I shove to my feet and run toward the house. I’ve got to get to the safe room.
A shot rings out as I reach the front door, and something stings the back of my thigh. Whatever it was, it drops me like a bad habit. I fall flat on my face into the house. Fuck, I’ve been shot. That bastard shot me!
A sob erupts through my chest as pain begins to radiate throughout my leg, but I need to keep moving. I reach up and lock the screen door, but I don’t have time to do much else because he’s on his feet again. I begin to drag myself through the house, talking to the cameras.
“Rage, I love you!” I yell, scooting as quickly as I can across the living room floor. “I hope you kill this fucker!” I pause, taking a deep breath. “Tell Mila I love her.”
Somehow I manage to make it to the kitchen, but Frank is already kicking at the screen door. I know it will only hold him for so long.
As I reach for the button under the counter, a blackness slowly begins to tease at the edges of my vision. I tumble forward as it opens, falling roughly down the stairs. When my head hits the wall at the bottom, the darkness completely engulfs me. It feels so nice. Like a warm hug.
A glitch of light pulls me back to the surface, and I see Frank at the top of the stairs, his gun pointed at my head. “Last chance. Where is my daughter?”
“It’s okay,” someone whispers from the empty space around me. “It’s time to rest.”
It’s my mother’s voice.
I’m so confused. Is she here too?
“Come with me,” she says, materializing in front of me and holding out her hand.
I reach for it as a loud sound rings through the ether. I wait for the pain, but it doesn’t come.
My mother finally saved me.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Rage
Iwave to the twins when I pass them on the road. They flip me off in unison. God, I’m going to miss those two. They talked to me this morning about going back to Nevada, and we got Jameson’s approval. They miss home. I had a feeling they’d be leaving soon. Family is everything to them, and that is exactly the type of shit I want to build here with Serenity and Mila.
Cole and Carson went out into the world and made a name for themselves. Now they can go back to their dad’s club with an earned respect, not just something that was passed down to them. Real men get that type of shit. That’s the only reason their father agreed to let them come out here in the first place.
The closer I get to home, my mind drifts to the woman waiting for me there. I can’t wait to get lost in the softness of her skin and the warmth of her body.
A coil begins to grow low in my gut, and suddenly I realize it’s not the good kind. It’s the kind I felt as I watched Janet spiral from my hiding place in the trees.
Something is wrong. I look in my mirror, praying the twins haven’t had an accident with Mila.
“Go home,”the voice inside my head whispers.
When I spot a car in the driveway, I increase the throttle.
I pull my gun as I scan the area, quickly getting off the bike. Peanut is down. Whoever is here must already be inside.
Peanut gives me a weak little whine as I pass him, hurrying to the porch. Fuck, there’s blood up here and the screen door is kicked in.
I catch a glimpse of a man stepping into my kitchen.
He’s looking for Serenity.
Everything becomes quiet as if I’m caught in the stillness of time.
Without making a sound I follow him, raising my gun to his head just as he raises his, but I’m still quicker than him.
My gun goes off at the same time as he loses his grip on his own. It looks like my dog tore a pretty good chunk out of his arm.
Frank falls forward, and I hurry to pull him back before he so much as touches my Serenity. I toss him aside.