“Don’t talk about my kids,” she hisses. “And don’t act like you knowmy husband.He would never look twice at a woman like you. He wouldneverchoose an outsider.Never…”
I don’t like the way she says the word outsider.
“Do you even love him anymore?” I ask her.
“I love him enough to beat your bitch ass,” Tylee says. Her nostrils flare. She studies my face, but there’s a flicker of fear. Why is she afraid to hit me?Could it be Isaac?It’s time forme to push her over the edge. If we keep this going too long, she’ll notice that Onika has been quiet for too long. Scum, idiot that he is, has his eyes firmly locked on Tylee’s ass. Now that he doesn’t have to pull anyone’s teeth out, he’s back to satisfying his baser urges.
“Then do it,” I tell her. “Hit me. Because if you don’t… I’ll find a way out of here and I’ll ride your husband’s dick so hard that his next baby is going to be mine.”
Tylee’s face matches her hair. I’ve never seen a thing like it. And honestly? I’m lucky that I’m able to see in the future. The biker chick’s fist comes flying at my face and I let her get one good hit in, even if I know she could knock my ass out. I stumble back against the pole as my ears ring, but I feel thesignfrom Onika that our plan worked.
Her thumb and forefingers pinch my ankle gently. She jumps to her feet while I cry out and lunge forward, swinging blindly at Tylee. Scum doesn’t know what to do since Onika is screaming and running at him with pliers flailing and he thought she was totally incapacitated. He doesn’t reach for his gun and Onika gets to his face with the pliers. Tylee scratches me, but she doesn’t reach for her gun either, because I’m too close. The element of surprise worked to our advantage.
I take my one shot and grab Tylee’s gun out of her holster, stumbling back out of the storage unit.Where are their guards?
“PUT YOUR HANDS UP,” I scream at the top of my lungs. Scum reaches for his gun and before I can pull the trigger to mine and shoot him,someone else does.Everybody in the storage unit screams because frankly, I don’t know who is shooting orwhatthey’re shooting.
“Cody Hollingsworth. I’ll be taking charge of this situation from this point forward,” the shooter identifies himself once the screaming and the echo from the gunshot fades enough for us to have our hearing. I keep my gun pointed atScum and wait for my body to drop, but I just stand there, trembling slightly, finger hovering near the trigger that I was getting ready to touch.
“Everybody, put your guns down.”
“Like shit I will…”
Tylee bends down andfuck.That lump in her boot I suspected was a gun. I forgot about it. And now it’s her turn to have the element of surprise.
“Cody, she’s armed!” Onika cries out. I hesitate too long when I point the muzzle of my gun at Tylee.I can’t do it. I can’t. I have to kill her to stop her, but I can’t.The scene slows down in my head, although realistically this all happens in a matter of seconds. Tylee fires three shots at Cody Hollingsworth. Onika screams.
My fingers tugs on the trigger. I can’t tell if I hit her after her body lurches forward next, but I can’t bring myself to shoot her again. Onika knees Scum in the balls or something like that in the fray because the next thing I know, Tylee sprints towards the door past Cody Hollingsworth, who definitely got hit.
I can’t shoot now without risking hitting Onika who has Scum’s gun as she chases Tylee down.
“TYLEE GET BACK HERE!” she shrieks, firing into the storage unit hallway.
I walk out into the storage unit hallway, chasing after her so she doesn’t have to go after Tylee alone. With Scum still lying on the ground, I let my guard down, even if Cody Hollingsworth is still laying on the ground. Three steps out into the hallway, I hear a voice coming from the hallway behind me.
“Gabby!”
I turn around at the sound of Isaac’s voice. Immediately.He’s covered in blood. Like… everywhere. We both stand there for a second, analyzing each other. Onika and Tylee disappear. My heart stops. We can’t afford to have a moment right now. My chest lurches. I want to hug and hold this man but…
“Cody got shot,” I say to Isaac. “Onika’s chasing Tylee and Scum’s on the ground. I don’t know what happened to their back up but–”
I allow myself to trail off. There’s blood all over Isaac Sinclair. I might not know for sure what happened to the other bikers, but there’s a strange look on Isaac’s face. Then the blood. Then the silence. I might not know for sure what happened to them, but maybe I can guess.
“Okay,” Isaac says, his face softening. “Is Cody dead?”
“No. But… I don’t know how bad it is…”
“Don’t worry,” Isaac says. “We’ll handle this Gabrielle.”
He’s never called me Gabrielle before. And I hate how it makes me feel. I feel guilty about my feelings in general. The second I looked in his eyes, I felt safe. It doesn’t make sense to me that I could feel safe with Isaac – after all this?
Chapter Nineteen
Isaac
Onika comes running back our way without my wayward wife, but with the rest of the Murray family and members of our organization who tracked Tylee and her fucking idiot boyfriend here. I have to stop myself from putting two in the head of this bastard – not so much for touching Tylee, but for encouraging her to leave the kids with Selma.
Gabby refuses to listen to my instructions to stay out of the way and she insists on standing close to me as we get Cody off the ground. He’ll survive the gunshot wound, but he’s lost a lot of blood. Tylee’s a much better shot than this normally, but the adrenaline and her lack of control over the circumstances threw her off. We put Anna on face time to guide us through basic field medicine, but she insists we take Cody to Mass General.