backseat of the SUV staring out the window at the top of buildings and occasionally seeing the sky. I knew it wasn't that late but the sky was getting darker which meant there was a good chance we were going to get the long overdue snowstorm Taylor had been waiting on.

I'm not sure how much time had passed before the door was opened and Chris was helping me out of the car. Even with assistance to the house, I stumbled up the stairs. The edge of my vision was finally starting to cloud and I could see spots as I tried harder to focus on my surroundings. I could hear Matt yelling through the house for anyone who could hear him and quickly everyone started to rush to us.

I could hear people talking and I knew it was about me but I still couldn't make out any of the words. There was only one voice I was waiting to hear.

"Dec!" She screeched making me smile, "What the fuck Matthew! I told you to bring everyone home safe, not covered in blood."

It was the first words I could actually understand since leaving the shipping yard and it was probably only because I was focusing on them so hard.

"I'm okay." I breathe out.

She grabbed my face and forced me to look at her, "You're covered in blood and can't even look me in the eye. You're not okay."

My head started to swim and my limbs felt really heavy all of a sudden. A cold sensation rushed over my body and I knew something bad was about to happen. I searched for Taylor's face again only to realize it was still right in front of me. I tried to smile but I couldn't tell if my face had even moved.

"I love you, Teeny." I could tell the words were slurred but I couldn't do anything about it. Once they were out of my mouth I blacked out.