28. MADDOX
MADDOX
T he second the first shot rings out, every instinct I have takes over.
One minute we’re standing outside Black Velvet, my mind locked on figuring out a way that Lyra and I could get Hunter strapped into a cuck chair without losing our lives, and the next, we’re face to face with at least twenty of Antonio DeLuca’s armed men.
This is going to be a shitshow.
We took out the head of the operation, and sure, that always comes with fallout.
It’s inevitable, but I didn’t expect such a fast response.
It can take months before the new head of operations gets his shit together and figures out the identity of the men behind a hit, but I’ve got to give this new guy credit where it’s due, he was quick.
He caught us off guard, and that shit very rarely happens.
These are Antonio’s family. Not the guards or the men hired to protect him.
These are his cousins. Brothers. Uncles.
Nephews. The men who’ve built their lives around his empire, who’ve profited off every move he ever made.
These are the ones who feel the hurt, the ones whose blood was spilled, the ones who have the most to avenge, which make them the ones to be wary of.
They’re going to be dangerous. Ruthless.
Vengeful. But that right there? That’s my exact brand of heroin.
The exact thrill that gets me hot and bothered.
I’m about to have the time of my life. Who would have known? A night where I not only get to slaughter men in the street, but also get to fuck my girl while Hunter can do nothing but sit there and watch. It’s like Christmas.
The glass window of Black Velvet shatters behind us, and I hear the girls who are closing up the bar scream in terror. I can only hope they have the sense to drop down and hide, because this shit is about to get ugly.
“Oh, hell no,” Lyra roars with fury beside me, transforming into an avenging angel right in front of my face. “Nobody shoots up my bar!”
The once quiet street erupts with chaos.
DeLuca’s men descend on us, guns blazing, and I go to grab Lyra when a bullet comes searing right toward her, but she’s already in motion, sprinting forward toward the asshole who shattered the glass.
No guns? No fucking problem.
Hunter springs into action, and I don’t bother watching his back. He can handle it. All that matters tonight is taking out these bastards and ensuring as minimal damage to the bar and the people inside as possible.
Every detail slows around me, and I become hyperfocused on the enemy. Every movement sharpens, every drop of rain against the pavement, the glow of the bar’s neon lights reflecting off parked cars—even the way Hunter’s posture shifts.
I don’t miss a thing as that usual easy-going asshole disappears, and the killer within takes over.
Three more men emerge from the left, and another five from the right, moving out from behind parked cars and alleyways, shifting through the darkness like shadows, and I smile. The more the merrier.
I hold my hands out in welcome. “Let’s see what you got.”
Lyra scoffs, probably rolling her eyes as well, but she’s too busy on some asshole’s back, choking him out, to have any sarcastic comments.
“Don’t be stupid,” Hunter warns me, already in motion. “It’s the fucking cartel.”
I grin, more than aware. “Uh-huh.”
Marcus and Dean race out the front door, guns already braced in their palms, no strangers to a little violence. Though from their expressions, they certainly are strangers to seeing Lyra in action.
“What the fuck?” Marcus grunts, watching her for only a split second before realizing just how capable she truly is, though I’m positive these two men won’t stop watching her back until every last one of these assholes in the street are dead.
The armed men seem to hang back, preferring to shoot opposed to getting close, and I can’t help but wonder if they’ve seen the surveillance footage from the compound and know just how fatal we can be in close quarters.
But if they’re not going to come to me, I have no problem taking this party to them.
I charge straight ahead, letting the real Maddox shine.
A gun shifts toward me, and I grab it by the barrel before the asshole has a chance to pull the trigger, and I yank him toward me.
He stumbles forward, his eyes going wide just as I spin him and turn his own gun on him, taking the shot that was intended for me.
The gun rings out, the bullet lodging right between his eyes and before his brains have even hit the pavement, I discard the body and relieve him of any weapons.
Now it’s a fucking party.
I move from one to another, and when one charges at me with a knife, I step aside at the last second, letting his momentum send him crashing headfirst into a parked car.
The impact knocks him out cold, but I put a bullet in the back of his head anyway.
I won’t leave anything to chance when Lyra is on the playing field tonight.
Between the three of us, plus Marcus and Dean, we’re working through them quickly. Some start retreating, realizing they’re no match for us, while others just get angrier, which is when they start making mistakes.
Sirens sound in the distance, but they don’t mean anything to me.
Glancing up, I do a quick check.
Hunter is across the road, moving fast and efficiently.
He’s fucking terrifying, but damn, I’m confident enough in my sexuality to admit when something is hot, and there’s no denying, when this man is in the zone, even I might consider dropping to my knees and sucking his cock.
Judging by the way Lyra glances his way with an arched brow, she’s thinking the very same thing.
Someone swings at him, but Hunter catches his arm, redirecting the momentum until the guy’s nose is introduced to the side of the building. Even over the sound of gunfire, I can hear the satisfying crunch of bone against brick.
Another comes from behind, and Hunter doesn’t even look. He just knows, and a second later, he’s going down too. Meanwhile, Lyra is living up to her nickname. She’s an absolute savage, taking DeLuca’s men out one by one, all but tearing them limb from limb.
Blood is smeared across her chest, but from what I can tell, it’s not hers. She hasn’t got a single scratch on her.
Men reach for her, thinking she’s going to be an easy target. They’re wrong. They go down hard, and I watch Marcus and Dean just blink in shock. “Since when has she been able to do that?” Dean grunts, holding off someone just long enough for Marcus to whip around and put a bullet between his eyes.
Dean watches Lyra disarm another attacker, and he shakes his head, completely dumbfounded. “I’ve been walking that girl to her car every night for years.”
“Doesn’t look like she needed it,” Marcus throws back.
“Not even a little.”
The realization seems to wound them, and I think it’s a little less about realizing that she was capable, and more about their egos being bruised, understanding that she only allowed them to walk her for their own need to play the role of protector.
The fight begins to spread further and glass continues shattering up and down the street.
Car windows, store fronts, the glass from the lampposts.
It’s a mess. Everywhere I look, bodies are dropping and people are moving.
There’s fighting and shouting, and when the neon sign above Black Velvet flickers violently, it just angers me more.
Another gun slides across the pavement, and I lunge for it, feeling the power rushing through me as I grab it and take aim. Within seconds, I empty the chamber, taking four clean shots toward the darkness and watching four men drop to their immediate deaths.
Without ammo on me, I toss the gun aside, not needing anything more to weigh me down as I jump back into hand-to-hand combat, taking out the DeLuca line one asshole at a time, but they just keep coming.
There must have only been twenty men to start with, but even with all the dead bodies scattered on the ground, there still seem to be at least thirty coming for us.
The cartel didn’t just send a few men, hoping to get lucky. They came prepared. But their idea of prepared, is still no match for us. No amount of men or bullets is going to hold us back.
Hunter drops another body before glancing around, and his expression darkens. I know that look. He’s counting. Calculating. And he doesn’t like what he sees.
Another shot rings out from somewhere behind us, and it’s close. Too fucking close.
Hunter turns immediately, and his eyes find mine before searching for Lyra, making sure she’s still alive. As he continues calculating the havoc around us, something flickers in his eyes, and in an instant, I know exactly what he’s going to say.
I start shaking my head as I reach for another attacker, taking him out with ease.
“No,” I tell Hunter. “It’s not going to go down well.”
“Take her and go,” he throws back at me.
Lyra’s scoff comes from across the street as she steals a gun, takes out its owner and the three men standing directly at his back. “Oh, hell no.”
Hunter’s expression hardens again, and the stubborn bastard snaps at her. “Go now, Lyra.”
“No.”
I scoff. He should have known better than to make demands of her like that, and I think it’s safe to say that her earlier desire to drop to her knees and suck his cock all night was just scratched off the schedule.
“Lyra.”
“I’m not leaving,” she hisses.
“You are.”