Chapter 23 #3
“I didn’t see anyone or hear a car following me, so they must have already been parked out front waiting.
It was just gunfire and then their tires skidding when they left,” I answered, kind of liking it when Rory forced me to sit down as she eased my jacket off my arms. Her fingers were cool on my skin as she removed my shirt next, rummaging in the cupboard for a medical kit.
“He’s fine, Aurora,” Skeeter grumbled, but she ignored him and soaked a cloth before walking back to me, dabbing at the wound as Skeeter glared at me. “You’re enjoying this way too much, asshole.”
“You know I’m a sucker for a hot nurse,” I joked, and as tempting as it was to slide an arm around her and tug her onto my lap, I thought better of it.
Sirens sounded outside, and none of us moved until the cops entered the house to let us know the attacker was definitely gone.
I declined medical assistance, being more than happy to let Rory fuss over me while pissing her guys off in the process. Tyler didn’t seem that bothered, being too busy on his phone to give a shit about his girlfriend’s hands all over me.
As expected, the cops blamed me, trying to pin it on some kind of crew war that I’d brought to the doorstep, even trying to say it was probably my guys that did it.
That didn’t make sense when I was the one that got skimmed with a bullet.
Rory argued with them for ages about it, and Skeeter sat in a chair beside mine, his voice gruff.
“You took a bullet for her.”
“I wouldn’t exactly say that.”
“You used yourself as a shield. I saw you getting off her,” he answered, eyeing the cops across the room that eyed us warily as if waiting for us to start shooting at each other. “Thank you.”
“You’ve been saying that a lot lately,” I smiled, putting a hand up to show I was teasing and making the cops all jerk as they put their hands over their guns. “But you’re welcome.”
“You can’t have her,” Skeeter warned.
“We’ll see.”
“I mean it, Hunt,” he said more softly, flicking his gaze to mine. “I can’t with you two. I’m glad you like her enough to take a bullet, it means a lot that you’d keep her safe, but it can’t become anything more.”
There was arguing in the other room before Marco barged in, heading straight towards me.
“You good?”
“I’m fine. Nurse Donovan patched me up,” I smirked, raising an eyebrow when he nodded and walked over to Tyler to check on him. “Their bromance is already driving me mad. Ty must have texted him.”
“I don’t like it either,” Skeeter muttered. “We’ll talk once everyone clears out.”
“About us joining your little—”
“No, about the drive-by,” he deadpanned, getting to his feet and walking over to Josie to talk to her.
I studied them, noticing Josie relax with him beside her. It was a little surprising, but also not. Being on the good side of Skeeter meant having a damn loyal protector, so she must have trusted him enough to keep her safe.
My shoulder was stinging under the bandage Rory had put on it, and I hated seeing the graze on her forearm from when I’d yanked her to the ground. It wasn’t bad, I just hated that I’d hurt her.
“Thanks.” I looked up to find Lukas standing beside me, an annoyed look on his face.
“You’re welcome,” I answered, tilting my head at him. “I know you don’t like me, but I’ll always make sure she’s safe.”
“You’re right, I don’t like you,” he replied before walking off, making me snort.
Rory sat beside me after a while, neither of us talking, just waiting for the cops to leave.
There were already people called to help with the mess and to board the broken windows for the night, while Josie sorted somewhere else for them all to sleep.
There was no way they were going to be allowed to sleep here, a lot of the bedrooms had windows facing the road and had been damaged.
The moment we were alone, Rory glanced at me.
“Do you think it was Max?”
“He wouldn’t have the balls. There’s a possibility he hired Razor’s boys to do it, unless they did it themselves. They'll be wanting revenge for you shooting them. You killed their guys, babe. You’re on their list.”
“They broke into Ty’s and tried to rape me,” she argued, and I winced.
“I know. I saw the whole thing on the cameras.”
She was quiet for a moment before sighing. “How long were you watching us? When did you put the cameras up?”
“Honestly? You’ve been on my radar since late September, just before we showed up. The cameras were put up a week or two later.”
“You should let me see you naked and humiliate you. See how you like it,” she grumbled, crossing her arms.
“That’s going to get awkward because knowing you’re watching will only make me hard as fuck,” I scoffed, and Marco couldn’t fucking help himself as he leaned over the back of my chair.
“Pretty sure the best sex of his life has been with his hand and those cameras.”
“Thanks, man,” I mumbled, glancing at her. “Sorry. I intended on turning it off when things got heated, but I couldn’t.”
She blinked at me for a second before her fist met my face, and I flexed my jaw as she stalked off, making Marco chuckle as he dropped down into her vacated seat.
“I thought we were all being honest today?” he mused, Rory’s death glare reaching me from across the room where she stood with Jensen.
“Not that.”
“My bad. You going to tell me what you’re doing here? Faris said you’d be back later but didn’t say where you were going,” he stated, and I shrugged, the stinging starting to go numb.
“I spotted Max on the cameras with Razor. Tracked them down but they’d set the car on fire by the time I’d found it.
They knew they were being followed. I came here to update Rory about it and she thankfully was next to me by the van and not coming down the stairs when they open-fired. They had a machine gun.”
“Do you think this was tied in with Max?”
“Not sure, but I know it’s the Soldiers.
They wouldn’t care about a public drive-by like this.
Most other crews wouldn’t want the heat,” I replied, getting to my feet.
“I’ll fill them in so we can leave. I don’t think we’re a target, but they almost wiped me out in their little game.
First Slash, now me? They’re going to end up in a war with all the crews if they keep accidentally getting other crew leaders involved.
We’ll have to update the guys just in case it escalates. ”
I headed over to Skeeter while Josie was busy, giving him a quick rundown on everything about Max before intending on leaving, but Josie stopped us.
“Boys! You can’t just go out there. You need to stay with us tonight,” she fussed, and I gave her a grin.
“It’s sweet of you to offer, really, but we can handle ourselves.”
“You’re not going after them, right? Let the cops do their job,” she warned, and I chuckled.
“I’m heading home, not out on a revenge mission. I’m sorry about your house.”
“Thank you for keeping Rory safe,” she answered, reaching out to take my hand in both of hers, giving it a squeeze. “Skeeter told me you covered her. Most men wouldn’t.”
“No offense, but most of the men you know aren’t real men, they’re monsters,” I said lightly, patting her hand with mine. “Be careful. Skeet will keep you guys safe, but if you need more people, I’ll come back to keep an eye out too.”
She nodded, letting me go and watching us leave, and I winced as I eyed the van. It was shot to shit, and one of the tires was flat.
“Leave it tonight. I’ll drive,” Marco said as he jiggled his car keys, and I wasn’t going to argue with him.
I glanced back at the house, finding Rory staring back at me from her bedroom window. She didn’t look annoyed or happy, it was something like confusion.
I waved, climbing into the car so we could head back to Mount Mercer, and I hoped like hell that the Soldiers didn’t return tonight. I was going to sleep fully dressed just in case I had to bail out of bed and get back to her though.