obeyed, his beady gaze darting all around.
Spider opened his door and dragged me out, keeping the gun to my side. “Devlin? “We have to talk about this.”
In a move that was as fast as it was shocking, Aiden pulled a gun from the back of his waist and smashed the butt against Grease’s temple. Grease’s eyelids actually fluttered shut, and he dropped to the ground with a harsh thud. Aiden turned and kicked the shotgun out of Melvin’s hands, and it clipped across the wet cement and under the truck.
Man, he was fast.
He then slammed the driver’s door, lifted his gun and pointed it at Spider, walking around the front of the truck with an animal’s grace.
Spider backed away from the truck, pulling me with him.
Keeping us in his sights, Aiden kicked the passenger door closed. “Ladies? Get Pauley and yourselves out of here,” he ordered, over the pounding rain.
Georgiana launched into motion, diving over the front seat and scrambling, arms and legs flying, for the driver’s seat. She punched the gas, and the truck roared down the drive toward safety.
Spider started to remove the gun from my side. No doubt about to shoot at the truck.
Aiden tensed, and Spider stopped. Melvin hovered in place, rain soaking through his thin clothing.
“What the hell are you doing, Devlin?” Spider bellowed.
Aiden shook his head. “Not letting you kill a kid and two old ladies. Are you crazy?”
“It’s too late. Grease killed a cop.” Spider had a strong hold on my arm, and I tried to control my mind enough to think of the right move. My body shook, from cold and fear, and my legs felt frozen. Pauley and the ladies were safe, and they’d call for help as soon as possible. So I had to think.
Spider coughed. “You’re in this deep, Devlin.” He partially turned toward me, keeping Aiden in sight. “Aiden here is the one who stole Charles Monroe’s car the other day. After choking out your cop buddy.”
I blinked in the rain. Aiden had choked out Bud? My legs wanted to give out.
Aiden’s expression didn’t change. “I didn’t kill him, now did I? You moron.”
Spider’s lips peeled back. “I knew you weren’t a true brother. Look at you. Choosing a woman over your brothers. What really happened with the Diablo Riders?”
“Choosing my woman. I told you I would,” Aiden countered, his voice a low growl. “I told you to leave her alone and we’d be fine.”
His woman. He couldn’t mean that. What was going on? None of this was making sense, unless it really was that simple. Aiden was a bad guy who just couldn’t let me get hurt. Had that moment in time, the one he’d talked about, shaped him as much as me? Maybe so. I cleared my throat. “Just let me go. Neither of you want a prosecutor’s death on your hands. That leads directly to the death penalty.”
“Oh, we’re already there,” Spider snapped. “Or did you forget about Scot Peterson?”
My stomach cramped. “You killed Scot?”
“Yeah. The asshole was having second thoughts about the deal, even though his retirement fund sucked, and I think he was planning to talk. So I took care of him.” Spider glared at Aiden. “I also found and burned his trial notebook on you, dickhead, which slowed your case down considerably.”
Aiden shook his head. “I didn’t ask for your help.”
The center apartment door burst open, and a man rushed out, shooting an automatic weapon at us. Spider jumped and turned, lifting the gun from my ribs.
I smashed his hand and punched his face, turning to run. The gun dropped to the ground.
Aiden grabbed my arm and Melvin’s hair, running full bore for the far side of the garage. Spider ducked out of the way, reaching for his gun and running the opposite way.
We reached the garage and Aiden threw Melvin against the metal siding. I slid down, my hands shaking. “Anybody hit?”
“He wasn’t aiming to harm,” Aiden said grimly, crouching near the edge. “Hit the cement. Obviously not sure who to shoot.”
Yelling voices echoed through the rain.
“Now they know who to shoot.” I wiped rain off my head.
“No shit.” Aiden angled around the corner, and bullets pinged up from the cement. “Keep low.” He knocked the back of his head against the siding. Then he took a deep breath, pivoted, and fired several times. A cry of pain rippled through the morning.
“How many are there?” I asked, gulping as Melvin shivered next to me.
“Too many.” Aiden looked down at me. “Your