Chapter 12 #2
However, she had proven me wrong by fighting back.
The gleam of defiance I always saw in her eyes had turned me on for a while, but she had never cowered, never understood her true place.
That had only incited my temper, making my dick harder than I thought possible.
Honestly, I had enjoyed our time together in the beginning. But even that had worn off.
Fortunately for me, I'd figured out a way to handle her.
Little did she know, but tonight was going to be the end for her. Once she was out of the way for good, my life would be back on track, her memory a mere blemish in my otherwise perfect world.
Reagan
Every time the damn door opened, my gaze darted over. And every damn time the door opened, I was disappointed because the person waltzing in wasn’t Lynx.
I still remembered the pained look on his face that morning and it made my stomach hurt.
I'd put that look there and I hadn’t meant to.
The last thing in the world I would ever want to do was hurt that man.
Although protecting my heart from him was crucial, he was still a friend. A very cherished friend, at that.
“Get another round over here, ladies?” one of the old cowboys called from the back.
I glanced over at Amy, who was busy wiping down a couple of empty tables.
It was late, closing in on eleven, which meant we’d be shutting the bar down in an hour, and for the first time in forever, I was counting down the minutes until that happened.
I was pretty sure today had been the longest day in history.
It was time to put it to bed. Not that I had anything to do after I left, but tonight I really didn’t want to be here.
I was tired of listening to everyone laughing and joking, chatting it up about nothing important.
What I wanted to do was curl beneath the blankets in my bed and pretend today had never happened.
It would be easier that way.
I popped the top off three beers and carried them over to the group of men. One of the guys—I'd never seen him in there before—glanced my way, his gaze instantly sliding down to my chest. I fought the urge to roll my eyes.
“Here you go, gentlemen,” I said sweetly. “Still good?”
“We’re good, honey,” the older one confirmed before resuming his conversation.
After making my way back to the bar, I tried to keep myself busy so I wouldn’t be tempted to watch the door. Unfortunately, I'd already cleaned everything I could clean. Twice.
“Hey.”
Looking up, I saw the man who’d been checking out my tits now standing on the other side of the scarred bar top.
He wasn’t a bad-looking man. A little older, probably mid-thirties or so.
He looked as though he’d been rode hard and put up wet, which likely meant he was a new ranch hand over at either the Double D or Dead Heat Ranch.
Not that it mattered. I saw so many come through here and they changed quite frequently.
“What can I getcha?” I asked, knowing he wasn’t here for another beer.
“How ya doin’?” he asked.
“Great. You?” I knew my tone didn’t sound great, but hey, I was doing the best that I could tonight.
“Name’s Tommy. And you are…?”
“Busy, Tommy, but thanks for askin’,” I replied coolly.
The guy grinned, clearly not fazed by my obvious brush-off.
“Aww, come on now,” he said with a grin. “I was just tryin’ to be friendly.”
I turned to face him. “And I was tryin’ not to be rude,” I told him flatly.
The man seemed to consider that for a moment. “Somehow, I think we got off on the wrong foot.”
“Nope,” I assured him. “We didn’t. If you need another beer, holler. Otherwise…” I motioned to where I'd left the rag on the bar.
“Got it.” He turned and sauntered back to the table.
I'd half expected some sort of snide remark from being spurned, but he didn’t say a word.
I'd gotten used to that over the years. Most of the folks who came in knew me and were friendly. However, there was the occasional hothead who didn’t take kindly to being turned down.
And then there was Billy, who had never taken kindly to not getting his way.
Whenever I didn’t meekly agree with him, I usually endured a rash of shit spewing from his mouth.
I damn sure didn’t miss that.
Of course, those thoughts had me replaying the conversation with Tommy in my head. God, I sounded like such a bitch.
Seemed I was on a roll today.
An hour later, I breathed a sigh of relief. Without wasting time, I grabbed the till from the bar and secured it in the safe before locking the rest of the place down. I made my way out to the main room to find Amy and Wolfe standing there, clearly waiting for me.
“I’m good, y’all,” I said. “Really. You don’t have to wait.”
“You’re right,” Wolfe replied easily. “We don’t have to. But we want to.”
Same thing Lynx had said the other day.
“Seriously, don’t you wanna take your lady home to bed?” I teased, taking off my apron and tossing it beneath the bar.
“Of course,” he said with a wicked smirk. “And if you’d get your ass in gear, I could do just that.”
“Fine.” I knew they wouldn’t leave until I did, so I grabbed my truck keys and headed toward the door.
“I’m not sure why y’all can’t just—” I pushed the door. It shifted slightly but didn’t open. It should’ve swung outward. I tried again but was met with the same resistance. “What the fuck?”
I dropped my hands, shook them out, then tried again just in case, you know, I'd forgotten how to open a door in the last few hours.
Nope. Still wouldn’t open.
Glancing over at Wolfe, I frowned. “What’s wrong with the damn door?”
“Hell if I—”
That was all he got out before the world erupted in a violent explosion. The earth-rattling boom sent the three of us slamming against the front wall of the building. Chairs and tables launched into the air, glass shattering, raining down all around us.
And the noise. Holy shit, it was so loud. Too loud.
I landed with a thud on the floor, my head making a solid impact with the hard post that framed the doors. It rang my bell hard, making me see spots momentarily.
Shit.
I tried to push myself up, but I couldn’t manage. My ears were ringing, my eyes unable to focus.
“Wolfe? Amy?” I choked out as smoke filled the building, invading my lungs, making my eyes sting.
Shit, shit, shit.
When I managed to get my eyes open, I noticed…
“Fire!” Wolfe yelled. “Son of a bitch. Get out, Reagan! Now!”
The man sounded frantic, but I was still having a hard time hearing, my ears ringing from the percussion of the blast. What the hell could’ve exploded?
“Amy? Baby?” Wolfe was shouting now, an ungodly sound that had me forcing myself up, trying to see what was going on.
Fire engulfed the back wall of the bar. The heat from the flames roared toward us as they licked at the rickety ceiling.
“Oh, fuck. Oh, fuck,” I hissed, clutching my head as I got to my knees.
Trying to clear my thoughts, I could barely make out Amy unconscious on the floor. Wolfe was cradling her head, but there was a lot of blood.
“Out,” I said, talking more to myself. With the roar of the fire, it wasn’t like Wolfe would’ve heard me anyway. “Have to get out.”
I glanced at the front door, then at the back wall. I attempted to push the front doors open, but again, they wouldn’t move. We were trapped. The only other door was blocked by the flames and the front one wasn’t budging.
It took a second to steady myself, and my head was screaming at me the entire time, but I managed to feel my way down the wall toward the bar, keeping low to the floor.
I covered my face with the edge of my shirt, trying to breathe through the thick smoke.
The room was dark, lit only by the flames, but it was enough to light my path.
Reaching around, I fumbled for my shotgun, locating it instantly.
“Get back!” I yelled, getting to my feet and stumbling toward the door. “Move her back, Wolfe! Dammit!”
The man seemed to process what I was saying, and as soon as he had Amy shifted out of the way, I lifted the gun to my shoulder and aimed at the front door, right where the handles were.
I sent up a silent prayer that no one was on the other side before I fired off three rounds, hitting my mark effortlessly.
It was enough to weaken the wood. With my foot, I kicked in the center, but nothing happened.
“Move!” Wolfe howled, grabbing my arm and jerking me out of the way.
With a well-placed kick by the much bigger man, the doors flew open. Air rushed in and the fire thundered behind us.
“Out! Now!” Wolfe hollered, nudging me with his shoulder.
My brain was so fuzzy I didn’t even realize I'd been standing there, frozen in place.
With Amy in his arms, Wolfe pushed me until the three of us were out of the building, stumbling down the steps to the gravel parking lot.
No sooner had we reached Wolfe’s truck than one of the deputy’s squads came barreling into the lot, sirens blaring, lights flashing.
“We need an ambulance,” Wolfe said, his tone frantic as he spoke into the phone. “We’re at Reagan’s Bar in Embers Ridge. There’s been … fuck … an explosion. We’ve got one injured for sure. Possibly two.”
Clearly the guy had the brains to call 9-1-1. I could hardly process what was going on, much less what I should’ve been doing. Lot of damn good I was doing anyone.
And with that one last thought, everything went fuzzy on the periphery of my vision. I had to sit down.
So I did.