I watch Jessie and my younger brothers walking out of Shane’s office and smile at the way she always knows exactly what each of us need. Despite reliving her own trauma today, she is there for them now when they need her, and they didn’t even have to ask.
The night Shane and I pulled our younger brothers out of the middle of that crowd, who were determined to have their blood, still gives me nightmares. They were just kids, and they were being tossed around like pieces of meat, as though they weren’t even human at all. I have killed plenty of people in my lifetime, at least three men at that fight that night, but I have never seen such blatant disregard for human life than from the mob of respectable everyday men who almost tore my sixteen year old brothers to pieces.
Shane played it down for Jessie’s and my brother’s sake, but that night was terrifying. None of us like to talk about it because it was the scariest night of our whole damn lives. Shane and I were lucky to get out alive ourselves. We all bear the scars. Patrick Ryan pulled some twisted shit with all of us when we were kids, but that was a whole new level.
“You think they’re all okay?” Shane asks as he steps up behind me.
“Yeah. A morning of TV and whatever else in bed with Jessie and they’ll be just fine.”
“Hmm,” he mumbles. “So tell me more about this Blue Jay on the roof?”
“Mikey fished it out. It looked like it had been shot by an air rifle or some kind of pellet gun. Probably flew as far as it could and fell into the pool,” I shrug.
“You don’t think it was planted up there by anyone then?” he frowns at me.
“I think we’d know if someone had been on our roof terrace, Shane. But, even so, it looks like it was just one of those things. Unsurprisingly, it freaked our girl out though.”
“Yeah,” he nods as he rubs a hand over his jaw. “But not knowing who the Wolf is makes me nervous, Con. He could be anyone.”
“It makes me nervous too, bro. But I don’t know what else we do to find him?”
Shane sits at his desk and opens up his laptop. “Did I tell you I had a call from good old uncle Paul while you were in Arizona?”
“Pol?” I frown at him. “Fuck, Shane. We haven’t heard from him for over twenty years. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“With everything else that’s been going on, it slipped my mind, Con.”
“How did he get in touch with you? Where the hell has he been?”
“It was my business number. No idea where he’s been. But he said he’d heard a rumor the Wolf had surfaced in Russia. I pressed him for more, but he warned me to back off.”
“You think he knows who the Wolf is?”
“Nobody knows who he is, Con. No-one except Jessie, anyway. But maybe Pol has some information that could give us a lead, at least?”
“You know how to get in touch with him?”
Shane shakes his head. “Nope. As elusive as ever. But he said he’d be at the funeral when that evil fucker finally dies. I’ll ply the old bastard with a few whiskies and find out whatever he knows.”
“If he knows anything at all. It seems like the Wolf is a ghost, Shane. He could be dead for all we know.”
“I know, Con. But I don’t think Jessie will ever feel safe unless she knows one way or the other. Do you?”
“No,” I agree with him.
“Why don’t you go check on them and get some sleep? You look exhausted.”
“Yeah. I will. Catch you later, bro.”
“Later,” he winks at me and I leave his office and go to find Jessie and the twins.
I find them in Liam’s bed, watching TV. “You guys okay?” I ask as I sit on the edge of the bed.
“Yeah, bro,” the twins mumble.
“Yes,” Jessie smiles sweetly and holds her arms out to me. Unable to resist an invitation to be anywhere near her hot body, I crawl onto the bed and she spreads her legs wide so I can lie between them, with my head resting on her stomach. She runs her fingers through my hair and the four of us lie there in silence and I feel so comfortable and content that I fall asleep.
