Chapter Twenty-Five
Carmen
“Shit. Shit, shit, shit.”
I dropped all the way down, my heartbeat a pounding bass beat as I shimmied backward, away from the wall overlooking the front yard.
I was safe in the glass room. That was something that had been promised to me. Nothing could get to me in the glass room. Not even a bullet.
There was just one problem.
It wasn’t just me my cousins were after.
It was Rune. His brothers. His club brothers.
I had to warn them.
They couldn’t be caught off-guard.
What if one got shot?
Or killed?
My heart cracked at the very idea.
Not just of losing Rune. But Croft, Vas, Spike, Cain… any of them.
But I hadn’t brought my phone. And Rune left his up here. There was no way to call him.
While the glass room wasn’t necessarily soundproof, it was on the roof. No one would hear if I screamed. I had to get down the ladder. But even in the basement, there was no guarantee that they’d hear.
A whimper caught in my throat as I lowered down through the opening, my heart sinking when I missed the ladder rung for a second.
I saw myself falling to the unyielding cement floor, crying out in pain.
I could see my cousin running down to shoot me…
and no one coming to save me because they’d already suffered at their hands upstairs.
My hand be damned, I used both to make my way down the ladder, ignoring the quick pricks of pain as I put too much pressure on my broken hand.
I was halfway down when my foot missed a rung, making my heart drop to my stomach as I free-fell downward, crashing hard on my ass, needing to press my lips together to keep from crying out.
I could practically hear what Rune would say if we lived through this. “He put a bruise on this perfect ass. I want to dig him outta his grave and revive him, just to kill him again.”
There was no time to be upset about the pain, though.
I scrambled onto all fours, then pushed up and ran through the basement.
I paused, trying to focus.
I couldn’t just run up there.
I’d wasted too much time already.
Jack was probably about to be (if not already) inside the clubhouse.
I needed to help, not make myself another liability they had to worry about.
A whimper caught at my throat as I flew toward the tall metal cabinets where a previous tour of the basement showed me how prepared these biker guys were for the kind of emergency lockdown that meant they would be trapped downstairs for extended periods.
They had stocks of nonperishable food, medical supplies, clothes, extra linens, board games, lanterns, and even water purification tablets.
Those weren’t the only highlights from my tour, though.
Up on top of one of the cabinets, stored high enough that no club kid could ever get to it, but low enough for a reasonably tall adult to reach, was a gun.
The club had them stashed in several places around the clubhouse in case of emergencies.
This, I was sure, constituted an emergency.
I flew at the locker, reaching up and feeling around until my fingers met cold metal.
My heart fluttered as I pulled it down.
I knew it was loaded. Rune told me they all were. And there was no safety to worry about. Which was good. Because the only gun I knew about was my own.
Holding it in my shaky hand, I rushed back toward the stairs, trying to feel comforted that there were no loud bangs coming from upstairs. No yelling, either.
Were my cousins still trying to find a way in?
Or was this basement just more soundproofed than I realized?
Unease pooled in my chest as my stomach lurched.
I felt like I was choking on my own heart as I inched up the stairs, cursing myself for not having paid attention before to which stairs groaned.
I swear my bare feet on the step sounded like thunderclaps, my breath like hurricane-force winds.
Logically, I knew no one could hear it but me. But nothing about me was being particularly logical right then as I reached the top step.
I was going into this blind. I had no way of knowing where my cousins might be, if they would see me before I saw them, if they were lying in wait for me.
But Rune was up there. Unaware. Unarmed.
I couldn’t let anything happen to him.
Sucking in a deep breath, I reached for the knob and turned it, pushing the door open only enough to peek out into the hall.
Seeing no one, I pushed it open far enough for me to creep out, pressing my back against the wall.
I lifted my braced hand, pressing it over my mouth to quiet my frantic breaths as I inched down the wall.
And thank God I was muffling myself.
Or I would have given myself away before I even moved into the doorway. Because there was a loud bang in the common room. Then another.
I cried out against my hand, my heart crumbling, not knowing who was shot, who might be bleeding out, who might be dead.
But it was then I heard a familiar voice.
“Where is the bitch?” Jack snarled.
“Eat shit,” Rune said between harsh breaths.
Was he shot?
Why else would he sound like that?
I didn’t stop to think, didn’t try to get one of the club guys to help me.
I flew into the doorway, arm already raised.
Was it shaking? Yes.
But something inside strengthened, stiffened, when I saw Rune on the ground, red blooming through his shirt.
He wasn’t the only one on the ground.
Two bangs.
Two men down.
Rune must have had access to a gun. Because my other cousin was on the ground. And unlike Rune, he didn’t seem to be moving. Or breathing.
“Looking for me?” I asked, making Jack straighten and partially turn.
A snort escaped Jack as he glanced from me to the gun in my hand. “Well, that makes it easier.”
“Run, baby,” Rune demanded between sharp breaths.
I let my gaze slip from my cousin to Rune, my stomach twisting at how pale and sweaty he looked. How long before he would pass out? Before he bled out?
The problem was… Jack was still pointing his gun at Rune. And if I was right, he was aiming right at Rune’s head.
“You’re too much of a pussy to shoot—”
“I’m not,” a voice said behind me as he yanked the gun from my sweaty hand, aimed, and emptied the magazine into Jack, his body jolting like men did in action movies.
I didn’t stop to think.
I flew forward toward Rune, dropping down at his side, and pressing my hand into his stomach, feeling his hot, sticky blood slipping between my fingers.
“You’re okay. You’re gonna be okay.”
I didn’t realize I was crying until Rune’s hand moved up to wipe the wetness from my cheek.
“You should have stayed in the glass room.”
“I had to warn everyone. I saw them and… and I had to do something. Is someone calling an ambulance?” I cried as I heard voices. “Why isn’t anyone saying they called the police?”
“We’re getting him help,” Spike said, nudging me out of the way so he could yank Rune’s shirt up to inspect the wound.
“He needs to go to the hospital.”
“Love, we’re gonna take care of him.”
“Lettie?” Croft asked, dropping down next to me.
“Hailstorm,” Spike corrected.
The men shared a look that had my belly flipping.
“Why do I feel like that is something bad?”
“It’s not something bad,” Spike assured me. “They just have a fully functioning hospital wing.”
“So does the hospital.”
“Baby, listen, it’s okay.”
“It’s not okay.”
“We gotta move him,” Spike said, nodding at Croft.
“This is gonna suck,” Croft warned as both men reached for Rune and dragged him to his feet.
The string of curses he let out and the way he went gray had my heart sinking.
“You’re making it worse!” I cried out.
“Vas,” Croft barked.
Then hands reached for me, pulling me back as the men took Rune away from me.
“No, let me go. I need… he needs…”
But he was already in the garage. The door was lifting. The engine was starting.
And they peeled out of the lot.
“No,” I cried, sinking down to my knees as soon as Vas released me.
“He’s going to be in good hands,” Vas assured me. “They just need to get him there first.”
Before the SUV could possibly get to the corner of the street, I heard bikes rumbling closer.
“Why couldn’t I go?” I whimpered, mostly talking to myself as I rocked on the floor. “I needed to talk to him,” I said as the front door flew open. “He doesn’t know that I love him. I need to tell him…”
“Heya, honey,” a calm, soothing voice said, making me glance over as he crouched down in front of me.
And there he was.
The man Rune would be in twenty-five or so years.
“You need to be with Rune,” I said, sniffling hard.
“His mom is on her way. And I’m gonna go there too. But there’s nothing I can do if he’s going into surgery. And I know he’d want me to check in on you.”
“I want to see him.”
“Okay. I will take you to Hailstorm. But we need you here for a few minutes.”
“We?”
But even as I said it, I became aware of the men swarming the clubhouse.
“What happened?” Fallon called to the room at large, having no idea who saw or did what.
“I saw them coming,” I said, sniffling. “And I tried… I tried to get down here fast enough. But when I got upstairs, he shot Rune. Or… maybe Rune shot my cousin and then Jack shot Rune. And I… I had the gun. But I hesitated. And then someone…” I stopped there, unsure what to say.
“I took the gun and shot Jack,” Vas said, making me turn to him.
Vas?
Vas had done that?
I guess I thought it had been Croft. Older, more experienced Croft. Not the still-wet-behind-the-ears Vas.
Fallon shared a look with a few of the other guys. And I could have sworn it conveyed all the things I was thinking about such a young guy being able to do whatever needed to be done without hesitation.
“Whose gun was it?” Fallon asked.
“That’s the one from on top of the cabinet downstairs. Rune told me about it when he took me on a tour.”
“Good thing he did,” Rune’s dad said. “And good thing you were quick enough to remember to grab it. Even if I think Rune is probably not happy you didn’t stay where you were safe.”
A small sob escaped me.
“Honey, he’s gonna be okay.”
“You don’t know that.”