Epilogue #2
I can’t have that. I’ve already lost too much.
His attacker pulls out a gun. I raise mine.
Another one of those things I don’t really have to think about. Not when it comes to him .
When I fire, the world around me slows. I can almost see the bullet bursting from the barrel, ripping through the air, slicing through time and space and into the skull of the man threatening to take what belongs to me.
The body drops with a thump louder than the shot I just took. I cringe. Someone would have heard that.
Decker whirls around, face half covered with a black mask. The moment we lock eyes, his shoulders relax.
“Shit, Gracie,” he breathes as he pushes to standing.
He tugs down his mask. My eyes are only on him as he stalks towards me, wraps his hand around my throat, and yanks me into another one of those kisses.
Hard. Rough. Laced with passion and the promise that he’s sworn to never break.
He isn’t going anywhere. He isn’t leaving me behind.
“Sexy as hell when you’re saving my ass,” he whispers as he releases me. “Thought I told you to stay in the car?”
I smile. “Thought I told you not to die?”
“I was handling it.”
A huff escapes me. “No. You were getting your ass beat.”
A small, broken whimper sounds off near the bar. A woman sits on the floor, hands bound, a rag stuffed into her mouth. She’s wearing boots and an oversized T-shirt. Nothing else. Blood drips from her nose, a bruise forming on her face, cuts and scrapes lining her legs.
The woman I wouldn’t let him kill. She’s not part of this. She isn’t just a casualty.
I glare at Linc. “What the hell happened to her?”
He throws me a look. “You think I did that? Girl was half beaten when I got to her. Courtesy of this asshole, I assume.” He kicks the corpse at his feet. “I just… tied her up, is all. Not like any of it matters now.” He pulls his fallen gun from the floor and aims it at her.
I step in front of the barrel. “Whoa. What the hell?”
“She’s seen your face,” he says. “It was a nice gesture, but I can’t leave her alive. I can’t have any of this trace back to us. To you. This place is about to become a fucking graveyard.”
“Yeah? You want to join them?”
“Grace,” he growls, stepping forward, his weapon still raised. “As hot as it is when you threaten me, I will not let you go down for any of this.”
The ceiling above us creaks. We both freeze.
“Time to go,” he says. “Now step aside and?—”
“Decker,” I grit. “I will put your ass in the fucking ground if you even think about killing her. Let’s do what we came here to do before we all end up dead.”
Jaw clenched, he stares me down. Like I always do, I keep my feet rooted to the floor, my arms crossed, my glare unwavering. There’s no scenario where I back down from this. There’s been enough senseless killing. I won’t add this woman to the list. To his list.
He closes his eyes and lets out one of those long, irritated exhales. “Fine.” He shoves his gun into the back of his jeans. Crouching, he yanks open his backpack and pulls out a few rags and several glass bottles of gasoline. “Just get her out of here. It’s gonna get real hot, real quick.”
With a nod, I grab the woman by the arm and drag her towards the door leading back into the alley.
She stumbles as I pull her down the hallway, but I don’t slow.
Not when I hear the bottles break, the glass smashing, the distinct sound of flames igniting, and not even when I hear a shout from a man who isn’t Decker.
We burst into the alleyway with Linc on our heels. When I turn, thick plumes of smoke are already pouring through the open door.
“You want the honours?” He hands me a silver lighter.
I smile as I take it. It shouldn’t feel good. It shouldn’t feel like the right thing. But it’s like Linc said. Justice.
He keeps talking about those scales, about how we need to balance them. But I know just like he knows. It will never be enough.
Decker presses his hand to the small of my back, encouraging me, sliding it under my jacket and finding skin, his thumb circling, fingers tapping. Like he can’t be still, can’t relax because it’s not over yet. Not until I light this last fire, burn everything to ash.
I flip open the lid, flick my thumb over the flint wheel. The flame holds steady as I toss it into the building. Fire instantly ignites. Shouts turn into screams. I want to stay, watch, feel the heat of the fire as everything burns, listen to the sounds of death. Of justice.
Linc kicks the door closed, then pulls a small drill from his bag and secures a two-by-four over it, effectively barring the door from opening. They’re all like this. Every door secured, every window sealed. Linc made sure they’d all die tonight.
I turn to the woman and yank the rag from her mouth. “Look at me.” I press my gun to her throat, ensuring she understands how serious I am, how dangerous I can be when someone fucks with my family.
“I-I won’t tell anyone,” she sobs. “I’ll… I’ll forget I saw you, okay? I?—”
“No. You never forget this face. It’ll be the one that comes for you if you even think about telling the cops what I look like. What he looks like. But you remember, because it’ll be the last thing you fucking see if you cross me. Understand?”
She nods, and I press the barrel harder into her throat.
“I know they’re not all dead. That there are more of those Raider scumbags skulking around in the shadows of this shithole city.
You tell them that the Sinners did this.
That we will hunt them all down, one by one, until they pay for the lives they took. You understand? You tell them that.”
She’s shaking, from fear or from the frigid cold against her bare skin, I’m not sure, but when she nods, I toss her into the street. And then she’s gone.
Linc’s hard body presses into my back, his lips on my ear. “Beautifully ruthless, Gracie,” he whispers, his warm breath sending more of those pesky goose bumps rushing over my skin.
With one last look at the building, we dart across the street and back to the car. I jump in the driver’s seat, barely waiting for Linc to throw his seat belt on before slamming my foot down on the clutch and throwing the shifter into gear.
As I peel out of the parking lot, sirens blare in the distance, the dark sky illuminated in blues and reds as emergency vehicles rush across the city towards the flames.
“Gracie,” Linc warns as I take a corner too quickly.
I let off the gas, hit the clutch, then upshift as I accelerate. “I told you this car looked fun. Hang on, Officer Boy Scout, I’m taking you for a ride.”
Another sharp turn, our bodies swaying with the car. I kick into the next gear, amping up my speed. Adrenaline surges through my veins, licking at my insides, burning like the fire we just lit.
I blow a red light. Then another. I rip through the deserted city streets like I own them. And tonight, I do. Tonight this isn’t Raider territory. Tonight these streets are mine.
I approach the parking garage too fast.
“Shit.” Linc grabs the overhead bar as I crank the wheel all the way to the left.
The car slides across asphalt, turning sideways as I release my hold and drift through the entrance and onto the ramp leading to the next level.
I laugh as I catch the wheel, gaining control a heartbeat before we slam into the concrete wall lining the ramp. At the next turn, I slide back into a drift. Linc mutters unintelligibly, his muscles tense, eyes wide as I hit another level, and then another. I only slow when I reach the rooftop.
Linc’s chest is bouncing as I park. “Jesus fucking Christ, woman. You’re out of your damn mind.”
I grin. “So?”
“Get your crazy ass over here.” He rips off his seat belt, unclicks mine, and yanks me into his lap.
I straddle him, staring into his eyes. They’re almost golden as the raging fire flashes in them. It’s why I picked this spot. So we could see it. Watch it all burn.
But now, the only thing I want to focus on is him. He looks at me like I’m the only thing that matters, like he’ll burn the whole fucking world down before letting anything come between us.
I kiss him. It’s demanding. Urgent. The kind of kiss that’s got us tearing off each other’s clothes in a matter of seconds.
We get like this. Losing ourselves in pure, unadulterated desire.
It’s carnal. Animalistic. A basic need. No.
Need isn’t the word for it. It’s like we might not survive without it.
Like we can’t breathe without one another.
He clamps one hand around my throat, and with the other at my hip, he eases me down onto his cock.
I breathe as he slides in, then back out.
That moment of gentleness even in situations like this, where his body is shaking with the effort it takes to hold himself back from the torrent of emotion raging in his chest, the adrenaline ripping through his veins like it’s ripping through mine.
Because we just sent a snake-wrapped message.
One that killed six people. And now we fuck so we can forget about it, get lost in each other for a moment before reality sets in, before guilt and regret come for us.
Justice, he keeps telling me.
I push it down. Stop the remorse that eats at me. Instead, I roll my hips, chasing that other high. The one only he can give me.
“So goddamn perfect.” Linc buries his face in my breasts, clinging to me in that way he does. Like he’s trying to climb inside me, carve himself into my flesh, my bones.
I pick up my pace. My climax creeps closer as I bottom out over and over, my tits bouncing with the movement. Fingers woven in my hair, he forces my gaze down. I get lost in the blaze reflecting in his irises, in the fire that’s gotten so big the flames have almost engulfed the building.
More sirens. Blaring horns. And the guttural moans sounding from this stolen car as my orgasm crests and I come harder than I ever have.
Justice. Vengeance. Retribution.
A war we just ended.
I collapse in his arms, and he pulls my lips against his as he slams me down harder, faster, grip bruising until he finally jerks up and fucks out his release inside me.
As his body relaxes, he exhales. “Where the hell did you learn to drive like that?”
I laugh. “Jimmy, obviously. He doesn’t just love motorcycles. He loves anything fast. Sometimes when I was younger, he would?—”
My heart plummets.
No. Not love. He l oved. He doesn’t love anything. Not anymore.
Pulling me back, Linc tilts up my chin. “You good?”
I swallow the emotion in the back of my throat. “I’m fine.”
“Talk to me, Grace.”
“There’s nothing left to say.”
He sighs. “There’s plenty to say. It’s done now. A few loose ends, maybe, but we did what we came here to do. So all that’s left is… everything else.”
“And the funeral,” I add. “And… and Jack. Jack is?—”
He tightens his grip. “I told you we don’t have to go back. South Bay can stay in the past if you want it to.”
We had a job to do. Justice to serve. But Linc’s right. It’s done now. Which means all those feelings I’ve been pressing down are dangerously close to bubbling to the surface. The reality of it all threatens to swamp me.
We left. The Raiders attacked. There were casualties. And our losses… they’re not the kind that we can easily move on from. Even with all this justice.
I take a long, deep breath, and Linc pulls me closer.
“I love you,” he says.
I don’t say it back. I can’t. Not when everything’s about to change.
He tilts his head. “There’s something else. What is it?”
I huff. “How the hell would you know that?”
“I know you. And I know the look you get when you’re about to run. You get all… squirrely.”
“I’m not a squirrel,” I snap. “And I’m not leaving you.”
“Obviously. I wouldn’t let you do that.”
I arch an eyebrow, pull back a little. “Let me?”
He grins. “Out with it.”
My heart jumps, my nerves churning my guts. With another deep breath, I snatch his hand and press it to my stomach.
It takes him a second to understand, but the moment he figures it out, his breath catches and his body goes impossibly still, a million different emotions flashing across his face. “You’re… you’re pregnant?”
“Don’t freak out. Okay? I need you to not freak out.”
Stunned silent, he eyes my belly.
I hold my breath, waiting for him to say something. Anything. “Oh god. You’re freaking out.”
More silence.
“Shit,” I murmur as I start to move off him.
He tightens his grip on my thighs and locks me in place. “I’m not freaking out , Grace. I, uh.” He blows out a loud breath. “I just… I didn’t think I’d get that again.” Another big breath. “Not after…”
After Emily. The accident. Everything that followed in it’s wake.
I press my palms to his cheeks. “I know we didn’t talk about this. And it’s fast. Really fast. It wasn’t in the plan. But?—”
“Since when do you stick to the plan?” He breaks into a heartbreaking smile. “This is good, Grace. After all that’s happened. This is good.”
Emotion blooms in my chest, tears welling in my eyes. “Yeah?”
“Yeah. A kid is a good thing.”
A sob rips its way from my throat, and Linc swallows it with a kiss. That promise. He’ll never leave me behind. Never leave us behind.
He sighs, pressing his forehead to mine, his hand pushing a little harder on my belly. It’s possessive. That need he has. To serve and protect. To claim something as his own and guard it with all he has, with his entire being.
“I’m scared,” I say, anxiety building in my chest. “I don’t… I don’t know how to do this.”
I’ve known for weeks. I’ve been grappling with what it all means, how the hell I’m gonna do this. Fear, dread, excitement, hope. And this need to protect, like what Linc has.
“You said to me once that all a kid needs is love and safety. That everything else sorts itself out. Between all of us, I think we’ve got that covered.”
I tilt my head. “All of us?”
He shrugs. “We can’t stay here. And we don’t have a hell of a lot of other options.”
“I know.” I sigh. I’ve known that for weeks too. That this little adventure is ending. This baby is safest with its family, its village. Which means?—
He lets out another long, deep breath. Like he’s already preparing his nervous system for what comes next, what we have to face.
He gives my thighs a tight squeeze, and then says, “Guess it’s about time we go home.”