THE CRAZY GOOD SERIES - Rachel Robinson Page 0,359

time.

“You got any more fucking guns on you?” Dax asks, an unwitting, sarcastic smile playing on his lips. “I would have brought my kit if I knew I’d be working tonight.” It’s a joke, a really bad one at the moment. Cody responds in the negative, so I toss him my vegetable knife and Dax hurries to grab Vadim’s weapon from the floor. “I should have known better. It’s always a battle if Lainey has anything to do with it,” Dax mutters. His words are dry, emotionless, and I know that our relationship is damaged beyond repair. Funny how it takes a gun fight with mobsters to make him understand. Or it could be the fact that I shot a man in the back when he was in the same room. Either option doesn’t make for good wife material.

That’s when gun shots echo in the air. Hard pops sound and grow closer. We slink behind the island. While texting with one hand, Cody takes a towel he pulled from a cabinet and shoves it in V’s loud ass mouth. He’s getting blood everywhere. The smell makes me want to vomit up all the bourbon I spent all night drinking.

“I’m so sorry, Dax,” I whisper. He looks at me pitifully, shakes his head, and holds up his knife in a salute. “I’ll make sure your name stays out of this,” I vow. I can make good on this one.

“My men are here,” Cody says, putting his phone away. “They’re cleaning house up front. You can put away your tomato slicer, bro. The big boys are here now.”

“Fuck you,” Dax spits. “Fuck all of you and the nightmare this day has been!”

V wails beside us. Cody punches him in the face so hard that I have to look away. He’s silent after that.

“Why is RC here? How did you tell them?” Dax asks. A few more gunshots pop in the front room and then silence.

“Lainey called and asked me to come to a weird house in the middle of the night twelve hours before her marriage to you. I figured something was up. It was either going one of two ways. In case it was going to swing badly, I told them to come here if they didn’t hear from me in twenty minutes. They’re here now. For what it’s worth, I’m sorry you got caught up in all this bullshit as well,” Cody explains. Dax puts his head down between his knees and groans. My stomach ties in knots at the sight. I’m the cause of his pain.

I’m still shaking because of the shock and adrenaline pumping through my system. I want to take him in my arms and hold him so tightly that nothing can touch him unless it goes through me, but I’m afraid we’re past that now. This entire mess is because of me. I look at Cody. “I can’t even apologize for what I’ve caused you. I’d never forgive me if I were you,” I tell him.

It’s not the time, nor the place to have serious conversations. With our enemy bleeding out beside us and my fiancé wondering what the hell is happening. Cody’s men are mowing down villains in the next room, but all I want to do is talk to him. I want to tell him that he can be free now. Free from V’s heavy-handed thumb. Free from looking over this shoulder. Free from me dragging him down at every corner. Even with Vadim’s cold heart still, I can’t be the woman he wants me to be. I’m a killer. I’m a person I don’t recognize. The woman I left in the past is back and she’s a nasty, scary bitch.

Cody’s huge, hulking killer comes in the kitchen. I know it’s him because of the sound his huge boots make against the floor. “Cody!” he yells.

Cody stands from behind the island, leaving Dax and I beneath him. “Horse, we’re over here. Everyone is okay.” Horse approaches, followed by one of his other men and a few others. When Horse sees V his eyes widen and his lips curl. V is moments away from death. His breaths are shallow and irregular. Watching him brings me pain and suffering. The horrendous scenarios from my past are in the forefront of my mind. They’re leaving me, very slowly one by one. It must feel the same for Cody, who is also glancing at V’s body with an unfamiliar look. Swallowing down a mouthful of spit, I take