Chapter Thirty-Six
Sniper
“G io down!” I shouted across the explosion of gunfire inside the warehouse where Ethan’s partners thought they were going to ambush us. I aimed before he hit the ground, getting lucky with a bullet that sliced across the side of the asshole’s neck.
Ethan’s partners were even better connected than we gave them credit for. Instead of a small rag tag group of crackheads, we were met with almost twenty men decked out in black SWAT type gear. My bet was that they were mercenaries, but the mistake they made was assuming we were your average MC.
“Drop it asshole.” A deep voice, heavy and out of breath sounded behind me and a second later the cool metal hit my skin. Again.
The last time this happened my woman had been the woman to save me, but this time I would save myself. “Sure thing,” I grinned and spun the nine-millimeter in my hand before pressing the barrel against his foot and pulling the trigger.
His cry of pain rang out, but it was muffled by the nonstop gunfire. I rolled away and got to my feet, putting two more bullets in his chest before I scanned the area to see which of my brothers needed my help.
Gio was going hand to hand with a guy twice his size. Hawk plunged a knife into the gut of another, twisting with gleeful satisfaction as he did it. Rocky and Diesel were back to back, covering each other the way they always had, silently communicating the way the best teams were able to. T-Bone’s large frame was propped up high on a metal shelf, picking off any and all enemies he set eyes on.
This battle was close to over but there was just enough men standing that it could go either way.
Fuck that, there’s only one way this is going down.
Something unlocked in me, and I was right back in that fucking desert again, guns in both hands as I carefully picked off every head that didn’t belong to someone I gave a fuck about. My brothers didn’t need my help, but I finished off what they’d started because this was my battle for my woman. Katey didn’t need me to fight her battles, but I would always try to anyway, and if I had my way, we’d be fighting about it for the next sixty years.
Suddenly the place was silent. Dead silent. It was eerie, standing in the silence after what felt like days of loud gunfire. I turned in a circle making sure the only movement was from men decked out in a Steel Demons vest .
“Holy shit man, that was crazy as fuck!” Gio approached me first, clapping me on the back with a shocked grin on his face. “You were a fucking warrior!”
I let out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding and found a smile for my brother and my best friend. “Saved your ass.”
He laughed. “I’m grateful brother. You good?”
“They’re all dead so I’m fuckin’ great.” The rest of the MC gathered in a circle to survey the carnage around us.
“Twenty-two down, that sound right,” Diesel asked as he wiped a splatter of blood from his face.
“Twenty-six actually,” T-Bone answered. “Three came in from an entrance on the south side of the building.”
Diesel’s eyes widened. “I thought it was sealed.”
T-Bone shrugged. “Thought so too, but it was too loud to hear shit when they breached. It’s a good thing you put me up there. Twenty-six dead is a hell of a day at the office.” His words seemed to snatch the last of the tension from the room and we all erupted in laughter.
Some people might look at us and think we were all sick in the head, laughing as we stood inside a concrete graveyard, but we all knew the truth about life and death. Some lives were harder to take than others, but these assholes were rich and powerful and thought they could do whatever they wanted.
We were more than happy to show them why they were wrong.
The metal door at the front entrance creaked as it opened and half of us had our guns at the ready, aimed at the suited man who entered with his hands up and a nervous smile on his face. “Who the fuck are you and what do you want?” I growled, taking a few steps forward.
He stopped, his smile still in place. “Just someone who wants to talk. To settle this messy business once and for all.”
I laughed. “You mean the messy business of you trying to ambush us?”
‘That’s just business,” he said, his voice irritatingly calm. “We just want our money back, and we can both part ways.”
The money. Of course this was about the fuckin’ money. Slate would be thrilled to know how right he was about that.
“Well, what do you say?” He kept his gaze on me, mistaking me for the leader and I held his gaze and waited for Diesel to speak.
“What guarantee do we have that this is really over?” Diesel’s deep voice echoed in the concrete space.
The man hesitated and the room tensed immediately. There was no fuckin’ guarantee. They’d do us the same way they tried to do Katey, kill us to keep their secrets.
“No thanks,” Diesel replied loudly. Clearly. “He’s all yours Sniper.”
I walked forward and squeezed off one bullet, still walking as another shot out and then another. Two in the chest and one in the head. The man fell to the ground, eyes open as the last drops of life left his body. “Asshole.” I went through his pockets, finding a phone and a wallet. “Maybe Slate can do something with this.”
***
It took another two hours before we had dealt with the bodies and made our way back to the clubhouse. The ride home was suspiciously relaxing and as I walked inside, I felt calm on the inside while my skin hummed with awareness. My brothers were all greeted by their women in the form of hugs and embraces, thanking deities that their special someone had come back to them.
But Katey wasn’t among them.
I kept moving until I spotted her blonde head tilted back while she stared up at the starry night sky. “Hey.”
She gasped and turned with wide blue eyes, that sparkled the instant they landed on me. “Sniper!” She jumped up and rushed to me the same as the other women had. “You’re back. Are you okay?” Instead of a kiss or a hug she did a visual and then hands-on check of my body to make sure I was actually okay.
“I’m good. I promise.”
Her cool hands roamed all over my skin until she was satisfied that I was in one piece. The stress left her body, and she smiled on a heavy exhale. “Hey,” she whispered and then pressed her lips to mine. The kiss was hot, but it was too damn short.
“Hey.” My gaze searched hers for any sign that the kiss was the start of something more and not a goodbye.
“Tamara’s in our room. She overheard some of the girls talking, got spooked so I put her there.”
“I saw her.” She was nervous, I realized, but I couldn’t figure out why. “What’s up Katey?”
She smiled. “That obvious, huh?”
I nodded. “Just say what you have to say. I’m a big boy.”
Katey wrapped one of my hands in her smaller hands and brought them to her chest with another sigh. “When I got here, I was determined to not give one fucking inch, and I didn’t. Each time you did something nice or considerate, I reminded myself that you were a biker just like Ethan. Even when you started to dig under and scale the barriers I’d erected around my heart, I reminded myself that this was temporary. But with every kind word and sweet gesture, you decimated those barriers.” One of her hands fell away and she raised it to gently cup the side of my face, a soft smile on her face. “During those vulnerable, post-orgasmic moments where you allowed me to see your softer side as you kissed down my spine and whispered the things you loved about me, those exact things I hated about myself, I started to fall.”
“Started,” I asked breathlessly.
She nodded. “When you gave me the gun. When you told me you knew I could take care of myself, that’s when I knew that I loved you. That’s when I started to see your protection as the gift that it was, instead of a stifling prison.”
Holy. Shit.
She let out a shaky laugh. “So that’s my super long-winded way of telling you that I love you too, Sniper. I love you and even though I’m still scared to love again, I want to stay here and push through those fears with you.”
I love you too.
I hadn’t expected her to say the words even though I suspected she felt the same. She was too scarred, I told myself even as I hoped. But now that she put voice to my deepest desires, I felt something I’d never experienced before.
“If that’s still what you want?” Her voice was tentative.
My lips parted into what I hoped was a smile. “Sorry you just kinda caught me off guard.” I shook my head. “There’s this feeling in my chest making me feel full and euphoric and terrified at the same time. I’m not sure what the fuck to do with it.”
She laughed. “I feel it too. Excited and happy to feel this way about someone I can trust not to hurt me. Like I love you so much I’m going to explode with it but also terrified that I might lose you.”
“I ain’t goin’ nowhere, sweetheart.”
“Me neither. Because I love you.” I hooked my arms around her waist and pulled her close.
“Good because I love you and I think I’m going to for a really long time.”
Her words hit me like a ton of bricks and lust invaded every inch of my body. “I need to fuck you. Now.”
“All the rooms are full,” she announced with a laugh. “The good news is we have all the time in the world to celebrate this. Us.”
With a disgruntled growl, I kissed her again. “Clear the next week because I plan on keeping you naked and satisfied.” And then every week after that for the rest of our lives.