I keep myself between him and Hope and the gun falls back on me. “You’re shielding a whore. A disgusting whore that beggedher daddy to fuck her. Or is that what you like about her? That you can use her however you want? That she’s too terrified to leave because she believes that your cock filling her is the same as love? At least Daisy wasn’t that stupid.”
“Why does this keep coming back to Daisy?” Hope presses.
I almost look at her. Why the hell is she digging in when he’s obviously one bad comment away from killing us both right here and now, then going inside to finish the job?
“Look in a mirror and tell me, princess,” he says.
Then I see movement, creeping closer. Big, lethal, poised… Knox.
She’s stalling for him.
“Did Coach Harbaugh hurt Daisy too?” Hope asks in a pathetic little whimper.
“Your dad? You can’t even saydadanymore?” He laughs once. “Ask him when you see him in—”
Everything happens too quickly. Knox tackles my brother, dropping the flashlight to the ground as they roll. I think Knox is actually biting the bastard, then the gun points in our direction. Hope tries to yell for Knox, tries to stand. I push her down, and a deafening boom rips through the night.
It echoes through my bones as a sense of wrong, a new dread I’ve never known, and the need to see Hope’s face fill me.
“Jaxon!” Hope’s scream sounds like a second gunshot, my vision darkens, and all I can think about are her beautiful blue eyes, the mark I never should have put on her skin, and all the ways I want to hold her.
But I’m cold, dizzy, and she’s slipping through my fingers again.
Twenty-seven
DIMITRI
My whole body tenses as a gunshot echoes. I’ve already started scrubbing with his phone connected to my laptop to get into the server for the website. Anytime the asshole who’snearly lost to shock goes quiet, I dig my fingers into a wound and he’s suddenly very willing to help.
Self-preservation really proves a lot about a person. I look at how he’s tied up, how quiet he is. I altered the code so anytime a video of Hope is posted, anytime one of those sick fucks try, it’s immediately deleted. The phone itself has everything else. All of the traces. All of the records. The financial transactions, a list of IP addresses that downloaded, and all of them route to a shared account with Coach Harbaugh as the listed name.
With my laptop linked, I open a back door in the server. “Do your thing, boys,” I whisper and watch as my guys help me set up the code. A virus that will lay dormant and slowly destroy everything. No more videos, no more funds for those benefiting off the website.
I let the program run, pocket the phone, and run outside.
Another shot is fired and I sink down before I realize Knox is tussling with someone. A flashlight moves, proving Knox isn’t being gentle. Not slightly. Hope throws something at him and he sighs.
“Thank you, baby,” he says, then pummels Gauge with his fist. Something glints around his fingers. The knuckle buster.
“Jax? Jax, please. Answer me. Please? I need you to be okay. Talk to me. Oh, god, not you too. Please, please,” Hope sobs.
Gauge laughs. “Looks like the whole family is dead.”
I sprint to Jax and Hope. My arms wrap around Hope and I lift her off Jax. “Fuck,” I whisper and try to wipe away the blood. I can’t see his eye under the gushing flow. His ear looks like it’s gone. But the blood is too much to be from his ear alone.
“What fucking caliber…” I trail off as Hope shakes Jax.
She leans in and kisses him, not caring about the blood. I try to pull her back, but she squeaks softly, then her whole body starts shaking. Jax wraps an arm around her slowly, then grips the back of her neck hard, squeezing like she’s the life he needs.
Then I see it, the stream of blood soaking into the earth. “Hope, keep pressure on his temple.”
She tilts back, follows my line of sight and does as I told her.
“We need an ambulance—”
“Dimitri, get over here!” Knox orders. He kicks the gun in our direction, and I see Gauge making a comeback despite the fact he’s wheezing, his nose is broken, his jaw hangs tilted, and one of his eyes is swollen shut.
I don’t think, I move. I crawl to Knox and dig my knee into Gauge’s stomach. He thrashes, but Knox has one of his legs pinned and his shoulder on the ground. I pin the other. When he tries to bite me, I punch him so hard he ends up with fewer teeth.
