my God.
Oh, my God.
“Where is Gunner?” Sledge asked. “Is he in the car with you?”
Jimmy scoffed. “As if. I don’t do the baby shit. If I would have had my way, the kid would have died when his piece of shit mom did.”
“Where is he?” Sledge demanded.
Jimmy waved the gun in the direction of the crashed car. “With fucking Bella, of course, you idiot. Like I’d bring the kid to this.” He scoffed and rolled his eyes. “I have no interest in that kid. I only got him because Bella wanted him.”
He talked as if Gunner was just something he could take and throw away whenever he wanted.
Sirens sounded in the distance.
Jimmy tipped his head to the side and listened. “Huh, I must have been knocked out longer than I thought.” He laughed manically. “Guess I can attest to the fact that you should wear your seat belt. I didn’t think hitting a piece of shit motorcycle would knock my head against the window.”
He cocked the gun and pointed it at Sledge. “I really have no fucking idea who you are and how you fit into this, but you’re gonna have to die, too. Just the way this shit seems to be playing out.” He glanced at me. “I’ll be with you in just a second.”
Sledge slowly moved his arm to his side but kept his eyes on Jimmy. “Or you could just let us go. We don’t want the kid, either.”
“Bullshit,” Jimmy shouted. “We saw the fucking news. We have one of the fucking fliers! You think I’m stupid to just be like oh, they say they don’t want him. I’ll just be on my way.” Jimmy slightly lowered the gun and pretended to walk away.
Sledge moved in one swift movement. He pulled his gun from his waistband, covered me with his body, and fired three shots at Jimmy.
Two shots hit him in the chest and the other one in the neck. He fell to his knees, blood spilled from his neck, and he tried to raise the gun. Sledge fired one more time and hit him right between the eyes.
“What?” Jimmy gurgled. His eyes rolled back into his head, and he faceplanted on the shoulder of the road.
Sledge watch his lifeless body, the gun still pointed at him.
“I think he’s dead,” I whispered.
The sirens were close, and the lights flashed.
Sledge slid off me and sat back on his knees. “Are you still okay?”
I wiggled my toes and moved both of my feet. “I think so.” I hoped so.
“I’m probably going to have to leave you for a bit, sugar. At least until they get this shit all figured out.”
Realization dawned on me. Until the police actually investigated everything, this was going to look bad for a bit. “You didn’t do anything wrong, Sledge. He was going to kill both of us.”
He nodded and pressed a kiss to my lips. “You’re right, sugar. Just be strong until I come back to you, okay? You can break when you’re back in my arms.”
A whirl of commotion ensued.
The ambulance pulled up right after the police.
Sledge was right.
He dropped the gun on the ground and raised his arms over his head. The police swarmed him, cuffed him, and threw him in the back of a squad car.
Two paramedics rushed over to me while another went to check on Jimmy. I told anyone who came within six feet of me what happened. None of them really seemed to listen, though.
I was being loaded up into the ambulance when another cop car came speeding onto the scene. Relief swept through as Detective Kaye jumped out of the car and rushed over to me.
“Sledge,” I gasped, “Jimmy crashed into us, and then, he was going to kill both of us. Sledge killed him. Please, you have to get Sledge out. He was just protecting us.”
Kaye grasped my hand. “I hear you, Queenie. I hear you.”
“And you have to go get Gunner. She has him. Bella Clark has him. You have to go get him.” Words just fell out of my mouth, and I wasn’t even sure if I was making sense.
“Okay, okay. Head to the hospital. You need to get checked out.” She nodded to the paramedics, and they finished loading me into the ambulance.
I watched out the back windows as she walked over to the car Sledge was in. She spoke to the officer and then moved over to Jimmy’s body. “What is she doing?” I asked the paramedic. “She needs to let Sledge