Unexpected visitors. Wreck gripped me even tighter, but I had to make a move, it was now or never.
I still had an arm free, and I yanked my mace out of my pocket while kicking Wreck hard in the shins. Then I took aim and sprayed, a direct hit to his eyes.
As Wreck reeled back, three things happened all at once.
First, the door burst open, revealing Pin, Moves, and Kim looking like angels of death, coming to rescue me.
Second, the other Las Balas bikers took action, two facing off against the invaders and one lurching towards me.
And third, Pin saw me.
He saw me caught between a blind but livid Wreck and a hulking Las Balas biker.
He saw me, and in that instant, I knew I was safe. I was going to make it out, and I was going to be alright. Then everything happened very fast.
I turned my mace at the other biker’s face before he could even get a good grip on my arm. Wreck was lunging at me, but Pin bowled into him from behind.
They tumbled to the ground in a mess of limbs, but thanks to my solid aim with the mace, Pin ended up on top. I wrenched myself away from the biker and scrambled over to Kim. She grabbed my hand and yanked me towards the door.
Meanwhile, Moves was making short work of the other bikers. He was something to behold. In quick abrupt movements, he dropped the one biker with a well-placed punch to the face, then moved onto the next. Every movement was precise and efficient, as if he had done the same fight over and over, every day for years.
I realized Kim was trying to pull me out of the room, but I held put. I wasn’t leaving Pin.
“Claire, we need to get out now,” Kim said.
“Not without Pin,” I said.
“Pin, enough!” Kim shrieked.
I turned to see that Pin had turned Wreck’s face into a bloody mess, but he showed no sign of slowing down. Some sort of primal rage had come over him. For me, I realized. He was protecting me.
“Pin!” I yelled.
Only then did he turn. He saw me, and the anger receded from his face. He pushed himself off Wreck and crossed the room to grip my head in his hands.
“Are you hurt?” he murmured. “Tell me if you’re hurt.”
“I’m fine,” I said. “But please, let’s leave.”
Pin circled an arm around my waist, and I knew that I never wanted him to let go.
He guided me out of the bar and into the lot. He shoved a helmet on my head, and I got on his bike behind him. Then we were off, the whole violent scene at Fisherman’s Wharf feeling like a fever dream.
I clutched Pin’s chest with everything I had in me, the air chilling my bare legs. He had come for me. Even though I had done nothing to deserve it, he had barged into enemy territory. Because he was a good man, and he did the right thing.
I knew once we were in safety, his obligation would be done. He would go back to hating me. But I couldn’t let him. I knew now that I had to fight for him. I had to try to make him understand that I hadn’t been faking. I had to let him know that I loved him.
The bikers pulled over in another lot. Blue Dog Saloon. Back to where it all started. When I stepped off the bike, my legs were weak. As soon as I took my helmet off, I started apologizing.
“I’m so sorry,” I said. “Pin, Moves, Kim, I didn’t mean for that to happen – I was just doing recon, but they recognized me somehow.”
Pin tossed my helmet aside and gripped my shoulders. I realized he wasn’t even listening to my apology, he was surveying me for damage. He stiffened as he saw the growing bruise on the side of my face. “Did he hit you?”
I shivered at his voice, low and lethal.
“I’m fine,” I whispered. “Truly, I’m fine.”
“I should have killed him,” Pin said.
