First and Only (Callaghan Brothers #2)

“Where’s Lexi?” Ian yelled, grabbing Keely. The look she gave him sent icy daggers into his heart. “The woods... Kayla...”


Ian felt his heart drop into his feet. Before she could finish, Ian was sprinting across the fields toward the woods. Several yards in, the coppery scent of blood hit him. “Lexi!” he yelled desperately. “Answer me!”

He found her another fifty feet or so in, lying face down in the scrub, Taryn crying by her side, trying to get some kind of response from her.

“Lexi, baby. Jesus Christ!” He turned her over, her face and shirt covered in blood. “MICHAEL!” he screamed, all pretense of control gone as he lifted her into his arms and carried her out of the woods.

He was met at the edge by a small crowd. Stacey broke down in sobs. Ian refused to let her go, forcing Michael to do a quick examination while Ian held her. When he pushed up her sleeve to check for injury, a collective gasp rippled among them. Michael lifted her shirt slightly and saw the same thing. Black, purple and blue blotches. Lexi looked like she had been thoroughly beaten.

Bright flashing lights and a wailing siren announced the arrival of an ambulance. Ian climbed in as Michael barked orders at the paramedics, while the others promised to follow along.

––––––––

Ian paced the small waiting room with the look of a man possessed. His eyes were wild, his face as hard as if it had been carved in stone. Blood covered his torso and arms, big smears of it across his neck and jaw where he had tucked her head into him for the ride. None of it was his. He wished to God it was.

Michael had gone with Lexi into the examination room, and Ian was grateful for that. Michael was a great doctor; he would fix this, whatever “this” was. He still had no clue what had happened.

Within minutes the rest of the family began arriving. Kieran was the first one through the door, looking almost as wild as Ian. His eyes found his older brother’s. “How is she?”

“Mick’s with her now.”

“What the fuck happened?”

Ian gave him a pained look, one of shock mixed with fear. “I don’t know. I don’t fucking know.”

––––––––

“What’s taking so long?” Ian asked, continuing his relentless pacing back and forth across the room. It had been an hour at least.

The door opened and a new face entered the crowded waiting room. “I’m looking for Alexis Kattapoulos. Where is she?”

Ian stopped his pacing at the sound of the unfamiliar voice. At the entrance stood a man with the looks of a movie star – golden blonde hair, cut short at the neck but rakishly long across the forehead and sides. Sculpted, well defined features. Dark brown eyes that were sharp and keen. He was dressed casually, but everything about him screamed wealth and power.

“Who are you?” Kieran asked. Not surprisingly, he was the first to approach the stranger. But Ian already knew who it was.

At that moment Michael came in to the waiting room, his face grim. The room became instantly silent.

“Ian,” Michael said. His voice was carefully controlled, but his eyes gave him away. Michael was shaken, and that was not a good sign from a man who had seen the horrors he had. “Anything you want to tell me?”

Ian’s blood froze. “How is she?”

A tick worked along Michael’s jaw. “She’s bad. Real bad. She’d bleeding from the inside out, drowning in her own blood.” His eyes grew ten degrees colder. “Her body’s covered in bruises, like she’s been severely beaten. We can’t stop it. We can’t stop the bleeding.”

“You fucking son of a bitch!” Kieran roared and launched himself at Ian, knocking him down to the ground landing blow after blow. It took several of the men to pull him off, pushing him back to the far end of the room.

Aidan stepped forward and addressed Michael. “You are Lexi’s doctor?”

Michael nodded.

“She has a disease that makes her bleed easily. Like hemophelia, but worse. It’s genetic. Very rare, passed from mother to daughter. Meds usually control it – she must inject herself several times a day – but still she must be very careful.”

“What meds?”

“These.” Aidan handed Michael a small cooler-type bag. Michael looked inside, his eyes widening as he read the vials. He and Aidan shared a knowing glance, before Michael took off toward the exam room.

“Excuse me,” Jack Callaghan said, pushing off from the far wall. “I don’t believe we’ve met. Jack Callaghan.”

Aidan turned and accepted the hand the older man offered. “Of course. Lexi talks of you all the time. Aidan Harrison.”

“You are Lexi’s boss.”

Aidan smiled slightly, as if the thought amused him. “No one is Lexi’s boss, Mr. Callaghan.”

“Why are you here?” Ian asked gruffly, wiping at his bloodied nose.

Aidan studied him carefully before answering. When he did, he leveled his gaze. “Because Lexi asked me to come for her.”