Special Delivery by April Wilson

Chapter 25 – Mack

Mack Donovan

I’m so fucking livid I could break something. I want to break something—like the necks of the assholes who scared Erin.

Dominic frowns as he relays the news to me. “Sophie assured me no one touched a single hair on Erin’s head, and Lia took care of the bastard.”

But that’s not good enough. That asshole scared the shit out of her.

Haley, on the other hand, seems fine. Actually, she seems pretty excited about the whole thing. I leave her downstairs with the others, who are retelling the story to a captivated audience, and take Erin upstairs to our room.

As soon as we step inside the privacy of our suite and I shut the door, Erin wraps her arms around me and holds on for dear life. She’s shaking like a leaf.

“I’m so sorry, honey,” I tell her as I hold her close. My words are lame, but I don’t know what else to say. It’s a fucking shame she couldn’t go out with her friends to a restaurant without being accosted by idiots. And I don’t want to fly off in a rant and stress her out even more.

I lead her over to an oversized upholstered chair, sit down, and pull her onto my lap. I turn her sideways and pull her legs up, tucking her feet beside my leg.

“It was awful,” she says. “I was afraid to drink anything. Sophie offered to get me a sealed bottle of something, but I couldn’t even do that. And then those guys started saying things to us and catcalling. They wanted us to party with them in their hotel room.”

I still. “Seriously? They asked you girls to hook up with them?”

“Yes. So we left. Some of them followed us out of the restaurant as we were walking back to the van. That’s when Lia and Hannah took on two of them. The rest ran back to the restaurant. Lia knocked one of them unconscious.”

I’m enraged but trying hard not to let Erin see it. She doesn’t need any more stress. But something needs to be done. I’m not going to let this slide.

There’s a knock on our door.

“Come on in,” I say.

The door opens, and Jake, Annie, Sophie, and Dominic walk in. They all seem pretty subdued, but I can tell Jake and Dominic are as mad as I am.

“Hey, guys,” I say.

Jake steps forward, his expression tight. His jaw is clenched hard, and I know he’s keeping his cool because of Erin. He looks me in the eye. “Annie and Sophie will stay with Erin.”

I nod.

Hell, yes. Of course we’re going after those motherfuckers.

Erin turns her gaze on me. “What are they talking about? Are you going somewhere?”

“Yeah, honey,” I tell her. I brush her bangs aside. “I won’t be gone long, and you won’t be alone. They’ll stay with you until I get back.”

Erin’s eyes widen and she looks frantic. “No! You can’t leave. Where are you going?”

I hate to add to her anxiety, but there’s no way in hell we’re letting this stand. “Erin.” I brush my thumb across her soft cheek. “We’re not letting those guys get away with this.”

“You’re going after them?”

I nod. “The three of us are, yes. Annie and Sophie will stay with you until I get back.”

She studies me a moment, then looks to the others. Jake and Dominic are two hulking walls of muscle, and there’s absolutely nothing that could stop them from exacting revenge on these thugs.

The only thing that could keep me from leaving right now is Erin.

“Please, honey,” I say. “I need to do this.”

As tears well up in her blue eyes, she nods. “Just don’t be gone long, okay?”

I cup her face with my hands. “I won’t. I promise.”

I give her a gentle kiss, then rise to my feet and seat her in the chair. “I’ll be right back.”

It kills me to leave Erin right now, but I know she’s in good hands. She won’t be alone. Right now, this is something I need to do.

When the three of us get down to the foyer, we’re met by a small army—Killian, Liam, Philip, Sam, and Miguel.

“Thanks, but we got this, guys,” Jake says to them.

“We’re coming, too,” Liam says. “All of us.”

“They harassed people we love, our friends,” Sam says. “We’re not letting that slide.”

“Fine, suit yourselves,” Dominic says as he heads for the front door. “Let’s go.”

We split up into two vehicles as we head for the hotel where we think the baseball team is staying. Sophie sent us the pics she took before the altercation took place on the sidewalk, so we have clear images of the two assholes who were the real problem.

When we arrive at the hotel, we see a charter bus in the parking lot with baseball graffiti sprayed on the windows. We’re definitely in the right place.

Before we even vacate our vehicles, a rowdy crowd of young guys comes walking through the parking lot. They’re still wearing their uniforms, stained with dirt.

We exit our vehicles and surround them before they know we’re even here.

“What the hell?” says a blond guy who’s got a swollen right eye that’s already turning shades of black and blue.

This must be the one Lia knocked out.

“What happened to your eye?” I ask him.

“None of your fucking business,” the blond says. By the way he’s slurring his words, it’s clear he’s drunk off his ass. He’s also not quite steady on his feet.

“He got punched by a girl!” yells one of the other guys, and they all start laughing uproariously.

“Shut up!” the blond kid yells. “It’s not funny.”

I stalk over to the blond until I’m right in his face. I grab him by his uniform collar and lift him high enough off the ground so that we’re eye to eye. “She should have done a hell of a lot more than punch you, asshole.”

“Jesus, Cody, do you know this guy?” yells one of the other players.

Cody starts struggling as he tries to pry my hands off his shirt. “Let me go, you motherfucker!”

I set him down on the ground, hard. He nearly stumbles to the ground. I get right up in his grill, my teeth gritted as I say, “You don’t go around disrespecting women, moron. Not unless you want to deal with their irate boyfriends.” Then I haul back my arm and make a fist, intending to give him a second shiner.

But before I can hit him, I detect the strong odor of hot urine. I glance down and notice that the guy has wet his pants. “Jesus, you’re a fucking coward.”

Some of his friends notice the wet spot on his uniform pants and resume laughing.

“Hey, man,” one of the players says as he nervously scans the men surrounding them. “It was Cody and Doug who were hitting on those girls. The rest of us didn’t do a thing. We’re sorry, man. It won’t happen again.”

I release Cody suddenly, and he falls on his ass, hitting the pavement hard. His pants are soaked through, and his teammates renew their laughter.

“It’s not funny!” Cody yells, choking back tears.

“No, it’s not funny,” I agree. “It’s pathetic. You’re pathetic.”

* * *

As soon as we return to Kenilworth, I high tail it upstairs to the room I share with Erin. Annie and Sophie are still with her, of course. When I walk into the room, they turn to look at me expectantly.

“It wasn’t much of a fight,” Jake says as he walks into the room after me, followed by Dominic.

“Pretty much a big let-down,” Dominic says. “The blond coward pissed himself, literally. It was embarrassing.”

Annie rises to her feet and walks into her husband’s arms. Jake hugs her tightly and kisses her forehead.

“Mission accomplished?” she asks him.

He nods. “As well as can be expected. They were kids. Our options were limited.”

Annie nods. “I understand. Still, I’m sure you made your point.”

The two couples leave our room, and I shut the door.

“It’s late,” I say to Erin. “You ready for bed?”

She nods. “I just want this day to be over.”

“I understand. While you’re getting ready for bed, I’ll run down and check on Haley and say goodnight to her. I’ll be back before you miss me.”

Erin gives me a smile—the first one I’ve seen since they returned from the ill-fated bachelorette party. “Impossible. I’ll be missing you the moment you walk out that door.”