Slater wasted no time in throwing a three-punch combo at me. One across the face, one in the stomach, one in the ribs, causing me to sway as my vision went blurry, and I bent forward.
“Again?” he asked.
“No!” Ayda shouted angrily, unable to rush forward as an arm wrapped around her middle to keep her away. “No more.”
My mouth curled up at the corner as I stared up at her through one good eye and one that was fucked because Slater’s big ass fucking HOB ring had caught it. God, I loved that woman. I loved her need to protect me. I loved feeling like I had someone in my corner, no matter what the fight, no matter what the result, no matter where things were going to go.
I fucking loved her.
But I needed to do this to save her.
I spat out the small collection of blood from my mouth,never looking away from her before I wiped the back of my hand across my lips and winked at her with affection.
“I love you, darlin’. Don’t be too mad.” Then I turned back to look up at Slater, my command instant and the smile soon being wiped from my face before I could even finish saying it. “Go.”
He went, and he made it count.
The last thing I remembered was falling to the ground beside Travis Gatlin, the president of The Navarro Rifles, and Slater’s voice as he picked up his cell and made the call.
“Chief Sutton, this is Slater Portman of The Hounds of Babylon MC. We’re at Rusty’s diner and we’ve been attacked by the Navarro Rifles. Tucker is shot and down. There’s a body count, too. We need your help, sir. We can’t restrain the rest of the attackers for much longer. We need your help... now.”
Chapter Forty
AYDA
Ihad a headache from all the flashing lights. The blue and red LED light bars had been blinding, the intense colors alternating over and over again until I could still see the sequence with my eyes closed. There were little yellow tent flags littered around the area at the back of Rusty’s, and if I never spent another moment in the back of a police cruiser for the rest of my life, it would be too soon.
Sutton had been doing his best to put out fires, but there was a look of defeat in his eyes as he leaned into the back of the Navarro Sheriff’s car to talk to Travis who was saying nothing. He let his officers question us briefly, as well as the people of Babylon, but we stayed as quiet as we could get away with, for the most part. Slater was handing out the specifics, while the rest of us watched on, nodding and agreeing where it was deemed necessary. My wrists ached from the metal cuffs that had been put there while I was in the back of the car. Something else Sutton hadn’t been able to help with.
I couldn’t say I’d never been that scared in my life because I had been more scared than this before—the night in the warehouse had been far more terrifying than being handcuffed in the back of a car knowing the worst that couldhappen was a criminal record and possibly prison.
Okay, the situation was bad, but I could have been dead, so I had some perspective.
Emergency technicians had Autumn sitting in the back of an ambulance, and most of the men Travis had brought with him were treated in an area they were using as triage… One of two as they were doing everything in their power to keep the two clubs apart.
Four hours later, I was released and sent home with the others on our own recognizance. The usual warnings of not leaving town rang in our ears as we helped Rusty lock up and rode home.
The moment I was inside The Hut, I slipped behind the bar and did a mentaleenie meenie miney mobetween, Johnny, Jack, and Jose.Johnny Black Labelwon. I twisted the cap off and inhaled the liquid fire as my eyes locked on my betrothed.
He was battered, bruised, and worn, but damn him, he still managed to look sexy as hell as he approached the opposite side of the bar with his T-shirt sleeves rolled up to his shoulders proudly showing off his strapped up bullet wound. That usual damn smirk was in place, only he had enough respect for me to at least look a little bit cautious in his approach.
“Is now a good time?” he asked softly.
I tipped back my head and held the bottle to my lips, letting more of the liquid trail fire down my throat, while holding up a finger to ask for a moment. I shuddered as I rocked forward and held the bottle out to him, letting out a gasp.
“Now is a perfect time, Mr. Tucker. I need you to explain what the fuck just happened.”
“You shot me,” he said with amusement as he swiped the bottle from me and tipped it to his lips, never once taking his eyes from me.
“Yeah, I caught that. It was thewhyI was unclear about.”
He shuddered and gasped, dropping the bottle back down onto the bar to push it toward me. “Trigger… Sorry, Travis, was trying to frame you for Jacob’s murder. I needed to create a scene that made it look like there’d been a struggle—that he’d been the one to snatch the gun from you, causing the trigger to be pulled by accident, which led to Jacob being shot in the head. I tried to step forward to defend you, he twisted the gun in both your grips, tried to aim it at me, and it caught my arm… just not enough to stop me getting to you. I managed to break you apart. We fought.” Drew paused and faked a harsh wince of pain. “He got me real good. Right here.” He pointed to his left eye. “And I hate to admit it, but the little sniper got me in the ribs a few times, too. Way more hits than he’d have got if I hadn’t just been shot in my arm.” His eyes met mine as he looked up and tried not to smile. “You stumbled back. Slater caught you. You were…traumatized. The rest happened so quickly. What can I say?” He shrugged.
I pulled the bottle toward me, my hand tightening around the neck as I studied him. The adrenaline was still racing through my veins, but it was only a matter of time until the inevitable crash came, and I had more questions.
“Thank you,” I said, running my thumb around the lip of the bottle. “He didn’t blink, Drew. When he shot Jacob, he didn’t even blink. It didn’t affect him enough to even blink. His own brother.”
I covered my face with my other hand and sucked in a deep breath.
