Ace’s head snaps toward me. “Reina.”
“I’m not hurt,” I say.
His eyes flash.
Right.
He hates thin answers.
I drag in a breath. “I’m scared. But I’m not hurt.”
His expression shifts. Hard edges easing only for me.
“Good girl.”
Even now, the words land warm.
Briggs groans beneath him, breath hissing through his teeth.
Ace keeps him pinned and reaches for his phone.
“Ghost,” he says. “Got Briggs.”
My fingers tighten around my keys.
Briggs is on the ground. His gun is gone. Ace is between us.
I still cannot breathe right.
Ace’s gaze cuts to me while he listens. “Reina’s place. Back unit on Marigold. He came out armed.” A pause. “Alive. Leg wound.”
Briggs curses under his breath.
Ace presses his knee down once.
Briggs goes quiet.
“Send brothers,” Ace says. “County too.”
He ends the call.
For a few seconds, there is only the sound of Briggs breathing hard and my pulse beating too fast.
My eyes keep going to my open door.
Ace sees.
“Stay there,” he says.
I nod because my legs are not ready to do anything else.
Engines roll onto the street a minute later.
Two bikes.
Then another.
Leather cuts. Hard faces. The Damned Saints patch.
