Page 36 of Ruthless Son

“Fuck.”

In a split second, everything changed. Pulling my own gun, I aimed at the shooter. Bullets and mayhem rang through the air as I took aim and fired. My aim ringing true as I hit Jax’s assassin center mass, his eyes flew wide open at the new hole in his chest.

Kannon rushed out, taking aim at the fat man who had crouched behind one of the pumps, trading shots with Sly. I could barely see my brother behind a tree.

The one Sinner left was taken by surprise with the bullet to the back of the head, he literally never saw Kannon coming.

It was over before it had even started, the traitorous scum that had taken out his own man had ignited a war to keep their secrets from being spilled.

“Any idea what Jax was trying to say before he got taken out?” Kannon muttered, rifling through the fallen men’s pockets.

“He said, ‘My’... I don’t know what that means, fuck. And now they’re dead so we’re not getting anything out of them.” I tucked my gun away, kicking at the dead Jax, his lifeless body shifting across the dirt floor.

“At least we don’t have to run them out of town anymore.”

I stared wide eyed at Kannon. “Did you just make a joke?”

His eyes narrowed. “I can joke,” he deadpanned, “and anyway, they’re not all dead, that runner is in back. I knocked him out good and hog tied the prick in case he woke up. He’s all yours.”

A sharp hiss had me twisting swiftly toward Sly, my brother hunched over and groaned in pain. “What the fuck, Sly. Were you hit?” I ran toward him, wrapping my arm around his waist and holding him up, Kannon hot on my heels.

“Where were you hit?” Kannon’s hands ran over his cut, coming away wet with Sly’s blood. “Shit, we have to get him back. I’ll call prez?—”

“I can ride.” Sly groaned, standing up straight, his face pinched from the strain.

“You can’t ride, you stubborn ass.” Kannon pulled his phone out, and I held on tightly to my best friend, trying desperately to find the wound that was soaking his clothes.

“I said I can fucking ride!” He tore himself away, standing tall and facing off with Kannon, a bead of sweat appearing at his temple. “You call prez for clean-up and for someone to collect that heap of shit out back, but I’ll never leave my bike and no motherfucker gets on it but me.”

A flame of defiance lit my brother’s eyes and I knew there was no persuading him otherwise. “Fine, but we ride slow and steady. Tell prez to get the doc prepped, he’ll need to be at the clubhouse to see to Sly,” I ordered. “Fuck, this was a fucking shitshow,” I muttered to the dead men. But they wouldn’t reply ever again, their silence eternal. I just better get some information out of that survivor, or Sly got shot for fucking nothing.

Mia

For hours it was silent, the men going about their business after Rex left. Millie and I holed up in Rex’s room, being generally nosey and rummaging through his drawers. When I found nothing interesting that could give me hints about the man beneath the leather, we got comfortable and watched Friends re-runs, a show that never failed to lift my mood.

Shouts sounded in the other room, and I lifted my head from the pillow, listening intently to what all the commotion could be about.

“What is it?” Millie whispered.

“Sshh, I don’t know. Let me listen.” Poking my head out of the door, men ran up and down the hall, their hands laden with towels and boxes, their heavy boots thumping along the corridor as angry faces ignored me to head to whatever the drama was.

Fear and curiosity was an equal mix inside me. My dad always said, ‘curiosity killed the cat’ and that jumping into investigating things leads to trouble, but I was a nurse, and judging by the box of supplies that Ryan was carrying, someone was hurt.

“Stay here,” I told Millie, pulling on a pair of socks, because I would not in any way walk barefoot on that floor.

“But Mia, you can’t?—”

“Stay. There,” I demanded, indecision lined her face before she nodded, giving into me. And before I knew it, I was running down the hall following the other men into God knows what.

It was chaos, and all I could think was where the hell was Rex?

He said he wouldn’t be gone long, and he’d been out for hours. The club gathered in a tight circle in the hall, first aid kits and clean towels stacked on the bar—an unhygienic surface that was currently contaminating the stark white cloth. I really bloody hoped they weren’t planning on using those now, not after I’d seen Emma faceplant the bar earlier on, her scabby mouth coming disgustingly close to a place where I put my hands.

Gauge was arguing with someone on the phone, white knuckles clenching the device as he cursed up a storm, ordering someone to get the fuck here now.

“What’s going on?” As one, their heads whipped around, pinning me with their glares, and I had to take a step back, the rage almost palpable.

“You shouldn’t fuckin’ be here, girl. Get back to the room and stay there,” the president shouted, the first time I’d seen the calm man raise his voice. His eyes flashed with the devil, hinting at the darkness within him and I stepped back until I hit the wall.

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