could have done a better job of moving it. But it made perfect sense a few seconds later when she rammed it straight into Mr. Suit’s ankles.
“Fuck!” he roared loudly, swinging his arm around behind him and flashing me the perfect look at the large gun tucked into the front of his fucking pants.
Holly weaved, avoiding the flailing limb by what looked like an inch or two before ditching the stroller and running straight at me. “Go!” she bellowed, grabbing hold of some innocent guy’s shopping cart as he tried to pass by and ramming that into Mr. Suit’s stomach while he was still nursing his first injury.
His rage-filled scream was like a shot of ice shooting through my veins, my heart stuttering, desperately fighting that instant fear. Though Gage wasn’t having it, his unhappy cry kickstarting my heart and shot that first push of adrenaline through my veins that I desperately needed.
Holly’s hand pressed against my back, and she danced on her tiptoes. “Today, Ave!”
My shoes skidded on the linoleum floors, finding it almost impossible to find balance and any kind of fucking traction while also cradling the small child against my chest. But when I finally found it, I fucking dared someone to stop me.
Our footsteps fell in perfect time as we sprinted toward the front doors, missing several old ladies and a young guy with two kids who thought we were in some kind of race and tried to leap out of their cart and join us before he grabbed them.
“Kid!” I screamed out across the parking lot, switching to his real name, when I didn’t get a response. “Ty!”
His head appeared above the SUV for a brief second as Holly and I raced out of the building and onto the asphalt. Gage was screaming, and all I could think of was putting him down and checking he was okay, that I hadn’t missed anything or squeezed him too tight.
“Don’t look back,” Holly ordered, and I kept my eyes focused on the car across the parking lot. While it wasn’t easy to see in past the dark tint on the car windows, I knew exactly what Kid was doing.
A car screeched to a stop, and Holly and I both stumbled.
“I’m trying to fucking run here!” Holly screamed at the driver, throwing her hands in the air dramatically, the driver throwing it into park and reaching for the door handle before Kid appeared beside us with a military-style weapon strapped across his chest. The driver quickly changed his mind, throwing it into reverse and switching his route.
Kid’s lip curled up in a sneer, and I could see the way his finger twitched, as though he was ready to put it straight on the trigger and fill the fucking building with bullets. “Get in the car. I sent an SOS. They’ll be roaring in here any fucking second.”
He’d barely taken a breath before I caught the distinct sound of motorcycles at high throttle. We were only a few blocks from the clubhouse which was not so fucking smart on the ex-husband’s part. But I guess maybe he hadn’t been anticipating Holly.
Neither had I.
SHOTGUN
I barely managed to kick my stand out before I was off my ride and reaching for the door handle of the SUV that held everything I fucking gave a damn about.
Kid was sitting on the hood, his eyes narrowed as a couple of cop cars pulled into the supermarket parking lot, eyeing him cautiously before their gaze was drawn to me and the other six men parked protectively around the vehicle.
We made the police nervous.
Neither of the two vehicle’s occupants opting to get out and rather just speaking into their little walkie-talkie machines.
Yanking the door open, Avery’s eyes instantly shot up, widening for a brief second before she realized it was me. Her body sagged, but she continued to jostle the small screaming child in her arms.
“He okay?”
I chose to ignore the fact that Holly was sitting in the front passenger’s seat.
Not exactly aware of what the hell she was doing here.
Avery nodded. “I think I gave him a fright, and he’s feeling the energy swirling around me.”
“And you?”
She pressed her lips into a fine line and smiled—a smile I could tell was forced.
“I’m oka—”
“You’re not okay, but I’ll take it for now. Only because there’s something I need to fucking do more than lecture you about lying to me.”
Every nerve in my body itched to wrap the two of them up and usher them the