Page 68 of I Should Hate You-but I Don't

Sweat rolled off the man's head. "We just do what we're told," he shouted.

"It looks like your club needs a big message not to fuck with Gem Haven." He walked closer.

The heat was almost unbearable, and he still had twenty feet to reach them. He stayed back.

"What bigger message do they need when the sheriff finds your bones after the fire sweeps right over you?"

"No, man. We'll tell him no more fires." The man looked wildly around. "I don't want to burn."

The other man went down on his hands and knees, concaving his spine, trying to get the heat from his shirt off his skin. "Prez was going to burn you out. Without your businesses supportingthe club, he could take your members. Please, Jesus, I'm burning."

"Not yet, you're not." He widened his stance and fought the urge to step back.

He had to remember the fallen tree behind him. The direction of the truck. The route across Canyon Creek. He mapped his exit because every second counted.

"On your stomach," he shouted.

The men fell forward in a hurry, almost as if they were relieved they could change positions and try to get the heat off their backs.

He glanced at Conner and motioned with his chin to back up. There was no use in all of them frying. The men weren't getting away. The only way they could run was if they ran toward Zane.

"Not leaving you, Prez," shouted Conner.

Connor stepped beside him. Zane kept his gaze on the men. They squirmed on the ground, trying to inch away from the flames.

"They're going to run." Conner braced his shooting hand. "They won't be able to stay down."

Zane stepped back, one foot over the log and then the other. "It won't matter. I'll shoot them if they try. Once they burn, any evidence will be gone."

"The one on the right is crawling." Connor stilled. "I got him, Prez."

At the sound of the shot, the other man screamed and pushed himself to his feet. Zane shot his foot, sending him sprawling on the ground. A couple more hits, and the men wouldn't move.

Cries of agony mingled with the crackle of the growing fire. Zane shot once more, and Conner shot twice. The men never moved again.

Zane waved to Conner. "Get back."

They made it to the truck. Standing in the open door, he peered over the other vehicle. Flames had covered the men's clothing. There was no fight in them.

He slid behind the steering wheel and started the truck. Conner ran around the vehicle and got in the passenger side.

"Let's get the hell out of here." He stomped on the accelerator, jetting forward over the rough ground.

One mistake, and they'd have the fire crawling up their backs. Having grown up here, he'd spent his childhood roaming the mountains. He knew every logging road and access gate.

Once he hit the creek and crossed the water, he no longer worried about escaping the path of the fire. He needed to get to Gem Haven and see how the firefighters and his members were doing battling the blaze on the other side.

Everything he lived for was at risk. But only one thing couldn't be replaced.

River.

Chapter Thirty Two

River

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Kenna stood at the tap, filling beer mugs as fast as she could. River opened bags of chips and set them down at each table where they'd placed sandwiches earlier. For the last hour, men had come in, eaten, quenched their thirst, and went back out to fight the fire.

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