Vengeful Secret (The Burkes Mafia #3)

18. Gray

18

GRAY

I head directly to the bar for a drink, wanting to blend in the crowd as much as possible. I scan the crowd for any familiar faces, and I see a few.

Brady Connor, one of Murphy’s cousins, stands over by the VIP section that Sutton is on her way to. He’s a low-level idiot, really probably a good target for her, but he’s not who I’m looking for.

I’m looking for the man who shot my father. I have a sneaking suspicion that he’s the same one after Sutton, and if he’s here...

But I don’t see him after looking over everyone I can find in the crowd. It’s too crowded, there’s too many people, and I lose track of Sutton almost immediately after she enters the crowd.

Panic rises in my throat, but I remember that she’ll be close to the VIP section.

I catch sight of her, and she’s sidled up next to Brady, not making any signals at all.

Relief rushes through me.

“Sir? Your whiskey.” I turn my head to face the bartender, taking the drink although I don’t intend to taste it.

“Gray?” a deep voice sounds behind me, loud even over the music.

I turn to see my best friend, Thomas, standing there, swaying slightly on his feet.

“Thomas?” I ask, pulling him toward a bar stool and sitting him down. “You’re on a tear tonight.”

He chuckles darkly. “You bet.”

I swallow hard, able to see the pain etched on his face, even as I check that Sutton is still okay. “Is it Lissa?”

Lissa is Thomas’s on again off again girlfriend, and they have quite a tumultuous relationship. But he’s never taken it this hard before. Thomas barely ever drinks, and now he smells like a distillery.

He looks up at me with glassy eyes. “She’s getting married,” he says softly.

I blink. “She’s what ?”

As far as I knew, they were together just a few weeks ago.

He shrugs. “Met some guy out in Cabo with her friends. Said she fell in love at first sight.” He scoffs. “That’s always what she said about me, too.”

“Jesus, Tommy, I’m sorry,” I say, unsure what to say at all.

My heart goes out to the guy. I can’t imagine how drunk I’d get if during our five-year separation. Sutton had gotten engaged to someone else.

I look and see her stepping away from Brady, but still looking at him.

Thomas shrugs again. “It is what it is, right? Gonna put my liver to the test for a few days and then get back in the saddle.”

“Do you have anyone here with you?” I ask, concerned. “Someone to drive you home?”

He shakes his head, finishing his drink and putting it on the bar. He hails the bartender, but I put up a hand, making a “cut him off” gesture.

The bartender takes one look at Thomas and nods.

I’m a bit worried that Thomas will cause a scene when they cut him off, so I clear my throat and heft him up on his feet.

“Let me call you a car,” I say.

“You’re my best friend, Gray.” He’s barely coherent, and I take him toward the front door as he leans on me, making a quick call to one of our drivers.

Harry shows up in less than ten seconds, and I put Thomas in the car.

“Call me if you need me,” I say quietly, and he nods, lolling his head against the seat.

I knock on the driver’s side window, and Harry lets it down.

“Help him into his place.”

Harry nods when I remind him of the address and pulls away, and I head inside, sighing heavily.

I hate it that I’m not able to help Thomas more. He clearly needs someone to talk to, someone to look after him, even, but tonight…

Panic rocks through me as I look at the VIP section, trying, and failing, to locate Sutton.

Brady’s still there, but Sutton is gone. Maybe he wasn’t in on the Murphys plan? Maybe she found someone else to speak to?

God, I take my eyes off her for thirty seconds and this happens.

I’m about to freak out and call Liam inside when my eyes locate the back exit is near the VIP section. Maybe Sutton started to panic and needed some fresh air.

Or maybe she’s dead. Maybe he's already killed her. I can’t help myself from thinking of the worst-case scenarios.

I know this world like the back of my hand, and thirty seconds are an eternity where hell can rain upon you in several different ways.

I make my way through the crowd toward the exit, and Brady grabs me on my way by.

“Gray Burke, as I live and breathe,” he drawls, and I curse inwardly, plastering on a smile.

“Great to see you,” I lie. “What are you doing here?”

He shrugs. “You know, picking up bitches.”

Lovely.

I bark out what I hope is a believable laugh. “Aren’t we all? Listen, I gotta get some air. Talk to you later.”

I push past him outside, hoping against hope that Sutton is out here, and the first thing I see is the man who shot my father standing there with a gun pointed at the love of my life.

I rush him, tackling him from behind, and he goes down, the gun scattering across the floor.

Sutton’s doubled over, but she starts to stand up.

I’m distracted, and he flips me, putting me on my belly.

It’s a bad place to be in—that is, if you weren’t captain of the wrestling team in high school. Fortunately, I was, and I’m able to get him on his back, straddling him, punching him over and over.

He’s lanky like Kael, and the strategy was always to get him on the ground.

I punch him in the face, in the throat, and he chokes out a scream as I stand up, grinding my boot down on his throat.

He claws at my foot but it’s too late, he’s already passing out.

I breathe hard, rushing to Sutton and pulling her into my arms.

Sutton’s barely breathing, wheezing, and I pull away to look at her.

“My stomach,” she chokes out.

“It’s okay,” I tell her calmly, even though my heart is beating ninety miles a minute. “You just got the wind knocked out of you. Just breathe, a ghra .”

Sutton tries to take a breath, but it catches, and she moans, bending over again.

I slowly help her up and breathe in through my nose, slowly, hoping that Sutton mimics me.

She slowly begins to breathe deeply, and finally she whoops in a big gulp of oxygen, and I crush her into my arms.

I bury my face against her neck, trying to keep it together.

“I’m so sorry, Sutton. I’m so fucking sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” she says brokenly, but it feels like my fault. I didn’t pay enough attention. I was looking for vengeance instead of sticking to the plan I’d gone through so many times with her.

I take Sutton to the car, calling Liam on the phone to handle her captor.

I’ll want to speak with him later.

But for now, Sutton is all that matters. I put her in the SUV, buckling her in. She’s still gasping for air, so I don’t drive away, just staring at her.

“What happened?” I ask.

“He just grabbed me, pulled me right out of there. Then he told me he knew I was your girl… He knew Ciara’s name…” She bursts into sobs, tears streaming down her face, and I draw her into my arms again.

There’s no way in hell I should have ever asked her to do this, and now that I have, I feel beyond guilty.

“I should have been watching you,” I say miserably. “I should have followed you instead of standing at the stupid bar.”

“Gray, please. Just… just be with me. Don’t blame yourself. This was bound to happen. They know who I am. They know Ciara, Gray. I’m terrified.”

“Of course, you are."

She buries her face in my chest, still crying and whimpering, and I rub comforting circles on her back.

It takes a long time for her to feel better, to stop crying, and when she does, I take off, wanting to get as far away from the Murphys as possible.