him that I was a fully capable woman and that my crazy stunts had equalled my survival up until this date. Then I reached out to touch his arm instead, feeling the tension in his posture as my fingers ran over the solid muscle of his flexed bicep.
"I'm not going anywhere, Fox," I promised him. "So long as you don't try to cut me out of this, I promise I'll stand by you. I won't leave your side for a single second. Kay?"
Fox dropped his gaze to meet mine, blowing out a slow breath as he nodded and eased back a little to give me some room to breathe.
"I can't lose you too, hummingbird," he murmured, the pain we all felt over Chase creeping into the space between us and I nodded, squeezing his arm a little where I held it.
The sound of a gunshot broke through the silence and suddenly the whole place was carnage.
Glass shattered, men yelled and bullets tore through the sky in every direction.
I tried to peek out the window and take a shot of my own, but Fox flattened me against the wall, a snarl on his face as he leaned out and returned fire.
Luther started bellowing orders for his men to focus on Shawn and there was a flurry of movement as someone shouted back saying they'd just seen him approaching from the west road and that everyone who had been positioned that way was dead.
"JJ," I gasped, trying to shove my way past Fox as the gun in my hand weighed me down with thoughts of what I needed to do with it.
“He was to the east,” Fox growled. “He’s fine.”
I knew that made sense on some level, but he was still out there and Shawn was so close. Within reach. And that dark, angry, raging part of me hungered for the blood he owed me more furiously than I could have imagined. “Come on.”
I managed to scramble towards the door, but I lurched back with a scream as a bullet tore through the wood.
A Harlequin roared in pain as he was hit in the shoulder and two of the other gang members grabbed him and started hauling him away from the doorway.
Luther stepped out of cover with a manic smile lighting his face as he stood his ground and fired with two pistols at once, emptying them before jumping back away from the door just as return fire ripped through the wood.
Fox grabbed my arm and hauled me back towards him, boxing me in against the wall again as he continued to shoot out of the broken window into the darkness beyond.
His gun rang empty and I snatched a magazine from his belt, reloading it for him as he ejected the empty one to the floor.
Fox caught my eye with half a smile which quickly dissolved into a frown as he returned his attention to shooting outside again. His muscles were bulging with tension and heat poured from his body into mine as he shielded me. It would have been insanely hot if it wasn’t for our current situation - or maybe that was what was making it even hotter.
"Hold your fire!" Shawn's voice bellowed above the clamour of gunshots and I sucked in a sharp breath as my grip on my pistol tightened. "Or your pretty boy here gets a whole lot less pretty."
It seemed like every Harlequin in the clubhouse was holding their breath and fear twisted my heart, shredding it to ribbons in my chest even before I managed to lean far enough over to see who he held as his hostage.
Blood pissed down the side of JJ's face, soaking into his white shirt and making the most horrifying sense of inevitability wash through my skin. Shawn stood at his back, a gun pressed firmly to his temple and a grin on his face which said he knew how valuable the piece he was holding was.
"What do you want?!" Fox roared, his entire body seeming to radiate fury as he pressed his chest to mine and flattened me against the wall like he thought I might just run out there at any moment. And maybe I would.
"What a question. There are just so many answers to it, too," Shawn said, shoving the gun against JJ's temple even harder. "I mean, how far back are we going here? 'Cause I coulda done with a few more warm hugs from my pa. And if I'm being totally honest with ya -