Chapter 41 JR
JR
“There you go. Anything else I can get you?”
“Nope!” Jeff grinned. “Unless you have those tips we were talking about.”
Rolling my eyes, I walked away, ready to serve another customer, when Michael strode in, his eye laser-focused on me.
“Fucking perfect,” I muttered.
Michael slid onto the stool, the scowl on his face growing deeper the longer he looked at me.
“Tell me something, Parker. Are you ever in a good mood?”
“I’ll be perfectly happy when you’re behind bars.”
“What the hell did I ever do to you?” I snapped.
“You exist. Isn’t that enough?”
“When you have a real reason to hate me, get back to me. Until then—”
Archer stormed into the bar, his eyes narrowed on me from the moment his feet his the floor. I knew right then that something was wrong. Dropping the towel, I stormed out from behind the bar and over to him.
“Where’s Alyssa?”
“She’s safe, but—”
“Josie,” I whispered, terror clawing at my throat. “He has her.”
“He’s just rolled into town with about eight men. I was gonna go in, but—”
“No, you’re right,” I said, storming past him out the door.
I ran flat out for my truck, jumping inside, not at all surprised when Milo was there, growling, but not at me. He knew something was wrong. I cranked the engine and backed out, peeling down the street. I only had one gun on me, but with Archer at my back, it would be enough.
My tires jumped the curb one street over, and I hit the brakes, pulling to a stop.
I got out and grabbed another magazine from under the seat, then checked my gun one last time, ready to charge the front of the house. Ducking through the trees of the neighbor’s property, I was just to the fence when I saw the swarm of men surrounding her house. Fuck, it wasn’t eight men.
It was a whole hell of a lot more.
But that didn’t matter. None of it did when Josie was inside.
“Don’t be stupid.”
I glanced over my shoulder, surprised to see Michael at my back, along with Remi, Archer, and Maverick.
“We can’t have a shootout in the middle of the neighborhood,” he hissed.
“Josie’s in there,” I argued. “What would you suggest I do?”
“Mav, take the right. Go several houses down and cut through yards. Remi, you do the same to the left. You, stay the fuck here,” he snapped.
“Like hell,” I argued. “This is because of me.”
“And I’m trained to do this,” he hissed.
I laughed at that. “If you think I don’t know what I’m doing, then you don’t know a thing about me. Besides, it’s me he wants. You’ll only get her killed.”
“If you go in hot, you’ll get everyone killed.”
He was right about that. “How are your skills?”
An eyebrow quirked at my question. “Not bad.”
“Good, then stay here. At my signal, start taking them out.”
“JR!” he hissed as I jumped the fence and jogged through the trees across the street from Josie’s house.
Kneeling down behind some bushes, I glanced to the right, seeing just the slightest hint of Mav cutting through the neighbor’s property.
I hadn’t seen Remi yet, but I couldn’t wait any longer when I heard the most horrifying scream coming from inside the house.
With my gun dangling at my side, I strode across the street, making sure the men could see the gun.
“What is this? A party?” I asked.
“Boss was waiting for you to drop by,” one of the guys said. I recognized him as one of the boss’s favorites. I had no idea where Archer was, but he was skulking around somewhere, waiting to make his move.
“Tell me, what the fuck is the boss doing way out here in Montana?”
“He needed to clean up a mess,” the guy shouted.
“A mess, huh? If you don’t get off the fucking property, he’s gonna be cleaning your blood off my shoes.”
“You and who? Your buddy Archer? We came prepared.”
He might be prepared, but I had vengeance on my side, and I wasn’t about to let anything happen to Josie.
“Get the fuck out of here now while you still have the chance.”
The man smirked at me. Actually fucking smirked at me.
“I warned you.”
The first shot came out of nowhere, striking the guy I was talking to in the neck. He collapsed on the ground, writhing on the ground, but I was already moving on to the next man, firing round after round. Bullets flew around us, and as soon as it was clear, I ran for the house.
Pain bit into my side and I stumbled running up the steps, but nothing could keep me from Josie, not when I was this close. Her screams echoed in my ears as I tore the door open.
But nothing could have prepared me for what I saw. My beautiful woman tied to a chair, her face swollen, dripping with blood. And a sluggish trail dripping down her chest.
Rage filled me as the boss turned to me, twirling a knife in his hand. “JR. Nice of you to—”
Milo charged past me, leaping at the boss and latching his teeth onto his neck.
His yells died quickly as blood squirted from his neck.
Storming forward, I wrapped my arms around his neck.
My eyes connected with Josie’s for a split second before I twisted with all my strength and broke the boss’s neck.
He dropped to the ground with a thud, but I was frozen where I stood, forced to stare at the damage to the woman I loved.
The air was sucked out of my lungs as I repeated the words in my head. I loved her. Fuck.
With shaking hands, I knelt in front of her, slowly working at the ties around her ankles, careful not to damage her skin.
“Are you okay?”
A whimper left her lips and her body shook, but no other sound left her mouth.
I wanted to kiss her, to hold her and tell her it would all be okay, but I had to get her untied first, and then there was the matter of her brother lying on the ground in a pool of blood.
As soon as her wrists were free, I held them in my hands, rubbing them gently to work the blood back into her hands.
“Josie, talk to me,” I whispered, staring into her frightened eyes. “Are you okay?”
It was a ridiculous question. The blood dripping all over her body told me she definitely wasn’t.
“My chest hurts,” she finally whispered.
Gently reaching out, I trailed my finger along the cut from her collarbone to her navel. She hissed in pain, but luckily, the cut wasn’t deep. It would heal. As for the rest of her…
“Come on,” I whispered, gently picking her up. She whimpered as she wrapped her arms around my neck. I vaguely heard voices behind me, but ignored them, focusing solely on the woman in my arms.
Tucking her head into my neck, I felt her tears slide down my skin, and it nearly broke my heart. How could I have let this happen? How had I ignored all the signs that I couldn’t just walk away?
Archer was at the door, covered in blood, but mostly looked normal. He nodded as I passed, but it was Mav who opened the door to his cruiser and ushered me inside with her.
“Let’s get her to the hospital. Michael has Sawyer and Remi will handle everything here.”
I settled into the back with her on my lap, brushing her hair out of her face, staring at her blood-soaked face. This was all my fault.
I thought I could have it all.
But this proved that I would only get her killed.
I sat by her chair, listening to the beeping of the monitors. She had been out of it for hours, and I thanked God she wasn’t awake to feel any of the pain I had caused.
I’d thought I was doing the right thing when I walked off the job, but the past would always be there to bite me in the ass. I never should have talked to her, or even allowed her into my life in any way.
Yet, as I sat here next to her bed, I couldn’t force myself to walk away like I should.
“How’s she doing?” Archer asked, walking over to the window.
“Still sleeping. Drugged up.”
“She’s alive.”
“No thanks to me,” I muttered, dipping my head in shame. “I never should have walked away from that last job.”
“JR, this was gonna happen at some point.”
I whipped my head in his direction, but he quickly clarified.
“Not this,” he pointed to the bed. “I’m talking about you walking away.”
“You don’t know that,” I sighed, rubbing my hand over my face. “If I had just kept going—”
“You were fitting in too nicely around here. Even if you weren’t with Josie, you would have grown tired of the job. I’ve seen it before.”
Maybe he was right, but that didn’t make what happened any easier.
“She’s in that bed because of me. Look at her face.”
Even as I said the words, I forced myself to look at her again, to catalog her swollen cheeks, the bruises covering her eyes, and the way her lip split in multiple places. She was hardly recognizable.
“You love her, don’t you?”
The words were like a sword to my chest, reminding me that even if I did, I would only get her killed.
“Doesn’t matter.”
“Of course it does. Fight for her,” he said fiercely.
“Since when are you a romantic?” I asked, glancing over at him.
He was staring out the window now, lost in his own thoughts. “There’s not much I care about in this world, JR, but to have a woman like that…” His eyes met mine once again, and something bright shimmered for just a moment. “Don’t fuck it up. Hold onto it with both hands and leave our world behind.”
Storming out of the room, I was once again alone with Josie. Her grandparents had been contacted, but they wouldn’t get here for another twelve hours. Even if I wanted to leave, I would never let her lie in this bed all alone.
“Josie,” I whispered, praying that somehow in her subconscious, she could hear me. “I’m so sorry. I never wanted any of this to happen.”
Very gently, I took her hand in mine, brushing my thumb over the back of her hand. She looked so fragile, lying in bed. I couldn’t help but blame myself. There was no one else responsible for this but me.
“I love you,” I whispered. “Please forgive me.”
But she didn’t answer. She was so drugged up that she wouldn’t be awake for a very long time.
The hours passed in tortured silence. I thought about talking to her, but what would she want to hear from me? I considered going to check on Sawyer, just so I could tell her how he was if she woke up, but I couldn’t bring myself to leave her side.
So, I sat there holding her hand, praying that she would be okay, and when she woke up, she would forgive me.
A hand on my shoulder jolted me awake. Spinning around, I nearly yanked Mav’s arm off when I was mentally thrown back into earlier that night.
“Jesus,” he gasped, backing away from me. “Relax. I’m not here to kill you.”
Sighing, I scrubbed my hand over my face to wake up, then looked back at Josie, who was still sleeping peacefully.
“What is it?”
“Just thought you might want an update.”
Grunting, I shoved to my feet and walked away from Josie, not wanting to wake her up. “What do you have?”
“Sawyer’s out of surgery. He took a bullet to the shoulder and he’s pretty banged up, but he’ll be fine.”
Guilt swarmed me, but I shoved it down. “And the men?”
“All dead.”
That was good, but said nothing of the repercussions about to crash down on my head. “And me?”
He quirked an eyebrow at me. “What about you?”
“Jail? A hearing in front of a judge?”
Shaking his head, he laughed at me. “Self-defense.”
“The dog attacked him. Ripped out his throat. I just finished him off.”
“Still, it’s a clean kill in my book. Relax. Just take care of your woman.”
My woman. If only she was mine. If only I hadn’t fucked it all up.
“Her grandparents just got in. Remi’s on his way back from the airport with them.”
“That’s good.”
“Hey,” he said, grabbing my attention again. “Seriously, are you okay?”
“You’re asking me? I’m not the one in the bed.”
“That wasn’t the question.”
It didn’t matter. None of it did. Turning back to Josie, I leaned over and pressed a kiss to her cheek, then whispered, “I’ll be back later.”
There was no way I wanted to be here when her grandparents showed up. They didn’t need the man responsible for all this in the room with her. “Stay with her until they get here.”
“JR—”
But I walked out the door and didn’t look back.