Thank God, it’s over. He won. He really won. Thank God.
I make it almost to the stairs leading up to the cage, and something jabs me in the side.Hard.
I jerk my head around and down to see what the hell I ran into, but all I see is Lucy Byers’s malevolent gaze.
“That’s a gun, and if I pull the trigger, you’ll bleed out right here.”
“What—” I start to sputter a question, but Lucy’s claw-tipped fingers wrap around my arm and squeeze.
“Don’t say a word. You’re coming with me. Right now.”
The riotous cheering of the crowd fades away as static fills my head. I look for Hal, but I was too fast out of my seat, and there’s no way he’ll be able to find me quickly in this madhouse of a crowd.
I jerk at my arm, but Lucy smiles, and I swear, her expression embodies pure evil.
“You’ll be dead before you hit the floor if you try that again. Come on.” She starts moving, and I glance down at the black barrel of a small handgun driving into the gold fabric of my dress.
This isn’t happening. Not right here. Not with all these people.
That’s when I realize what’s really at stake.I can’t let her shoot me in this club. It’ll never recover.
I have a split second to make the decision. Fight right here and risk her shooting me—or someone else—sending the club into a stampeding frenzy ... or follow her out of the club and subdue her where she can’t hurt anyone else.
I’ve taken self-defense. I know how to do this.
Maybe it’s not the smartest decision I’ve ever made, but I know what I have to do.Protect Gabriel and the club.
I walk with Lucy, a smile on my face belying the fact that I have a gun jabbing into my kidney. The crowd blocks anyone from seeing what she’s holding as Lucy shoves me toward a door that nearly blends into the wall at the back of the club.
As soon as the door closes behind us, I make my move, jabbing my elbow into her stomach as I spin around to grab hold of her wrist and twisthard.
“You bitch!” she screams as she loses her grip on the gun and it clatters to the floor, sliding toward the wall.
We both dive for it, but Lucy must realize that I’m going to beat her, because she latches onto something else instead—the necklace I’m wearing. It jerks me back like a dog on a choke chain, cutting into my skin for an instant before the delicate links snap.
Doesn’t matter, get the gun.
I crawl toward it, but a man’s battered leather boot lands on top of the pistol before my fingers can wrap around it.
“Well, well, well. How about this shit?”
I look up and my gaze zeroes in on a new gun, this one with a really long, thick tube attached to the barrel ... pointed at Lucy.
Oh my God. I’ve seen those in movies. That’s a silencer.
I stare at the hand before my gaze tracks up his arm to his shoulder, and then finally to the face of the man holding it.
Recognition hits me first. He was the one who talked to Gabriel that first night I met him and Roux at the gym. He knew Bodhi. He wanted Gabriel to fight him.What is his name? It’s like the candy ...
“Who the fuck are you?” Lucy snaps out the question.
“Rolo?” I whisper, hesitantly trying it out.
“You got that right,” he replies to me, looking down at the gun beneath his boot. “Now, what the fuck is going on here?”
“Give me my gun,” Lucy demands.
Rolo squats down to pick it up, keeping the silencer trained on her. “I don’t take orders from cunts like you.” At least he’s right about her being a cunt. When he rises, he’s got a gun pointed at each of us. “Get up.”