What was happening?
“Stay down,” Yukio ordered into my ear, and he didn’t need to tell me twice.
My entire body shook as fear overtook every sense.
Were we going to die?
9
YUKIO
Micah trembled against me,and an anger purer than anything I’d ever experienced sparked in my chest and crackled like a live wire. Droplets of blood welled on his elbows, and I hated that he was hurt. I watched the customized red Mustang tear out of the parking lot with irritation crawling across my skin.
“Really? You had to do this shit tonight?” I grumbled to the universe. “Why? Fuckers.”
“Are they coming back?” Micah pressed his face against my chest and his curls tickled my chin.
“Probably not but stay here.” I gave him a squeeze, and he nodded. “Fuck, where’s Milo?” I went up on my knees and peeked over the hood of the old blue Buick we were crouched against. Dad always said hiding behind old cars was best if you ever found yourself in crossfire because they were more likely to be made of metal. Relief smacked me when I spotted Milo huddled near the next car over. Brisco had a horrible scowl on his face, and at first, I couldn’t figure out why, but then Milo’s shoulders heaved, and I turned away rather than watching him lose all the alcohol he’d guzzled.
“Yikes,” I mumbled.
The music in the club stopped thudding, and the shift was so abrupt it felt eerie. Someone was sprawled on the ground holding their chest near the front doors, so at least one person was probably wounded.
I hugged Micah tight. “I’m sorry. I never thought anything like this would happen, or I wouldn’t have brought you with me.”
Micah squeezed me as if I was the only thing anchoring him to the ground in a tornado.
I kissed his temple.
“Would you have still come out if you thought this would happen?” he asked quietly.
Shrugging, I glanced down and was relieved to see one gray eye peeking up at me. “Of course. I had to get Milo. Plus, Coach would be pissed if I didn’t watch out for the other guys on the basketball team. I can’t lose a member of my band, either. I had to show up for a lot of reasons.”
Micah let out a small whimper, then uncurled. “Bravery was one of the five virtues of the ancient Greeks.” He smiled at me and patted my chest. “Obviously I don’t have it. That’s why I sent Alex to a military academy. What could I teach him? You’ve got it, though.”
I didn’t mean to stiffen at the mention of Alexander’s name, but I did.
Micah frowned.
I gave him a tight hug. “Oh yeah?”
He nodded and sat back a little more but didn’t try to shove away from me.
I cupped his cheek. “Are you doing all right? Let’s try to stand up. Do you think you can?”
Micah shook his head hard enough that his curls bounced. “No, I don’t want to. What if they come back?”
“Okay, hold on.” He clawed at my shirt as I stood, but I patted him. That red Mustang was long gone. I stared around. Milo was still losing his guts. Brisco was leaning against someone’s car. People had started to spill out of the club and gawk at the wounded person. There was a lot of frantic activity in that area, as if maybe the people surrounding the person were trying to stifle blood. I chewed on my bottom lip. Every fiber of my being screamed that we should go, now, before we got caught up in this mess. “They’re gone,” I said, holding a hand out to Micah.
He bit his lip, then took my hand, glancing around uncertainly as he stood.
Sirens pierced the night, screaming toward us from the direction of the DUI checkpoint we’d passed on the way here, and I groaned as Micah cringed against my side and slammed his hands over his ears. The cop cars tore into the parking lot, squealing tires as they left the road, and they were going so fast that the lead car almost blasted into a woman who was walking out of the club. She flattened herself to the side against a car and flipped them off, but the policeman driving didn’t stop until his car was almost up on the shooting scene.
“Assholes!” she screamed.
The other two cop cars I’d seen at the checkpoint came to a stop behind the leader.
Micah trembled, and I tried to hug him, but he sort of used his elbow to push on my shoulder, so I just left one arm around him. I glanced down at the drops of blood on my shirt, but I was more worried that he was still bleeding than about the fabric. This was a clusterfuck. We watched as an ambulance came in and parked directly beside the cop cars. Micah seemed torn between turning away and staring, transfixed, at the EMTs shoving through the line of police, who didn’t seem to be doing much except talking to bystanders.
