Page 114 of Where We Promise

Wes glanced over quick enough that he dragged me by the bottom of my jeans and pulled me behind an overturned table.

“Fuck, King. You gonna live?”

I smiled at him, there was blood in my teeth, but I spit it out on the floor and grabbed a fresh clip from inside my vest.

“Think so, Wes. But we’re going to die here today.”

Wes paled, his eyes flicking toward the kitchen. I knew he was thinking of his own family. The same thoughts I had but probably deeper. From what I understood, his connection to Callie went all the way back to when they were just little kids.

“What were you going to name your kid, Wes?”

His stare lowered to the floor as more shooting echoed around us. One of the Stone Riders went down. A man named Riley from what I remembered.

“Ford…Callie was really set on it for some reason. Ford Ryan.”

I smiled, staring up at the tall windows above the main room. “Connor took my last name. He’ll grow up as Connor King…our legacy will live on, Wes, no matter what these fuckers do.”

I didn’t wait for him to reply as I flipped on my stomach and slid around the tossed table, taking aim at the different members still filtering in to fight us. Killian was fist fighting someone, and Giles was likely still picking off people from outside. I was unloading as many shots as I could when there were suddenly more engines rumbling from outside.

More backup for them likely arrived. I slid back into the safety of the table and resumed staring up at the windows. This was it. We had no warning, no fucking clue, and my men helped them. My men, all but a few, had betrayed me.

It burned, but not enough to give up. I had one last clip in my vest. I slid it out and shoved it into the bottom of my gun right as gunfire started sounding from outside. The back door was kicked in, and a swarm of Death Raiders were aiming and firing at the men trying to kill us.

A Chaos King stumbled over into our hiding spot, and Wes began fighting him. It took Wes away from the spot and left me unguarded. My leg was shot to hell, but I wasn’t bleeding horribly bad, so I knew I’d be okay. I’d used a random belt from one of the fallen members to help slow the bleeding but moving was a bitch.

I was about to slide back toward the corner to get a better defensive position when Tuck stumbled into the room, and he had someone with him.

His gun pointed at their back as they walked inside.

My breathing stopped.

All the air in my lungs left because standing in front of Tuck Holloway was my wife and son.

THIRTY-SIX

PENELOPE

The gun shots above the floor were muffled, but it still felt like I had felt every single shot. My fear over Jameson was so acute that at times I had nearly stopped breathing. Connor had thankfully fallen asleep, but I needed to walk. So, I started pacing the cellar. Laura was sitting with Callie, holding her hand so tight, I wasn’t sure her circulation was working. Tears streamed down Callie’s face as she muttered a thousand different things, none of us knew what.

Harris, and the two old timers, watched the door while Red began sifting through dry ingredients. She’d found us a pack of water bottles, which had helped tremendously, but she worried we’d need food. I appreciated her keeping busy. It did something to me to see people sitting still, doing nothing.

So I paced.

There were tall shelves that bracketed the entire floor. Rows and rows that hid me from view as tears teemed down my face. As fear gathered in my heart like a black flame, burning my hopes to ash.

I wasn’t paying attention.

Which was why someone was able to take me by surprise.

It was quiet and then a hand was over my mouth. They must have found the door that led out, somehow whoever they were knew about it and had found his way in.

I was turned and Miles’ familiar face swam in front of me. I knew he shouldn’t be there, standing in front of me, and yet something about him had me lowering my guard. Once he dropped his hand from my mouth, he waved me over to the door he’d used.

“Jameson sent me to come get you. He wanted to be sure the others weren’t alarmed since my bike can only hold one. We need to go now. He wants to get you to safety.”

I looked back over my shoulder; the others were far beyond the shelves where I had chosen to hide.

Pulling at his hands, because something in my gut twisted, I refused him. He’d been asking too many questions in the letter. Something felt off about it.

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