Page 84 of Frenemies

Bailey screamed and ducked her head under her arms while Ava lunged on one of the men climbing out of the van. And by lunged I meant launched. Ava threw her tiny body through the air and wrapped around the biker’s head.

I think Jaz and Tanner were returning fire, but I couldn’t see them. Couldn’t make out the words Tanner was yelling at me either. I was trapped in one of those scenes where everything slowed down.

Bullets clicked into the ground spewing up a cloud of dirt that seemed to be suspended in the air while people’s mouths opened with inaudible screams.

I wanted to move. My mind screamed at me to find some cover, but all I could do was stand there with my feet frozen in place as a mob of Harleys came around the corner. My stare was fixed on the large man in the lead. More specifically, his dark eyes boring into me. The same eyes I’d seen years ago in Daddy’s office.

Jax.

Two words passed through my mind—the baby.

The only thing that pulled me out of my stunned state was Tanner. His large body crashed into mine, knocking me to the hard ground below.

“Jesus Christ, Girl, are you trying to get shot?”

My mouth opened, but nothing came out. The world sped back up with a slap to my face.

“Naomi,” Tanner snarled down at me. “Snap out of it.”

Right!

Reality snapped back. The first thing I heard was the screams of the guy trying desperately to rip Ava off his head. The second was Bailey’s whimpering. The final thing I heard was the lack of gunfire, and that eerie silence caused my heart to stop.

“Why aren’t they firing?”

Tanner rolled off me and looked over at the group of men climbing off their bikes. “Because they don’t need to.”

He wasn’t wrong. They had Jaz down on her knees with a gun to her head, and Bailey was shoved in the van. The only person they were having an issue with was Ava. She was sitting on the shoulders of one guy with her legs wrapped around his neck while she slapped his head like it was a bongo drum.

“What do we do?”

“Give them as much shit as we can,” Tanner grunted.

That’s when I noticed the blood soaking through the left leg of his jean. Tanner was shot. He had a bullet wound in his leg, and he still ran to knock me out of the way. I’d kiss him if we weren’t surrounded by a bunch of bikers.

There was no mistaking the scar on the face of the first guy to walk over to us.

“Ah shit, that looks like it hurts.” Harris lifted his foot and pressed it against Tanner’s wound. “Not so fucking lucky now, are you?”

All Tanner did as Harris put more weight down on his leg was grit his teeth and grumble, “Your aim’s still shit.”

Harris didn’t like that. He pulled out a pistol, and I thought I was about to watch Tanner die. If it wasn’t for a loud voice booming through the air, I might’ve.

“Stop.”

The Reapers weren’t the only ones that turned their eyes to their leader.

Jax rolled his broad shoulders back and nodded at Tanner. “My brother likes that one. He comes with us.”

A second later, Tanner was scooped up, despite his protests, and tossed into the van with Bailey. Jaz was next to be loaded up, followed by Ava who had a disturbing amount of blood on her hands.

Then it was my turn.

Jax walked over and stood over me. I stared back up at his large form hovering over me. The family resemblance was uncanny. He was a little bigger than Chase, with the same hair and eye color. The biggest difference was the lack of emotion on his face. The only thing I could see as his gaze trickled over me was hate.

“Load her up.”

I’m not sure what pissed me off more. The fact that he turned his back on me as if I was something to be dismissed, or how he barked orders like he had the right to. There was a certain aura of authority that people in power had. Know what I saw in his men? Fear.

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