Chapter 22 #2
“We can’t leave him!” I scream.
“We AREN’T!” Bianca fires blindly one-handed while hauling Stone toward safety. “GET IN THE FUCKING CAR!”
More men flood the yard. Too many. Way too many.
This wasn’t a robbery. This was an execution.
Asher unloads the last of his mag before physically shoving me towards the SUV. Bullets hammer into the vehicle around us while alarms scream nearby.
Everything blurs after that.
Fire. Blood. Screaming tires peeling across cracked pavement.
Stone is barely conscious in Bianca’s lap while she presses her shaking hands against the gunshot wound, sobbing curses at him for getting hit.
Asher drives like a fucking maniac through the docks while headlights chase us in the distance.
And me?
I sit here, covered in someone else’s blood, staring blankly at my shaking hands while one horrifying thought repeats endlessly.
I almost died tonight and the last thing I thought about… was Hayden.
The sound of tires screeching across the pavement snaps me out of it all and I blink. “What the fuck was that?” I scream, voice raw and frantic. “Did anyone get a look at who the fuck that was?”
Nobody answers immediately. Because Asher is driving like a literal psychopath weaving through traffic while bullets still echo in all our ears.
“No!” Asher finally snaps. “I was too busy dodging fucking bullets to ask for their ID.”
I punch him hard in the shoulder.
“Don’t be a fucking dick!” I yell.
He actually laughs despite the Chaos. “Jesus, you got a mean punch.”
“Yeah? Well don’t fucking forget it.”
Stone groans from the backseat clutching his side while blood seeps steadily through Bianca’s fingers.
“Can you two flirt quieter? I’m literally bleeding out.”
“You’re so dramatic,” Bianca mutters even while panic shines in her eyes.
“I’m SHOT.”
“And annoying.”
“Where’s Reid?” Bianca suddenly yells, looking around frantically. “Someone needs to call him!”
Stone scoffs painfully. “Probably attached at the hip to his new girl while I’m over here leaking organs.”
“I miss when he was emotionally unavailable,” Asher groans dramatically from the driver seat.
Bianca snorts. “He actually likes this one.”
“Yeah,” Stone mutters bitterly. “Enough for us to do this shit and get ambushed.”
“Enough,” I snap. “You know damn well Reid wouldn’t knowingly put us in harm’s way.”
Silence settles heavily inside the SUV after that. Because despite everything… we all know it’s true.
Reid might be reckless. Secretive and annoying as hell lately, but he protects his people viciously.
And that realization sits ugly in all our stomachs during the drive back to the warehouse.
The adrenaline starts wearing off the longer we’re on the road. Which means the pain finally settles in too.
By the time we finally pull into the warehouse lot, Stone’s gone paler from all the blood loss. Bianca’s covered in bruises and grime, and my entire left side throbs like crazy where that asshole slammed me against the container. But we’re alive. Barely.
The warehouse feels eerily quiet when we stumble inside. No music tonight. No party. Just exhaustion and the lingering smell of gasoline and old smoke trapped inside the walls.
Stone collapses onto the couch with a pained groan while Bianca immediately starts barking orders at Asher for medical supplies.
“Don’t die on my fucking couch,” she warns him.
“Your concern is touching.”
“You’ll stain it.”
I would laugh if I didn’t feel like my entire body got hit by a truck.
Instead, I sink slowly onto the floor, staring blankly at my bloody hands while the adrenaline crash hits me like a freight train.
Asher comes over and sets down a plastic tub of water and a sponge for me to wash my hands.
“Thank you,” I whisper, but he doesn’t say anything. Just walks away to help Bianca with Stone.
I pick up the sponge with shaky hands and try to clean blood off my knuckles.
The guy’s blood. The one I stabbed. The one who almost killed me.
My stomach twists remembering the click of the gun beside my head. The pressure against my temple. His voice. The certainty I was about to die there alone in the dark.
And through all of it… all I could think about was Hayden. Not my father. Not Brayden. Not even myself. Just him. Because when that gun pressed against my skin…when I thought my life was over… he was the only thing my heart reached for. The thought wrecks me quietly.
Because no matter how angry I get at him… no matter how toxic and impossible we are together… my soul still screams for him first. Always him.
My eyes burn suddenly. Fuck.
So I grab my phone with trembling fingers before I can think myself out of it.
Me:
Come see me. I’m at the warehouse.
No response. Of course not.
Me:
Please Hayden.
Still nothing. My chest tightens painfully as B watches me carefully from across the room while wrapping Stone’s side. “Text him the truth.”
I swallow hard. Then type.
Me:
I almost died tonight and all I wanted was you.
Three dots appear instantly as my breathing catches. Then it disappears. Nothing. Tears sting my eyes unexpectedly. Fine.
Me:
Please come hold me before I completely fall apart.
Silence. One minute. Two minutes. Five minutes.
Then suddenly, headlights sweep through the warehouse windows and my heart stops as a motorcycle engine rumbles outside.
Hayden.
The warehouse doors swing open roughly and there he is.
Black hoodie. Green eyes and danger wrapped in six feet of heartbreak and terrible decisions.
The second he sees me sitting here bruised and covered in blood…
something inside his expression cracks and I break completely.
I get to my knees, wincing as I use the couch to stand while tears stream down my face.
I stare at his face for just one devastating moment then I run straight into his arms, and he catches me instantly while I bury my face against his chest sobbing harder than I wanted too.
His arms lock around me so tightly it almost hurts, but for the first time tonight… I finally feel safe.