here. They're probably just busy, there's a lot going on here and if they're cleaning the place out after the shooting then of course they're not going to pick up on the first call.
I glance at Rue but he's still just as fucking worried, shifting straight into the future Prez the club needs. "We go in slow. Just in case. The worst that happens is we're both fucking laughing about this tonight over beers."
True.
I give him a nod and draw my gun.
The club has owned the bar longer than I’ve been alive, I was a fucking toddler the first time I came here. I know every inch of the entire property, I know which of the wooden floorboards will squeak, I know how to open the back door without a sound.
I go first because it’s protocol.
We walk through the back rooms and there’s nothing. It’s not until I creep around the corner that I thank God for this fucking curse. Whatever it is, however I got it, I'll take the fucking pain of being cuntstruck every day of the damn week because I’m here at exactly the right fucking time.
Speck has a fucking gun to his head.
There's group of fucking Demons standing there laughing as they're about to fucking execute my cousin, kneeling there with Hellion and Law, beat to hell like they’ve been fucking tortured.
I take the guy holding the gun out with a headshot.
His friend sees us and pulls a gun but Rue gets him first.
Law dives onto the ground as bullets start flying everywhere and then I see him tug Speck down with him. Hell kneels there like he's fucking hoping a bullet takes him and Rue starts cursing the asshole out.
"Get your fucking head outta the way, you dumbass!"
Finally he slumps down onto the ground and grabs a stray gun, killing the one of the guys from where he's ducked behind a turned over table.
I might lose my mind a little but I walk out into the bar as if I’m fucking bulletproof, ignoring Rue’s cussing as he follows me out. We’re assholes but we’ll die together if we have to, just to have each other’s backs.
Three more down and Rue takes the last guy down with two shots to the back when he tries to run.
I feel relief for about a half a second.
"Tomi! Tomi, Speck's shot."
My brain just fucking short circuits. Just shuts down but I'm moving on instinct. I've learned a lot from my mom over the years listening to her stories and little things she'll say to me about packing wounds.
When I look at my cousin’s chest I'm fairly fucking sure there's no saving him.
I try anyway.
I know Rue will be calling 911 for him and there'll be a helluva lot of paperwork to do about this shootout but I couldn't fucking care less. I'll do time if I have to, I just need Speck to fucking live.
The blood just pours outta him, no matter how hard I pack it, and by the time the EMTs arrive I'm covered in blood. Beyond covered, it's dripping from every inch of my skin and Speck's face is the color of a corpse.
I'm fucking sure he's dead.
I don't even notice my surroundings until they have him loaded up and out of the building, working so goddamn fast but he's dead. There's no fucking way he's coming back from that. No way.
I stand up and find Rue staring at me with blank eyes. The type you get when you see your brother, your blood, bleeding out on the dirty fucking floor of a bar.
Law is shaking like a fucking leaf while he's talking to Thorn, standing there in full uniform and taking notes. His face is fucking grim, the frown etched so deep into his skin I don't think he'll ever look happy again.
Hell is behind the bar chugging a bottle of whiskey like it has all of the answers, one of the other officers trying to stop him or talk him down but that's not going to work out for him at all.
The Demons are still all lying around wherever they fell and all at once I'm taken over with a calm sort of rage. I'm not ready to ride off into the sunset and find me some Demons to gun down. Nope, I'm feeling a fucking evangelical need to find and destroy whoever helped these fucking rat cunts into my town and my fucking bar to kill my fucking blood.