Except it wasn’t between two Brothers.
What the fuck? Were they really trying to peel Qhuinn off Saxton…?
Jesus, the vicious bastard had his hands around his cousin’s throat and was, going by the gray pallor of the other male’s face, about to kill him.
“What the hell are you doing!” Blay screamed, as he took the stairs at a dead run.
When he got to the fray, there were too many Brothers in the way—and those were not the kind of males you just elbowed aside. Unfortunately, if anyone was going to get through to Qhuinn, it would be him. But how the hell was he going to get the dumb-ass’s attention—
There you go, he thought.
Shooting across the foyer, he broke the glass of the old-fashioned manual fire alarm with his fist and then reached in and pulled the lever down.
Instantly, noise exploded through the space, the acoustics of the cathedral ceiling acting like a magnifier as the jet-engine-loud alarm went haywire.
It was like hitting a bunch of fighting dogs with a bucket of water. All the action stopped and heads popped out of the tangle, looking around.
The only one who didn’t pay any mind was Qhuinn. He was still locked on and squeezing hard.
Blay took advantage of all the hey-what-is-that and was able to push his way through.
Focusing on Qhuinn, he shoved his face right into the guy’s grille. “Let him go, now.”
The moment his voice registered, an expression of shock replaced the cold violence that had marked Qhuinn’s puss—like he’d never expected to have Blay check in. And that was all it took. One simple command from him and those hands released so quick, Saxton dropped to the floor like deadweight.
“Doc Jane! Manny!” someone called out. “Get a medic!”
Blay wanted to scream at Qhuinn right then and there, but he was too terrified about Saxton’s condition to waste time on any what-the-fuck-is-wrong-with-yous: The lawyer wasn’t moving at all. Grabbing the guy’s beautiful suit, Blay rolled him out flat and went for the carotid with his fingertips, praying he found a heartbeat. When he didn’t, he tilted Saxton’s head back and bent down to begin administering CPR.
Except then Saxton let out a cough and dragged in a trunkload of air.
“Manny’s coming,” Blay said roughly, even though he didn’t know that to be true. But come on, someone had to be on the way. “Stay with me….”
More coughing. More breathing. And the color started to come back into that handsome, refined face.
With a shaking hand, Blay pushed back the soft, thick blond hair from the forehead he had touched so many times before. As he looked into the fuzzy eyes staring up at him, he wanted to feel something soul defining and life altering and…
He prayed for that kind of reaction.
Hell, in that moment, he would have traded both his past and present for it.
But it was simply not there. Regret, anger on the male’s behalf, sadness, relief…he logged all of those. That was it, however.
“Here, let me check him out,” Doc Jane said as she put her black doctor’s bag down and knelt to the mosaic floor.
Blay shuffled back to give V’s shellan some room, but he stayed close, even though it wasn’t like he could do anything. Hell, he’d always wanted to go to medical school—but not so he could resuscitate ex-lovers because some cocksucking psycho had tried to strangle them in the front goddamn hall.
He glared up at Qhuinn. The fighter was still being held back by Rhage, like the Brother wasn’t entirely sure the episode was over.
“Let’s get you to your feet,” Doc Jane said.
Blay was right on that, helping Saxton up, holding him steady, heading him over to the stairs. The pair of them were silent as they ascended, and when they got to the second floor, Blay took them down into his room out of habit.
Shoot.
“No, it’s fine,” Saxton murmured. “Just let me sit down in here for a minute, would you?”
Blay thought about the bed, but when Sax stiffened as he headed in that direction, he settled for the chaise longue. Helping the male off his feet, he awkwardly stepped back.
In the silence that followed, violent anger hit him from out of nowhere.
Now his hands shook for a different reason.
“So,” Saxton said hoarsely. “How was your night?”
“What the hell happened down there?”
Saxton loosened his tie. Unbuttoned his collar. Took yet another deep breath. “Family tiff, as it were.”
“Bullshit.”
Saxton shifted exhausted eyes over. “Must we do this?”
“What happened—”
“I think you and he need to talk. And once you do, I won’t have to worry about being jumped like a felon again.”
Blay frowned. “He and I have nothing to say to each other—”
“With all due respect, the ligature marks around my neck would suggest otherwise.”
“How we doin’ there, big guy?”
As Rhage’s voice registered in Qhuinn’s ear, it was clear the Brother was checking to see if the drama was well and truly over. Not necessary. The instant Blay had told him to cut the crap, Qhuinn’s body had obeyed, sure as if the guy held the remote to his TV.
Other people were milling around, looking him over, obviously also waiting to see if he showed any inclination to race up after Saxton and resume the death-grip routine.
“You good?” Rhage prompted.
“Yeah. Yeah, I’m okay.”
The iron bars across his chest loosened and gradually dropped. Then a big hand clapped him on the shoulder and gave him a squeeze. “Fritz hates dead bodies in the front hall.”
“But there’s not a lot of blood with strangulation,” somebody pointed out. “Clean-up would have been easy.”
“Just a floor polish afterward,” another guy chimed in.
There was a heavy pause at that point.
“I’m gonna go upstairs.” As the hairy eyeballs started again, Qhuinn shook his head. “Not for a repeat. I swear on my…”
Well, he didn’t have a mother, a father, a brother, a sister…or a young—although hopefully, that last one was a “yet” kind of thing.
“I just won’t, ’kay?”
He didn’t wait for any further commentary. No offense, but a plane crash and a homicide attempt on one of his few remaining relations was enough for the night.
With a curse, he started for the second floor—and remembered he still needed to do a drive-by with Layla.
Hanging a right at the top of the stairs, he went down to the guest room the Chosen had moved into and knocked on the door softly. “Layla?”
In spite of the fact that they were going to have a young together, he didn’t feel comfortable just barging in without an invitation.
Round two with the knuckles was a little louder. So was his voice. “Layla?”
She must be sleeping.
Backing off, he went for his own room, walking past Wrath’s office with its closed doors, and then going down the hall of statues. As he went by Blay’s door, he couldn’t help but stop and stare at the damn thing.
Jesus Christ, he’d nearly killed Saxton.
Still felt like following through.
He’d always known his cousin was a slut—and he hated being right about that. What the fuck was Sax thinking? The guy had the ultimate in his bed every goddamn day, and yet somehow, some random in a bar or a club or the frickin’ Caldwell Municipal Library was better than that? Or even necessary?
Faithless son of a bitch.
As his hands cranked into fists and he entertained the idea of kicking his way into that room just to pound Saxton’s face into soup, he nearly couldn’t control the impulse.
Let him go, now.
From out of nowhere, Blay’s voice reverberated through his head once again, and sure enough, the violence was unplugged. Literally, between one moment and the next, he went from wild bull to neutral.
Weird.
Shaking his head, he walked over to his bedroom, went in, and shut the door.
After willing on the lights, he just stood there, feet glued to the floor, arms hanging like limp ropes, head lolling on the top of his spine. All about the going nowhere.