Chapter Twenty-Nine #2
Right.
I glanced down at the floor where Jesse/Jester lay unmoving, my stomach twisting all over again. The smell of gunpowder still hung in the air, mixed with grease and sugar and everything that used to feel normal about this place.
Before I could even process what “getting cool” meant, the sound hit.
Motorcycles.
Not one.
Not two.
A pack.
The roar built fast, loud enough to rattle the windows, and then headlights flashed across the front of the Dairy Bar as bikes surrounded the building.
My heart kicked back up into overdrive.
The door flew open.
Wrecker came in first, followed by Nickel, Boink, Kingston, and Basil. They didn’t hesitate, didn’t slow down. They moved like they already knew what they were walking into.
Like this was just another night for them.
The back door banged open a second later, and I jumped, spinning to see Maniac, Ender, Oliver, and Brinks filing in from the kitchen.
Just like that, we were surrounded.
Not by danger.
By them.
Wrecker’s eyes dropped immediately to the floor. His expression didn’t change much, but something in his posture hardened. “What the hell happened?” he asked.
Everyone looked at me.
Why was everyone looking at me?
I slowly raised my hand like I was back in school.
“Uh…” I started. “I accidentally kicked an ice cream scoop to Jesse… Jester.”
Even saying his name felt weird now.
Like I’d been talking about one person and suddenly it was someone else entirely.
Maniac tipped his head to the side, brows pulling together. “What?”
Lark stepped forward before I could even try to explain myself better. “Bad dude tried to smash Jude’s knee with it,” she said, gesturing wildly, “then they had a kerfuffle, and then Jude pew-pewed him.”
I blinked. That was… one way to put it.
Wrecker turned his head slowly toward her. “Who are you?”
Lark smiled like she’d just been introduced at a dinner party. “I am Lark.”
There was a pause. A long one. Then Wrecker looked back at Jude. “You did this shit with witnesses?”
Jude didn’t even flinch. “Like I had a fucking choice,” he said. “He was going to kill all of us.”
That shut down any further questioning real quick.
Junior stepped in through the front door, slowing when he saw Jester on the floor. “Hell,” he muttered. “I guess this makes shit easier for me.”
Wrecker dragged a hand through his beard, thinking. “You manage to get any info from him before you killed him?”
Jude nodded once. “He’s Northbound. One of the four nomads we got names of. Yogi, Sheen, and Crank are still out there.”
A ripple moved through the guys.
Not panic.
Not fear.
Something colder.
Something focused.
“And they are coming for you all,” Lark added helpfully. Every single one of them turned to look at her. She froze. “…you forgot to say that,” she added, like that made it better.
“I was getting there,” Jude said dryly.
Lark pinched her fingers together, then zipped them across her lips. That was probably for the best.
“I thought this shit was all over,” Brinks muttered.
“Obviously not,” Nickel said.
Kingston glanced around the shop. “I guess the one good thing is that there aren’t any cameras in here,” he pointed out. “If this had happened at the clubhouse, we would have been screwed.”
“Silver lining,” Ender chuckled under his breath.
It felt like a weird thing to joke about, but then again… this whole thing was weird.
Wrecker didn’t waste time. “Clean this shit up,” he said, looking at Junior.
Junior nodded like this was just another chore on a list. “I’ll need a few hands.”
“I’ll get Gold and Wink here,” Wrecker said, already pulling his phone out. Then his eyes landed on me. “You’re gonna have to be closed for the rest of the night.”
I lifted both hands in surrender. “Fine by me.”
There was no way in hell I was serving milkshakes with a dead body ten feet away. That was likely a health violation.
Nickel pointed at Jude. “You handle your girl.”
My stomach flipped at that.
Then he pointed at Oliver. “You handle Chatty Kathy.”
Lark immediately pointed at herself. “Me? My name is Lark.”
“My God,” Nickel muttered, shaking his head.
“I got her,” Oliver said, already moving toward her.
Things started moving fast after that.
Junior stepped forward, taking the gun from Jude’s hand like it was routine.
Like this wasn’t insane.
Oliver gently but firmly steered Lark toward the back, her voice already starting up again as she processed out loud.
And then it was Jude and me.
He walked toward me slowly. Every step was deliberate and his face was hard. Not angry, but not relaxed either.
“Hi,” I said softly.
He stopped right in front of me. “Ever.”
I swallowed. “Yes.”
“Don’t ever do something like that again.”
I nodded immediately. “Yes.” Then paused. “I mean—no. I won’t do that again.” Another pause. “But it worked.”
His jaw tightened for a second, then he shook his head, something in his expression cracking just a little.
And then he pulled me into him.
Hard.
Like he needed me close.
Like he needed to feel me there.
Real.
Alive.
His arms wrapped around me, crushing me to his chest, and I didn’t fight it. Didn’t even think about it. I just melted into him, my hands gripping the back of his shirt.
“I almost lost you before I barely had you,” he said, his voice rough against my ear.
My breath caught and everything inside me stilled.
Because that was real.
That wasn’t anger or adrenaline or anything else.
That was him.
And then he pulled back just enough to look at me.
His eyes searched my face for a second, like he needed to make sure I was okay.
Like he needed to see it, and then he kissed me.
Not soft.
Not careful.
It was intense. Consuming. His mouth on mine like it was the only thing he needed, like everything that had just happened was still running through him and I was the only place he could put it.
My fingers curled into his shirt, holding on as I kissed him back just as hard.
The world around us faded.
The noise.
The chaos.
Everything.
It was just him.
Just us.
And when he finally pulled back, we were both breathing harder than we should have been.
But neither of us moved.
Because after everything that had just happened, letting go wasn’t an option.