Give Me War - Kate McCarthy Page 0,32
don’t have a heart, you see?”
We’re following the smeared trail of blood on the floor and I try not to think about who it belongs to. “What about a child? Would you stand by and watch a child die?”
“You ain’t no child.”
He shoves me, propelling me into the same room I woke up in earlier this morning. I stumble and turn, panic bubbling up inside me like molten lava. “Rider, wait!” I call out, running for the door as he starts to close it on me. “I’m pregnant. Don’t let them kill my child!”
He doesn’t blink an eye, but he snorts. “Yeah, right. I’d say nice try but like I said, I ain’t got no heart.”
The door slams shut and I hear a lock turn. I bang against the solid timber with the back of my cuffed fists, sobbing, “Rider, please!”
But it’s really true. He has no heart. I’m not surprised. Not even a little bit.
A voice penetrates over the yelling and banging. A pained raspy voice.
“You’re … pregnant?”
I know that voice. I suck in a breath and turn. Renny is on the ground. On his back. The smeared trail of blood ends at his feet.
“Evie?”
Oh my god. I race over, dropping to my knees. “Renny?” My hands shake as they hover over him, not sure what to do. “You’re alive?” I go for his pulse. It takes two attempts because my cuffed wrists make it awkward but it’s there, and it’s faint.
Renny turns his head in my direction and his eyes blink open just a fraction. “Fuck,” he mutters and his eyes close again. “I’m sorry. Baby, I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.” A tear leaks out and slides down his temple, into his hair. “They told me to take you and I did because I thought it better me than some other Viper. Thought you’d be safe here. But I didn’t know they knew … about me. Got cocky,” he whispers. “I wanted you outta the ... outta the … way. Wanted you … safe.”
He trails off slowly, going still.
“Renny?”
I grab for his pulse again. It’s still there. I look around the room. I need something to press against his wounds. His shoulder is a bloodied mess, and lower, it looks like a gut shot. He needs an ambulance before it’s too late. But I find nothing. Only the shirt he’s wearing. I tug at the end of it with both hands, trying to drag it up his torso, but I have to do one side at a time, and it’s slow.
I’ve reached his armpits when I hear the key turn and the door swings open.
I look up. It’s Atomic, and his grin is wide. “Time for a show.”
“No.” I look back at Renny, struggling again with his shirt, my movements in such a panic that my fingers slip in the blood and smack him in the chin. “Shit.”
Atomic curls his hand around my upper arm and gives a hard tug.
“No!” I cry out. “I need to …” He yanks me to my feet, but I’m boneless and can’t hold myself upright. “I need to help Renny.”
I’m marched through to the front of the house, where the front door sits wide open. It leads to a little porch, and as we step out, I’d call it almost quaint if this whole scenario wasn’t so sinister. To our left is a set of three wide stairs, and he jerks me in that direction.
My eyes are on my feet, not wanting to stumble, and when we reach the top of the stairs, he pauses as if for dramatic effect. I look up then, and suck in a breath.
Jared is right there, in the front yard. So is Mitch, and Travis, and Mac? What in the hell? I have no idea how she managed to get herself involved but her brothers look pissed, only not at her.
The four of them stand together, side by side, facing down every single Viper on the property. They appear confident and assured, as if they could take all of them on without cracking a sweat.
They’re wearing varying shades of worn blue jeans and rumpled shirts, and I can see the exhaustion behind their eyes, as if they’ve been up all night, and it wouldn’t surprise me if they had, yet it doesn’t detract from the power that emanates from each of them, like a golden aura. Even Mac appears a crumpled mess, but seeing them all together, it’s special. Something that never gets old.
Atomic holds